Probity in Governance

Probity in governance is basic requirement for successful operation of governance and

for socio-economic growth of country. It is defined as a risk management approach
ensuring procedural integrity. It is concerned with procedures, processes and systems
rather than outcomes. The best probity processes do not however guarantee a Board
will be immune from problems or criticism. It requires that Boards act ethically,
impartially, honestly and with fairness. To make probity in governance effective,
government must have to eliminate corruption. The other requirements of probity are
effective laws, rules and regulations governing every feature of public life and an
effective and reasonable implementation of those laws. Undeniably, a proper, fair and
effective implementation of law is aspect of discipline.

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It has been defined by intellectuals that Probity is the indication of ethical behaviour in
a particular process. The term probity entails integrity, uprightness and honesty. For
Government workers and agencies, maintaining probity involves more than simply
avoiding dishonest conduct. It involves applying public sector values such as
impartiality, accountability and transparency. Probity is also considered as being
incorruptible. However, probity goes beyond the avoidance of being dishonest because it
is determined by intangibles like personal and societal values. It is also regarded as
strict obedience to a code of ethics based on undeviating honesty, especially in
commercial (monetary) matters and beyond legal requirements. Ensuring probity in
public sector activities is part of every public official's duty to adopt processes, practices
and behaviour that enhance and promote public sector values and interests.

Probity in Governance also elucidates that apart from the traditional civil service values
of efficiency, integrity, accountability and patriotism, it is essential for civil officers to
instruct and adopt ethical and moral values including probity in public life, respect for
human rights and compassion for the downtrodden and commitment to their welfare.

Objective of Probity in Governance: There are several objectives of probity of governance

that are mentioned below:
To ensure accountability in governance;
To maintain integrity in public services;
To ensure compliance with processes;
To preserve public confidence in Government processes;
To avoid the potential for misconduct, fraud and corruption.

Probity principles

There are several generally accepted probity principles that serve to maintain the
integrity of a process. These are: Accountability: is the obligation to be able to explain
or account for the way duties have been performed. Government should have
appropriate mechanisms in place to show that they are accountable for their practices
and decisions.

Transparency
It is significant that the process is transparent to the maximum extent possible so that
all stakeholders can have confidence in the outcomes. Transparent, open processes also
minimise the opportunity for, and the risk of, fraud and corruption.

Confidentiality:

In job conditions, all public servants are under a general obligation of confidentiality to
their employer. Accordingly, it is not necessary for members of the Government Project
Team who are public servants to execute a confidentiality undertaking in relation to the
project. All Government advisors, members and any other third party that is privy to
commercially sensitive information must provide a formal undertaking to Government
that they will keep this information confidential.

Impartiality

People and organisations interacting with an organisation (e.g. recruitment) are

expected to be impartial at every stage of the process. If they do not believe the process
is honest, fair and impartial, or that a form of bias is acting against them, it could
damage the reputation of the organisation. Conflict of interest: This is where the public
duty and private interests of a Board or staff member may be in conflict; resulting in
their personal interest incorrectly influencing their official duties and responsibilities.
Stakeholders have the right to anticipate that Board and staff members will only make
decisions in the best interest of the organisation. Perceived and potential conflicts can
be as damaging as actual conflicts. Conflicts of interest must be disclosed so
procedures can be implemented to manage them effectively and mitigate the impacts.

Probity and good governance

Smooth civil service assists to foster good policy making, effective service delivery,
accountability and responsibility in utilizing public resources which are the features of
good governance. Good Governance is being used as an all-inclusive framework not
only for administrative and civil service improvement, but as a link between Civil
Service Reform and an all-embracing framework for making policy decisions effective
within viable systems of accountability and citizen participation. Governance reform is
basically the improvement of legal and policy frameworks to develop good decision
making environment; participatory systems for elements of civil society to become
actively involved in policy and programme formulation and their implementation; and
an effective and transparent system and process for control and accountability in
government activities.

Although comprehensive reform that involves governance, the civil service, and civil
society is perfect, it needs sustained commitment from political and administrative
leaders. Some countries have undertaken widespread reforms and got mixed results.
Major challenge is to find and link among the governance, civil service and civil society
components, determining which require priority responsiveness.
To summarize, Probity is vital feature of governance which facilitates government to
act ethically and perform its duty. It has been observed that due to different
irregularities such as corruption; insensitivity; red tapism, irresponsibility; disregard to
office and law, the governance system losing its credential people. Therefore it is
imperative for government to follow rules and adopt policies of impartiality,
transparency to gain confidence of populace.

Ethical Concerns and Dilemmas in Government and Private Institutions

A dilemma is described as a grim problem apparently incapable of a satisfactory

solution or a situation involving choice between equally unsatisfactory alternatives
(Davis, Aroskar, Liaschencko, and Drought, 1997). It is concept appraised by Sletteboe
(1997) who recognized three circumstances that can give rise to a dilemma. These
include two or more alternatives to choose between; a wanted option leads to unwanted
consequence; and a choice where one does not know what is the right thing to do. He
also suggested five defining features of dilemma as there were engagement, equally
unattractive alternatives, awareness of the alternatives, the need for a choice, and
uncertainty of actions.

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Ethical Dilemma

Ethical dilemmas are situations in which there is a choice to be made between two
options, neither of which resolves the situation in morally satisfactory manner. In such
circumstances, social and personal ethical guidelines can provide no satisfactory
outcome for the selector. An ethical dilemma is an intricate situation that often involves
an apparent mental skirmish between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would
result in disobeying another.

Theoretical studies have demonstrated that an ethical dilemma ascends from a

situation that necessitates a choice between conflicting sets of principles. Therefore an
ethical dilemma can be defined as a circumstance that requires a choice between
competing ideologies in a given, usually undesirable or confusing, situation. Conflicts of
interest are perhaps the most apparent example that could place public sector leaders
in an ethical dilemma. Other types of ethical dilemmas in which public officers may find
themselves include conflict between: the values of public administration; justifications
for the institutions; aspects of the code of conduct; personal values and supervisor or
governmental directive; professional ethics and supervisor or governmental directive;
personal values and professional ethics versus governmental directive; blurred or
competing accountabilities; and the dimensions of ethical behaviour (Cranston, Ehrich
and Kimber 2002). Ellis and Hartley (2001) proclaimed that ethical dilemmas have no
flawless solution, and those making a decision may find themselves in a position of
having to defend their decisions. Beauchamp and Childress (2001) evidently stated that
ethical dilemmas are conditions in which moral obligation demands appears to demand
that a person adopt each of two or more alternative actions, yet the person cannot
perform all the required alternatives. In general, however, ethical dilemmas happen in
at least two forms. Either some evidence or argument designates that an act is morally
right, and some evidence or strength of argument on both side is inconclusive or an
 agent believes that, on moral ground, she or he is obligated to perform two or more
mutually exclusive actions.

Types of Ethical Dilemmas

Ethical dilemmas are in three broad categories:

1. Personal Cost Ethical Dilemmas: It rises from situations in which compliance

with ethical conduct results in a substantial personal cost to the decision maker in a
problematic situation.
2. Right-versus-Right Ethical Dilemmas: It arises from situations of two or more
conflicting sets of bonafide moral values.
3. Conjoint Ethical Dilemmas: It develops when a careful decision-maker is exposed
to an amalgamation of the above-indicated ethical dilemmas in searching for the
“right-thing-to do".

Ethical dilemmas also arise in the following situation:

i. When his expert directives are in contrast with his own personal values
ii. Working towards the best interest of the community versus being responsive to
the government.
iii. Ethical dilemmas can arise, when two equally striking options are acceptable as
`right’ in certain situations.

Ethical Concern in Government

For a public officials who try to function as a professional, the demands of law, his
duty, impartiality, due process, provides a productive ground in which ethical dilemmas
arises. Whistle blowers face this problem because their disclosure may institute a crime
when the on-going misbehaviour is severe.

Ethical standards are not organized, so there are always chances that dilemma arises
and discrepancies always occur about appropriate behaviour.

It can be shown in other studies that an ethical dilemma arises in a situation when the
choices or behaviour is undesirable and presents harmful ethical consequences. Right
or wrong is not clearly recognizable.

Mainly, Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Public Servants are as follows:

1. Administrative discretion
2. Corruption
3. Nepotism
4. Administrative secrecy
5. Information leaks
6. Public accountability
7. Policy dilemmas

Administrative Discretion
Public bureaucrats are not just facilitators of public policy. They make decisions
relating to the lives of citizens, for example, about taxes, survival and the dismissal of
people. In doing so they exercise discretion. The main concern is that they should make
decision to avoid ethical dilemmas. In other words, the promotion of general welfare
depends on the use or exploitation of administrative discretion.

It is factual that within the rules and regulations laid down by legislature and within
the prescribed procedures, there is plenty of opportunity for the public official to use
his discretion. When faced with alternatives the choice of the public official poses an
ethical problem, the choice may be acceptable to only a small section of society. The
problem is that the selection of one path of action from among several alternatives is
often made on the basis of personal preference, political or other associations, or even
personal embellishment, thus ignoring identified facts and thus the possibility of
rational decision making. It could well be that all the prescribed rules, regulations and
procedures are adhered to but that the discretionary choice may be regarded as
unprincipled or even fraudulent.

Corruption

In government offices, corruption is major issue. The majority of bureaucrats maintain

the high standards required by public office and are enthusiastic to promoting the
general welfare. The moral standards of public officials are, however, directly related to
society as a whole. If the public accepts that in order to secure a quick response from a
public official some monetary or other incentive is necessary, and the official accepts
the incentive, then the standards of ethical conduct of officials and the public are in
fact in harmony from the point of view of the public. The corruption of public officials
by private interests is usually indirect, for example, favours by the public to the official
under obligation and he gradually substitutes his public loyalties to those doing him
favours. The ethical dilemma that faces the public officer with regard to corrupt
practices as result of private interests primarily concerns his reaction to the situation.
If a corrupt practice or an attempt to corruption is exposed, it is quite possible that the
official’s personal loyalties or party political relationships may be in conflict with his
official responsibilities.

Administrative Secrecy

In government offices, another major ethical dilemmas is the secret conduct of public
business. This is especially so because confidentiality can provide an opportunity to
cover up unethical behaviour. Secrecy is an ally of corruption and corruption is always
practiced in secret way. It is generally recognized that in a democracy, the people have
a right to discern the working of the government and it would be in the interest of the
public for the administration of public affairs to be conducted openly.

Nepotism

It is very common practice in government offices. Nepotism is the appointment of

relations and/or friends to public positions and consequently, overlooking the merit
principle, may lead to the declining of the quality of the public service. This upsets trust
and resulting in unethical management, owing to the ability of a select few to weaken
control measures on account of their personal relationship with the policy-maker, and
by reason of their not being easily dismissed or replaced by others. It occurs in private
and government sector both. Private-sector companies that involve in nepotism risk
internal displeasure. Workforces may stop giving their best and accept a career at their
current level. Worse, they may move on to another position where upward mobility is
possible. In either case, the current company loses. Another by-product of nepotism in
the private sector is its potential to dilute the talent pool by inserting less-qualified
personnel into positions that suit others better (W. Davis Folsom, Rick Boulware, 2009).
It can be said that those who are appointed with the view that they will conform to the
standards and views of their appointing authority could prove to be problematic. The
favoured treatment of one individual over another, without taking into account the
relative merit of the respective individuals, signifies nothing but victimization of an
individual.

Information Leaks

It has been seen that government official are so careless that there are cases of
information leak. Official information is often a sensitive nature such a pending tax
increases, rezoning land, cost-cutting of staff that disclosure of the information can
lead to turmoil, corrupt practices or, for some individuals, improper financial gains.
Leaking official information at a date prior to the public announcement thereof is a
defilement of procedural prescriptions and can result in an ethical dilemma.

Public Accountability

Public officials have great responsibility to implement key public policies. They ought to
be accountable for their official actions to their superiors, the courts and the public. It
is however, possible for them to hide behind prescribed procedures, the cloak of
competence and even political office-bearers.

Policy Dilemmas

Policy makers in government bodies are often challenged by conflicting responsibilities.

They have definite loyalties to their bosses, but also to society. They have liberty to act
on behalf and in the interest of others, but they must be answerable to others, their
superiors and society for their actions. The official’s obligation to respect the political
process may conflict with his view on how the objects of policy making are treated. It
can be understood that the dilemma of the public official is the clash between his
opinion of the public interest and the requirements of law.

Other Problem Areas: Besides these areas of possible conflict, other problem areas from
which ethical dilemmas may arise such as the political activity of public servants
resulting in divided loyalty on the part of those officials who commiserate with the views
of a specific political party. Other more understated ethical problems, such as the
abuse of sick leave privileges, extended tea breaks and the violation of office rules in
general.

Process of resolving an ethical dilemma in administration:

An ethical dilemma is visualized as intricate matter for the executives of both public
and private companies and demanding than a problem of what it appears to be. These
dilemmas cannot be solved based on its initial status of presentation. The decision
maker faces a several challenging situation in which he faces mutually exclusive
alternatives that choosing one option means opposing the other that is equally
significant (Rapoport, 1960). The reason is that dilemmas, unlike problems, cannot be
solved in the terms in which they are initially presented to the decision-maker.

Nevertheless a dilemma is also dealt properly by modifying and reformulating all the
options in an organised and intelligible manner. To resolve ethical dilemmas, a
sequence of logical reasoning sets is proposed to assimilate and rearrange the process
of dealing with ethical dilemmas. They are:

Accountability

The faithfulness of the administration to the ministers is grounded on their

responsibility to be answerable and responsible to the legislature who is accountable to
the will of the people and their general interest. It is then an essential ethical duty
bearing on civil servants to show a spirit of impartiality and discretion and keep their
own personal preferences out in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.

The rule of law and the principle of legality

The rule of law is central and universal to politics and society. Respect and obedience to
the principle of legitimacy is an important requirement to exercise authority. Law
establishes the minimum standard for ethics. Unprincipled conduct clearly leads to
violation of law. Thus for enforcement, law should be priority in case of dilemma.
Professional integrity: In administrative job, knowledge and expertise should be used
with certain standards defining professional ethics such as, avoiding corruption in the
delivery of services.

Responsiveness

The government openness to its citizens is major issue in political economy. In this
regard, ethical reasoning in state action involves that public institutions be responsive
to society and pay attention to the requirements and demands of the people, facilitating
access to services and creating an supporting environment for sustainable human and
social progress.

Ethical concern in private institutes:

In private companies, moral principles like ethics regimes, ethics reforms, codes of
conduct, codes of ethics, and ethics rules were not initially developed. With the process
of globalization, many states have lost some level of control over their compliance with
ethics standards, and, often, the ability to assess and even sanction violations of labour
codes and environmental standards. Globalization, however, has created new
opportunities for companies, which now can shift their production to parts of the world
where the cost of labour is cheaper to increase revenue.
Private companies are also facing new restrictions. As people have become more
knowledgeable, customer concern has become gradually focused on the ethical,
environmental, and labour standards of companies that become global by writing and
calling companies to complain about human rights defilements, demonstrating against
the companies, supporting company anti-sweatshop organizations, filing shareholder
resolutions, and in some cases, boycotting products and companies that are allegedly
not respecting basic ethical. These ethical violations involve but are not restricted to
issues concerning child labour, employee harassment and abuse, and solutions
consisting of non-discrimination laws, freedom of association, collective bargaining
agreements, health and safety standards, and adequate wages and hours of work.

Growing moral concern of customers have rapidly and completely redesigned the
business environment in which companies operate. Reputation has now become more
important which not only commands the economic victory of a company, but its
existence. It is well recognized that companies in last decades have made mindful
efforts to protect their reputation and assure their customers of their adherence to a
certain level of moral principles.

Private sector ethics standards are shaped to respond to that consumer requirement. In
order to make it effective, the private sector develops a list of obligations to adhere to
human rights standards, and the beginning of what would become the Corporate
Responsibility or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement. Corporate social
responsibility is the commitment of businesses to behave morally and to contribute to
sustainable economic development by working with all relevant stakeholders to
enhance their lives in ways that are favourable for business, the sustainable
development agenda, and society as a whole.

However the ethical dilemmas faced by certain companies may be specific to their
industry or company, other types of ethical issues are common to all types of
companies. To deal with ethical decisions with wisdom is especially important for small
businesses. Because these issues, if not resolved correctly, may lead to the potentially
devastating effects. One area of ethical consideration for employers is how to balance
expense control with the health and security interests of workers. Manufacturing plants
and other workplaces where employees use hazardous equipment or engage in
physically demanding work should have strong safety standards that not only meet
federal requirements, but that also make eliminating accidents a priority. Even
standard office workplaces pose health hazards to personnel who are asked to sit or
stand all day. Unfortunately, some private institutions cut on safety controls,
equipment and training to save money. This is both unethical and potentially damaging
in the long run if major accidents occur.

It has been seen that technological advancement and the growth of the Internet in the
beginning of 21st century have produced a slew of ethical dilemmas for private
companies. Company managers have to balance the privacy and freedom of workers
while also maintaining standards which require that company technology use is for
legitimate business purposes. Some companies go for monitoring all online use and
email communication from employee computers and work accounts. A company may
have this right, but its leaders need to understand the potential concern about privacy
and sovereignty among workers.
Another major ethical concern is transparency. All over the world, there are many
business and accounting scandals happened that made companies to operate with
openness and transparency. For public corporations, this includes honest, accurate
and complete reporting on mandated financial accounting reports. For large and small
businesses, transparency includes communicating messages, including marketing
messages, that are not open to misapprehension and that clearly represent the
intentions of the company and its messages.

Fair Working Conditions: Private companies are generally expected to provide

favourable working conditions for their personnel in the business environment, but
being responsible with employee treatment typically means higher labour costs and
resource utilization. Fair pay and benefits for work are more obvious features of a fair
workplace. Another important element is provision of a non-discriminatory work
environment, which again may have costs involved for diversity management and
training. Morality and values-based quandaries in the workplace are difficult to manage
when workers have to choose between right and wrong actions according to their own
philosophies. Optimistic employers who implement workplace ethics policies are
usually equipped for the potential conflicts of interest that arise due to the diversity of
opinion, values and culture in the workforce. However, handling ethical issues in the
workplace requires a steady and watchful approach to matters which can potentially be
unsafe or unlawful.

To handle ethical dilemmas successfully, Private companies practices either of these

two effective ways, they are ethical relativism and ethical universalism. Ethical
relativism means that doing business in a country by following strictly to its culture or
ethics, for example, if bribery is a culture or ethics of doing business in a specific host
country then in order to survive, the multinational companies have to follow the local
culture or ethics. As far ethical universalism means that the ethical standards are the
same and it is applied to all countries in which the multinational companies is doing
business with it. Ethical relativism may help the multinational companies to survive in
the market of the host country without any barriers but the disadvantages will be, it
might be going against the law of human rights like labour rights and others if child
labour as the culture of the host country where lots of critics on company image will
arise. Ethical universalism has more advantage because it is regarded as higher moral
responsibility because multinational companies are said to be stricter in following
human rights and it is more ethical. As for drawbacks is concerned, in certain cases, it
might lead to cultural imperialism which the multinational companies feels that certain
country’s culture is immoral and inferior thus some conflict might arise.

In contemporary period, ethics in government have become not only something of great
public interest, but also significant area of study in the academic fields of politics and
government. There are several unethical conducts in organizations. In dealing with
ethical issues, officials are often faced with dilemmas that challenge a simple choice
between right and wrong. Assessing the ethical concern of both government and private
organization, it can be understood that the challenges posed by ethical dilemma
sometimes make a person to be at a lost with no solution in sight. This becomes more
pronounced if one is to make a choice between personal values and public values as in
the case of public officials involved to provide public services.
Codes of Conduct

A code of conduct is a set of rules that outline the social standards and rules and
responsibilities of, or proper practices for, an individual, party or organization. It is
defined that "Code of Conduct" is "principles, values, standards, or rules of behaviour
that guide the decisions, procedures and systems of an organization in a way that

1. contributes to the welfare of its key stakeholders.

2. Respects the rights of all constituents affected by its operations.

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It is established in many reports that a Code of Conduct documents the rules and
policies that govern the business and ethical conduct of directors, committee members
and staff (i.e. officers and employees). The scope of a Code of Conduct includes the
individual legal duties of each director, committee member and staff member, as well as
identifying unlawful or prohibited conduct.

Elements of a Code of Conduct

A Code of Conduct must address all important ethical issues and legal duties with
respect to the behaviour and conduct of individual directors, volunteers and staff
members of the credit union. It should deal with the following issues:

 general standard of care of directors and officers

 Compliance with all applicable laws
 Confidentiality
 Conflicts of interest
 Restricted party transactions
 Unethical conduct

General Standard of Care:

The general duty of care required of directors, officers and committee members of credit
unions entails that "Every director, officer, and member of a committee established
under this Act shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties of his or her office
honestly, in good faith and in the best interests of the credit union." The standard to
which this duty is to be held, is set out in section 144(2) of the Act and states that "The
director, officer or committee member shall exercise the degree of care, diligence and
skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances."

Person holding senior position in organization must have various responsibilities to

mitigate against the risk of legal liability. These are mentioned below:
1. Fully understand the scope of statutory and assigned authority and do not act
beyond this scope.
2. Keep informed of changes to DICO by-laws and provincial legislation and object
immediately to incidents of contravention.
3. Ensure that each action performed is in the best interest of the credit union, and
is not for personal gain.
4. Co-operate fully with FSCO and DICO in responding to their concerns,
particularly on matters of statutory compliance and institutional risk.
5. Keep abreast of legal actions taken against the credit union.
6. Ensure controversial decisions involving conflict of interest are carefully
documented.
7. Review on-site verification reports, league reports and external auditors' reports
to identify and correct operational weaknesses.
8. Ensure that officers/employees are bondable, and may be relied upon.
9. Ensure that sufficient access to material and resources is available to
management and the board so that sound business and financial decisions can be
made.
10. Develop a common organizational view prior to making a public comment
regarding controversial issues that concern the credit union.
11. Obtain director's liability insurance.
12. Ensure that all significant policy matters have been approved by the board and
implemented by management in compliance with DICO By-law No. 5 and the
applicable Act.

Compliance with all applicable laws

Directors, committee members, officers and employees have a duty to comply with the
Act and Regulation. Non-compliance with the Act can carry serious consequences for
directors and officers, especially where it signifies an offence under the Act. Any
director, officer or agent of a credit union who commits an offence under the Act,
authorized, or acquiesced to the offence, is liable to severe penalties.

The credit union, and its directors, committee members and officers, have
responsibilities and duties under other Acts, and under the common law.
Confidentiality: Rules of confidentiality must be extend to every director, committee
member and officer of a credit union.

It has been established that prior to assuming duties which include the right of access
to member records, directors, committee members and staff should be required to sign
a confidentiality agreement. This agreement is a written pledge of an individual to hold
private matters in strict confidence. After assuming duty, each credit union should
establish administrative and physical controls to ensure the protection of records from
unauthorized access or disclosure, and from physical damage or destruction. The
controls instituted should be related to the degree of sensitivity of the records but at a
minimum would ensure that:

1. Records are protected from public view.

2. The area in which the records are stored is supervised during all business hours
to prevent.
3. Unauthorized persons from entering the area or obtaining access to the records.

The general manager of each credit union should be responsible for ensuring that
employees subject to his/her supervision are advised of the serious-ness of maintaining
confidentiality. Employees should be made aware of their responsibilities to protect the
security of personal information, to ensure its accuracy, relevance, and completeness,
and to avoid unauthorized disclosure either orally or in writing.
It is advisable that employees or union managers must not practice violations of
confidentiality such as:

1. Offering to persons unauthorized, copies of the Register of Members or the

membership mailing list.
2. Indiscriminate discussions (i.e. gossip) about the transactions of a member, or
the business affairs of the credit union, to persons not entitled to the information.
3. Selection of unsuitable locations for board or committee meetings or employee
discussions of confidential matters, such as public places (i.e. restaurants or
elevators).
4. Mailing confidential information to the business office of the recipients when the
intact delivery of the confidential information is not assured.
5. Reviewing confidential information in a manner which, due to neglect, lack of
control, or carelessness, results in unauthorized persons also seeing this information
(i.e. reading in public places or leaving confidential material unattended).
6. Employing volunteers to assist in clerical duties of the credit union without
instructing them on the rules of confidentiality.

Conflicts of Interest Rules

Each and every director, committee member, officer or employee has an obligation of
loyalty to the credit union and must ignore their personal interests when they conflict
with or threaten to conflict with the best interests of the credit union. The Code of
Conduct must acknowledge these rules, and should also incorporate policies to
safeguard against violation of them.

Unethical Conduct

Forms of unethical or inappropriate conduct which should be prohibited either in policy

or directly in the Code of Conduct include:

1. Abuse of the personal privileges of office.

2. Secret commissions.
3. Inappropriate gifts.
4. Acts of slander and libel.
5. Nepotism.
6. Employee discrimination and harassment.
7. Criminal acts.
8. Reporting of questionable and fraudulent acts.

Numerous international and national agencies have developed Codes of Conduct or

Codes of Ethics for their workers. This ethical standard setting is to a large extent
based on Weberian principles. It can be an important guide to making decisions on
complicated ethical issues, and they can provide the basis for an environment where
citizens are aware of the basic standards of behaviour to be expected from public sector
employees. International codes of conduct or codes of ethics can support national
public sector statutes and criminal laws, and can add to the national legal framework.

The code also signify the duty always to conduct himself or herself in a way that the
public's confidence and trust in the integrity, impartiality and effectiveness of the
public service are preserved and enhanced; that the public official is accountable to his
or her immediate hierarchical superior unless otherwise prescribed by law, and that the
public official has a duty to treat appropriately, with all necessary confidentiality, all
information and documents acquired by him or her in the course of, or as a result of,
his or her employment.

It is apparent that code is also a device to encourage debates of ethics and to improve
how members deal with the ethical dilemmas, prejudices and grey areas that are
encountered in everyday work. A code is intended to complement relevant standards,
policies and rules, not to substitute for them. Codes of conduct offer an irreplaceable
opportunity for responsible organizations to create a positive public identity for
themselves which can lead to a more supportive political and regulatory environment
and an increased level of public confidence and trust among important constituencies
and stakeholders.

Concept of Public Service

A public service is associated with government and it is offered by administrative bodies

to people living within its region and considered essential to modern life. The term is
linked with a social agreement (usually expressed through democratic elections) that
numerous services should be offered to all, irrespective of income. Even where public
services are neither publicly provided nor publicly financed, for social and political
reasons they are usually subject to directive going beyond that applying to most
economic sectors. Public service is also subject taught in education curriculum of
students in colleges and university such as the fire brigade, police, army, and
paramedics. It is stated that the provision of public services for example health care,
education, sanitation and criminal justice is major duty of government. People care
about public services and depend on them being delivered well. Public services offer the
most common interface between people and the state, and their functioning shapes
people's sense of trust in and expectations of government. At national level, public
services support human welfare and economic growth.

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Some political experts recognized the immense importance of Public services for moral
reasons. Their universal provision should be guaranteed. They may be related with
fundamental human rights (such as the right to water). The Volunteer Fire Dept. and
Ambulance Corps are institutions with the mission of servicing the community. A
service is helping others with a particular need or want. In this regard, service ranges
from a doctor curing an illness, to a repair person, to a food pantry. It has been
emphasized by scholars that Public services need to be delivered with honesty, centred
around citizens, and responsive to their requirements, particularly to the needs of the
most vulnerable. Promoting greater transparency and allowing ordinary citizens to
assess the quality, adequacy and effectiveness of elementary services, to voice their
needs and preferences and to become involved in innovation offers an opportunity to
enable better use of public funds, and improve service delivery (Ringold et al, 2013).

Historical Review

When evaluating past records, it is stated that extensive provision of public services in
developed countries usually started in the late nineteenth century, often with the
municipal development of gas and water services. After that governments began to
provide other services such as electricity and healthcare. In most developed countries
such services are still provided by local or national government, the biggest exceptions
being the U.S. and the UK, where private provision is more significant. However, such
privately provided public services are often strongly regulated, for example (in the US)
by Public Utility Commissions. In developing countries, public services tend to be much
less developed. For example, water services might only be available to the wealthy
middle class. For political reasons the service is often subsidized, which reduces the
finance available for expansion to poorer communities.

In modern developed countries, the term "public services" (or "services of general
interest") often includes:

1. Electricity
2. Education
3. Emergency services
4. Environmental protection
5. Fire service
6. Gas
7. Health care
8. Law enforcement
9. Military
10. Postal service
11. Public broadcasting
12. Public library
13. Public security
14. Public transportation
15. Public housing
16. Social services
17. Telecommunications
18. Town planning
19. Waste management
20. Water supply network

Basically, Public services account for a large percentage of government budgets, but
increased spending has often not been harmonized by enhancements in outcomes.
Several times, it is observed that public services can be disrupted by corruption which
leads to money intended for books, teachers, dispensaries, medical supplies and
infrastructure being syphoned off by officials or private contractors (World Bank, 2004).

In Indian context, the state and local governments in India invest huge budgets for
public services and development of infrastructure. The nature and scale economies of
most public services are such that government has a virtual monopoly in their
production and delivery. Recently, the government of India and the state governments
have invested an increasing share of their budgets to expand the reach of these
services. Many experts consider that the lack of improvements in the provider agencies
and the limited 'exit' options available to the people continue to make it difficult for the
weaker sections of society to access these services. But comprehensive studies of public
services are visible by their absence (PROBE 1999). The range of public services and
problems in tracking their delivery are major reasons in public service access,
productivity and quality.

In educational field, around the world, children still leave school, unable to read and do
basic arithmetic, and the quality of healthcare remains uneven. Statistical reports
indicated that just increasing resources, equipment, financial, or personnel, does not
guarantee that the quality of education or health care will improve. The quality of
service delivery is precarious.

In health care, it is observed that the practice of public health has been dynamic in
India, and has perceived many hurdles in its attempt to affect the lives of the people of
this country. Since independence, major public health problems such as malaria,
tuberculosis, leprosy, high maternal and child mortality and currently, human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been addressed through a rigorous action of the
government. The new programme for Public Health in India includes the
epidemiological transition (rising burden of chronic non-communicable diseases),
demographic transition (increasing elderly population) and environmental changes.
Important issues in health systems are lack of financial and material resources, health
workforce issues and the stewardship challenge of implementing pro-equity health
policies in a pluralistic environment.

In telecommunication, public services have played a major role for the growth of
country as well as enhancing living standard of people. The Indian telecom sector is
now heavily dominated by wireless technologies, which include cellular mobile and
fixed wireless technologies. Comprehensible Government policies have played a crucial
role in shaping the structure of the Indian telecom sector.

In water supply network, the responsibility for water supply and sanitation at the
central and state level is shared by various Ministries. At the central level three
Ministries have responsibilities in the sector: The Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation (until 2011 the Department of Drinking Water Supply in the Ministry of
Rural Development) is responsible for rural water supply and sanitation; the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and the Ministry of Urban Development share
the responsibility for urban water supply and sanitation. Except for the National
Capital Territory of Delhi and other Union Territories, the central Ministries only have
an advisory capacity and a limited role in funding. Sector policy thus is a prerogative of
state governments.
Numerous innovative approaches to improve water supply and sanitation have been
tested in India, in particular in the early 2000s. These include community-led total
sanitation, demand-driven approaches in rural water supply, public-private
partnerships to improve the continuity of urban water supply in Karnataka, and the
use of microcredits in water supply and sanitation to women in order to improve access
to water.

Regarding public service in postal area, The Department of Posts, trading as India Post,
is a government-operated postal system in India; it is generally referred to within India
as the Post Office.

The policies of urban development and housing in India have emerged since 1950s. The
general observation of the policy makers was that India is pre-dominantly an
agricultural and rural economy and that there are potent dangers of over urbanisation
which will lead to the drain of resources from the countryside to feed the cities. The
positive aspects of cities as engines of economic growth in the context of national
economic policies were not much appreciated and, therefore, the problems of urban
areas were treated more as welfare problems and sectors of residual investment rather
than as issues of national economic importance. Urban planning as presently practised
in India is essentially concerned with planning the use and development of land in
cities. Government is implementing smart city policies to some towns. Development is
merely seen as physical manifestation in most of the town planning legislation

Attributes of Public Service

Major features of a public service is public goods (being non-rivalrous and non-
excludable), but most are services which may (according to prevailing social norms) be
under-provided by the market. In most cases, public services are services, i.e. they do
not involve manufacturing of goods. They may be delivered by local or national
monopolies, especially in sectors which are natural monopolies.

They may involve outputs that are hard to attribute to specific individual effort and/or
hard to measure in terms of major characteristics such as quality. They often need high
levels of training and education. They may attract people with a public service beliefs
who wish to give something to the wider public or community through their efforts.

A proficient public service is vital for creating a favourable investment climate and
facilitating people's participation in economic life. In pattern of globalization,
governments undergo numerous cross-cutting issues, such as economic instability,
climate change and migration. Public service delivery has developed new dimensions as
governments need to respond not only to changes in the global environment but also to
the demands of an active citizenry. In order to formulate integrated policies and their
effective implementation, it is imperative that there must be an adaptable and efficient
public service that can forestall emerging challenges and ensure that potential
strategies are informed by better understanding of future contexts.

Sometimes, public services are privatized. There are several ways to privatize public
services. A free-market company may be established and sold to private investors,
relinquishing government control altogether. Thus it becomes a private (not public)
service. Another option is to establish a corporation, but keep ownership or voting
power essentially in the hands of the government. For example, the Finnish state owned
49% of Kemira until 2007, the rest being owned by private investors. A 49% share did
not make it a "government enterprise", but it meant that all other investors together
would have to oppose the state's opinion in order to overturn the state's decisions in the
shareholder's meeting.

Regulated corporation can also acquire permits on the agreement that they fulfil certain
public service duties. When a private company runs a natural monopoly, then the
corporation is more controlled, to prevent abuse of monopoly power. Finally, the
government can buy the service on the free market. In many countries, medication is
provided in this manner: the government reimburses part of the price of the medication.
Also, bus traffic, electricity, healthcare and waste management are privatized in this
way. One recent modernisation, used in the UK, Australia and Canada is public-private
partnerships. This involves giving a long lease to private consortia in return for partly
funding infrastructure.

For the public sector, the provision of customer-centric services is not an easy task. A
number of significant challenges need to be overcome. Services must be delivered on a
wide scale. It has been documented in reports that Public services have to face major
challenges in coming years; severe financial pressures and cuts; growing demand;
raising public and user expectations; decentralisation and community empowerment;
opportunities to deploy new technology; and global competition. This will result in a
changing relationship between citizen and services users with the state and service
providers. Delivering effective public services needs multi-level transformation such as
changing the way public sector organisations think and act, how they view their roles,
and how they share information between agencies, with businesses and with their
customers.

Five elements are integral to build this capacity

1. Strategy (performance improvement and process reform, aided by technology).

2. Leadership (securing the understanding and support of top level leadership).
3. Organisational design (creating empowered institutions responsible for a pan-
government focus on customer-centricity and connected government).
4. People/Capacity/Training (focusing on the internal capacity-building that is
needed to manage the transformation, managing talent and training public sector
people to respond to changing customer needs).
5. Culture (change management throughout the organisation is the key to a
successful customer centric strategy).

To, summarize, public service in both the developed and developing world has
significant contribution in providing public goods, such as defence, public order,
property rights, macro-economic management, basic education, public health, disaster
relief, protection of environment, and managing private sector activity.

Citizen's Charters
 In any nation, there is a need of good governance for sustainable development, both
economic and social. The three major aspects highlighted in good governance are
transparency, accountability and responsiveness of the administration. Citizens'
Charters initiative is a response to the mission for solving the problems which a citizen
meets, day in and day out, while dealing with the organisations providing public
services. The charter is the declaration of commitment to superiority in service to
customers of the department. The citizen charter declares the standards for various
services offered. It includes expectations of the Organisation from the Citizens for
fulfilling its commitment. Citizen charter is available in India post website.

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The concept of Citizens' Charter protects the trust between the service provider and its
users. Citizens' Charter was first expressed and implemented in the United Kingdom by
the Conservative Government of John Major in 1991 as a national programme with aim
to constantly improve the quality of public services for the people of the country so that
these services respond to the needs and wishes of the users.

Citizen charter is necessary;

 To make administration accountable and citizen friendly.

 To ensure transparency.
 To take measures to improve customer service.
 To adopt a stakeholder approach.
 To save time of both Administration and the citizen.

Objective of the Citizens' Charter: Fundamental objectives of Citizens' Charter are as

follows:
1. Goal of Citizens' Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service
delivery.
Six principles of the Citizens' Charter movement as originally framed, were:

i. Quality: Improving the quality of services.

ii. Choice: Wherever possible.
iii. Standards: Specify what to expect and how to act if standards are not met.
iv. Value: For the taxpayers' money.
v. Accountability: Individuals and Organisations.
vi. Transparency: Rules/ Procedures/ Schemes/Grievances.

Later on, these were elaborated by the Labour Government as following nine principles
of Service Delivery (1998):

1. Set standards of service

2. Be open and provide full information
3. Consult and involve
4. Encourage access and the promotion of choice
5. Treat all fairly
6. Put things right when they go wrong
7. Use resources effectively
8. Innovate and improve
9. Work with other providers

The Indian Scenario

Since many years, in India, noteworthy progress has been made in the field of economic
development. This, along with a considerable increase in the literacy rate, (from 51.63%
to 65.38% in the last decade) has made Indian citizens increasingly aware of their
rights. Citizens have become more articulate and expect the administration not merely
to respond to their demands but also to anticipate them. It was in this climate that
since 1996 a consensus had evolved in the Government on effective and responsive
administration.

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Government of India

(DARPG) initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and operationalising Citizens'
Charters. Guidelines for formulating the Charters as well as a list of do's and don'ts
were communicated to various government departments/organisations to enable them
to bring out focused and effective charters. For the formulation of the Charters, the
government agencies at the Centre and State levels were advised to constitute a task
force with representation from users, senior management and the cutting edge staff. A
Handbook on Citizen's Charter has been developed by the Department and sent to all
the State Governments/UT Administrations.

The Charters are expected to integrate the following elements:

1. Vision and Mission Statement.

2. Details of business transacted by the organisation.
3. Details of clients.
4. Details of services provided to each client group.
5. Details of grievance redress mechanism and how to access it.
6. Expectations from the clients.

Principally, an adaptation of the UK model, the Indian Citizens' Charter has an

additional constituent of 'expectations from the clients'. Involvement of consumer
organisations, citizen groups, and other stakeholders in the formulation of the Citizens'
Charter is highlighted to confirm that the Citizens' Charter fulfils the needs of the
users. Regular monitoring, review and evaluation of the Charters, both internally and
through external agencies, are commanded. Till April, 2006, 111 Citizens' Charters had
been articulated by the Central Government Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations
and 668 Charters by various agencies of State Governments & Administrations of
Union Territories. Most of the national Charters are posted on the government's
websites and are open to public scrutiny. The organisations with Citizens' Charters are
advised to give publicity to their Charters through such means as print/ electronic
media and awareness crusades.

Components of Citizen Charter

 Vision and Mission Statement of the Organisation.

 Details of Business transacted by the Organisation.
 Details of 'Customers' or 'Clients'.
 Statement of services including standards, quality, time frame etc. provided to
Customer/ Client and how/where to get the services.
 Details of Grievance Redressal Mechanism and how to access it.
 Expectations from the service recipients.

Plans of citizen charter:

Citizen's Charters in India: Current Status:

Citizen's Charters have currently been in place in India for almost a decade. In 2006,
the DARPG website listed 767 charters drafted by various government agencies around
the country.

Problems faced in implementing the Charters:

As indicated, the Citizens' Charters initiative in India had started in 1997 and the
Charters formulated are in embryonic stage of implementation. Introduction of a new
thought is always difficult in any organisation. Introduction and implementation of the
concept of Citizens' Charter in the Government of India was much more complicated
due to the old bureaucratic set up/procedures and the rigid attitudes of the work force.
The major obstacles encountered in this initiative were:

1. The general perception of organisations which formulated Citizens' Charters was

that the exercise was to be performed because there was a direction from the top. The
consultation process was minimal or largely absent. It thus became one of the
routine activities of the organisation and had no focus.
2. For any Charter to thrive, the personnel responsible for its implementation
should have proper training and orientation, as commitments of the Charter cannot
be expected to be delivered by a workforce that is unaware of the spirit and content of
 the Charter. However, in many cases, the concerned staff were not sufficiently trained
and sensitised.
3. Sometimes, transfers and reshuffles of concerned officers at the critical stages of
formulation/implementation of a Citizens' Charter in an organisation severely
destabilised the strategic processes which were put in place and hampered the
progress of the initiative.
4. Awareness campaigns to teach clients about the Charter were not conducted
systematically.
5. In some cases, the standards/time norms of services mentioned in Citizens'
Charter were either too negligent or too tight and were impractical and created an
unfavourable impression on the clients of the Charter.
6. The notion behind the Citizens' Charter was not accurately understood.
Information brochures, publicity materials, pamphlets produced earlier by the
organisations were mistaken for Citizens' Charters.

Deficiencies in the Existing Citizens' Charters

1. Lack of awareness and knowledge and inadequate publicity, hence loss of trust
among service seekers.
2. No training to the operative and supervisory staff.
3. Lack of infrastructure and initiative.
4. Hierarchy gap between the Officers and the Operative Staff-Need of team effort.
5. Different mind-sets of officers and the Staff- Insensitiveness on the part of the
Supervisors and the Staff because they are yet to be sensitized.
6. Staff is not prepared to shoulder the responsibility due to lack of motivation and
accountability.
7. Non-revision, complicated and restrictive rules & procedures.

Guidelines for the Citizens' Charters in India

1. List all Offices according to type of services they provide to public - Indicate their
location, areas they cover, type of services being rendered to public, and phone
numbers.
2. There should be a separate Citizens' Charter (i.e., Local Citizens' Charters) for
each office covering the services they provide. For example, there should be a
separate Charter of the Directorate, its subordinate offices, Hospitals, Schools, etc.
according to the particular services they provide.
3. Mention Service Standards - Step-by-step-Procedure based on 'Where to go; how
to proceed', simple and easy to fill-in Forms, specimen of duly-filled in forms,
documents, fees, etc. required, reasonable time schedule, Do's & Don'ts, etc., names,
addresses and Tele. Nos. of concerned Officials, his alternate for each service, etc.
4. Minimum documentation, self-attestation and self-declaration.
5. No duplication - In case desired information and document submitted earlier like
proof of residence (if there is no change), birth certificate, etc., it should not be asked
again.
6. If promised services are not provided as per specified time schedule, an effective
grievance redressal mechanism (including the provision of compensation to the
concerned citizen in order to introduce accountability) should be introduced.
7. Provision of "TATKAL" (Immediate) Services if somebody is in urgent need (as in
the case of Passport, Railways, etc.) to avoid touts, bribery, etc.
8. Simultaneous changes in the Performa and other requirements to be effected
along with the changes made in the Citizens Charter.
9. Database of frequently required information, like ownership of property, vehicle,
etc., tax and dues paid or pending, etc.
10. If possible, the services and their related information may be presented in a
tabular form.
11. Salient features of each service should be prominently displayed in simple and
easy language at all places likely to be visited by the service seekers.

To summarize, A Citizens' Charter denotes the promise of an organisation towards

standard, quality and time frame of service delivery, grievance redressal mechanism,
clearness and accountability. Based on the foreseen expectations and aspirations of
public, Citizens' Charters are to be drawn-up with care and concern for the concerned
service users. They allow the service seekers to avail the services of the government
departments with minimum inconvenience and maximum speed.

Utilization of Public Funds

India's total public spending on Centre and States every year on social sectors is less
than 7 percent of GDP. During the period of 2005-06, the Union Government's
budgetary spending on these sectors has been increased. This steady increase has not
translated into any visible increase in overall public spending (in the country) on these
sectors as the priority for social sectors in the State Budgets has not increased much
over the last decade. When compared with other countries, India's public spending on
social sectors as percentage of GDP has been much lower not only than most developed
countries but also some of the developing countries for decades now. The financial
management of any company must have a sensible financial system supported by
effective accounting procedures and internal controls. Properly managed accounting
system helps ensure proper control over funds. Accounting policies and procedures are
designed to compile accounts fulfilling legal/procedural requirements that govern
financial control. Accounts are an essential part of financial management of activities.
On the basis of accounts, the Government regulates the shape of its financial and fiscal
policies.

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The accounts of Government are retained in three parts:-

1. Consolidated Funds of India

2. Contingency Funds of India
3. Public Account

Consolidated Fund of India

Indian government received all revenues in the form of taxes like Income Tax, Central
Excise, Customs and other receipts flowing to the Government in connection with the
conduct of Government business i.e. Non-Tax Revenues are credited into the
Consolidated Fund constituted under Article 266 (1) of the Constitution of India.
Likewise, all loans raised by the Government by issue of Public notifications, treasury
bills (internal debt) and loans obtained from foreign governments and international
institutions (external debt) are credited into this fund. All expenditure of the
government is incurred from this fund and no amount can be withdrawn from the Fund
without authorization from the Parliament.

Contingency Fund of India

The Contingency Fund of India records the transactions connected with Contingency
Fund set by the Government of India under Article 267 of the Constitution of India. The
corpus of this fund is Rs. 50 crores. Advances from the fund are made for the purposes
of meeting unforeseen expenditure which are resumed to the Fund to the full extent as
soon as Parliament authorizes additional expenditure. Thus, this fund acts more or less
like an imprest account of Government of India and is held on behalf of President by
the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic
Affairs.

Public Account

In the Public Account constituted under Article 266 (2) of the Constitution, the
transactions relate to debt other than those included in the Consolidated Fund of India.
The transactions under Debt, Deposits and Advances in this part are those in respect of
which Government incurs a liability to repay the money received or has a claim to
recover the amounts paid. The transactions relating to `Remittance' and `Suspense'
shall embrace all adjusting heads. The initial debits or credits to these heads will be
cleared eventually by corresponding receipts or payments. The receipts under Public
Account do not constitute normal receipts of Government. Parliamentary authorization
for payments from the Public Account is therefore not required.

Summary of public funds

Factors that constrain utilization of plan outlays in the social sectors:

Under-utilization of Plan expenditures by the States can be attributed to the

institutional and procedural blockages in the process of implementation of Plan
schemes and insufficiencies in the planning process being followed at the district level.
These factors must be addressed in order to strengthen States' ability to better utilize
higher magnitudes of allocations for the social sectors.

1. The deficiencies in decentralized planning being carried out in the schemes,

resulting due to insufficient staff for undertaking planning activities, inadequate
attention to their capacity building and minimal role for community participation in
the planning process.
2. Blockages in budgetary processes in the schemes, such as delay in the flow of
funds, in releasing sanction orders for spending, decision-making in the States being
centralized, insufficient delegation of financial powers to the district/ sub-district
level authorities and uniform norms of Centrally Sponsored Schemes for all States.
Further, lack of need based budgeting in the schemes, which is often carried out
without proper analysis of unit costs on the ground, implied allocations for some of
the schemes being decided in a top-down and unrealistic manner.
3. Systemic feebleness, manifested as shortage of trained, regular staff for various
important roles like programme management, finance/accounts and frontline service
provision; this contributed to weaken the capacities of the government apparatus in
the States for implementation of Plan schemes.

Regarding the systemic weaknesses in the government system in the States, it can be
contended that Non-Plan expenditure by the State plays an important role to enhance
the overall capacity of the government apparatus. It affects the capacity of the State
Government apparatus in terms of the availability of regular qualified staff and
adequacy of government infrastructure for implementing Plan schemes. Nevertheless,
over the past decade, Non-Plan expenditure in social sectors has been checked by many
States due to the emphasis of the prevailing fiscal policy on the reduction of deficits
through the restriction of public expenditure. Consequently, the capacity of the
government apparatus to implement Plan programmes/schemes has been controlled.

Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in

administration and governance

Emotional Intelligence is the summative of abilities, competencies and skills that signify
a collection of knowledge in order to cope with life effectively. Therefore, it is closely
related to the personal and professional growth of the individuals who have to take
decisions under stressful and difficult situations. The model of emotional intelligence is
a debatable topic among psychological researcher recently especially with reference to
the way it affects today's workforce. Businesses are basically people, so anything that
impacts the efficiency of people's minds also impacts the businesses they operate.
Emotional intelligence, abbreviated as EI, refers to the ability to perceive, control and
evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned
and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic. Emotional
Intelligence has generated great interest in scientific fields (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).

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Concept of Emotional intelligence:

Emotional intelligence has prominence in organizational effectiveness. It is defined by

psychological theorists as the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or
trying situations. The cognitive abilities of an individual to learn from experience, to
reason well, and to cope effectively with the demands of daily living. Other theorists
stated that Emotional intelligence involves the "capabilities to perceive, appraise, and
express emotion; to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; to
understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and to regulate emotions to promote
emotional and intellectual growth" (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).

Historical review of Emotional intelligence

It is documented in early researches that roots of emotional intelligence can be traced

back in intelligence such as Wechsler (1958) who explained intelligence as "the
aggregate or global capacity of the individual to deal effectively with his environment".
Wechsler had acknowledged that in addition to cognitive factors, there are also non-
cognitive factors that determine intelligent behavior. In 1983, Gardner first published
his theory, derived from extensive brain research, on multiple Intelligence including
intrapersonal (self-awareness/self-management) and interpersonal (relationship
awareness/management). Gardner argues that people have several "separate"
intellectual capacities, each of which deserves to be called an intelligence. According to
Gardner's work, there are seven intelligences. They are:

 Linguistic intelligence
 Musical intelligence
 Logical-mathematical intelligence
 Bodily kinesthetic intelligence
 Naturalist intelligence
 Interpersonal intelligence
Gardner's renewal of social intelligence under the facade of interpersonal and
intrapersonal intelligence proved a powerful push to those interested in emotional
intelligence as a skill and a competency that was being ignored in the context of
training and development of skilled personnel both as pupils in the school system and
as producers in the context of administrative and economic systems.

There are three main models of emotional intelligence. The first model by Peter Salovey
and John Mayer perceives emotional intelligence as a form of pure intelligence, that is,
emotional intelligence is a cognitive ability. A second model by Reuven Bar-On
visualized emotional intelligence as a mixed intelligence, consisting of cognitive ability
and personality aspects. This model emphasizes how cognitive and personality factors
influence general well-being. The third model, introduced by Daniel Goleman, also
observes emotional intelligence as a mixed intelligence involving cognitive ability and
personality aspects. However, unlike the model proposed by Reuven Bar-On, Goleman's
model focuses on how cognitive and personality factors determine workplace success.

Reuven Bar-On (1988) has retained emotional intelligence in the framework of

personality theory, specifically a model of well-being. Bar-On's model of emotional
intelligence relates to the potential for performance and success, instead of performance
or success itself, and is considered process-oriented rather than outcome-oriented (Bar-
On, 2002). It focuses on a range of emotional and social abilities, including the ability
to be aware of, understand, and express oneself, the ability to be aware of, understand,
and relate to others, the ability to deal with strong emotions, and the ability to adapt to
change and solve problems of a social or personal nature (Bar-On, 1997). In his model,
Bar-On summaries have five components of emotional intelligence that include
intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress management, and general mood. Bar-
On postulates that emotional intelligence develops over time and that it can be
improved through training, programming, and therapy (Bar-On, 2002).

Table: Table 2: Bar-On's Model of Emotional Intelligence

Peter Salovey and John Mayer first proposed their theory of emotional intelligence in
1990. It can be said that the term Emotional Intelligence was first introduced in the
scientific literature in 1990. Since then, the development of models of emotional
intelligence and research in this field has increased substantially. Pure theory of
Salovey and Mayer of emotional intelligence integrates major ideas in the arena of
Intelligence and emotion. It is said that intelligence involves the capacity to carry out
abstract reasoning. From emotion research, emotions are indications that express
regular and discernible meanings about relationships and that at a number of basic
emotions are universal (Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso, 2002). They suggest that
individuals vary in their ability to process information of an emotional nature and in
their ability to relate emotional processing to a wider cognition. They then posit that
this ability is seen to manifest itself in certain adaptive behaviours (Mayer, Salovey, and
Caruso, 2000). Mayer and Salovey's notion of emotional intelligence is based within a
model of intelligence, that is, it strives to define emotional intelligence within the
confines of the standard criteria for a new intelligence. It proposes that emotional
intelligence is comprised of two areas: experiential (ability to perceive, respond, and
manipulate emotional information without necessarily understanding it) and strategic
(ability to understand and manage emotions without necessarily perceiving feelings well
or fully experiencing them).

Mayer and Salovey's (1997) Four-Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence

Goleman: A Mixed Model of Emotional Intelligence: Goleman (1995-2003) has promoted
the notion of emotional intelligence and formulated it in terms of a theory of job and
work performance. According to Goleman, five primary domains characterize emotional
intelligence:

1. Knowing one's emotions. People with greater certainty of their moods and feelings
are better navigators of their lives. They can take good decisions and set realistic
expectations.
2. Managing emotions: People who have ability to cope with adverse or distressing
emotions can soothe themselves at the appropriate time. They can shake off rampant
anxiety, gloom or irritability. They show a form of "stress" hardiness.
3. Motivating oneself: People with the capacity for self-efficacy not only manifest
emotional self-control, but also use this to accomplish specific pre-set goals. This
ability to stifle impulsiveness underlies accomplishments of all sorts.
4. Recognizing emotions in others. People with the ability to distinguish other's
emotions based on situational and expressive cues possess information which can be
used to create desirable outcomes. Empathetic abilities come with the capacity to not
only recognize but also share the emotions felt by others.
5. Handling relationships. People with this skill can get things done with and
through others. Over time, the consistent capacity to handle relationships will create
leadership opportunities for the individual with this competence.

Goleman includes a set of emotional competencies within each construct of emotional

intelligence. Emotional competencies are not inborn talents, but rather learned
capabilities that must be worked on and developed to achieve outstanding performance.
Goleman postulates that individuals are born with a general emotional intelligence that
determines their potential for learning emotional competencies. The organization of the
competencies under the various constructs is not random, they appear in synergistic
groups that support and facilitate each other (Boyatzis, Goleman, and Rhee, 1999).
Goleman's (2001) Emotional Intelligence Competencies

Goleman's work has been influential to develop the concept of emotional intelligence in
the context of work organizations and administrative units. In this application of
emotional intelligence, Goleman subtly shifts his discourse from multiple intelligences
to multiple competencies. He groups work competencies into three categories that
include purely technical skills (such as accounting and business planning); cognitive
(such as analytical reasoning); and competencies demonstrating emotional intelligence
(such as the ability to work with others and effectiveness in leading change). Goleman
argues that emotional intelligence has importance when work is uncertain, increasingly
interdependent and knowledge based. Goleman further argues that in the new
economy, emotional skills are required to establish conditions for sharing knowledge
and developing trust which is vital for the development of functional teams.
Emotional intelligence is measured using the Emotional Intelligence quotient (EQ)
which is more of a description of the capacity or ability to perceive, then assess and
eventually manage one's own and others emotions. Several measures of emotional
intelligence are used in scientific research. Two of these measures are the Levels of
Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) and the Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test
(SREIT).
Commonly Used Measures of Emotional Intelligence

There are three main emotional intelligence models which include:

1. Emotional intelligence Model based on Trait.

2. Emotional Models based on Ability.
3. Emotional intelligence from mixed models.
1. The Trait Emotional Intelligence model: Trait emotional intelligence or Trait
emotional self-efficacy is described as "a constellation or behaviour dispositions and
self-perceptions regarding a person's ability to recognize, process and utilize emotional-
laden information" where the trait emotional intelligence should be measured within the
framework of an individual's personality.
The trait emotional intelligence is measured by numerous tools of self-report and
include the EQ, the Six seconds emotional intelligence assessment, the Swinburne
University emotional intelligence test (SUEIT) and the Schuttle self-report emotional
intelligence test (SSEIT). A trait emotional intelligence questionnaire (TEIQUE) that is in
15 languages was designed specially in an open- access manner to measure emotional
intelligence compressively.

2. Emotional intelligence model based on ability: Salovey and Mayer reviewed their

prior Emotional Intelligence definition and improved it to read as "the ability to perceive
emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and regulate
emotion to promote personal growth" (Mayer, J.D. and Salovey, P.,1997). This model
maintains emotions as vital information sources that enable a person to make good use
of the social environment. According to the model, an individual's ability to process
emotional information varies from one person to another and certain adaptive
behaviours manifest themselves in this ability. The model thus goes further to propose
four ability types that include:

 Perceiving of emotions
 Using of emotion
 Understanding emotions and
 Initiating the emotions

After developing this model, it signalled the development of a measurement instrument

that was named after its advocates, Mayer-Salovey- Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test
(MSCEIT) which is based on various "emotion- based problem solving items" (Salovey P
& Grewal D,2005). The ability of a person is measured on the four branches of
emotional intelligence which then generates a score for each branch and eventually the
total score.
III. Mixed models of emotional intelligence: Included in the mixed emotional intelligence
model are Golemans's Emotional Competencies and Bar-On's emotional-social
intelligence model.

Several studies have shown that Emotional intelligence has considerable impact on the
performance at work, helps to steer the social intricacies of the workplace, lead and
motivate others, and outshine in career. It also affects physical health by managing the
stress levels, which if left uncontrolled can lead to serious health problems. It is well
established in numerous psychological reports that major step to improving emotional
intelligence is to learn how to relieve stress which in turn will also improve your mental
health. By understanding ones emotions and how to control them, person is able to
express how to feel and understand others feeling. This permits communicating more
successfully and developing stronger relationships, both at work and in personal life.

Application of emotional intelligence in administration and governance:

Many administrative officers are extremely talented, conceptually brilliant and have a
very high IQ. They excel in computers, science and mathematics. But they have
problem in making social relationships. Many of them are antagonistic and ruthless in
their response to the outside world. They have little or no feeling for people around
them. They feel physiologically uncooperative in their relationships and have no social
graces or even a social personal life.
Bulk of studies have demonstrated that Emotional intelligence is enumerated through
deep listening to oneself and listening to others (Kramer 1995, 1999). People who are
high in emotional intelligence recognize how to listen to their emotions and control their
intensity so they are not influenced by others. Emotionally intelligent people know how
to keep troublesome emotions in check. Emotionally intelligent people sense the effect
their emotions have on others. Emotionally intelligence people know how to use their
strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. Emotionally intelligence people listen
to other people's emotions and can understand with them. Emotionally intelligent
people act morally and build trust through honesty and consistency.
In the area of administration and governance, emotional intelligence has five main
elements of emotional intelligence:

1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Motivation.
4. Empathy.
5. Social skills.

These skills in emotional intelligence are vital for successful leadership. Self-awareness
and its representative competencies of accurate self-assessment and self-confidence
help emotionally intelligent decision-makers to determine their appropriate role in the
decision-making process (Goleman, 2001). Self-management and its behavioural
components of self-control, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability,
achievement drive and initiative are significant emotional intelligence skills for decision-
makers (Goleman, 2001).

As an administrator and leader, one should manage these elements.

1. Self-awareness: If people are self-aware, they always know their feelings and how
emotions affect the people around them. Being self-aware people are in administrator or
leadership position also means having a clear picture of their strengths and
weaknesses.
2. Self-regulation: administrators and leaders who regulate themselves successfully
hardly verbally attack others, make rushed or emotional decisions, stereotype people,
or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all about staying in control. This element
of emotional intelligence also covers an administrators and leader's flexibility and
commitment to personal accountability.
To improve ability to self-regulate, person must

 Know values.
 Hold himself accountable.
 Practice being calm.
3. Motivation: Self-motivated administrators and leaders regularly work toward their
goals. And they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work.
Administrators can improve motivation by following method:

 Re-examine why they are doing certain act.

 Make sure that their goal statements are fresh and energizing (Goal Setting).
 Know where they stand.
 Be hopeful and find something good: Motivated leaders are usually optimistic, no
matter what they face. Adopting this mind-set might take practice, but it's well worth
the effort.

4. Empathy: Empathy is critical to manage a successful team or organization.

Administrators and leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone
else's situation. They support and develop the people on their team, challenge others
who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it.

5. Social skills: Administrators and leaders must develop social skills. People who do
well in this element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They are just as
open to hearing bad news as good news, and they are experts at getting their team to
support them and be excited about a new mission or project. Administrators who have
good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts tactfully.
Components of emotional intelligence (Daniel Goleman, 1998):

Although emotional intelligence has numerous benefits in administration and

workplace, major drawback is testing of emotional intelligence. Main concerns with
testing methods is the discussion on whether emotional intelligence is based on a
person's temperament and personality, or whether it is a learned response developed
through interpersonal skills and experiences. Testing based on the nature aspect will
look at personality, emotional stability and conscientiousness of the person to
determine emotional intelligence. The nurture advocates will look at socially accepted
aspects in the immediate area, leadership skills, teamwork and learned interpersonal
skills.
To summarize, Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and understand emotions
and their impact on behaviour and attitudes. Those who have a high degree of
emotional intelligence are in tune with both their own emotions and the emotions of
other people with whom they come in contact. Recently, focus on understanding
emotions in organizations has resulted in increased attention to the role of Emotional
Intelligence.

Information sharing and transparency in government

Information is fundamental need of humans to perform various tasks. It has been

found that the ability to seek, receive and circulate information is crucial to secure
human rights. One way of looking at "Democratisation of Information" is the capability
of every person to get the information they need to enhance their lives because it assist
to make wise decisions in life. Another dimension to this is building an information-
driven society which has access to all services and facilities with minimum
bureaucratic and procedural formalities. Generally, information services are an
important support for any democratic government. Citizens trust on information for
making decisions which impact upon their social, political and economic lives. In this
framework, there are many laws which oversee the right to access, and disseminate
information locally and internationally (Hakielimu, LHRC, REPOA, 2005).

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The plenty and availability of information means that the user needs skill to determine
what it is that they want. The user of information has major role to play in effecting
information sharing. The user must be able to use pertinent tools to explore and collect
information and be able to determine the significance of accessed data to his/her
operations. The ability to use such tools is accomplished through learning. Having the
knowledge to use the tools for searching the information, the user must be aware of the
problem that they need to solve.
Information Sharing Model (Source: Research Data, 2012)

The choice of the information is uttered by the gap which has to be covered. When this
gap is communicated, it becomes a need. Upon responding to the need, the user of
information consults the source which is either electronic or physical. It is possible that
the source may not have the type of information requested or the information may not
be satisfying. Regardless of the status of satisfaction, the user of information takes
action towards covering the gap. public can seek information from government
institutions, dissatisfaction may influence members of the public to take action, even
against the government, on the other hand satisfaction influences more support from
the government (Lubua, 2014). The gratified user of the information applies it to solve
the problem identified in the gap.

Transparency in governance: Governance is the exercise of economic, political and

administrative authority to manage a country's affairs at all levels. The concept of
Governance is broader than Government. The notion of Governance focuses on
institutions and processes.

Good Governance has major features such as

1. Rule of law
2. Transparency and free flow of information
3. Participation
4. Equity and inclusiveness
5. Effectiveness and efficiency
6. Accountability
7. Control of corruption
8. Balances between growth and distribution
9. Present and future resource use
An information-driven society leads to transparency and accountability. This provides
drive to programmes aimed to enhance the processes and systems of public bodies
thereby improving service delivery. Since transparency involves sharing of information
-meaning most decisions of officials, and important rules and regulations are in the
public domain- it thoroughly reduces chances of corruption, nepotism, favouritism.
Lack of information about the functioning of government agencies can make it easy for
corrupt officials to cover their tracks. On the other hand, when officials recognize that
their decisions will be out in the open, then they will be less motivated to act randomly
or with self-interest. It can be said that the least transparent Governments exist in the
most corrupt countries. A number of international bodies with the responsibility of
promoting and protecting human rights have recognised the fundamental nature of the
Right to Information (RTI). While the flow of information has some understandable
benefits like increased transparency, accountability, public participation and
empowerment, it has some drawbacks too. If the information is used to make
allegations to malign public servants or create disorder it can negatively impact the
working of public bodies. Adequate checks and balances are needed in the systems to
ensure that information is not misused by such elements. Transparency is widely
recognized as core principle of good governance. Transparency means sharing
information and acting in an open manner. Free access to information is a key element
in promoting transparency. Information must be timely, relevant, accurate and
complete for it to be used effectively. Transparency is also considered essential for
controlling corruption in public life. Transparency and accountability in Government
are mutually reinforcing.

Transparency upholds accountability and delivers information for peoples about the
activities of Government. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a
national asset. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies
to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to
the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to
identify information of greatest use to the public. Transparency in governance also has
constructive impact on the efficiency of Government functioning. Since most rules and
regulations are already in public domain, most people approaching the Government for
its services will already know about the basic requirements, and officials will not waste
valuable time explaining their position to people. Likewise, transparency increases
accountability of the Government officials. As the power of all officers and arms of the
Government are out in the open, and proper records of all actions of officials are
available, it becomes easy to fix responsibility in case of any offense. On the other hand,
if decision-making process is shrouded in secrecy, officers involved will take the onus of
an inappropriate decision.

But significant effect of transparency is on people themselves, especially the

disadvantaged lot. Transparency in governance is actually empowering such as People
know whom to approach for which work, they can easily discover if they are eligible for
special schemes of the needy like jawahar Rojgar Yojana, the targeted public
distribution system, etc. In such a situation, people will not be forced to request
officials for what is their legitimate right. It is apparent that transparency in governance
augments the quality of governance and leads to lowering of governance and leads to
lowering of corruption. However, transparency in itself is not enough to eradicate
corruption. This is because, while transparency implies availability of information, it
also requires an educated and intellectual population to find out the real meaning of
the available information and act on it. Lessening corruption also requires a prompt
and effective criminal justice system, which can swiftly punish the guilty. So, it is
established that transparency is a needed but not sufficient condition to eliminate
corruption.

Additionally, in Indian scenario with a large population of uneducated and poor people,
information has not only to be made available, but the availability of information itself
has to be advertised. This means that there is a need of activists who can inform and
educate the public about the kind of information available to them and how to use that
information. While, some government departments have been performing this role,
there is a lot of gap remaining which has to be bridged by social activists and the
media.

Another facet of information sharing is that information must be presented in a manner

that is usable by the general public

Major Initiatives to Enhance Transparency in India

1. Right to Information Act

2. Public Services Bill
3. Citizens Charters
4. e-Governance
5. e-Bhoomi
6. e-Chaupal
7. e-procurement

To maintain transparency, government need people who can seek information from
required sources, collate it and make it understandable to the people who may be
affected by such information. The news media is support of society which can effectively
do this. Non-governmental organizations, especially those working in the field of RTI or
people's empowerment can be another.
To summarize, Information sharing and transparency are vital components for any
government to enhance the living of society. Information is valuable for every citizen to
participate in the life and governance of society. The greater the access of the citizen to
information, the greater would be the responsiveness of government to community
needs. Transparency is considered imperative to procure the support and participation
of citizens in management of public services.

Probity in Governance: Philosophical Basis of Governance and Probity

Morality and government are vital element for healthy nation. The relationships
between the people who establish a nation rest on a moral basis. This foundation is a
crucial part of their association and its substance determines the character of the
nation and of the government under which the people choose to live. Like our inherent
and inalienable rights, true morality derives from the nature of man and his life on this
planet. It is not possible to consider a political philosophy intelligently and adequately
without also considering its moral implications. The ethical concerns of governance
have been emphasized broadly in Indian scriptures and other treatises such as
Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita, Buddha Charita, Arthashastra, Panchatantra,
Manusmriti, Kural, Shukra Niti, Kadambari, Raja Tarangani, and Hitopadesh. Chinese
philosophers such as Lao Tse, Confucius and Mencius also contributed the theoretical
dogmas on ethical governance.

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In the Western philosophy, there are three well-known schools of ethics. Aristotle holds
that virtues (such as justice, charity and generosity) are dispositions to act in ways that
benefit the possessor of these virtues and the society of which he is a part. Aristotle
conceives of ethical theory as a field dissimilar from the theoretical sciences. Its
approach must match its subject matter good action and must respect the fact that in
this field many generalizations hold only for the most part. Aristotle was supporter of
theoretical framework of Socrates and Plato in taking the virtues to be central to a well-
lived life. Like Plato, he respects the ethical virtues (justice, courage, temperance) as
complex rational, emotional and social skills. But he rebuffed Plato's idea that a
training in the sciences and metaphysics is a necessary prerequisite for a full
understanding of our good. Plato upholds a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of
ethics. It can be said that human well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest aim of moral
thought and conduct, and the virtues (arete: 'excellence') are the requisite skills and
dispositions needed to attain it.

Plato's fundamental assertion, in the Republic, is that justice is so great a good that
anyone who completely embraces it is thereby better off, even in the face of the distress
and pain of severe misfortune. The basic moral equation, clearly declared by Plato,
seeks to establish that: 'Justice discounted by pain and dishonour is more
advantageous than injustice supplemented by the rewards of justice'. However, Plato
failed, throughout the discussion, to clearly validate this unusual and complex formula.
But he evidently believed that people do act against their own immediate interests for
the sake of justice, and for the sake of the good of the civic community as a whole. He
did not think that the only motive for acting justly is to increase one's own happiness.
Plato distinguishes that a tension between duty and self-interest is certainly
conceivable; that duty and self-interest are two independent concepts neither of which
can be reduced to the other. To resolve this tension we must know what is best, without
qualifications The Theory of the Forms occupies a crucial and central place in the
justification of what may seem to be an extraordinary claim (Annas, 1981). The Forms
are those eternal, changeless, imperceptible and bodiless objects of the understanding,
which are central to the education of the philosopher of the Republic, and which
engender in him a passionate reverence for such abstract ideas as Beauty, Goodness,
Justice, Wisdom. If Plato's idea of happiness is elusive and his support for a morality of
happiness seems somewhat subdued, there are several reasons. First, his conception of
happiness differs in significant ways from ordinary views. In his early works his
approach is largely negative: Socratic questioning seems designed to undermine the
traditional values rather than to develop a positive account of his own. Second, the
positive accounts contained in his later works, especially that of the Republic, treat
happiness as a state of perfection that is hard to comprehend because it is based on
metaphysical presuppositions that seem both hazy and out of the realm of ordinary
understanding. In other discourses, he confines himself to intimations of different
aspects of what is good in and for the soul, intimations that are hard to fit together in a
coherent picture. Aristotle talked about happiness as a self-sufficient state of the active
individual. Third, in crucial texts Plato's moral ideals appear both austere and self-
abnegating: the soul is to remain aloof from the pleasures of the body; communal life
demands the subordination of individual wishes and aims.

Secondly, Immanual Kant, makes the concept of duty central to morality: human
beings are bound, from knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the
categorical imperative to respect other rational beings with whom they interact. Kant
supposed that a rigorous application of the same methods of reasoning would yield an
equal success in dealing with the problems of moral philosophy. Kant raised concerned
about the fundamental source of morality. He stated that the source of morality is our
ability to rationally make decisions and our possession of a "will". Kant believes that an
act has no moral worth if it is not performed for the sake of morality alone. Basically,
Immanuel Kant argued that moral requirements are based on a standard of rationality
he dubbed the "Categorical Imperative". Immorality thus involves a violation of the
Categorical Imperative and is thereby irrational. Other philosophers, such as Locke and
Hobbes, had also argued that moral requirements are based on standards of rationality.
However, these standards were either desire-based instrumental principles of
rationality or based on sui generis rational intuitions. Hobbes stated that in the state of
nature rational fear drives individuals to work with one another. Locke elaborated in his
philosophical dogmas that individuals in the state of nature are indifferent to one
another (but decide that it would be easier on them to work together). For Hobbes civil
society makes moral distinctions, whereas for Locke moral distinctions characterize
social relations independent of civil relations: they are natural, God-given. Acting
morally means acting in accord with nature, motivated by the threat of divine
punishment/reward. According to Locke, all human beings deserve to be treated
equally and can justly be bound by civil laws (or government) only if they consent to
such obligations. Locke proposes that the mind puts ideas together in three different
ways. The first is to combine simple ideas to form complex ones. The second is to bring
two or more ideas together and form a view of them in relation to each other. The third
is to generate general ideas by abstracting from specific examples. Thus people ignore
the specific circumstances in which we gain a particular piece of knowledge, which
would limit its applicability, and generalise so that we have some rule or idea that
applies in circumstances beyond our direct experience.

Kant approved with many of his forerunners that an analysis of practical reason will
reveal only the requirement that rational agents must conform to instrumental
principles. However he maintained that conformity to the Categorical Imperative and
hence to moral requirements themselves, can nevertheless be shown to be essential to
rational agency. This argument was based on his striking principle that a rational will
must be regarded as autonomous, or free in the sense of being the author of the law
that binds it. The fundamental principle of morality, Categorical Imperative is none
other than the law of an autonomous will. Thus, Kant's moral philosophy is a
conception of reason whose reach in practical affairs goes well beyond that of a
Humean 'slave' to the passions. Furthermore, it is the presence of this self-governing
reason in each person that Kant thought offered decisive grounds for viewing each as
possessed of equal worth and deserving of equal respect.

The third is the utilitarian standpoint that proclaims that the guiding principle of
conduct should be the greatest happiness (or benefit) of the greatest number (Hobson,
2002). Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics maintained that the moral action is
the one that maximizes utility. Utility is defined in various ways, including as pleasure,
economic well-being and the lack of suffering. Utilitarianism is a form of
consequentialism, which implies that the "end justifies the means". This opinion can be
distinguished with seeing intentions, virtues or the compliance with rules as ethically
important. Classical utilitarianism's two most influential contributors are Jeremy
Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Bentham, stated that "it is the greatest happiness of
the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong. The ethical theory of John
Stuart Mill is most broadly expressed in his classical text Utilitarianism (1861). Its
objective is to justify the utilitarian principle as the foundation of morals. This belief
represents actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote overall human
happiness. Mill focuses on consequences of actions and not on rights nor ethical
sentiments. Mill described "utilitarianism" as the faith that considers a particular
"theory of life" as the "foundation of morals" (CW 10, 210). His opinion of theory of life
was monistic. There is one thing that is essentially desirable such as pleasure. In
contrast to a form of hedonism that conceives pleasure as a homogeneous matter, Mill
was convinced that some types of pleasure are more valuable than others in virtue of
their intrinsic qualities. His position is called "qualitative hedonism". Many
philosophers embrace that qualitative hedonism is no consistent position. Hedonism
proclaims that pleasure is the only intrinsic value. Under this assumption, the critics
debated, there can be no evaluative basis for the distinction between higher and lower
pleasures.

Earlier period of Utilitarianism, Mill hypothesised that moral judgments presume rules
(CW 10, 206). In contrast to Kant who based his ethical theory on self-imposed rules,
so-called maxims, Mill thought that morality builds on social rules. Mill spoke about
"morally right" or "morally wrong". He maintains that we name a type of action morally
wrong if we think that it should be sanctioned either through formal punishment,
public disapproval (external sanctions) or through a bad conscience (internal
sanctions). This is the critical difference between "morality and simple expediency" (CW
10, 246). Wrong or inexpedient actions are those that we cannot recommend to a
person, like harming oneself. But in contrast to immoral actions, inexpedient actions
are not worthy of being sanctioned. Moral rules are also critical for Mill because he
takes human action in essence as to be guided by dispositions. A virtuous person has
the disposition to follow moral rules. In Utilitarianism approach, Mill presented two
different formulations of the utilitarian standard. The first points in an act utilitarian,
the second in a rule utilitarian direction. Since act and rule utilitarianism are
incompatible claims about what makes actions morally right, the formulations open up
the fundamental question concerning what style of utilitarianism Mill wants to advocate
and whether his moral theory forms a consistent whole.

The Western thought is associated with ethical guidelines to rulers, whether in a ruler
or a democracy (Santosh Ajmera, 1986). These apprehensions are found in the theories
of famous thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton,
Thomas Penn, John Stuart Mill, Edmund Burke, and others. According to Alexander
Hamilton, moral realism takes human nature as it is found in the accumulated
experience of ages. It denies human and social perceptibility while acknowledging the
reality of ethical conscience and will (Federici, 2012). It is represented in physophical
studies that Moral traditionalism is a view regarding the moral justification of social
rules in political communities. It holds, roughly, that traditions not reason, nor
approved conventions legitimize these rules. Its main descriptive is Edmund Burke.
Burke argued that that civil peace and freedom from arbitrary coercion are goods which
can be preserved only if the social and legal norms inherited from former generations
constrain the present generations' public choices. In his writings, Burke claims that the
English Revolution of 1688 took place because people's normative expectations were
rooted in traditions and that the destitution of the king was an act of enforcing the
shared norms regarding the legitimate exercise of political power. Burke emphasized
that the French political leaders' ethical and political rationalism must lead to incessant
acts of arbitrary coercion and destroy civil peace, because freedom and civil peace
cannot coexist with the neglect of tradition.

To Jefferson, there were not two moralities: one governing personal and the other
governing national affairs. Personal morality has its counterpart in the national arena,
and the principles that govern the former are just as applicable to the latter. According
to him, "The moral duties which exist between individual and individual in a state of
nature accompany them into a state of society, and the aggregate of the duties exist as
did between the individuals composing them while in an unassociated state, their
Maker not having released them from those duties on their forming themselves into a
nation."(Thomas Jefferson: Opinion, 1793). John Locke based his ethical theories upon
belief in the natural goodness of humanity. The inevitable pursuit of happiness and
pleasure, when conducted rationally, leads to cooperation, and in the long run private
happiness and the general welfare coincide. Immediate pleasures must give way to a
prudent regard for ultimate good, including reward in the afterlife. He argued for broad
religious freedom in three separate essays on toleration but excepted atheism and
Roman Catholicism, which he felt should be legislated against as inimical to religion
and the state.

Other philosopher who developed ethical theory of governance was David Hume. Hume
upholds that moral distinctions are derived from feelings of pleasure and pain of a
special sort, and not as held by many Western philosophers since Socrates from
reason. Working from the empiricist principle that the mind is essentially passive,
Hume claims that reason by itself can never prevent or produce any action or affection.
But since morals concerns actions and affections, it cannot be based on reason.
Additionally, reason can influence our conduct in only two ways. First, reason can
inform us of the existence of something which is the proper object of a passion, and
thereby excite it. Second, reason can deliberate about means to an end that we already
desire. Hume maintains for a distinction between facts and values. According to Hume,
one cannot infer conclusions about what ought or ought not to be the case based on
premises of what is or is not To summarise, there are numerous philosophers that
grounded their moral approaches. In western philosophical thoughts, utilitarian views
are defined by many philosophers and postulated dominant theories of morality that
signified good governance. Aristotle developed moral values based on social skills. Other
eminent ethical philosophers who contributed in developing moral guidelines are
 Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Penn, John Stuart Mill, and Edmund
Burke.

Probity in Governance: Right to Information

It has been emphasized by many experts that Good governance seems to be a

substitute for effective government in the sense that the basic government functions are
'developmental' whereas the fact remains that all governments carry out several more
important extra developmental functions. Right to information is vital mechanism for
successful governance practices. The right to information provides a helpful tool, which
every person in India can use to find out information to enhance their life. Information
indicates any material in any form including records, documents, memos, e-mails,
opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers,
samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to
any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for
the time being in force. According to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

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Right to Information includes the right to

i. Inspect works, documents, and records.

ii. Take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records.
iii. Take certified samples of material.
iv. Obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes
or in any other electronic mode or through printouts.

Global implementation of right to information act: (Source: www.freedominfo.org)

Country India USA UK Japan

Attributes

Title of act Right to Freedom of Freedom of Freedom of

information act information information act information act
act.

Date of enactment 15 June 2005 4July1966 30 Nov. 2000 May1999

Date of 12 Oct. 2005 4 July 1967 Jan 2005 April 2001

implementation

Time of 4 Month 1 year 4 year 2 year

implementation
 Delivery of 30 day 20 day 20 Day 30 Day
information

In Indian context, Right to Information Act 2005 commands timely response to

inhabitant requests for government information. It is an initiative taken by Department
of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to
provide a RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the
details of first Appellate Authorities, PIOs etc. amongst others, besides access to RTI
Right to Information related information / disclosures published on the web by various
Public Authorities under the government of India as well as the State Governments. The
Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir. Under
the provisions of the Act, any citizen may request information from a "public authority"
(a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply
expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to
computerise their records for wide dissemination and to proactively certain categories of
information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information
formally. The first application was given to a Pune police station. Information disclosure
in India was restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws,
which the new RTI Act relaxes. It codifies a fundamental right of citizens.

Major objective of the Right to Information Act: The elementary objective of the

Right to Information Act is

i. To empower the citizens

ii. Promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government
iii. Contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense

It is said that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the
instruments of governance and make the government more accountable to the
governed. The Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the
activities of the Government.

Right to Information under the Act, 2005

Under this act, people have rights to search information from a public authority which
is held by the public authority or which is held under its control. This right includes
inspection of work, documents and records; taking notes, extracts or certified copies of
documents or records; and taking certified samples of material held by the public
authority or held under the control of the public authority. It is significant that only
such information can be supplied under the Act that is available and existing and is
held by the public authority or is held under the control of the public authority. The
Public Information Officer is not authorized to create information that is not a part of
the record of the public authority. The Public Information Officer is also not required to
provide information which require drawing of inference and/or making of assumptions;
or to interpret information; or to solve the problems raised by the applicants; or to
furnish replies to hypothetical questions. Under this act, resident has a right to obtain
information from a public authority in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video
cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through print-outs provided such
information is already stored in a computer or in any other device.

The information to the candidate should be provided in the form in which it is sought.
However, if the supply of information sought in a particular form would unduly divert
the resources of the public authority or may cause harm to the safety or preservation of
the records, supply of information in that form may be denied. In some cases, the
applicants assume the Public Information Officer to furnish information in some
particular proforma developed by them on the plea that they have a right to get
information in the form in which it is sought. It can be established that the provision in
the Act simply means that if the information is sought in the form of photocopy, it shall
be provided in the form of photocopy, or if it is sought in the form of a floppy or in any
other electronic mode, it shall be provided in that form, subject to the conditions given
in the Act. It does not indicate that the PIO shall re-shape the information.

Important sections under Right to Information under the Act, 2005

Some Information Searchers request the Public Information Officers to cull out
information from some document(s) and give such extracted information to them. A
citizen has a right to get 'material' from a public authority which is held by or under the
control of that public authority. The Act does not require the Public Information Officer
to deduce some conclusion from the 'material' and supply the 'conclusion' so deduced
to the applicant. It means that the Public Information Officer is required to supply the
'material' in the form as held by the public authority, but not to do research on behalf
of the citizen to deduce anything from the material and then supply it to him.
 RTI provides information on the following schemes:

Community requirement
Individual requirement
 

Drinking water connection

Ration card
 

Street light
Certificates: Birth, Community, Income, Death
 

Public health and sanitation

Land ownership patta
 

Road maintenance
Retirement Pension
 

Rural employment scheme

 
 

Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every resident to

i. Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information

ii. Take copies of any government documents
iii. Inspect any government documents.
iv. Inspect any Government works
v. Take samples of materials of any Government work.

Steps in filing RTI Application

1. Candidate can apply either hand written or electronically in a plain paper in

English, Hindi, or local language to the concerned PIO (Public Information Officer) of
the relevant department with a subject application under Right to information Act
2005.
2. The application fee for the State of Tamil Nadu and central Government is Rs. 10.
Court fees stamp, cash, government treasury, Demand draft, and postal order are
accepted modes of payment.
3. Send the application through Registered/Speed post with acknowledgement due
so that it gets accepted at the other end.
4. Do obtain acknowledgement on the photocopy of the application together with a
receipt for the fee if personally application is filed.
5. If the information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the
information shall be provided within 48 hours of the receipt of the request.
6. The Public Information Officer should respond within 30 days of the receipt of the
application. If no reply is received, file and appeal to the Appellate Authority of the
same Department.
7. The Appellate Authority gets another 30 days to respond after which the
applicant can make second appeal within 90 days to the State Information
Commission for the state government or Central Information Commission for central
government departments as the case may be.

In case of information denial, RTI act recommends a fine of Rs. 250 per day to a
maximum of Rs. 25,000 for 100 days over the concerned Public Information Officer.
Procedure to gather information:

Solution to overcome the problems due to the implementation of RTI Act, 2005:

It was observed that the personal information officer of those organizations where
medium or low level of information technology is used, find lot of difficulties in
collecting the information. To get the essential information they approach different
department. However those organizations where all the information is stored at the
central place called Central Database Management System, are not facing difficulties
due to the implementation of RTI Act, 2005. Therefore, the integration of different
department through the information technology was suggested by the personal
information officer. Further it was also suggested that there should be fully dedicated
executive as personal information officer and not as the executive with additional
responsibility.

Personal information officer is unable to provide the required information to the

information seeker on time, because they find difficult to access the required
information from the concerned department. It was found through the personal
interview that the organization where low or medium level of information technology is
used, Personal information officer approaches the different departments to get the
information and then it is given to the information seeker. It is a time consuming
process.
To overcome issue of time consuming, the organization where high level of information
technology is used, and all the information is at Central Database Management System,
then information can be accessed by the different departments as well as the personal
information officer. Central Database Management System is a system of storage of
information from different department. It is advocated by the personal information
officer that this system should be followed for the effective implementation of RTI Act,
2005.

Organization with effective of use of information technology in delivering right to

information:

Necessity for RTI Legislation

RTI legal framework has immense importance in India as well as other countries.
Information can support and strengthen poor societies to fight the circumstances in
which they find themselves and help to balance the uneven power dynamics that exist
between people downgraded through poverty and their governments. This apparent
approach to working also helps poor communities to be visible on the political map so
that their interests can be advanced. The right to information is central to the
achievement of the Development goals. Right to information legislation acquired
fundamental attention for the development of society. RTI laws gained importance as
critical tools to combat corruption, and inefficiency. Although corruption exists in all
cultures, it has a particularly malevolent effect on less developed countries. As also
recognised by donor agencies, corruption discourages foreign investment and eats away
at the budgets allocated to public procurements which enables basic infrastructure
such as roads, schools and hospitals to be built. It also weakens political institutions
by reducing public confidence in their operation. If unrestrained corruption continues
to pollute a society or political system, it may ultimately lead to social interest due to
the division it creates between those who have easy access to goods and services and
those who remain excluded. It is the poor who always bear the greatest burden of a
corrupt civilization.

Right to information legislation, is considered vital in advancing the development of

society and in eliminating poverty. An unparalleled number of governments around the
world with UNDP support are therefore increasingly enacting RTI laws. These laws vary
extremely and often depend on the circumstances and specific campaigns, besides the
development, and political context or the places where they are launched. The right to
information can be guaranteed in a number of ways. Many nations provide for the right
in their constitutions, usually by means of a broad statement guaranteeing the right of
access to information. In the context of India the constitutional right to freedom of
expression is specified (Article 19(1)(a)) and the right to information is inferred from this
constitutional right.

RTI in India also received legal acknowledgement though judgements of the Supreme
Court. Brick by brick the judiciary has built an impregnable edifice of the Fundamental
rights providing thereby a semantic expansion and wholesome judicial connotation to
RTI. In enactment of the need to provide RTI and enhance transparency, respective
Governments made and attempts to amend the Official Secrets Act (1923). In 1996 the
first major draft legislation on RTI was circulated by the Press Council of India. This
draft originated in a meeting of social activists, civil servants and lawyers in Mussoorie
and culminated in the Freedom of Information Bill, 2000 introduced in Parliament.
Meanwhile instead of waiting for a central legislation, half a dozen states enacted their
own laws on RTI.

RTI ONLINE: Department of Personnel & Training has launched a web portal which is
called RTI online with URL www.rtionline.gov.in for all Central Ministries/Departments.
This is a facility for the Indian citizens to file RTI applications and first appeals online to
all Central Ministries/Departments. The prescribed RTI fees can also be paid online.
Reply to the RTI applications and first appeals received online can also be given online
by the respective PIOs/FAAs.
Advantages of Right to information:
Right to information is highly beneficial for citizens.

1. Empowerment of the common man: Whole range of common man in the nation
have been empowered by such an initiative in which they have got the full rights to
be informed about anything that affects their life directly or indirectly and the
responsible bodies have to answer them completely.
2. Easy mode of spreading information rightfully: The Right to information has
protected a very concrete and easy mode of spreading information of all kind in all
form where apt information will be received by only the person concerned and this
will in turn result in easy accessibility to information on one hand and time
conservation of all.
3. Protection of Information: Though, the selected people with selected queries will
be entertained and informed rightfully and aptly, so this will lead to protection of
information thereby protecting everyone from being wrongly or inappropriately
informed or misinformed.
4. Corruption will decrease gradually: It can lessen corrupt practices performed by
government officials. If a person being asked for information on certain products and
services and the answer has to be delivered by a competent and responsible authority
then the chances of corruption will certainly be minimized. People will not have to
bother about being cheated or victims of frauds and swindles.

Drawbacks of Right to information

In spite of benefits, right to information act also have some disadvantages.

1. Unnecessary chaos all over: Major disadvantage is that it create unnecessary

disturbance and chaos over a newly incorporated plan just to create annoyance.
Cases have been filed against fetching wrong information and asking for abrupt
information from different officials at various levels and this creates nothing but an
overall chaos.
2. An extra burden to the Authorities: Since the authorized persons may already
have loaded with works and tasks to be delivered at their end, this new act put more
burden to be done and delivered.
3. Multiple Public Information Officers (PIO): The government has appointed
multiple PIO's. This results in running of citizens from office to office in search of
correct PIO who can yield correct information.

It is appraised that right to information act has laid emphasis on good governance, of
which the major elements that have been identified are: informed citizenry for
encouraging people's participation in development process, transparency,
accountability and reduction in corruption. To summarize, right to information act has
come into force in India. According to law, Indian citizen has right to demand
information if desired or if public authority is liable to share information. The right to
information is an important human right preserved in Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, and is a component of the broader right to freedom of expression. It is well
recognized that Citizen's Access to Information is an essential step to ensure
transparency and accountability in government systems and processes. When a
government is transparent, there corruption is reduced and more possibility for
accountability. India's Right to information Act is generally claimed as best law in world
with an excellent implementation track record. It is one of the most empowering and
most liberal legislations passed in the post Independent India. Under this right to
information act, any citizen, including foreign citizens of India and persons of Indian
origin, can make an inquiry or get information. This right includes inspection of work,
documents and records, taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or
records, and taking certified samples of material held by the public authority or under
its control.

Challenges of Corruption

Corruption is a global phenomenon and it is ubiquitous. Corruption has progressively

increased and is now proliferating in our society. Corruption around the world is
believed to be endemic and universal and a significant contributor to sluggish economic
growth, to stifle investment, to inhibit the provision of public services and to increase
inequality to such an extent that international organizations like the World Bank have
identified corruption as 'the single greatest obstacle to economic and social
development' (World Bank, 2001). Huntington (1968) and other theorists believes that
''corruption is most prevalent during the most intense phase of modernization of a
country and tends to decline with institutionalization of advanced democracy''.
Basically, Corruption is offence on the part of an authority or powerful party through
means that are illegitimate, immoral, or incompatible with ethical standards.
Corruption often erupt from patronage and is associated with bribery.

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In broad way, Corruption is not just the clearly bad cases of government officials
scanning off money for their own benefit. It also includes cases where the systems do
not work well, and ordinary people are left in a bind, needing to give a bribe to get a
work done or the licenses they need. The state of economy also plays an important role
in corruption. Inequality of wealth distribution, exploitation by employers, and low
wages and salaries provide ideal breeding ground for corruption. A license-permit
regime or scarcity of basic commodities adds fuel to the fire. India is a textbook
example of how license-permit Raj can vitiate political as well as economic atmosphere
of the nation. It is said that Corruption violates human rights, challenges the rule of
law, distorts the development process, and dis-empowers the Indian state. Corruption
hinders the process of fulfilling civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

Forms of Corruption
1. Embezzlement: It is theft of resources by people who are put to administer it. It
occurs when unfaithful employees steal from their employers. This is a serious
offence when public officials are misappropriating public resources, when state
official steals from the public institution in which he or she is employed and from
resources he is supposed to administer on behalf of the public.
2. Nepotism: Nepotism is typical favouritism, in which an officer prefers his proper
kinfolk and family members (wife, brothers and sisters, children, nephews, cousins,
in-laws). Many unrestricted presidents have tried to secure their (precarious) power
position by nominating family members to key political, economic and
military/security positions in the state apparatus.
3. Conflict of Interest: It is small but significant part of wider problem of police
ethics and corruption.
4. Favouritism: Favouritism is a tool of power abuse implying "privatisation" and a
highly biased distribution of state resources, no matter how these resources have
been amassed in the first place. Favouritism is the natural human tendency to favour
friends, family. Favouritism is closely related to corruption so far as it implies a
corrupted distribution of resources. It can be said that this is the other side of the
coin where corruption is the accumulation of resources.
5. Fraud: Fraud is a financial crime that involves some kind of deception, swindle or
deceit. Fraud involves a manipulation or distortion of information, facts and
expertise, by public officials positioned between politicians and inhabitants, who
seeks to draw a private profit. Fraud is when a public official, who is responsible for
carrying out the orders or tasks assigned by his superiors (principal), manipulates
the flow of information to his private profit, hence the widely used principal-agent or
incentive theory employed by economists to study this phenomenon (Eskeland and
Thiele 1999). 6. Bribery: This form of corruption is the payment (in money or kind)
that is given or taken in a corrupt relationship. A bribe is a fixed sum, a certain
percentage of a contract, or any other favour in money of kind, usually paid to a state
official who can make contracts on behalf of the state or otherwise distribute benefits
to companies or individuals, businessmen and clients.

Characteristics of Corruption

1. Gap between group and individual interest.

2. Two or more parties since one can hardly be corrupt with one's own self.
3. Consenting adults that have a common understanding.
4. Benefit furtherance.
5. Existence of power that could be grabbed, usurped, entrusted or otherwise
available.
6. Misuse of the power that often drives a wedge between intended and stated
positions, for unintended benefits.

Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between bureaucracy, politics and

criminals. It has been observed that in cities and villages throughout India, there is
"mafia raj" consisting of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians,
judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop
and sell land in illegal ways. Many state-funded construction activities in India, such as
road building, are dominated by construction mafia, which are groupings of corrupt
public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors.
It is now well recognized that the State is mainly responsible for both formulating and
enforcing polices relating to good governance and human rights. Good governance is
key factor. The good governance agenda includes protection and promotion of human
rights and rule of law. Both these functions will not be fully accomplished if corruption
is widespread in government. It is important that institutions like the NHRC (National
Human Rights Commission) provide a framework to take up cases of corrupt acts of
individuals and institutions that result in human rights violations. Major challenge is
that Corruption is a strong violator of human rights, particularly the economic and
social rights of individuals as well as those of the State. It not only weakens
development and growth, it also hinders efforts aimed at poverty eradication, socio-
economic transformation and creation of an egalitarian society in accordance with the
Directive Principles of the State Policy.

Major issues, country faces to curb corruption are poverty that hinders social and
economic development. Corruption wakens education and health systems, depriving
people of the basic building blocks of a decent life; Undermines democracy by distorting
electoral processes and undermining government institutions, which can lead to
political instability; Exacerbates inequality and injustice by perverting the rule of law
and punishing victims of crime through corrupt rulings. Major scandals such as the 2G
spectrum scam, Commonwealth Games misappropriations, Adarsh housing scandal,
and the cash for vote scam have badly dented the credibility of the political class.
Public dissatisfaction with the current inefficient and arbitrary decision making system
of the nation appears to be at all-time high after independence.

India is facing fundamental challenges that should be taken up on a priority basis. The
current system of governance is so terrible that honest people cannot raise their voice.
Unfortunately, the political class has lost will power to address this serious issue at the
root level. There are several issues in dealing with corruption because corruption may
be seen at various levels. It may be present at political levels, in the corporate sector
and amongst the bureaucracy, and may also be responsible for the criminalization of
politics. For most political parties, winning the elections becomes a sole obsession and
increasing election expenses are often stated as a major cause for political corruption.
In addition, an expensive and lavish lifestyle is the product of a consumerist culture
and politicians also form part of the same culture. In the last few years, the press has
been replete with reports of scams and scandals.

In many countries, a large proportion of higher-level civil officials are believed to be

either dishonest on their own or act as accomplices, conduits or agents for corrupt
Ministers. At lower levels of bureaucracy, corruption mostly takes the form of speed
money for expediting approvals and for providing (or not withholding) legitimate
services (e.g., in utilities such as telephones, electricity boards and civic services). An
interlocking of corruption exists at various levels of the government hierarchy elected
politicians, higher bureaucracy and lower bureaucracy. Criminalization of politics
begins with politicians seeking the assistance of criminals, in particular to fight
elections. This means the use of 'money power' and 'muscle power' by politicians on the
one hand and assisting and backing crimes and sheltering of criminals on the other,
which in turn leads to politicization of the administration, particularly of the police and
election of persons with criminal records and their consequent occupation of places of
honour and status.
Existing political science and economics literature have recommended that information
transparency is fundamental to control corruption. Many studies link information
accessibility and internet access to the incidence of corruption. Schroth and Sharma
(2003) emphasize that corruption can be reduced by merging the power of technology
with the law, as the internet can provide access to information regarding corrupt
practices. Roberts (2006) found that the internet vastly reduced the cost of distributing,
collecting, and accessing government information, thus supporting international
practices in transparency. Few empirical studies measured whether internet access
addresses the central issues of corruption. DiRienzo et al. (2007) employs cluster
analysis of corruption data, which reveals a global pattern "countries with similar
cultural, economic, and institutional backgrounds and access to information also
experience similar levels of corruption."

The internet is a valued resource in e-government initiatives, but some scholars

challenge the efficiency of e-governance. Bhatnagar (2003) proclaims that e-government
is less successful at curbing corruption unless there is a pre-existing legal framework
that supports freedom of information. Bertot et al. (2010) claims that cultures with
overwhelming power disparity are more resistant to transparency, which restricts the
utility of e-governance. Information availability through internet access does not
automatically translate to proper usage by citizens to demand government
accountability, especially when the average citizen lacks political power. To summarize,
corruption is an unlawful practice. Corruption is the most serious issue undermining
the efforts of governments across the globe to tackle world's most persistent problems
such as political stability, health and welfare, sustainable economic development,
international trade and investment, climate change and poverty. Corruption is serious
consequences of poor governance. A country with prevalent corruption consistently has
low investment rates, poor economic growth and restricted human development.

Citizen's Charters

In any nation, there is a need of good governance for sustainable development, both
economic and social. The three major aspects highlighted in good governance are
transparency, accountability and responsiveness of the administration. Citizens'
Charters initiative is a response to the mission for solving the problems which a citizen
meets, day in and day out, while dealing with the organisations providing public
services. The charter is the declaration of commitment to superiority in service to
customers of the department. The citizen charter declares the standards for various
services offered. It includes expectations of the Organisation from the Citizens for
fulfilling its commitment. Citizen charter is available in India post website.

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The concept of Citizens' Charter protects the trust between the service provider and its
users. Citizens' Charter was first expressed and implemented in the United Kingdom by
the Conservative Government of John Major in 1991 as a national programme with aim
 to constantly improve the quality of public services for the people of the country so that
these services respond to the needs and wishes of the users.

Citizen charter is necessary;

 To make administration accountable and citizen friendly.

 To ensure transparency.
 To take measures to improve customer service.
 To adopt a stakeholder approach.
 To save time of both Administration and the citizen.

Objective of the Citizens' Charter: Fundamental objectives of Citizens' Charter are as

follows:
1. Goal of Citizens' Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service
delivery.
Six principles of the Citizens' Charter movement as originally framed, were:

i. Quality: Improving the quality of services.

ii. Choice: Wherever possible.
iii. Standards: Specify what to expect and how to act if standards are not met.
iv. Value: For the taxpayers' money.
v. Accountability: Individuals and Organisations.
vi. Transparency: Rules/ Procedures/ Schemes/Grievances.

Later on, these were elaborated by the Labour Government as following nine principles
of Service Delivery (1998):

1. Set standards of service

2. Be open and provide full information
3. Consult and involve
4. Encourage access and the promotion of choice
5. Treat all fairly
6. Put things right when they go wrong
7. Use resources effectively
8. Innovate and improve
9. Work with other providers

The Indian Scenario

Since many years, in India, noteworthy progress has been made in the field of economic
development. This, along with a considerable increase in the literacy rate, (from 51.63%
to 65.38% in the last decade) has made Indian citizens increasingly aware of their
rights. Citizens have become more articulate and expect the administration not merely
to respond to their demands but also to anticipate them. It was in this climate that
since 1996 a consensus had evolved in the Government on effective and responsive
administration.

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Government of India

(DARPG) initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and operationalising Citizens'
Charters. Guidelines for formulating the Charters as well as a list of do's and don'ts
were communicated to various government departments/organisations to enable them
to bring out focused and effective charters. For the formulation of the Charters, the
government agencies at the Centre and State levels were advised to constitute a task
force with representation from users, senior management and the cutting edge staff. A
Handbook on Citizen's Charter has been developed by the Department and sent to all
the State Governments/UT Administrations.

The Charters are expected to integrate the following elements:

1. Vision and Mission Statement.

2. Details of business transacted by the organisation.
3. Details of clients.
4. Details of services provided to each client group.
5. Details of grievance redress mechanism and how to access it.
6. Expectations from the clients.

Principally, an adaptation of the UK model, the Indian Citizens' Charter has an

additional constituent of 'expectations from the clients'. Involvement of consumer
organisations, citizen groups, and other stakeholders in the formulation of the Citizens'
Charter is highlighted to confirm that the Citizens' Charter fulfils the needs of the
users. Regular monitoring, review and evaluation of the Charters, both internally and
through external agencies, are commanded. Till April, 2006, 111 Citizens' Charters had
been articulated by the Central Government Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations
and 668 Charters by various agencies of State Governments & Administrations of
Union Territories. Most of the national Charters are posted on the government's
websites and are open to public scrutiny. The organisations with Citizens' Charters are
advised to give publicity to their Charters through such means as print/ electronic
media and awareness crusades.

Components of Citizen Charter

 Vision and Mission Statement of the Organisation.

 Details of Business transacted by the Organisation.
 Details of 'Customers' or 'Clients'.
 Statement of services including standards, quality, time frame etc. provided to
Customer/ Client and how/where to get the services.
 Details of Grievance Redressal Mechanism and how to access it.
 Expectations from the service recipients.
Plans of citizen charter:

Citizen's Charters in India: Current Status:

Citizen's Charters have currently been in place in India for almost a decade. In 2006,
the DARPG website listed 767 charters drafted by various government agencies around
the country.

Problems faced in implementing the Charters:

As indicated, the Citizens' Charters initiative in India had started in 1997 and the
Charters formulated are in embryonic stage of implementation. Introduction of a new
thought is always difficult in any organisation. Introduction and implementation of the
concept of Citizens' Charter in the Government of India was much more complicated
due to the old bureaucratic set up/procedures and the rigid attitudes of the work force.
The major obstacles encountered in this initiative were:

1. The general perception of organisations which formulated Citizens' Charters was

that the exercise was to be performed because there was a direction from the top. The
consultation process was minimal or largely absent. It thus became one of the
routine activities of the organisation and had no focus.
2. For any Charter to thrive, the personnel responsible for its implementation
should have proper training and orientation, as commitments of the Charter cannot
be expected to be delivered by a workforce that is unaware of the spirit and content of
the Charter. However, in many cases, the concerned staff were not sufficiently trained
and sensitised.
3. Sometimes, transfers and reshuffles of concerned officers at the critical stages of
formulation/implementation of a Citizens' Charter in an organisation severely
destabilised the strategic processes which were put in place and hampered the
progress of the initiative.
4. Awareness campaigns to teach clients about the Charter were not conducted
systematically.
5. In some cases, the standards/time norms of services mentioned in Citizens'
Charter were either too negligent or too tight and were impractical and created an
unfavourable impression on the clients of the Charter.
6. The notion behind the Citizens' Charter was not accurately understood.
Information brochures, publicity materials, pamphlets produced earlier by the
organisations were mistaken for Citizens' Charters.

Deficiencies in the Existing Citizens' Charters

1. Lack of awareness and knowledge and inadequate publicity, hence loss of trust
among service seekers.
2. No training to the operative and supervisory staff.
3. Lack of infrastructure and initiative.
4. Hierarchy gap between the Officers and the Operative Staff-Need of team effort.
5. Different mind-sets of officers and the Staff- Insensitiveness on the part of the
Supervisors and the Staff because they are yet to be sensitized.
6. Staff is not prepared to shoulder the responsibility due to lack of motivation and
accountability.
7. Non-revision, complicated and restrictive rules & procedures.

Guidelines for the Citizens' Charters in India

1. List all Offices according to type of services they provide to public - Indicate their
location, areas they cover, type of services being rendered to public, and phone
numbers.
2. There should be a separate Citizens' Charter (i.e., Local Citizens' Charters) for
each office covering the services they provide. For example, there should be a
separate Charter of the Directorate, its subordinate offices, Hospitals, Schools, etc.
according to the particular services they provide.
3. Mention Service Standards - Step-by-step-Procedure based on 'Where to go; how
to proceed', simple and easy to fill-in Forms, specimen of duly-filled in forms,
documents, fees, etc. required, reasonable time schedule, Do's & Don'ts, etc., names,
addresses and Tele. Nos. of concerned Officials, his alternate for each service, etc.
4. Minimum documentation, self-attestation and self-declaration.
5. No duplication - In case desired information and document submitted earlier like
proof of residence (if there is no change), birth certificate, etc., it should not be asked
again.
6. If promised services are not provided as per specified time schedule, an effective
grievance redressal mechanism (including the provision of compensation to the
concerned citizen in order to introduce accountability) should be introduced.
7. Provision of "TATKAL" (Immediate) Services if somebody is in urgent need (as in
the case of Passport, Railways, etc.) to avoid touts, bribery, etc.
8. Simultaneous changes in the Performa and other requirements to be effected
along with the changes made in the Citizens Charter.
9. Database of frequently required information, like ownership of property, vehicle,
etc., tax and dues paid or pending, etc.
10. If possible, the services and their related information may be presented in a
tabular form.
11. Salient features of each service should be prominently displayed in simple and
easy language at all places likely to be visited by the service seekers.

To summarize, A Citizens' Charter denotes the promise of an organisation towards

standard, quality and time frame of service delivery, grievance redressal mechanism,
clearness and accountability. Based on the foreseen expectations and aspirations of
public, Citizens' Charters are to be drawn-up with care and concern for the concerned
service users. They allow the service seekers to avail the services of the government
departments with minimum inconvenience and maximum speed.

Utilization of Public Funds

India's total public spending on Centre and States every year on social sectors is less
than 7 percent of GDP. During the period of 2005-06, the Union Government's
budgetary spending on these sectors has been increased. This steady increase has not
translated into any visible increase in overall public spending (in the country) on these
sectors as the priority for social sectors in the State Budgets has not increased much
over the last decade. When compared with other countries, India's public spending on
social sectors as percentage of GDP has been much lower not only than most developed
countries but also some of the developing countries for decades now. The financial
management of any company must have a sensible financial system supported by
effective accounting procedures and internal controls. Properly managed accounting
system helps ensure proper control over funds. Accounting policies and procedures are
designed to compile accounts fulfilling legal/procedural requirements that govern
financial control. Accounts are an essential part of financial management of activities.
On the basis of accounts, the Government regulates the shape of its financial and fiscal
policies.

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The accounts of Government are retained in three parts:-

1. Consolidated Funds of India

2. Contingency Funds of India
3. Public Account

Consolidated Fund of India

Indian government received all revenues in the form of taxes like Income Tax, Central
Excise, Customs and other receipts flowing to the Government in connection with the
conduct of Government business i.e. Non-Tax Revenues are credited into the
Consolidated Fund constituted under Article 266 (1) of the Constitution of India.
Likewise, all loans raised by the Government by issue of Public notifications, treasury
bills (internal debt) and loans obtained from foreign governments and international
institutions (external debt) are credited into this fund. All expenditure of the
government is incurred from this fund and no amount can be withdrawn from the Fund
without authorization from the Parliament.

Contingency Fund of India

The Contingency Fund of India records the transactions connected with Contingency
Fund set by the Government of India under Article 267 of the Constitution of India. The
corpus of this fund is Rs. 50 crores. Advances from the fund are made for the purposes
of meeting unforeseen expenditure which are resumed to the Fund to the full extent as
soon as Parliament authorizes additional expenditure. Thus, this fund acts more or less
like an imprest account of Government of India and is held on behalf of President by
the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic
Affairs.

Public Account

In the Public Account constituted under Article 266 (2) of the Constitution, the
transactions relate to debt other than those included in the Consolidated Fund of India.
The transactions under Debt, Deposits and Advances in this part are those in respect of
which Government incurs a liability to repay the money received or has a claim to
recover the amounts paid. The transactions relating to `Remittance' and `Suspense'
shall embrace all adjusting heads. The initial debits or credits to these heads will be
cleared eventually by corresponding receipts or payments. The receipts under Public
Account do not constitute normal receipts of Government. Parliamentary authorization
for payments from the Public Account is therefore not required.

Summary of public funds

Factors that constrain utilization of plan outlays in the social sectors:

Under-utilization of Plan expenditures by the States can be attributed to the

institutional and procedural blockages in the process of implementation of Plan
schemes and insufficiencies in the planning process being followed at the district level.
These factors must be addressed in order to strengthen States' ability to better utilize
higher magnitudes of allocations for the social sectors.

1. The deficiencies in decentralized planning being carried out in the schemes,

resulting due to insufficient staff for undertaking planning activities, inadequate
attention to their capacity building and minimal role for community participation in
the planning process.
2. Blockages in budgetary processes in the schemes, such as delay in the flow of
funds, in releasing sanction orders for spending, decision-making in the States being
centralized, insufficient delegation of financial powers to the district/ sub-district
level authorities and uniform norms of Centrally Sponsored Schemes for all States.
Further, lack of need based budgeting in the schemes, which is often carried out
without proper analysis of unit costs on the ground, implied allocations for some of
the schemes being decided in a top-down and unrealistic manner.
3. Systemic feebleness, manifested as shortage of trained, regular staff for various
important roles like programme management, finance/accounts and frontline service
provision; this contributed to weaken the capacities of the government apparatus in
the States for implementation of Plan schemes.

Regarding the systemic weaknesses in the government system in the States, it can be
contended that Non-Plan expenditure by the State plays an important role to enhance
the overall capacity of the government apparatus. It affects the capacity of the State
Government apparatus in terms of the availability of regular qualified staff and
adequacy of government infrastructure for implementing Plan schemes. Nevertheless,
over the past decade, Non-Plan expenditure in social sectors has been checked by many
States due to the emphasis of the prevailing fiscal policy on the reduction of deficits
through the restriction of public expenditure. Consequently, the capacity of the
government apparatus to implement Plan programmes/schemes has been controlled.
Ethics in Private and Public Relationships

Humans have diverse role in society. The role playing defines their role in society. With
each social role, one adopts one’s behaviour changes befitting the expectation of one’s
own self and of others (Reddy, et, al., 2015). Ethics is related to the concepts like right
or wrong, or good or bad human behaviour in different social and organizational
settings. In specific term, it is set of criteria by which the decisions are being made
about what is wrong (Gower, 2003). Since ancient times, many different views about
ethics were made. Utilitarians theoretical models advocated that the ethical act is one
that produces the greatest possible balance of good over bad for anyone affected. This is
also called Robin Hood ethics.

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Eminent theorists of utilitarian, John Stuart Mill believed that neither the intent behind
the action nor the fundamental rightness or wrongness of the action is at issue, only
the consequences. In the view of people, this approach often results in the position that
the end justifies the means. It appears that the principle might be useful way to
distribute the greatest good to greatest number, if and only if the decision-makers are
able to make an accurate judgment about the potential outcomes and that those
outcomes go beyond the self-interest of those making the moral choice (Parsons, 2008).
Knowing this, it looks that many PR approaches are utilitarian in nature. Conversely,
deontology experts asserted that certain principles are right or wrong regardless to their
consequences. A moral person not only must achieve just results through acts but also
must employ the proper means and act with good intentions.

Immanuel Kant contended that moral principles could be known as a result reason
alone, for him our actions are moral only when they are done out of our sense of duty
to be fair and honest. These philosophies are often disparaged as representing the truth
as an absolute rule even if it leads one to ignore situations in which lying might as well
be justified. In business, it is not about choosing between right or wrong, but about
choosing between two rights or two obligations. Law and moralities are related, but they
are certainly not the same thing. Organizations that follow law do nothing more than
clearly look out for their own needs without considering the possibilities that their
responsibilities to their communities might be morally rather than simply legally
dictated.

Private Relationship:

In role playing, an individual’s private relationship such as marriage, family, kinship,

friendship differ from his/her public relationship such as relationship of politicians,
bureaucrats with people at large, and a doctor’s relationship with his patients. Private
relationships are more intimate relationships (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

Attributes of private relationship (Reddy, et, al., 2015):

1. Private relationships are often given or inherited.

2. They are relatively permanent.
3. More tolerance for imperfections.
4. Expectations of loyalty, love, affection from one's partner.

Ethics in private relationship are generally directed by individual virtues, universal

human values, religion, social norms and law of land. Therefore they comprise limited
influencing factor. Ethic makes for action that one can defend publicly and comfortably.
These actions are those that not only owns oneself but also the community can live
with (Reddy, et, al., 2015). Ethics in private relationship are also checked by private
religious law. Individual familial and community obligations have long been written into
law and supported by serious sanctions from ancient time to today’s inheritance
divorce, marriage and other law. In India, along with moral codes, religious institutions
and constitution provision governs ethical issues in private relationship (Reddy, et, al.,
2015).

Ethics in Public Relationships

Public relationship are more instrumental such as organizational colleagues,

politicians, strangers, and other outside of one’s relatively narrow circle of intimacy
(Reddy, et, al., 2015). Public Relation is a management function that engages
monitoring and evaluating public attitudes and maintaining mutual relations and
understanding between an organization and its public. Public could include
shareholders, government, consumers, employees and the media. It is the action of
getting along with people we constantly come in touch with. Public relation officers
guarantee internal unity in the company by maintaining a clear communications
network between the management and personnel. Its major objective is to improve
channels of communication and to establish new ways of setting up a two-way flow of
information and understanding.

Private and public relationship (Source: Reddy, et, al., 2015)

Private relationship Public relationship

Family Teacher- Student

Friends Politician- citizen

Oneself Co-worker- Colleagues

  Doctor- Patients
  

  Bureaucrats-Citizen

Subject of Public relations is a management function that assists organization to

successfully deal with challenges and compete effectually in the competitive and global
age. To be competent and efficient, specialists must develop holistic skills and
knowledge. It is well understood that human beings can never live in 'isolation. They
need someone to talk, and share their views. In this way, they practice public relations
from childhood. Basically Public Relations are the practice of doing the right thing of
performing and communicating the substance of that very performance. The distinctive
thing about public relations is that it is deliberate. Theoretically it can be said that
public relations are the management function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies
the policies and procedures of the organization, and executes a program of action to
earn public understanding and recognition.

Public relation is often understood as an occupation that is always working behind the
scenes, gliding in and out troubled situations. But Public relation is also often
considered to be a corporate conscience which fits well with the business ethics of
social responsibility. There are code of professional standards for the practice of public
relation to meet goals. Such as

1. To provide behavioural guidelines to its members.

2. To educate management on public relations standards.
3. To distinguish public relations professionals from those individuals (Gower,
2003).

Characteristics of public relationship (Reddy, et, al., 2015):

1. In public, there are people who are different from dealing person.
2. Public relationships are likely to be instrumental.
3. Engagements due to work or benefit.
4. Expectation for respect.
5. Particular kind of role to be played in public relationship therefore responsible for
what person says.
6. Accountability vis a vis what person says and person does.

Ethical in public relationship are governed by power. They comprise contradictory

values and influence ethical decisions in public relationships (Reddy, et, al., 2015). It is
well recognized that major fact of professional survival is personal integrity such as,
follow the sincere and moral standard. Integrity is also important because it is
necessary to build self-confidence. It is significant to follow ethical standard in public
setting to sustain authority, develop confidence among people about the system, and to
accomplish social wellbeing of society (Reddy, et, al., 2015). According to Dwight and
Waldo, there are 12 areas of ethical claim on public officials. These are as under:
1. Constitution
2. Law
3. Nation
4. Country or people
5. Democracy
6. Organization-Bureaucratic norms
7. Profession and professionalism
8. Family and friends
9. Self, middle range, collectivises, such as class, race, union, interest group, and
church.
10. Public interest and general welfare
11. Humanity
12. Religion or God

There are other ethical values set by independent sector such as:

1. Commitment to public goods.

2. Accountability to the public.
3. Commitment beyond the law.
4. Respect for the worth and dignity of individual.
5. Inclusiveness and social justice.
6. Respect of pluralism and diversity.
7. Transparency, integrity and honesty.
8. Responsible stewardship of resources.
9. Commitment to excellence and to maintain the public trust (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

It is important emphasize that ethic codes are not widespread, because it cannot be
expected that everyone, regardless to the situation and culture, abides by the same
moral standards. It can be difficult to balance the interests of all of these publics with
the interests of the organization itself. Ethics need to have main role in communication
because unprincipled communications are not as obvious as false advertising. Proper
selection of words and good communicator can affect other, change their expectation
and behaviour. Good strategies can create an influential message that tells people to
take action. Skills and knowledge, as that are very powerful and easy to abuse (Rouse
Michael and Sandra, 2005). Nolan’s Seven Principles of Public Life:
Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life:

The power of public relation to form opinions is one of the most convincing reasons to
consider duties to society, and to take care not to abuse that power by dishonest use of
manipulation. Public relation enhances an organization's status and are, at the same
time, its morality. It is a very powerful position that they hold and also face different
challenges as misleading information, influence of management actions, and promotion
of inferior products, discrimination or political influence. Public Relation Ethics are the
knowledge, understanding and reasoning to questions of right or wrong behaviour in
the professional practice of public relations (Fox, Renata, 2006).

In public relationship, public officials need to cope with five primary cluster of roles
which are (Reddy, et, al., 2015):

1. His role in his personal and family sphere.

2. His role as a professional.
3. His role for the job.
4. His role towards his jurisdiction and work influence.
5. His role towards society and humanity at large.

Public servant must have to adjust with cluster of roles. Each role in the cluster has
different concerns, values, and standards of behaviours. Each is marked by mix of
ethical claim. Some duties are responsibilities and informal. Others are obligation and
formal (Reddy, et, al., 2015).
Ethics and role definition (Source: Reddy, et, al., 2015)

To summarize, ethics are vital for society to maintain harmony. In private relationships,
ethics are confined to close relations such as family. Ethics in Public relations is the
practice to manage the spread of information between an individual and an
organization. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining
exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not
require direct payment. The main goal of public relations is to inform the public,
prospective customers, investors, partners, personnel and other stakeholders and
ultimately persuade them to maintain a certain view about the organization, its
leadership, products, or political decisions. It includes planning communications
campaigns, writing news releases and other content for news, working with the press,
organizing interviews for company spokespeople, and website.
Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics
in human actions

Ethics:

In general perspective, ethics is a process of moral principles. These principles have

significant effect on people to make decisions and lead good quality lives. Ethics is also
concerned with what is 'good for individuals and society' and is also defined as moral
beliefs. Ethics is stemmed from the Greek word 'ethos' which means custom, habit,
character or disposition. Therefore, ethics could be said to cover the following
dilemmas: how to live a good life, our rights and responsibilities, the language of right
and wrong moral decisions - what is good and bad?

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Ethical ideologies that seem to apply objectively to people:

Compassion; concern for the well-being of others. Non-malfeasance; avoiding inflicting

suffering and hardship on others. Beneficence; preventing and alleviating others'
suffering; meeting the needs of the most vulnerable; promoting others' happiness
(strongest toward our family and friends). Fairness; treating people the way they
deserve to be treated; as having equal rights unless merit or need justifies special
treatment. Courage; in opposing injustice. Respect for individual autonomy; not
manipulating rational individuals even for their own good. Respect; for the Constitution
and other laws enacted by legitimate governing bodies. Honesty; not deceiving anyone
who deserves to know the truth. Keeping promises; that we made freely. Integrity;
upholding our obligations in spite of personal inopportuneness.

Concept of Ethics in Indian tradition:

In Indian culture, the phrase morality and ethics is 'dharma'. Dharma originates from
"dhr", which means to hold together. And thus the function of dharma is to hold the
human society together for its stability and growth. Precise conduct is indispensable for
the existence of the human society. The dharma in Hinduism is co- extensive with
morality. Dharma in the Vedas refers to the highest truth and power. People can
understand the meaning of morality or through performance of Vedic sacrifices and
other rituals in the Vedas and Dharmasastras. So Dharma is understood in Vedas as
duty par-excellence. Dharma is also generally understood as the duties of humans
according to one's own caste and stage of life (Varnasrama Dharma). And thus many
Hindu philosophers stated that if person does his duty; he will achieve either heaven or
a better birth in the next life or even prosperity here and now. Thus the Hindu concept
of dharma has been recognized by its association with ritualistic and caste-oriented
duties. And the purely moral sense of duty is outshined. Basically, the Hindu theorists
supported and recommended the practice of moral virtues and moral norms, which
make a man as man. These moral virtues are called Sadharana Dharma or universal
duties. Hence the term dharma in Hinduism has two connotations that include
performance of ritual sacrifices and duties according to one's own caste and the second
is the practice of moral virtues and norms. So when discussing dharma as morality, it
includes all the duties one ought to perform and all the virtues he ought to practice to
attain moksa or liberation.

Ethics and morality:

The words "ethics" and "morality" evolved from Greek and Latin words respectively.
Traditionally, they referred to customary values and rules of conduct (as in "cultural
ethos" and "social mores"), as well as insights about human excellence and flourishing.
"Ethics" and "morality" are often used interchangeably by people currently. But ethics
also denotes to moral philosophy, i.e., a discipline of critical analysis of the meaning
and explanation of moral beliefs. Along with law and etiquette, they prescribe human
behaviour as obligatory, prohibited, or permissible. There is considerable overlap
between ethics and law, and ethics and etiquette. Much of the law exemplifies ethical
principles: respect for basic rights to life, property, and the right of citizens to
participate in political life. It is usually unethical to violate the law. A breach of
etiquette can also be immoral if it is done intentionally to offend someone simply for
one's own enjoyment.

Ethics goes beyond etiquette, though, to include matters that nearly every human
society considers significant. Ethics is often used in connection with the activities of
organisations and with professional codes of conduct. Actions such as lying, breaking a
promise or killing someone are more serious than social faux pas. Ethics also has to do
with human character and motivation, which in many cases are immaterial to etiquette
and law. And law and etiquette can sometimes be disapproved on moral grounds.
Morality is used in connection with the ways in which individuals conduct their
personal, private lives, often in relation to personal financial probity, lawful conduct
and acceptable standards of interpersonal behaviour (including truthfulness, honesty,
and sexual propriety).

Essence of ethics:

Basically, Ethics is elaborated as the systematic study of human actions from the
perspective of their rightfulness or wrongfulness, as means for the attainment of the
definitive happiness. It is the reflective understanding of good or bad in that part of
human conduct for which human has some personal responsibility. In other words,
Ethics is a set of principles that society places on itself and which helps guide
behaviour, choices and actions. Ethics is integral to public administration. In public
administration, ethics focuses on how the public administrator should question and
reflect in order to be able to act sensibly.

Principles to manage ethics in the public service:

1. Ethical standards for public service should be clear.

2. Ethical standards should be reproduced in the legal framework.
3. Ethical supervision should be available to public servants.
4. Public servants should know their rights and obligations when exposing
wrongdoing.
5. Political commitment to ethics should reinforce the ethical conduct of public
servants.
6. The decision -making process should be transparent and open to scrutiny.
7. There should be clear guidelines for interaction between the public and private
sectors.
8. Managers should demonstrate and promote ethical conduct.
9. Management policies, procedures and practices should promote ethical conduct.
10. Public service conditions and management of human resources should promote
ethical conduct.
11. Adequate accountability mechanisms should be in place within the public
service.
12. Appropriate procedures and sanctions should exist to deal with misconduct.

Ethics and values:

Values and ethics are represented through actions of humans in everyday life. They
describe the way people strive to work with their fellow employees, partners and clients.
They explain the spirit that enables us to do our jobs. As individuals, person's values
have been formed by his culture in the broad sense; for example, the values have been
formed from family, education or cultural experiences. As public employees, human
values are moulded by the traditions of democratic government system.

Importance of ethics:

Ethics is the theoretical exposition which studies human behaviour and attempts to
determine- right or wrong in human action. It is also called moral philosophy. The
significance of ethics is obvious. Since prehistoric period, man has always sought to
know how to lead a good life and to draw up rules of conduct. Philosopher of all
cultures tried to explain in what this 'good' life consisted and, especially, why precisely
it was 'good'. It is not so much that traditional moral values are questioned but more
radically still, that-the very 'meaningfulness' of an unchanging and universally valid
morality is brought into question.

The causes of this modem questioning are hard to pin down. Certainly the spread of
education, progressions in science and technology, problems arising from modern way
of living like the ever-increasing urbanization, easier communication media, faster
means of travel whereby people of one culture come in closer contact with people of
another culture, are some of the causes. But moral thinking is closely related with
philosophical thinking in general, it might very well be that these causes are to be
sought for on a deeper human level. Human being, perhaps, is not so much asking
about the morality of this or that human act but, more intensely still, about himself;
the meaning of his life, the direction of human history, the significance of the human
world he lives in, the ambit of his knowledge and the possibility of his ever getting an
answer to the questions he asks.

Ethics deals with voluntary actions. It can be distinguished between human actions
and actions of human: human actions are those actions that are done by human
consciously, deliberately and in view of an end. Actions of human may not be wilfully,
voluntarily, consciously and deliberately done but all the same they are done by
human. It is the intention which makes the difference between human action and
action of human. In ethics, human actions are more important.
There are four branches of Ethics, namely-

1. Descriptive Ethics
2. Normative Ethics
3. Meta-Ethics
4. Applied Ethics

Descriptive Ethics:

Descriptive ethics is the study of people's values about morality. It involves empirical
analysis. It gives a general pattern or a way of life of people in different types of
communities. Descriptive ethics studies the history and development of ethics. It gives
a record of certain taboos, customs or principle. Theoretical model of Lawrence
Kohlberg's theory of moral consciousness explains descriptive Ethics.

Descriptive ethics investigates people's ethical morals or what actions are condemned
in a civilization. It aims to find out people's beliefs about values, which actions are right
and wrong and which characteristics of a moral agent are virtuous. Descriptive ethics
seeks the explanation of actual choices made by moral agents in practice. It
investigates the ethical codes applied by various groups. Descriptive Ethics is a value-
free approach to ethics. It is empirical exploration of people's moral philosophy.

Normative Ethics:

Normative ethics involves attaining moral standards that regulate right and wrong
conduct. It is the study of ethical acts. It therefore focuses explicitly on questions of
'what is the right thing to do? In a sense, it explores an ideal way of appropriate
behaviour. Normative ethics is also called as prescriptive ethics. It is the study of
ethical theories that recommend how people ought to act. It scrutinizes standards for
the rightness and wrongness of actions. Normative ethics advocates punishment when
people move away from the path of ideals. It provides good reason for punishing a
person who upsets social and moral order. It tries to set up certain theories on the
guidelines of some norms. Normative ethics offer the moral principles to use to resolve
difficult moral decisions. The Golden Rule is a typical example of a normative principle.

In general, there are three challenging views to answer moral queries:

1. Virtue ethics
2. Deontological ethics
3. Consequentialism

Virtue ethics focuses on the nature of those who are acting, while both deontological
ethics and consequentialism contemplate on the status of the action, rule, or
disposition itself. The latter two notions of ethics themselves come in various forms. For
instance, a consequentialist may quarrel that lying is wrong because it produces the
negative consequences though a consequentialist may permit that certain predictable
consequences might make lying acceptable. A deontologist may conflict that lying is
always wrong, in spite of any potential "good" that might come from lying. A virtue
ethicist, however, would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead
consider what a decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one's character and
moral behaviour. As such, the morality of lying would depend on case basis, which
would be based on factors such as personal benefit, group benefit, and intentions.

1.Virtue ethics: Virtue ethics supported by numerous famous philosophers such as

Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. It focuses on the innate character of a person
rather than on specific actions. Virtue ethics stress the role of one's character and the
virtues that one's character embodies for determining or evaluating ethical behaviour.
The cardinal virtues are a set of four virtues derived primarily from Plato's proposal,.
They consist of:

1. Prudence: It is also explained as wisdom, the ability to judge between actions

with regard to appropriate actions at a given time.
2. Justice: It is considered as fairness, the most extensive and most important
virtue.
3. Temperance: It is called restraint, the practice of self-control, abstention, and
moderation.
4. Courage: It is known as fortitude, forbearance, strength, endurance, and the
ability to confront fear, uncertainty, and intimidation.

Aristotle categorized the virtues as moral and intellectual. He recognized a few

intellectual virtues, the most important of which was wisdom. Aristotle debated that
each of the moral virtues was a mean between two corresponding vices, one of excess
and one of deficiency.

Criticism of Virtue theory: Regarding virtues once apparently applicable to women,

many would have once considered a virtuous woman to be quiet, servile, and
productive. This notion of female virtue no longer holds true in many modern societies.
Advocates of virtue theory argued that a central feature of a virtue is its universal
applicability. It can be said that any character trait defined as a virtue must reasonably
be universally regarded as a virtue for all sentient beings. This view represents that it is
contradictory to claim, for example servility as a female virtue, while at the same time
not proposing it as a male one.

Another criticism to virtue theory is that the school does not focus on what sorts of
actions are morally permitted and which ones are not, but rather on what sort of
qualities someone ought to foster in order to become a good person.

2. Deontological ethics: Deontological ethics is the normative ethical state that judges
the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to rules. It is defined as
"duty" or "obligation" or "rule" based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty."
Deontology argues that decisions should be made considering the factors of one's duties
and others' rights.

Some deontological theories include:

I. Immanuel Kant's approach: Kant's construction of the moral law is the categorical
crucial, which acts on all people, regardless of their interests or desires. Immanuel
Kant's Categorical Imperative, which roots morality in humanity's rational capacity and
asserts certain inviolable moral laws. Kant avowed that human beings occupy a special
place in conception, and morality can be summed up in an imperative or ultimate
commandment of reason, from which all duties and obligations derive. He defined an
imperative as any proposition declaring a certain action (or inaction) to be required.
Kant devised the categorical imperative in various ways:
His principle of universality requires that, for an action to be allowable, it must be
possible to apply it to all people. His formulation of humanity as an ends in itself
requires that it is immoral to use another person merely as a means to an end and that
people must, under all circumstances, be treated as ends in themselves. In other
words, it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the
motives of the person who performs the action. Kant argues that to act in the morally
right way, people must act from duty. Kant argues that those things that are usually
thought to be good, such as intelligence, perseverance and pleasure, fail to be either
intrinsically good or good without qualification. Pleasure, for example, appears not to be
good without qualification, because when people take pleasure in watching someone
suffering; this seems to make the situation ethically shoddier.
II. Moral absolutism: Some deontologists are moral absolutists. They believed that
certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, despite of the intentions behind them as
well as the consequences. Immanuel Kant argued that the only absolutely good thing is
a good will, and so the single determining factor of whether an action is morally right is
the will, or motive of the person doing it. If they are acting on a bad maxim then their
action is wrong, even if some good consequences come of it. Non-absolutist
deontologists maintained that the consequences of an action such as lying may
sometimes make laying the right thing to do.
III. Divine command theory: Some deontologists believe in the 'divine command theory'.
The divine command theory declared that an action is right if God has decreed that it is
right. The Divine Command Theory is a form of deontology because it represents that
the rightness of any action depends upon that action being performed because it is a
duty, not because of any good consequences arising from that action.

3. Consequentialism (Teleology): Consequentialism is the form of normative ethical

theories that indicates the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any
judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that behaviour. Consequently, from a
consequentialist viewpoint, a morally right act is one that will produce a good outcome,
or consequence. In other words, "the ends justify the means".

Consequentialism is generally distinguished from deontological ethics (or deontology),

in that deontology derives the rightness or wrongness of one's conduct from the
character of the behaviour itself rather than the results of the behaviour. It is also
differentiated from virtue ethics, which focuses on the character of the agent rather
than on the nature or consequences of the act itself.

Some Consequentialism theories are as under:

I. State consequentialism or Mohist consequentialism: It maintains that an action is
right if it leads to state welfare, through order, material wealth, and population growth.
II. Ethical egoism: Ethical egoism is consequentialist ethics in which moral agents
ought to do what is in their own self-interest. In ethical egoism, the consequences for
the individual agent are taken to matter more than any other result. Thus, egoism will
recommend actions that may be beneficial, detrimental, or neutral to the welfare of
others.
III. Ethical altruism: Ethical altruism can be seen as a consequentialist ethics which
prescribes that an individual take actions that have the best consequences for everyone
except for himself.
IV. Utilitarianism: Utilitarianism is a presumption in normative ethics holding that the
moral action is the one that maximizes utility. Utility is defined in different manner,
including as pleasure, economic well-being and the lack of suffering. Utilitarianism is a
form of consequentialism, which entails that the consequences of an action are of moral
importance. Two most prominent contributors of Classical utilitarianism were Jeremy
Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
Theorist, Bentham, who takes happiness as the measure for utility stated that "it is the
greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong".
Bentham introduces a method of calculating the value of pleasures and pains, which
has come to be known as the hedonic calculus. Hedonism is a school of thought that
argues that pleasure is the primary or most important intrinsic good. A hedonist strives
to maximize net pleasure. Bentham stated that the value of a pleasure or pain,
considered by itself, can be measured according to its intensity, duration,
certainty/uncertainty and propinquity/remoteness. Additionally, it is necessary to
consider "the tendency of any act by which it is produced". Ultimately, it is essential to
consider the extent, or the number of people affected by the action. Mill was brought up
as a Benthamite with the explicit intention that would carry on the cause of
utilitarianism.

Meta Ethics:

Meta ethics is described by thinkers as the study of the origin and meaning of ethical
concepts. The term "meta" means after or beyond, and, consequently. Meta-ethics is
associated with the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes and judgments.
Meta-ethics examines such themes as what moral questions mean, and on what basis
people can know what is 'true' or 'false'.

In Meta ethics, there are two major issues. First are the metaphysical issues concerning
whether morality exists independently of humans, and second is psychological issue
concerning the underlying mental basis of our moral judgments and conduct. It can be
established that Meta ethics is the study of what ethical terms and theories actually
refer to. It determines the validity of theories advanced in Normative Ethics. In ethics,
certain moral concepts are used such as right, wrong, good or bad to evaluate human
actions. These moral concepts are used as tools in making moral judgments. Meta
ethics appraises ethical concepts. It studies the meaning of moral language and the
metaphysics of moral facts. Meta ethics comprehend the nature of ethical properties
and evaluations. Meta ethics deals with the enquiry such as 'What is the meaning of
moral terms or judgments?', 'What is the nature of moral judgments?', 'How may moral
judgments be supported or defended?'

There are theories to answer above three questions:

I. Semantic theories: These theories mainly put forward a position on the first of the
three questions that include "What is the meaning of moral terms or judgements?"
What is the nature of moral judgments?', 'How may moral judgments be supported or
defended?" Meta-ethical theories are commonly classified as Cognitivist theories or Non-
Cognitivist theories.
Cognitivist theories: Cognitivism is the meta-ethical analysis that ethical sentences
express propositions and can therefore be true or false, as opposed to non-cognitivism.
1. Moral realism or Ethical Objectivism: It maintains that such propositions are not
facts about any person or group's subjective opinion, but about objective features of the
world, independent of human opinion.
Ethical naturalism is a form of moral realism which stated that moral characteristics of
the world are reducible to some set of non-moral features. Ethical naturalism advocates
that inquiry into the natural world can increase moral knowledge of people in same way
it increases scientific knowledge.
Ethical non-naturalism is a non-definist form of moral realism, which explained that
moral features of the world are irreducible to any set of non-moral features. Advantages
of Moral Realism: Moral realism permits the ordinary rules of logic to be applied directly
to moral statements. It can be said that a moral belief is false or contradictory in the
same way we would about a factual belief. Another benefit of moral realism is its
capacity to resolve moral disagreements. If two moral beliefs disagree with one another,
realism says that they cannot both be right, and therefore everyone involved ought to be
seeking out the right answer to resolve the disagreement. Disadvantages of Moral
Realism: Though realism can describe how to resolve moral conflicts, it does not explain
how these conflicts arose in the first place. Others also raised concern about realism
because moral truths cannot be observed in the same way as material facts so it seems
odd to count them in the same group.

2. Ethical subjectivism: It is type of moral anti-realism. It maintains that moral

statements are made true or false by the attitudes and/or conventions of people. The
most common forms of ethical subjectivism are also forms of moral relativism, with
moral standards held to be relative to each culture or society, or even to every
individual. Ethical subjectivism is also compatible with moral absolutism, in that the
individual or society to whose attitudes moral propositions refer can hold some moral
principle to apply regardless of circumstances. Ethical subjectivism stands in
opposition to moral realism, which asserts that moral propositions refer to objective
facts, independent of human opinion.

3. Error theory: It is type of moral anti-realism maintains that although ethical claims
do express propositions, all such propositions are false. Since error theory rejects that
there are moral truths, error theory entails moral nihilism (Moral nihilism is the meta-
ethical view that nothing is intrinsically moral or immoral) and, thus, moral skepticism
(Moral skepticism is metaethical view that no one has any moral knowledge).
Error theory is developed on three principles:

1. There are no moral features in this world; nothing is right or wrong.

2. Therefore no moral judgements are true; however,
3. Our sincere moral judgements try, but always fail, to describe the moral features
of things.

Non-cognitivist theories: Non-cognitivism is the meta-ethical outlook that ethical

sentences do not express propositions and thus cannot be true or false. Non-
cognitivism is another form of moral anti-realism. If moral statements cannot be true,
and if one cannot know something that is not true, non-cognitivism entails that moral
knowledge is impossible.
Criticism for non-cognitivism is that it disregards the external causes of emotional and
prescriptive reactions.

1. Emotivism: Emotivism is a meta-ethical view that claims that ethical sentences

do not express propositions but emotional attitudes. It maintains that ethical
sentences serve just to express emotions.
2. Universal prescriptivism: Universal prescriptivism is the meta-ethical view which
asserts that, rather than expressing propositions, ethical sentences function similarly
to imperatives which are universalizable whoever makes a moral judgement is
committed to the same judgement in any situation where the same relevant facts
obtain.

(II). Substantial theories:

These theories answer questions: "What is the nature of moral judgements?" Amongst
those who believe there to be some standard of morality, there are two divisions.
Universalists, who hold that the same moral facts or principles apply to everyone
everywhere; and relativists, who embrace that different moral facts or principles apply
to different people or societies.

Moral universalism: It is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics, or a

universal ethic, pertains universally, that is to all people irrespective of culture, race,
sex, religion, nationality, sexuality, or other distinctive feature. The source or
justification of this system may be thought to be human nature, shared vulnerability to
suffering, and the demands of universal reason. Not all forms of moral universalism are
value monist; many forms of universalism may be value pluralist. Value monism is the
common form of universalism, which holds that all goods are commensurable on a
single value scale.

Value pluralism is the thought that there are several values which may be equally
correct and fundamental, and yet in disagreement with each other.

Moral relativism: It upholds that all moral judgements have their origins either in
societal or in individual standards, and that no single objective standard exists by
which one can consider the truth of a moral proposition.

Moral relativism is concerned with the differences in moral judgements across different
people and cultures.

Meta-ethical relativists generally consider that the descriptive properties of terms such
as "good", "bad", "right", and 'wrong' do not stand subject to universal truth conditions,
but only to societal convention and personal preference.

III. Justification theories: These theories answer questions like, "How moral judgments
be supported or defended?" or "Why should I be moral?" Moral Knowledge is gained by
inference:

Most hypothesize that moral knowledge is somehow possible, as opposed to moral

skepticism. Amongst them, some theories hold that moral knowledge is gained
inferentially as opposed to ethical intuitionism. Empiricism is the principle that
knowledge is gained primarily through observation and experience. Moral rationalism is
the analysis according to which ethical truths are knowable a priori, by reason alone. It
is recognized as the view that moral constraints are rational constraints (Russ Shafer-
Landau, 2012). Some famous theoretical actors who have defended moral rationalism
are Plato and Immanuel Kant. Others who have discarded moral rationalism are David
Hume and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Applied Ethics:

Applied ethics are analysis of specific controversial moral issues such as abortion,
animal rights, or euthanasia. It helps to use knowledge of moral principles to present
dilemmas. There are certain issues which arise due to newly adopted life style. Applied
ethics deals with the questions such as, "Is getting an abortion immoral?' "Is
euthanasia immoral?" "Is affirmative action right or wrong?" "What are human rights,
and how do we determine them?" "Do animals have rights as well?" and "Do individuals
have the right of self-determination?" Two characteristics are necessary for an issue to
be considered as an 'applied ethical issue'. First, the issue needs to be controversial in
the sense that there are significant groups of people both for and against the issue at
hand. The second requirement for an issue to be an applied ethical issue is that it must
be a distinctly moral issue and not just a social controversy.

Specific fields of application:

1. Bioethics: Bioethics is the study of contentious ethics brought about by advancement

in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are more involved with the ethical questions that
arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law,
and philosophy. It also includes Primary care ethics which is the study of the everyday
decisions that primary care clinicians make. Bioethics also deal with emerging
biotechnologies that affect basic biology and future humans. These developments
include cloning, gene therapy, human genetic engineering, astroethics and life in space,
and manipulation of basic biology through altered DNA etc. Many religious
communities have their own histories of inquiry into bioethical issues and have
developed rules and guidelines on how to deal with these issues from within the
viewpoint of their respective faiths.

2. Business ethics: Business ethics also referred as corporate ethics is a type of applied
ethics that scrutinizes ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a
business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is pertinent to
the conduct of individuals and entire organizations. Business ethics also has both
normative and descriptive dimensions. As a corporate practice and a career
specialization, the field is mainly normative. Academics attempting to understand
business behaviour employ descriptive methods. The range and quantity of business
ethical issues reveals the interaction of profit-maximizing behaviour with non-economic
concerns.

3. Organizational ethics: Organizational ethics is the ethics of an organization, and the

way an organization responds to an internal or external stimulus. Organizational ethics
is interdependent with the organizational culture. Although, it is similar to both
 organizational behaviour and business ethics, organizational ethics is neither
organizational behaviour nor solely business ethics. Organizational ethics articulate the
values of an organization to its employees and/or other entities irrespective of
governmental and/or regulatory laws.

An organization is developed when individuals with varied interests and diverse

backgrounds join on a common platform and work together towards predefined goals
and objectives. A code of ethics within an organization is a set of principles that is used
to guide the organization in its decisions, programs, and policies.

There are at least four elements that create an ethical culture and behaviour of
employees within an organization. These elements are:

1. A written code of ethics and standards (ethical code)

2. Ethics training for executives, managers, and employees
3. The availability of ethical situational advice (i.e. advice lines or offices)
4. Confidential reporting systems

4. Machine ethics: Machine Ethics is the element of the ethics of artificial intelligence
concerned with the moral behaviour of artificially intelligent beings. Machine Ethics
contrasts with roboethics, which is concerned with the moral behaviour of humans as
they design, construct, use and treat such beings. Machine ethics should not be
perplexed with computer ethics, which focuses on professional behaviour towards
computers and information. The effort to actually program a machine or artificial agent
to behave as though instilled with a sense of ethics requires new specificity in
normative theories.

5. Military ethics: Military ethics deals with questions regarding the application of force
and the ethos of the soldier and are often understood as applied professional ethics.
Military ethics involves manifold areas, including the following among others:

i. The laws of war.

ii. Justification for the initiation of military force.
iii. Decisions about who may be targeted in warfare.
iv. Decisions on choice of weaponry, and what collateral effects such weaponry may
have.
v. Standards for handling military prisoners.
vi. Methods of dealing with violations of the laws of war.

6. Political ethics: Political ethics is concerned with making moral judgements about
political action and political agents. It includes two areas. The first is the ethics of
process (or the ethics of office), which deals with public officials and the methods they
use. The second area, the ethics of policy (or ethics and public policy) concerns
judgements about policies and laws. Some opponents argue that ethics has no place in
politics. If politicians are to be effective in the real world, they cannot be bound by
moral rules. They have to follow the national interest. Others argued that there is no
need to pay so much attention to politicians and policies but should instead look more
closely at the larger structures of society where the most serious ethical problems lie.
Supporters of political ethics reply that while structural injustice should not be ignored,
too much emphasis on structures neglects the human agents who are responsible for
changing them.

Public sector ethics: Public sector ethics is a set of values that guide public executives
in their service to their constituents, including their decision-making on behalf of their
constituents.

Determinants of ethics:

This is the factors in human behaviour that determine whether it is good or bad. There
are three such determinants of ethics, namely the object, the end, and the
circumstances.

Object means what the free will chooses to do in thought, word, or deed or chooses not
to do. Be end is meant the purpose for which the act is willed, which may be the act
itself (as one of loving God) or some other purpose for which a person acts (as reading
to learn). In either case, the end is the motive or the reason why an action is performed.
By circumstances are meant all the elements that surround a human action and affect
its morality without belonging to its essence. Some circumstances so affect the morals
of an action as to change its species. Other circumstances change the extent of
kindness or badness of an act. In bad acts they are called aggravating circumstances.
To be ethically good, a human act must agree with the norm of morality on all three
counts; in its nature, its motive, and its circumstances. Departure from any of these
makes the action morally wrong.

Consequences of Ethics in human actions: The consequences are the outcomes caused
by an action and the quality of these consequences depend on how much good they
contain. Motives are the causes and the consequences are the effect. The consequences
are explained by various theories. One is utilitarianism approach. Utilitarianism
appraised consequences by how much happiness and suffering they contain. The
consequence that mattered to every human is pleasure and happiness in the absence of
pain and suffering. The good consequences are defined in terms of happiness and
suffering. The amount of pleasure and pain created by an action is really good way of
presenting that some consequences are better or worse than others.

Rousseau, another thinker is concerned to demonstrate the origins of this inequality.

The changeover from the state of nature to civil life is the product of a long historical
process. This process is characterised by a growth in the' consciousness of freedom' as
the human individual transcends a condition of subjection to 'mechanical' forces to
exert himself as a "free agent'. Rousseau affirms the capacity of human beings to
perfect them through generating more complex modes of beings.

It is appraised that many theorists explained concept of ethics in human action.

Benthem elucidated that ethics at large is the art of directing human action to the
greatest production of the greatest possible quantities of happiness on the part of those
whose interest is in this view. According Kohnson and Hellegers, ethics is the body of
prescriptions and prohibitions, do's and don'ts that people consider to carry uncommon
weight in their lives. The common factor is that ethic concentrates on human actions or
the consequences of human actions. From the deontological perspective, ethics teaches
people that they ought to perform good actions and it provides people with rules of
doing so. From teleological perspective, ethics also examine human actions and their
consequences by reflecting on their meaning and determining their rightness or
wrongness depending on the circumstances, and intention of actors (Patrick J.
Sheeran, 1993).

To summarize, ethical consciousness originates in the human experience, and is

recognized by reason as crucial on the grounds of liberal self-interest. The moral
imperative is the basis of human continued existence and wealth. Ethics ought to be
viewed in relation to sustaining and augmenting this life experience of peoples around
the globe, rather than in relation to any eschatological philosophy. Ethical values are
stranded in the universal experience of humankind, not just in the principle of one
particular religion. As such, ethics should be taught outside of any theological
structure, and introduced early on in the educational process as a shared human
venture. Philosophers categorized ethical theories as meta-ethics, normative ethics and
applied ethics. In brief, Meta-ethics explains the nature of moral judgement. It looks at
the origins and meaning of ethical principles. Normative ethics is concerned with the
content of moral judgements and the criteria for what is right or wrong. Applied ethics
search for controversial issues such as war, animal rights and capital punishment.
Ethical theories affect the way human beings behave.

Attitude Content, Structure, Function; its influence and relation with thought
and behaviour

Attitude

Attitude is described as the appraisal of various facets of the world. It can be

assessment of an idea, object, and action. The attitude may be strong such as attitude
towards drinking behaviour. People usually have strong opinion for or against drinking.
It may be weak in some circumstances. The formation of an attitude may be related
with a belief system. According to theorists, an attitude is "a relatively enduring
organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant
objects, groups, events or symbols" (Hogg, & Vaughan 2005). Eagly, and Chaiken stated
that attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular
entity with some degree of favour or disfavour" (1993, p. 1). Famous psychologist
Gordon Allport labelled attitudes as "the most distinctive and indispensable concept in
contemporary social psychology" (Allport, Gordon, 1935). Attitude can be shaped from a
person's past and present.

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Eminent psychologist, Jung defined attitude as a "readiness of the psyche to act or

react in a certain way" (Main, 2004). Attitudes very often come in pairs, one conscious
and the other unconscious. Within this broad definition Jung defines several attitudes.

Structure

Rosenberg and Hovland expressed tripartite view and stated that an attitude contains
cognitive, affective, and behavioural components 21. Empirical researches did not
support clear distinctions between thoughts, emotions, and behavioural intentions
associated with a particular attitude (Eagly, et, al., 1998). A disapproval of the tripartite
view of attitudes is that it requires cognitive, affective, and behavioural associations of
an attitude to be consistent, but this may be improbable. Therefore some views of
attitude structure see the cognitive and behavioural components as derivative of affect
or affect and behaviour as derivative of underlying beliefs (Fazio, et, al., 2003).

Component models of Attitude: Every attitude has three components that are

represented in what is called the ABC model of attitudes: A for affective, B for
behavioural, and C for cognitive. Although every attitude has these three components,
any particular attitude can be based on one component more than another. This
multicomponent model is the most significant model of attitude.

Cognitive component: The cognitive component of attitudes denotes to the beliefs,

thoughts, and attributes that people would associate with an object. Many times a
person's attitude might be based on the negative and positive attributes they associate
with an object.

Affective component: The affective component of attitudes is related to feelings or

emotions of people linked to an attitude object. Affective responses influence attitudes
in a number of ways. For example, many people are afraid /scared of spiders. So this
negative affective response is likely to cause you to have a negative attitude towards
spiders.

Behavioural component: The behavioural components of attitudes are associated with

past behaviours or experiences regarding an attitude object. The idea is that people
might infer their attitudes from their previous actions. This idea was best articulated by
Bem.
An important feature of attitudes is their ability to sum up several types of
psychological information. Three-component model of attitude structure states that
beliefs, feelings and behaviours form three distinct types of psychological information
that are strongly tied to attitudes:
The three-component model of attitudes

Effects of beliefs: It is debated that persuasive messages such as advertisements often

change attitudes by changing people’s beliefs about the object of the message. Effect of
feelings occurs even when the attitudes are measured in a different context.
Initiation rituals have often been prerequisites for acceptance into social groups.

Functions of Attitude

Attitudes serve particular functions for persons. The attitude aids to develop a self-
concept of an individual. It helps in guiding our actions towards people, ideas, objects
etc. Attitude can serve knowledge function. It can also serve ego-defensive function.

Major Function of Attitudes are as under:

Attitudes can serve functions for the individual. Daniel Katz (1960) outlines four
functional areas:

1. Knowledge: Attitudes provide meaning (knowledge) for life. The knowledge

function denotes to individual need for a world which is consistent and relatively
stable. This permits people to predict what is likely to happen, and so gives sense of
control. Attitudes can benefit people organize and structure their experience.
Knowing a person's attitude helps to predict their behaviour.
2. Self / Ego-expressive: The attitudes expressed by people help communicate who
they are and may make them feel good because they have asserted their identity.
Self-expression of attitudes can be non-verbal also. Therefore, attitudes are part of
 identify of an individual, and help to be aware through the expression of feelings,
beliefs and values.
3. Adaptive: If a person holds exhibits socially acceptable attitudes, other people will
reward them with approval and social acceptance. Attitudes are to do with being a
part of a social group and the adaptive functions helps us fit in with a social group.
People seek out others who share their attitudes, and develop similar attitudes to
those they like.
4. The ego-defensive function is described as holding attitudes that protect self-
esteem of an individual or that justify actions that make them feel guilty. Positive
attitudes towards ourselves, have a protective function in helping us reserve our self-
image.

The basic notion behind the functional approach is that attitudes help a person to
mediate between their own inner needs (expression, defence) and the outside world
(adaptive and knowledge).

Attitude and behaviour interact in a different way based upon the attitude in question.
To comprehend different types of attitudes and their probable implications is useful in
predicting how individuals' attitudes may govern their behaviour.

Daniel Katz uses four attitude classifications:

Utilitarian: Utilitarian denotes to an individual's attitude as derived from self or
community interest. An example could be getting a raise. As a raise means more
disposable income, employees will have a positive attitude about getting a raise, which
may positively affect their behaviour in some circumstances. Knowledge: Logic, or
rationalizing, is another ways by which people frame attitudes. When an organization
appeals to people's logic and explains why it is assigning tasks or pursuing a strategy,
it can generate a more positive disposition towards that task or strategy (and vice versa,
if the employee does not recognize why a task is logical).

Ego-defensive: People have a tendency to use attitudes to protect their ego, resulting in
a common negative attitude. If a manager criticizes employees' work without offering
suggestions for improvement, employees may form a negative attitude and
subsequently dismiss the manager as foolish in an effort to defend their work.
Managers must therefore carefully manage criticism and offer solutions, not simply
identify problems. Major Mechanisms include:

1. Denial
2. Repression
3. Projection
4. Rationalization

The ego-defensive notion correlates with Downward Comparison Theory which

maintains the view that derogating a less fortunate other increases our own subjective
well-being. We are more likely to use the ego-defensive function when we suffer a
frustration or trouble.
Value-expressive: People develop dominant values over time. These values are not
always obvious or simple. The attitude may be formed by direct experience or
observation.
Relation between Attitude and Behaviour

Many psychology studies have demonstrated that attitudes can positively or negatively
affect a person's behaviour, irrespective of whether the individual is aware of the effects.
A person may not always be aware of his or her attitude or the effect it is having on
behaviour. A person who has positive attitudes towards work and colleagues (such as
contentment, friendliness, etc.) can certainly influence those around them. These
positive attitudes are generally manifested in a person's behaviour. People with a good
attitude are active and productive and do what they can to improve the temper of those
around them.

In similar manner, a person who shows negative attitudes (such as discontentment,

boredom, etc.), will behave accordingly. People with these types of attitudes towards
work may likewise affect those around them and behave in a manner that reduces
competence and success.

In theoretical studies, Martin Fishbein (1975) had given important contribution to the
study of behavioural prediction from attitudes. He argues that there is no good reason
to believe that an overall measure of attitude toward an object will necessarily predict a
particular behaviour. He affirmed that attitude is a hypothetical concept abstracted
from the totality of a person’s feelings, beliefs and behavioural intentions regarding an
object. Thus an isolated specific behaviour may be unrelated, or even negatively related
to the overall attitude. Fishbein upholds that, in order to predict a specific behaviour,
we should not focus on people’s overall attitude toward the object of that behaviour, but
on their attitude toward the behaviour.

Two dominant theoretical approaches are explained in relation to behaviour with

attitude. These are the theory of reasoned action and, its theoretical descendant, the
theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen I, Fishbein M. 1980).

Theory of Reasoned Action

The theory of reasoned action is a model for the expectation of behavioural intention,
spanning predictions of attitude and predictions of behaviour. The subsequent
separation of behavioural intention from behaviour allows for explanation of limiting
factors on attitudinal influence (Ajzen, 1980). Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen
formulated the Theory of Reasoned Action which led to the study of attitude and
behaviour (1980). The theory was "born largely out of frustration with traditional
attitude behaviour research, much of which found weak correlations between attitude
measures and performance of volitional behaviours" (Hale, Householder & Greene,
2003).

Theory of Planned Behaviour

Behaviour is normally influenced by more than attitudes alone. The theory of planned
behaviour was developed by Icek Ajzen in 1985 through his article "From intentions to
actions: A theory of planned behaviour." The theory was established from the theory of
reasoned action, which was proposed by Martin Fishbein together with Icek Ajzen in
1975. The theory of reasoned action was in turn grounded in numerous theories of
attitude such as learning theories, expectancy-value theories, consistency theories and
attribution theory (Lynn, et, al., 2012). This theory of reasoned action suggested that if
people assess the suggested behaviour as positive (attitude), and if they think their
significant others want them to perform the behaviour (subjective norm), this results in
a higher intention (motivation) and they are more likely to do so. Ajzen (1991) developed
a model of attitude-behaviour relations that documented the impact of social norms.
According to this theory of planned behaviour, actual behaviour is influenced by
behavioural intentions to perform or not to perform the behaviour. These intentions, in
turn, are influenced by:

1. The attitude towards the behaviour- the individual’s evaluations of the positive
and negative consequences of performing the behaviour.
2. The subjective norms regarding the behaviour- the individual’s desire to behave
in the same way as people who are important to him think he should behave.
3. Perceived control over performance of the behaviour- the extent to which the
individual believes he can control whether he performs the behaviour.

This theory reveals that when attitudes and subjective norms support target behaviour
and perceived control over the performance of the behaviour is high, intentions to
perform the behaviour should be stronger. People who form strong intentions should be
more likely to perform the behaviour. Bulks of theoretical studies have supported these
predictions (Conner and Armitage, 1998). But it has been criticizes on the ground that
the theory neglects several additional important predictors of behaviour such as a sense
of moral obligation to perform the target behaviour and the pattern of the individual’s
past behaviour in similar situations (Ouellette & Wood, 1998).

Theory of planned behaviour

A high link of attitudes and subjective norms to behavioural intention, and
consequently to behaviour, has been confirmed in many studies (Elizabeth A. Minton,
2014). The theory of planned behaviour contains the same element as the theory of
reasoned action, but adds the component of perceived behavioural control to account
for barriers outside one's own control (Madden, 1992).

Attitude about particular behaviour depends on many factors as evaluations of the

likely consequences of the behaviour and social norms concerning the behaviour. It can
be illustrated through example where an individual may have a positive attitude for
inter cultural marriage, but there are certain social norms in society, and he may
display negative behaviour such as condemn such practices to conform social norms.
Sometimes, people may not like to have certain attitudes. But such a tendency may
lead to mismatch among people in the society who are living together. At that time,
people try to develop attitudes according to situations. This has been elucidated by
effective theory known as ‘Balance theory’ (Heider, 1958). The basic principle of this
theory is that there is a tendency to maintain or restore balance in one’s attitude
structures. Because unbalanced attitude structure leads to uncomfortable and
unpleasant feelings.

Although the influence of attitudes on behaviour is not clearly visible, two theories such
as Cognitive dissonance and Self- fulfilling prophecy are available to understand the
direction of attitudinal influences. Cognitive dissonance refers to the feeling of
inconsistency in feelings, beliefs and behaviour (the three components of attitudes).
This feeling makes people uncomfortable. So they get inspired to rectify the situation by
modifying their behaviours that cause dissonance or disagreement. For example, in a
hospital setting, a nurse may have a negative feeling to work in a Tuberculosis ward
with a belief that her health will be affected. But she will not display this negative
attitude directly in her behaviour, but try to get a change from that ward itself or
remains absent from her duties. Another dominant theory related to attitude is self-
fulfilling prophecy which is described as the process by which people try to convert
their attitudes, beliefs and expectations-into reality.

Factors that influence attitude strength:

Scholars have revealed that people are more expected to behave according to their
attitudes under certain conditions:

1. When their attitudes are the result of personal experience.

2. When they are an expert in the subject.
3. When they expect a favourable outcome.
4. When the attitudes are repeatedly expressed.
5. When they stand to win or lose something due to the issue.
6. Attitudes can change to match behaviour.

In many instances, people may actually modify their attitudes in order to better align
them with their behaviour. Cognitive dissonance is a phenomenon in which a person
experiences psychological agony due to conflicting thoughts or beliefs. In order to
reduce this tension, people may change their attitudes to reflect their other beliefs or
actual behaviours.
To summarize, theoretical models have shown that attitudes are overall evaluations of
stimuli that are derived from the favourability of an individual’s affects, cognitions, and
past behaviours. There are many ways individual behaviour could influence attitude
(Dolores, 2014). Attitudes are normally positive or negative, but they can also be
ambiguous at times. Attitude has influence on behaviours. This has been well explained
by theoretical models. Attitude-behaviour relations are strongest when attitudes are
measured at the same level of specificity as the target behaviour. Contemporary models
of attitude-behaviour relations describe how attitudes predict behaviour in conjunction
with other variables (e.g. social norms, perceived control) that influence behaviour.
These models also specify how accessible attitudes automatically influence behaviour.
Classic theories propose that attitudes change when an influential message provides
motivational incentive to change the attitude. People tend to be more influenced by
message arguments when they are motivated and able to process the arguments. When
motivation and ability are low, people may rely heavily on heuristic cues (e.g. source
expertise) to determine their new attitude.

Contributions of Moral Thinkers and Philosophers from India and World

Abundant of ancient Greek moral theories are concerned with the good life for human
beings, or, in a word, happiness. Ethical thinking is vital part of human history. It can
be religious or theoretical or geared toward practical application. Ethical thinkers can
be grouped into ancient thinker, moral thinkers from modern world and moral thinkers
of India from ancient to present day (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015).

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In developing moral standards in their moral theories, the ancient philosophers were
depended on several important concepts. These include the virtues, happiness
(eudaimonia), and the soul. Philosophers claimed that virtue is a good of the soul. In
some ways, this claim is found in many traditions. Many thinkers debated that being
moral does not necessarily provide physical beauty, health, or prosperity. Rather, as
something good, virtue must be understood as belonging to the soul, it is a
psychological good. However, in order to explain virtue as a good of the soul, one does
not have to hold that the soul is immortal. On the contrary, ancient moral theory
enlightens morality in terms that focus on the moral agent. These thinkers are
interested in what constitutes, e.g., a just person. They emphasized factors such as the
state of mind and character, the set of values, the attitudes to oneself and to others,
and the conception of one's own place in the common life of a community that belong to
just persons simply insofar as they are just. A modern might object that this way of
proceeding is backwards. Just actions are logically prior to just persons and must be
specifiable in advance of any account of what it is to be a just person.

The development of a moral character is a scholarly matter that has been argued for
many years. Many philosophers have argued the point of their existence with the
puzzlement of this subject. This has allowed the philosophers to approach this topic in
several ways. These philosophers are Aristotle (in the Nicomachean Ethics), Confucius
(in Analects) and Plato (in Apology, Phaedo). To analyse these philosophers
judgementally, it is important to appraise their moral arguments and principles. A
moral character is elucidated as an idea in which one is unique and can be
distinguished from others. Perhaps it can amass qualities and traits that are different
from various individuals. It suggests to the way individuals act, or how they express
themselves. It can be said that it is "human excellence," or unique thoughts of a
character. When the concept of virtue is spoken, this would emphasize the
distinctiveness or specialty, but it all involves the combination of qualities that make an
individual the way he or she is. Although these philosophers deviate with their
arguments, they have some similar views on moral thinking.

Aristotle

Aristotle is one of influential philosophers whom stressed a virtuous character. He

states, “Excellence [of character], then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a
mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man
of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two evils, which
depends on excess and that which depend on defect.” A character is a state, whereas,
the actions determine the way the person acts. A virtuous character is not a feeling or
mere tendency to behave in a certain way. Aristotle argued about different virtues.
Virtues relate to the feelings and actions from each individual. For example, the virtue
of a relaxed person may be clarified with bad temper. Additionally, Aristotle argued that
people get angry at certain things and redundantly stepping up to what he or she
thinks is right. Conversely, as Aristotle affirmed that the deficient of this character is
punitive and intolerable. Regardless of any situation, it is unsuitable to become angry
when it is not worth it. If doing so, again indicates a deficient non-virtuous moral
character. Aristotle also referred to any non-virtuous person by inner doubt and
predicaments. Even though the person may be single-minded or inconsiderate, he or
she must be able to look out for companions to pardon their actions. Aristotle argued
that these spiteful people are not able to believe in themselves. On the other hand,
virtuous individuals, gain pleasure in their actions (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore
Reddy, 2015).

Aristotle's principles about moral concept had contrasted with Plato’s attitude. Plato
argued that incontinence occurs when a person’s desires move him to progress or act in
the way that he or she wants to perform. Numerous studies have indicated that
Aristotle differed from Plato in his technique of inquiry and his conception of the role of
ethical principles in human affairs. While Plato was the fountainhead of religious and
idealistic ethics, Aristotle created the naturalistic tradition. Aristotle’s ethical writings
(i.e. Eudemian Ethics, the Nicomachean Ethics, and the Politics) constitute the first
systematic investigation into the foundations of ethics. Aristotle’s account of the virtues
could be seen as one of the first sustained inquiries in normative ethics. It can be well
recognized that Aristotle was a towering philosopher of his time in the arena of ancient
Greek philosophy that made contribution to Meta physics, mathematics, logic, physics,
biology, botany, ethics, politics, agricultural, medicine, dance and theatre. He was more
empirical minded than Plato or Socrates and was famous for disapproving Plato’s moral
theory. His ethnical thoughts are still relevant and has influence of virtue ethics. He
expanded the notion of happiness through analysis of soul which structures and
animates living human organism (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015).

The part of soul are divided as under:

Calculative – Intellectual
 
Virtue

Rational  

  Appetite – Moral Virtue

Irrational  

  Vegetative – Nutritional Virtue

The human soul has an irrational element which is shared with the animals a rational
coherent element which is distinctly human. The most primitive irrational element is
the vegetative faculty who is responsible for nutrition and growth. The second tier of
soul is the appetite faculty which is responsible for our emotion and desires. This
faculty is most rational and irrational. It is irrational since even animals experience
desires. However, it is also rational since humans have the distinct ability to control
these desires with the help of reason. The human ability to properly control these
desires is called moral virtues and is focus of morality. Aristotle observed that there is
purely rational part of soul, the calculative, which is responsible for the human ability
to contemplate reason logically and formulate scientific principles. These mastery of
abilities is called intellectual virtues.

Major part of Aristotle's moral virtue is the principle of mean. This principle states that
moral virtues are desire regulating character traits which are at a mean between more
extreme character traits. Most virtue means are categorized between two vices:

Plato

Similar to ancient philosophers, Plato upholds the principle of virtue-based

eudemonistic conception of ethics. It can be said that human well-being (eudaimonia) is
the highest aim of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues are the requisite skills
and dispositions needed to attain it (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015).
Plato is one of the eminent personalities in the world. Plato's writings such as Apology
demonstrate dramatic accounts of the events leading to his death, depict matters of
concerns, ethical living, and simplicity of thought and expression.

Plato conversed about philosophy as a way of life. A soul is part of a life, whereas, the
soul determines the things we do every day. Phaedo illustrates important arguments for
personal immortality. In Phaedo, Plato contended that the soul is "something", rather
than a sense of “harmony.” Dissimilar to harmony, the soul exists, which is more active
than others. Souls are more righteous, which harmony does not pertain to. Soul pre-
exists where harmony does not. Alternatively, if soul is in a group of harmony, all souls
would be too, which is not possible. Therefore, soul is a sort of material, which is much
enhanced than harmony. Plato also argued that the soul is divided in three parts, and
each part is a kind of desire. Correspondingly, these desires are rational, appetitive, or
spirited. To be virtuous one must understand what is the beneficial. He or she must
have the spirited desires to be educated properly, which will eventually lead to the
protection from the soul. Plato exemplified the education of the soul in Books II and III.
Importantly, a virtuous individual learns to live by a better environment when he is
young, and moves on to create virtuous behaviours. His actions are developed while he
is growing and learns why the thing he is doing is good. Once he has learned the good,
then he would understand why his actions were virtuous. Plato argued that virtue
simply indicates one to act in different ways.

If Plato's conception of happiness is elusive and his support for a morality of happiness
seems somewhat subdued, there are several reasons (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore
Reddy, 2015).

First, his conception of happiness differs in noteworthy ways from ordinary views. In
his early works his approach is largely negative. Socratic questioning seems designed to
undermine the traditional values rather than to develop a positive account of his own.

Second, the positive accounts contained in his later works, especially that of the
Republic, treat happiness as a state of perfection that is hard to comprehend because it
is based on metaphysical presuppositions that seem both hazy and out of the realm of
ordinary understanding. In other dialogues he confines himself to intimations of
different aspects of what is good in and for the soul, intimations that are hard to fit
together in a coherent picture. There is not, as there is in Aristotle, much talk about
happiness as a self-sufficient state of the active individual.

Third, in crucial texts Plato's moral ideals appear both austere and self-abnegating. The
soul is to remain aloof from the pleasures of the body. Communal life demands the
subordination of individual wishes and aims.

Major problem to appraise Plato's ethical thought are that it was subject to various
modifications during his long life. In Plato's early works, the so-called Socratic
dialogues, there are no indications that the search for virtue and the human good goes
beyond the human realm. This changes with a growing interest in an all-encompassing
metaphysical grounding of knowledge in Plato's middle dialogues, a development that
leads to the positing of the ‘Forms’, as the true nature of all things, culminating in the
Form of the Good as the transcendent principle of all goodness. Additionally, moral
values presume an appropriate political order that can be maintained only by leaders
with a rigorous philosophical training. Though the theory of the Forms is not confined
to human values, but incorporates the whole of nature. Plato at this point seems to
assume no more than an analogy between human affairs and cosmic harmony. The late
dialogues, by contrast, display a growing tendency to see a unity between the
microcosm of human life and the macrocosmic order of the entire universe. Such
holistic tendencies would seem to put the attainment of the requisite knowledge beyond
the boundaries of human understanding. But although Plato's later works do not
demonstrate any readiness to lower the standards of knowledge as such, he
acknowledges that his design of a rational cosmic order is based on conjecture and
speculation, an acknowledgement that finds its counterpart in his more pragmatic
treatment of ethical standards and political institutions in his late work, the Laws.

Lastly, Plato's philosophy is not a systematic treatment of and commitment to basic

principles of ethics that would justify the derivation of rules and norms of human
interaction in the way that is expected in modern discussions. Nor is there a fully
fleshed-out depiction of the good life. Instead, Plato mainly confines himself to the
portrayal of the good soul and the good for the soul, evidently on the assumption that
the state of the soul is the condition of the good life, both necessary and sufficient to
guarantee it.

Abundant of literature have documented that Plato’s theory defended moral realism and
offering an objective ground for moral truths. From the Republic on through the later
dialogues and epistles, Plato constructed a systematic view of nature, God, and human
from which one derived one’s moral principles. His main goal in his ethical philosophy
was to lead the way toward a vision of the Good (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore
Reddy, 2015).

Moral Thinkers from Modern World

Confucius

Confucius is another renowned personality that has been relative to the modern
development of a moral character. Confucius was deeply involved in thinking about the
concepts of human compassion and the development of a character. His lessons were
basically full of ethnics on human behaviours. He discussed more on the kindness of
human rather than spiritual concepts. To explain his ethics, Confucius was famous for
insisting things with a name. In another words, Confucius maintained that things must
be clear to one’s mind in order to function properly in an environment. The Analects
written by Confucius notes the philosophies of virtue and the righteous of human
kindness and the way to successful humanity. In XV.8 of the Analects, Confucius
stated that “The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the
expense of humanity. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their humanity.
“Confucius argues that the life of an individual is to protect one’s virtue. The acts of
that individual must be preserved to act to the good. Another saying that substantiate
Confucius argument is IV.25 (Eastern), it states, “Virtue is not left to stand alone. He
who practices it will have neighbours.” However, in the western philosophical view,
Aristotle maintained that the view of virtuous activity exposes how the person
contributes to a great life. Actions are important when one live peaceably with another.
Confucius continues to seek for knowledge. He seemed to be very petty, unfriendly, and
small-minded. Additionally, he can be mature, studious and caring. This can be
consistent with Plato’s views. Most societies and culture strives for goodness, and
leaders have his or her basic commonalities for personal behaviour. Confucius, wanted
to spread the wisdom to everyone. He wanted everyone to be well, not just himself. The
beliefs of Confucius is still predominant in contemporary period. He believed that the
educated aristocracy and the rulers had an obligation to set a good example and that
morals and good control were essential for wellbeing of society. He assumed that society
should be ruled by compassion and persuasion instead of threats of penance.
According to the lessons of Confucius, a "good official" had to have five virtues which
were good etiquette and manners, kindness and compassion, honesty and sincerity,
righteousness and strong family values.

Confucius's major contribution to the culture of China was in the arena of education.
In ancient times, only the noble society were permitted to education. Confucius believed
in education for all irrespective of social status. A student had to find a good teacher
and follow his actions and words. The student had to have a keenness to learn and
attain good values.

As an educator, Confucius anticipated his students to learn with understanding and

not through insight. He taught them about good governance, proper speech and
sophisticated arts and good values and stressed the need for ethics. He wanted to equip
his students for public service. Confucius aimed at educating idyllic individuals to bring
about an ideal social order. Through his beliefs on education, he aimed to bring about a
social reform. He wanted society to live in a state of harmony through moral standards.
His procedures of teaching were distinctive and his ideas are still followed after all these
centuries, in China’s modern system of education. Confucius had a well-organized
social viewpoint. In the area of politics and administration, he thought that
compassion, light taxes would lead to perfect society. His philosophies created to a new
social system in China. The political values that Confucius spoke about and his
theories are still valued in Chinese civilisation.

Confucius supposed that strong family values, with mutual respect and family loyalty
were vital for a stable society. He stressed the significance of seniority and the need to
pay respects to ancestors.

John Locke

John Locke was prominent British philosopher of the 17th century, who had given
contribution in numerous fields of thought such as politics, economics, medicine and
education. He devoted 30 years of his life to explore the facts on epistemology (or the
theory of knowledge). Through his work, it can be perceived that he always used reason
to find the evidence for any proposed idea, and distinguish between legal and illegal
practices of both individuals and institutions.

John Locke composed important texts that ranged from political to educational and
from religious to matters concerning the natural human rights. In his Thesis
Concerning Human Understanding, he attempted to determine the limits of human
understanding by developing the empirical theory of knowledge, and disproved
Descartes theory that ideas are innate in the human intellect. He assumed that all
knowledge comes through experience, from external and internal sources of sensation
and reflection, and that the human mind on birth is a blank slate, on which all
experience in life, moral principles, and whatever perceived through the senses are
written. Major philosophical work of John Lock, An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding, is generally seen as a crucial work of seventeenth-century empiricist
epistemology and metaphysics. The moral attitude developed in this work is rarely
taken up for critical analysis. Many scholars of Locke's thought his principles were too
vague and confusing to be taken too seriously. The view is not only seen by many critics
as incomplete, but it carries a degree of rationalism that cannot be made reliable with
the arch-empiricist of his period.

He contended that if inherent ideas existed, they would be present in children, those
who have never had any education, or the savage. He also held the faith that humans
acquire knowledge during their lifetime, but it is not possible to know something that
they are not conscious of. This theory of empiricism has been a prevailing part of
British philosophy and a principle on which experimental science has based its
discoveries ever since. As for human nature, Locke divided it in three groups.

1. The idealists, who consider that reality can be found only in thought.
2. The materialists, who held that reality exists only in matter.
3. The dualists who agree that reality can be found both in thought and in matter.

Concerning his own acceptance of God, Locke who considered himself a dualist and
stated that he recognized God as the vital source of thought, which was at the same
time the proof for his existence.

Besides philosophies on human nature, Locke also articulated robust views on

government and affected the economic thought through his notion of property rights. In
his writings, two Treatises of Government, which a century later was the motivation
behind the American Declaration of Independence. Locke, who was not a supporter of
disorder, tried to prove wrong the authoritarian and totalitarian philosophy, as it was
expressed in Patriarcha by Sir Robert Filmer, and in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.
Locke observed man as naturally moral, and the only reason man would keenly accept
to enter an organized civilisation and surrender their personal power to the
government, would be to secure themselves against foreign force, and to be protected by
the bravest members of the community in case of attack or war. He overruled the
theory of "myth, mysticism, and mystery" in government, and developed his principle on
natural law and natural right, the public welfare, and the justice of the laws and
regulations that concerned the obligations of the peoples. He was also against the
"divine right" of kings and emperors to exert subjective power on their subjects, and
tried to set the restrictions of governments, with the consent of the people and the
maintaining the basic human rights to life, peace, quiet, and property.

Though it is a fact that John Locke's dialog of morality in the Essay is not as well-
developed as many of his other views, there is reason to think that morality was the
driving concern of this great work. Locke defined morality is the one area apart from
mathematics where human reasoning can accomplish a level of rational certitude. For
Locke, human reason may be weak with regards to our understanding of the natural
world and the workings of the human mind, but it is exactly suited for the job of
figuring out human moral responsibility. Appraising Locke's moral philosophy, as it is
developed in the Essay and some of his earlier writings, it can be established that
Locke's moral philosophy offers us an important paradigm of seventeenth-century
natural law theory, perhaps the leading moral view of the period.

It can be perceived that John Locke had a deep influence not only on English, but also
on European and American political, economic, and philosophical thought. His
thoughts helped to shape the course of the Age of Enlightenment and became a source
of motivation for the inventers of the French revolution and the founding personalities
of the new Independent American nation.

Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes, was recognized for his visions on how humans could prosper in
harmony while avoiding the dangers and fear of societal conflict. His experience during
a time of disturbance in England influenced his feelings, which he wrote in The
Elements of Law (1640); De Cive (On the Citizen) (1642) and his most famous writing,
Leviathan (1651). Hobbes died in 1679 (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015).
The understanding of many of Hobbes’ philosophical ideas mainly depends on the
attention one pays to a group of different factors such as his education, his travels
around the countries of continental Europe, the protection that the aristocratic
Cavendish family offered him.

Hobbes's moral philosophy has been less persuasive than his political philosophy, in
part because that theory is quite unclear to have garnered any general consensus as to
its content. Most researchers have taken Hobbes to have affirmed some sort of personal
relativism or subjectivism, but views that Hobbes espoused divine command theory,
virtue ethics, rule egoism, or a form of projectivism also find support in Hobbes's texts
and among scholars. Because Hobbes held that "the true doctrine of the Laws of Nature
is the true Moral philosophy", differences in interpretation of Hobbes's moral
philosophy can be traced to differing understandings of the status and operation of
Hobbes's "laws of nature", which will be discussed below. The previously prevailing view
that Hobbes adopted psychological egoism as the foundation of his moral theory is
currently widely rejected, and there has been to date no fully systematic study of
Hobbes's moral psychology.

Adam Smith

Adam Smith was also an influential thinker of his time. He stated that moral
distinctions depend wholly on sympathy. We approve in others what corresponds to our
own tastes and habits and we disapprove whatever is opposed to them (Santosh
Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015). Smith is popular for his two classic works: The
Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations (1776).

Smith differentiated two kinds of normative guides to action: rules and virtues. Moral
rules shaped on the basis of our reactions to specific instances, barring certain
especially egregious kinds of behaviour murder, rape, theft and provide a framework of
shared expectations for society. They are essential to justice, especially, without which
societies could not survive. They also allow people who are not fully virtuous to behave
with a minimum of decorum and decency, and help all of us cut through the "veil of
self-delusion" by which we misrepresent our situations to ourselves. Virtue needs more
than simply following moral rules, however. Emotional dispositions of people need to be
re-configured so that we do not merely “affect” the sentiments of the impartial spectator
but "adopt" those sentiments: identify ourselves with, become, the impartial spectator,
in so far as that is possible. Smith gave more a virtue ethics than the rule-based moral
systems that was identified with Kant and the utilitarian. Nevertheless, he also
incorporated some of the intuitions that generated these other systems.

But Smith's moral philosophy has been blamed of three major shortcomings. First, it
provides vague procedure for deciding which actions people should take in specific
circumstances, no guidelines for how they can tell, in specific cases, what the impartial
spectator has to say. Second, the impartial spectator seems too enmeshed in the
attitudes and interests of the society in which it develops for it to be free of that
society's biases, or to help us care impartially for all human beings. Third, even if
Smith's analysis of moral assertions is correct, even if it is true that moral judgments in
ordinary life consist in attempts to express how an impartial spectator would feel about
our conduct, it remains uncertain what justifies these judgments.

Ralph Cutworth

Ralph Cutworth was an English philosopher and theologian and representative of a

17th century movement known as Cambridge Platonist Three types of work of Ralph
Cutworth, The true intellectual system of the universe, A treatise concerning Eternal
Immutable Morality and A Treatise on Freewill together constitute the most complete
available exposition of the Platonist world view. The Platonists constructed a natural
theology supporting the concept of free will and the opposing the materialism of
Thomas Hobbes. To its member, there was no natural divide between philosophy and
theology. To support this agenda, Cutworth devoted himself in developing a model of
the universe based on the vast body of both ancient and contemporary sources. His
ontology was based on Neoplatonism and involved a world soul he called plastic nature.
His epistemology was amended Platonism where the essences were served as the
standard of rationality, ordering both mind and the universe were innate to God
(Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015).

Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher and author of the Age of

Enlightenment. His Political Viewpoint, particularly his creation of social contract
theory (or Contractarianism), greatly impacted the French Revolution and the
development of Liberal, Conservative and Socialist theory. He was a wonderful,
undisciplined and unconventional philosopher throughout his bright life. His views on
Philosophy of Education and on religion were equally contentious but nevertheless
powerful. He is considered to have conceived modern autobiography and his novel
"Julie, ou la nouvelle Heloise" was one of the best-selling imaginary works of the 18th
Century. He also made major contributions to music, both as a theorist and as a
composer. Rousseau saw a essential divide between society and human nature and
believed that man was good when in the state of nature (the state of all other animals,
and the condition humankind was in before the creation of civilization), but has been
besmirched by the artificiality of society and the growth of social interdependence. This
knowledge of the natural goodness of humanity has often led to the ascription the idea
of the "noble savage" to Rousseau, although he never used the expression himself and it
does not adequately render his idea.

In the Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts and in the Discourse on the Origins and
Foundation of Inequality, Rousseau acclaimed ignorance (both that of the savage and
that of Socrates) and censures learning (i.e., the sciences and the arts) for the moral
corruption that it has imposed upon his age, yet he confessed that the arts and the
sciences are good in themselves. Rousseau proposed a less sensational account of these
negative effects of learning and a deeper account of the benefits of ignorance in the
Emile. Rousseau recognized inequality is major problem of modern social life. In
contemporary society, individuals are forced to compete with each other for scarce
resources. The result is a growing inequality as victory goes to the strong, and the
reduction of the weak to a condition of dependence. The physical inequality related with
the ‘harsh yoke of necessity’ comes to be overlain and exacerbated by a ‘conventional’ or
artificial inequality which issues from the antagonistic, exploitative relations in which
human beings are entangled. Where once human beings in general were subjected to a
single form of physical necessity and dependence, now they come to be split into two
groups, strong and weak, masters and slaves. Rousseau differentiated between two
kinds of inequality, the one natural or physical, the other moral or political.

Rousseau talked about human beings in a state of nature. Here, human beings live in
an animal state at the level of pure sensation, seeking to satiate the basic needs of food
and rest in the immediate environment. Human beings in a state of nature, therefore,
lack the supernatural, social, artificial characteristics of the cultured human being. In
this immediate, primitive existence the problem of evil does not arise. The state of
nature is an unprincipled existence in which consciousness is limited. Rousseau's
Natural Man portrays a non-alienated condition of being in which the individual ‘lives
with himself’, ‘always has all his powers at his disposal’, ‘and carries himself whole and
entire about him’. Thus, the modern world, in which individuals were alienated from
each other from their selves, ‘is by no means the original state of man, but just the
state of society, and the disparity which society produces, that alter and transform
man’s natural feelings’ and destroy the original unity and wholeness of being. The
condition of self-estrangement could only be understood through the social functions it
has served throughout history. Thus Rousseau validates the extent to which both the
ascriptive statuses of traditional society and the achieved identities of modern society
operated to prevent individuals from being themselves. Rousseau also demonstrated
how both forms of self-estrangement served to support and legitimise the inequalities
particular to these societies. Rousseau denied that discontent had its origins in human
nature and was therefore a constant force in human history. Dissatisfaction played no
role at the start of history. Discontent developed to become the most powerful human
motivation only in time.

In short, Rousseau is mainly concerned to assert this immorality. He squabbled that

any human being created by a good God must also be good. This goodness is a state of
natural and passive innocence. Rousseau disclaimed Hobbes’ argument that human
beings are innately wicked and violent. Hobbes’ poor view of human nature forms the
basis of an absolutist political system.

Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was also influential philosopher of 18th century. He was one of the
earliest philosophers belonging to the enlightenment tradition, and often considered the
father of German Idealism. Kant is popular in modern time for his contribution of his
moral philosophy instead of developing dogmas of metaphysics and epistemology (Rohlf
2010). His contributions to the field of life-extension, however, remain almost
completely unexplored, despite the fact that certain claims made in his Theory of Ethics
debatably qualify him as a historical precursor of the modern social movement and
academic discipline of life-extension.

Kant's theory is based on a deontological moral theory. This theoretical model stated
that the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend on their consequences but
on whether they fulfil our duty. Kant believed that there was a supreme belief of
morality, and he referred to it as The Categorical Imperative. Kant argued that a person
is good or bad depending on the motivation of their actions and not on the goodness of
the consequences of those actions. Kant debated that one can have moral worth (i.e., be
a good person) only if one is inspired by morality. It can be said that if a person's
emotions or desires cause them to do something, then that action cannot give them
moral worth. This may be strange but there is good reason to agree with Kant’s
philosophy. Kant employs his justification of the subsistence of metaphysics as a
discipline in his ethical philosophy.

In abundant of theoretical studies, it is revealed that Immanuel Kant utilized practical

reasoning in his moral theory and proposed that there exists only one moral obligation;
categorical imperative. This obligation is resultant from the concept of duty, and
described the categorical imperatives as the demands of moral decree, and further
accentuated that an individual's behaviour ought to live up to the moral laws. These
categorical imperatives should be the constitution governing all men, they should be
the principles of human life. Kant argued that all moral duties inherently expected of
humans stem from these categorical imperatives, and it methodically follows that
human obligations are put to the test. He stated that employing these imperatives, an
individual regarded as coherent could be able to achieve specific ends using certain
means. Kant's categorical imperative forms the basis of the deontological ethics. The
vital principle of the metaphysics of morals hypothesizes that moral law is a base or
foundation of reason in itself and it does not have to be influenced by other contingent
factors. Main flaw of Kant's moral theory is that it fails to mention the role of human
desire in the choices individuals make. Kant' theory prospers only in emphasizing
moral versus immoral human actions, and specially makes it easier in making choices
that absolutely involves evil versus good. It does not offer insight into what an
individual should do in case he or she is faced by two evils, and he or she has to make
a choice between the two.

Basically, Kant wanted to explore the rational principle that would stand as a
categorical imperative grounding all other moral judgments. The imperative would have
to be categorical rather than hypothetical, or conditional, since true morality should not
depend on our individual likes and dislikes or on our abilities and opportunities.

John Mill

John Stuart Mill was eminent British philosophers of the 19th century whose
literatures on political and social theory, and political economy still have significance.
He was initially a supporter of Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism, but later rejected all
thoughts that avert the pursuit of spiritual growth and warned on the dangers of
democracy as “tyranny of the majority”. Mill's Utilitarianism is a more sophisticated
ethical theory compared to Kant's analysis of the metaphysics and its use in proving
what is right and what is wrong. Mill's utilitarian ethical theory offers a rule that
illumines this dilemma. Utilitarian theory supports Machiavelli's 'the end justifies the
means'. According to the utilitarian view, the end of human action, is necessarily also
the standard of morality. The greatest happiness principle suggests that humans
should intrinsically choose the option that gives them the most happiness. Mill
developed a world where the happiness of humans is judged. Mill believed that the best
happiness is realised when everyone is happy; the absence of suffering and pain. He
also considered that true happiness must be moral or knowledgeable in nature.
Physical happiness does not qualify as true happiness. Happiness is greater than
feeling of contentment.

Mill described the moral sciences as those areas of study that has relation with human
dispositions, character, and action, extending from psychology to social science. The
notion of social science knowledge that he presents has had profound impact on
consequent thinking about "scientific" social analysis and is worth examining again.
Mill developed a general idea of science that was derived from the best current
examples of progress in the natural sciences, and he applied this vision to comprehend
human and social phenomena logically. According to his revelation, science consists of
the discovery of general causal laws based on systematic empirical observation. It sets
the framework for a positivist conception of social science, and it prepares a charge of
"Not scientific" to social scientists who deviate from these central positivist doctrines.

Mill discussed different forms of happiness, high and low happiness. When an
individual experiences both forms of happiness, he or she develops a liking of one over
the other. Mill pronounced that simple pleasures are preferred by individuals who have
not experienced greater ones. Nonetheless, he still holds that higher pleasures are
really valued. Because happiness predetermines human desires, it is only logical that
our actions are determined by will and will to be happy. Mill however postulated that
the realization of human desire can at times be subjective to the will of an individual or
an individual's habit. Mill's utilitarian covers more on human motives as compared to
mere tolerance. Every intrinsic human desire is a derivative of elementary human
desires to be happy or achieve gratification. Sometimes the chase of basic human
pleasures may result in pain as a result of sacrifices humans consciously or
subliminally make. Such sacrifices for the sake of happiness in the end are fully
vindicated.

Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was popular systematic philosopher in the history of
Western philosophy. In addition to epitomizing German idealist philosophy, Hegel
bravely appealed that his own system of philosophy signified an historical culmination
of all previous philosophical thought. Hegel is best known for his attempt to elaborate a
systematic account of reality. Hegel called this reality the Absolute Spirit. Hegel used
the dialectic for a different purpose than arriving at first principles. Supporting the
dogmas of Kant, Hegel believed that people do not perceive the world or anything in it
directly and that all their minds have access to ideas of the world that is images,
perceptions, concepts.

Hegel's overall encyclopaedic system is categorized into the science of Logic, the
philosophy of Nature, and the philosophy of Spirit. Main interest are his opinions on
history, society, and the state, which fall within the realm of Objective Spirit. Some
intellectuals have considered Hegel to be a nationalistic apologist for the Prussian State
of the early 19th century, but his importance has been much broader. Hegel himself
considered his work to be a manifestation of the self-consciousness of the World Spirit
of his time. At the core of Hegel's social and political thought are the concepts of
freedom, reason, self-consciousness, and recognition. There are important influences
between the metaphysical or speculative articulation of these ideas and their
application to social and political reality, and it can be established that the full meaning
of these ideas can be grasped only with an understanding of their social and historical
quintessence.

When comparing philosophies of Kant and Hegel, it is found that Hegel assumed that
the ideas we have of the world are social, which is to say that the ideas that we possess
individually are utterly shaped by the ideas that other people possess. Our minds have
been shaped by the judgements of other people through the language we speak, the
traditions and mores of our society, and the cultural and religious institutions of which
we are a part. Spirit is Hegel’s name for the collective consciousness of a given society,
which shapes the ideas and consciousness of each individual. Hegel visualized that
spirit evolve according to the same kind of pattern in which ideas might evolve in an
argument, namely, the dialectic. It can be established that Hegel perceived human
societies evolving in the same way that an argument might evolve. An entire society or
culture begins with one idea about the world, which naturally and irresistibly evolves
into a succession of different ideas through a dialectical pattern. Since Hegel thought
that this succession is logical, meaning that it could only happen one way, he thinks
that we can figure out the entire course of human history without recourse to
archaeology or other empirical data, but only through logic.

Basically, Hegel's philosophy of history highlighted the development of freedom and the
consciousness of freedom over the course of world history. For Hegel, this development
is marked by conflict and struggle, rather than smooth uninterrupted progress, and is
manifested for the most part in political developments construed broadly, including
world-historical events such as the French Revolution.

Karl Marx:

In the 19th century, Karl Marx emerged as great philosopher, social scientist, historian
and revolutionary visionary. Although he was disregarded by researchers in his own
lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid recognition in the socialist
movement after his death in 1883. Karl Marx is one of the most contentious
philosopher of the twentieth century. As one of the original minds behind communism
and a fundamental revolutionary, he is popular as a radical and somewhat dangerous
political thinker.

In modern period, almost half the population of the world lived under commands that
claim to be Marxist. This very success, however, has meant that the original ideas of
Marx have often been altered and his meanings improved to a great variety of political
situations. Additionally, the fact that Marx deferred publication of many of his writings
meant that is been only recently that academics had the opportunity to appreciate
Marx's intellectual stature.

Karl Marx's concept rests on the fact that the production portion of Capitalism signalled
great trouble. He believed production in Capitalist society worked in a way that the rich
factory owner promoted and the poor factory workers lost. In his description of
reasoning, the Capitalist system was innately meant to benefit the rich and exploit the
poor. “All the middleclass economists are aware of that production can be carried on
better under the modern police than on the principle might make right. They overlook
only that this principle is also a legal relation, and that the right of the stronger
succeeds in their 'constitutional republics' as well, only in another form.” Marx held
that in a cultured society production would occur among individuals. This production
would be aimed to fulfil the needs of the individuals in the society. Marx opined that in
production, men not only act on nature but also on one another. They produce only by
co-operating in a certain way and mutually exchanging their activities. In order to
produce, they enter into definite connections and relations with one another and only
within these social connections and relations their action on nature take place."

Marx adopted a historical materialist outlook of society and the world. He believed that
humans create change in their lives and in their environment through practical activity
in the practical world. In this philosophy, it follows that Marx supposed that practical
activity in the practical world leads to the desire to meet the needs of people in
civilisation. The need to meet society’s individuals’ desires leads to production. Marx
recognized the four-part economic process, production, distribution, exchange, and
consumption. In this way “Production creates the objects which correspond to the given
needs; distribution divides them up according to social laws; exchange further parcels
out the already divided shares in accord with individual requirements and lastly, in
consumption, the product steps outside this social movement and becomes a direct
object and servant of individual need, and satisfies it in being consumed."

Marx's labour theory of value included labours itself and he gave the name labour
power. This is the employee’s capacity to produce goods and services. In order to
produce, a worker must be fit to do so; this means that he or she must be clothed,
sheltered, fed, and rested before he or she will be able to correctly complete the job.
Marx specified that the hours it would take society to feed, clothe, shelter, (etc.) the
workers that he or she is fit to produce, should dictate the worker’s wage. Marx was
drawn towards politics by Romantic literature and his earliest writings exemplify an
idea of reality as subject to tempestuous change and of human beings as realizing
themselves in the struggle for freedom. His identification with these elements in Hegel’s
thought brought Marx to associate himself with the Young Hegelians. Marx’s principles
on morality and ethics has been a matter of substantial dispute. One prevalent view is
that Marx had no ethics, he disproved morality, and envisioned a communism beyond
both. Marx believed in a science which sought in an objective, morally neutral manner
to understand the origin, growth, and collapse of capitalism as well as the ultimate
succession of communism. Marx's revolution in philosophy explicitly renounced the
normative tradition of philosophical ethics while sustaining the heritage of positive
science (Hodges, 1962).

It is established that Marx used his dialectical philosophical principles to comprehend

modern society in order to observe the nature of social change. The principal idea of
Marx's dialectical technique is the objectively existed contradictions to historical
changes (Ritzer and Goodman, 2004). Derived from Hegel's dialectic philosophy, Marx
thought that there are inconsistencies as dynamical forces existed in the whole process
of social development. He was able to link this idea to the analysis of contemporary
society, which considerably helped him to perceive a certain incongruity between
human nature and the capitalist labour. Alienation. Marx (1967, Pp: 56) described it,
the object confronts as something alien, as a power independent of the producer. This
realization of labour appears as loss of reality for the workers." He assumed that under
capitalist market, the labour could be no longer creative but separated from human
nature. Workforces no longer work for their own needs but for the capitalists and they
have to pay for the products produced by them in order to maintain routine life.

Marx offered a critical analysis of the structure of the modern society with a
restructuring of economic base as the deterministic cause to philosophy. From his
observations of the social, economic, and political environments into consideration,
Marx visualized the society as a certain system composing two distinctive components,
the base and the superstructure. The base refers to material base taken form of the
economic and class relations which always involves the mode of production, while the
superstructure means other social organizations and prevalent ideas such as state
policies (Fulcher and Scott, 2007. One of Marx's best summary of the internal meaning
of this structure is that, "The totality of these relations of production constitutes the
economic structure of society, which is the real foundation on top of which arises a
legal and political superstructure to which correspond definite forms of social
consciousness"(Ritzer and Goodman 2004, p. 150). It is observed that Marx whispered
that the superstructure is established upon the economic foundation and human
culture and ideas are transformed according to the economic changes. Nevertheless,
although the political ideas seem a systematic reflection through Marx's analysis of
social structure, when comes in but in the context of capitalism, he also indicated that
the society is not just simply an economic system but also a political system as a "mode
of exercising power" and a "process for exploiting the workers" (Ritzer and Goodman,
2004). This idea can be assumed as that the economic base is the centrality
determining the other forms of social existences, which, however, highly varies from the
opinion of Max Weber.

Marx was able to forecast the future of capitalism through his view of historical
materialism. David Caute (1967, p12) debated that Marx's thinking provide a general
analysis of the past, present, and future. Politely, Marx visualized the present modern
society through its historical past and tried to predict its future through the current
social trends. It was well described that in theoretical literature, Marx believed that
human history is a process of class conflicts and social change takes form of class
struggles. Facing the modern society, Marx designated that the society has been
polarized into two classes such as bourgeois and proletarians. He (Marx and Engels,
1848) contended that capitalism had played a revolutionary role in the social
development from the feudal relations to the modern relations, improving production
and consumption, and bringing progress to the world. Nevertheless, he considered the
supremacy by bourgeois towards the working class as an irrational and "inhuman"
process, which would only be changed through the proletarian revolution to reach a
new mode of production called communism. Positively, Marx supposed that this
communist society would establish a more advanced production and there would be no
exploitation, no alienation any more (Fulcher and Scott, 2007).

Socrates

Socrates was a philosopher of Athens, generally considered as one of the intelligent

people of his time. His style of teaching immortalized as the Socratic Method involved
not conveying knowledge but rather asking question after clarifying question until his
students arrived at their own understanding. Socrates had deep interest in
understanding the limits of human knowledge. Socrates differ significantly between two
extremes. At one side, Socrates claimed to know nothing about virtue and confines
himself to asking other characters questions; this is found in the Apology and in certain
dialogues most of which end inconclusively. These dialogues, e.g., Charmides, Laches,
Crito, Euthydemus, and Euthyphro, are called aporetic. Another side of his views,
Socrates explained positive teachings about virtue. In this respect, Socrates generally
asks questions only to elicit agreement. These dialogues are didactic, and conclusive in
tone, such as Republic, Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Philebus. However, these dissimilarities
between kinds of discussions and kinds of Socratic characters are not elite. There are
dialogues that mix the aporetic and conclusive styles, e.g., Protagoras, Meno, and
Gorgias. In observing these dissimilarities, it can be established that there are only to
the characteristic style of the dialogue and leave aside controversies about the relative
dates of composition of the dialogues. The connotation of this distinction among
dialogues is that one can isolate a strain of moral teaching in the aporetic and mixed
dialogues. In spite of their indecisive nature, in the aporetic dialogues the character,
Socrates, upholded the principles about morality that he seems to take to be
fundamental. In the mixed dialogues, scholars observed similar teaching. This strain is
distinct enough from the accounts of morality in the more didactic dialogues that it has
been called Socratic, as opposed to Platonic, and associated with the historical
personage's own views.

The first aspect of Socratic teaching is its heroic quality. In the Apology, Socrates stated
that a man worth anything at all does not reckon whether his course of action
jeopardises his life or threatens death. He looked only at one thing whether what he
does is just or not, the work of a good or of a bad man. This statement is both about
himself and a fundamental claim of his moral teaching. Socrates puts moral thoughts
above all others. If people think of justice as, roughly, the way they treat others, the
just actions to which he refers cover a wide range. It is unfair to rob temples, deceive
friends, steal, break oaths, commit adultery, and mistreat parents (Rep 443a-b). A
similarly strong statement about wrong-doing is found in the Crito, where the question
is whether Socrates should save his life by escaping from the jail in Athens and
aborting the sentence of death. Socrates stated that whether he should escape or not
must be governed only by whether it is just or unjust to do so (48d). Clearly, by posing
wrong-doing against losing one's life, Socrates emphasized that nothing outweighs in
positive value the disvalue of doing unjust actions. In such writings, then, Socrates
seemed to be a moral hero, willing to sacrifice his very life rather than to commit an
injustice, and to recommend such heroism to others.

However, this heroism also includes an important component of self-regard. In the

passage from the Apology just quoted, Socrates explained his approach to the citizens
of Athens. He reproached them for being absorbed in the acquisition of wealth,
reputation, and honour while they do not take care for nor think about wisdom, truth,
and how to make their souls better (Ap. 29d-e). As he developed this idea it becomes
clear that the perfection of the soul, making it better, means acquiring and having
moral virtue. Rather than heaping up riches and honour, Athenians should seek to
perfect their souls in virtue. From this catchphrase, it can be concluded that for
Socrates psychological good outweighs material good and that virtue is a psychological
good of the first importance. The Crito gives another viewpoint on psychological good.
Socrates stated that life is not worth living if that which is harmed by disease and
benefited by health i.e., the body is ruined. But likewise, he added, life is not worth
living if that which is harmed by wrong-doing and benefited by the right. The soul is
ruined (47e-48a). This claim can be understood in positive manner. Virtue is the chief
psychological good; wrong-doing destroys virtue. So Socrates' strong assurance to
virtue reflects his conviction in its value for the soul, as well as the importance of the
soul's condition for the quality of our lives.

A second feature of Socratic teaching is its intellectualism. In the Meno (78a-b),

Socrates argued that no one knowingly desires what is bad (to kakon). His argument
showed that by ‘bad’ he meant things that are harmful to the subject, i.e., the one who
would desire these things. In the Protagoras (358c-d) he made a similar point when he
stated that it is not in human nature for someone to wish to go after what he thinks is
bad in place of the good. Even if we understand good and bad here (as Socrates seems
to intend) to be what is good for the subject and what is bad and harmful for the
subject, the claim is still paradoxical. It is apparent that humans sometimes desire to
have what they know will be damaging. Socrates, thought that we wish for or desire
only what we take to be good for us. This position is called intellectualism because it
implies that what ultimately motivates any action is some cognitive state.

Socratic intellectualism has two major consequences. One is that virtue (which
guarantees good action) is knowledge and the other is that virtue is sufficient for
happiness. Both are elaborated in the Euthydemus. While most of this discourse is
given over to Euthydemus' and Dionysiodorus' eristic display, there are two Socratic
interludes. In the first of these in a passage that has a parallel in Meno. Socrates
helped the young Cleinias to see that wisdom is a kind of knowledge that infallibly
brings happiness. He used an analogy with craft (technê); a carpenter must not only
have but know how to use his tools and materials to be successful (Euthyd. 280b-d). In
turn, someone may have such goods as health, wealth, good birth, and beauty, as well
as the virtues of justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom (279a-c). Wisdom is the
most important, however, because it is a kind of knowledge, like carpentry, about how
to use the other assets so that they are beneficial (281b-c). Furthermore, all of these
goods are useless, in fact, even harmful without wisdom, because without it one will
misuse any of the other assets one may possess, so as to act not well but badly.
Wisdom is the only unconditional good. Socrates' dialog leaves it vague whether wisdom
(taken together with its exercise) is alike with happiness or whether it is the dominant
and essential constituent of happiness.

In this explanation, main focus is on a kind of knowledge as the active element in

happiness. The other parts of the account are certain assets that seem as passive in
relation to wisdom as wood and tools are to the carpenter. Further, since there seems
to be no opposition to the work of reason in the soul, Socrates' interpretation seems a
bit simple. In fact, the neglect of the complexities of moral psychology goes hand in
hand with Socratic intellectualism.

It is established from bulk of literature that in the Western Philosophy, the history of
ethics can be traced back to the fifth century B.C with the advent of viewpoint of
Socrates. As a thinker among the Greeks, his task was to stimulate his fellow humans
to the need for rational criticism of their beliefs and practices. In that time, the
philosophers began to search for reasons for established modes of conduct. Socrates, in
demanding rational grounds for ethical judgements, brought attention to the problem of
tracing the logical relationship between values and facts and thereby created moral
viewpoint.

Machiavelli

Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat,

philosopher, humanist, and writer, who is renowned as the originator of modern
political science and political ethics. Machiavelli had played vital role in developing
huge number of important discourses in Western thought political theory most
remarkably, but also history and historiography, Italian literature, the principles of
warfare, and diplomacy. Many professionals observed that Niccolo Machiavelli was one
of the most noticeable writers and theorists of the Renaissance. His greatest works
include The Prince, The Art of War, and Discourses of Livy. His theories are marked
with strong expressive statements that have stood since centuries. 'The ends justify the
means and 'it is better to be feared than be loved' are two such quote that have never
lost their dynamism.

According to the views of Machiavelli, good laws follow naturally from a good military.
His famous statement that “the presence of sound military forces indicates the presence
of sound laws” designates the relationship between developing states and war in The
Prince. Machiavelli conversed the conventional understanding of war as a necessary,
but not definitive, element of the development of states, and instead asserts that
successful war is the very foundation upon which all states are built. Much of The
Prince is devoted to defining exactly what it means to conduct a good war: how to
effectively strengthen a city, how to treat subjects in newly acquired terrains, and how
to avert domestic insurgence that would divert from a successful war. The Prince is
based on one main subject that Machiavelli believed to be major factor to success in
politics. He believed that a man had to control his own destiny and may resort to any
means in order to establish total control. Machiavelli then cautioned leaders to always
pay attention to their army if they want to remain in power. He then went on to
converse the four types of armies. The most dangerous, according to Machiavelli, were
the mercenary armies. Auxiliaries that are loaned to you by other rulers, as well as
mixed troops, are also untrustworthy. The most appropriate army is one that is
composed of native troops. In The Prince, Machiavelli affirmed that 'a prince should
have no other object, nor any other thought, nor take anything as his art but that of
war and its orders and discipline; for that is the only art which is of concern to one who
commands' (the military).

But Machiavelli's explanation of war includes more than just the direct use of military
force. It comprises international diplomacy, domestic politics, tactical strategy,
geographic mastery, and historical analysis. The Art of War clarified effectual ways to
use military force, acquire land, and control that land. Machiavelli stated that war is an
extension of politics. It should be limited fighting with an emphasis on a state militia
and armed citizens. The security of society rests with the military. Machiavelli
suggested training, discipline, and classifications in the military. His insistence on
drilling, dividing an army in sections, planning, and organizing campaigns are still
somewhat feasible. He thought that Romans were the example that should be followed
in almost all aspects of their military. Within the framework of Machiavelli’s explanation
of Italy situation, when cities were continually threatened by neighbouring principalities
and the area had suffered through power skirmishes for many years, his method of
viewing almost all affairs of state through a military lens was a timely innovation in
political thinking to remain in power, a prince must avoid the hatred of his people. It is
not compulsory for him to be loved; in fact, it is often better for him to be scared. Being
hated, however, can cause a prince’s collapse. This proclamation might seem
incompatible with Machiavelli’s statements on the utility of unkindness, but Machiavelli
supported the use of cruelty only insofar as it does not compromise the long term
goodwill of the people. The people’s kindness is always the best defence against both
domestic insurgence and foreign belligerence. Machiavelli advised princes against doing
things that might result in hatred, such as the confiscation of property or the
dissolution of traditional institutions. Even installations that are normally valued for
military use, such as fortresses, should be judged primarily on their potential to garner
support for the prince. Definitely, only when he is absolutely sure that the people who
hate him will never be able to rise against him can a prince cease to worry about
incurring the hatred of any of his subjects.

Free Will: Machiavelli often adopted the phrases “prowess” and “fortune” to define two
dissimilar ways in which a prince can come to power. “Prowess” is explained as an
individual’s talents, while “fortune” suggests chance or luck. Part of Machiavelli’s aim in
writing, The Prince is to scrutinise how much of a prince’s success or failure is caused
by his own free will and how much is determined by nature or the environment in
which he lives. Machiavelli applies this question specifically to the failure of past Italian
princes. In his writings, Machiavelli deliberates the role of fortune to determine human
affairs. He tried to compromise between free will and determinism by arguing that
fortune controls half of human actions and leaves the other half to free will.
Nonetheless, Machiavelli also maintained that through foresight, a quality that people
can protect themselves against fortune’s vicissitudes. Consequently, Machiavelli can be
described as confident in the power of human beings to develop their destinies to a
degree, but equally confident that human control over events is never absolute.

Virtue: Machiavelli explained virtues as qualities that are acclaimed by others, such as

generosity, compassion, and piety. He debated that a prince should always try to
appear virtuous, but that acting honestly for virtue’s sake can prove detrimental to the
principality. A prince should not essentially avoid vices such as cruelty or dishonesty if
employing them will benefit the state. Cruelty and other vices should not be followed for
their own sake, just as virtue should not be pursued for its own sake. Virtues and vices
should be considered as means to an end. Every action the prince takes must be
considered in light of its effect on the state, not in terms of its intrinsic moral value.
Machiavelli proclaimed that a number of traits are intrinsic in human nature. People
are normally self-interested, although their affection for others can be won and lost.
They are happy so long they are not victims of something dreadful. They may be
dependable in prosperous times, but they will swiftly turn selfish, dishonest, and profit-
driven in times of adversity. People appreciate honour, generosity, courage, and piety in
others, but most of them do not display these virtues themselves. Ambition is usually
found among those who have accomplished some power, but most common people are
gratified with the status quo and therefore do not desire for increased status. People
will naturally feel a sense of obligation after receiving a favour or service, and this bond
is usually not easily broken. However, loyalties are won and lost, and kindness is never
absolute. While Machiavelli supported his political arguments with concrete historical
evidence, his statements about society and human nature sometimes have the
character of assumptions rather than observations.

In consort with human nature, Machiavelli thought that government should be a

depiction of the humanistic philosophy of his time. He had a proper and theoretically
precise way of defining how the government should be run, and a lot of it comes
through knowledge. The knowledge to be effective in the future comes from those who
have been successful in the past and it is recognised as examples of success and failure
of Princes throughout history in "The Prince". Success is directly associated to being
able to keep and control the Princedom, regardless of how it was gained, and this is
done by using practises people succeeded with in history.

In brief, Niccolo Machiavelli was the political leader of the Resurgence time. He
understood and explained thoroughly how to be thrived in politics.

Annie Besant

Annie Besant was distinguished British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist,
writer and orator and enthusiast of Irish and Indian self-rule. She also became involved
in politics in India and joined the Indian National Congress. When World War I erupted
in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for egalitarianism in
India and dominion status within the Empire. This led to her election as president of
the Indian National Congress in late 1917. In the late 1920s, Besant toured to the
United States with her dependant and adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti, whom she
claimed was the new Liberator and incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti overruled
these claims in 1929. After the war, she continued to crusade for Indian independence
and for the causes of theosophy, until her death in 1933. Fundamentally, she fought
for the causes she thought were right such as freedom of thought, women's rights,
secularism, birth control, Fabian socialism and workers' rights. She was a leading
member of the National Secular Society alongside Charles Bradlaugh and the South
Place Ethical Society. Pursuing her feminist schema, Besant led in the publication of
Charles Knowlton's The Fruits of Philosophy, an early text that supported birth control.

Annie Besant had two main approaches to the reawakening of India and the
achievement of independence. Which include the religious and education. She gave
lectures and supported the independence movement she condemned the British policies
openly. Annie Besant began numerous reforms that have given women the equality of
status and rights which they enjoy today. Annie Besant’s educational philosophy is
based on theosophical ideals of education according to which each child should receive
an education suited to develop his particular and individual faculty. He should be
imparted education which makes him useful citizen of nation (Chandra, 2005).

Malala Yousufzai

Malala Yousafzai was an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Pakistan when she spoke against the
Taliban’s efforts to ban girls from attending school. At that time, she was just 12 year
old. Through her noble thought, she had gained worldwide recognition. On October 9,
2012, when she was still 15, Taliban murderers boarded her school bus and demanded
Malala identify herself or they would shoot the entire bus. She disclosed her identity
and said that “I am Malala”. The assassins shot her in the head. Malala healthier and
underwent intense therapy. Less than a year later, she spoke at the United Nations and
issued a call for worldwide access to education for girls. On October 10 of 2014, at the
age of 17, she was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize. The awarding of the Nobel
Peace Prize jointly to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were celebrated. The
award was initially named the national youth peace prize and awarded to her on 19th
December, 2011 by prime ministerYousafzai Raza Gillani for her superb contribution in
promoting girls education in her home town where the Taliban had banned girls for
attending school. She has received award for moral bravery. Malala mainly campaigned
for girl's access to education.

News reports revealed that the 17-year-old Pakistani rose to fame as a vocal advocate
for girls' right to education. The Taliban, which passionately disagrees with Yousafzai's
position, was dreadful that her activism would motivate others to act.

Malala considers that all women in Pakistan must be educated. Malala decided to show
moral courage because she wanted an education. She was tired of seeing all the women
not having any education. So she spoke out. Her moral thoughts greatly impacted on
world society. She indicated people that she is not frightened to stand up for what she
believed in. It is stated that Malala is recognised mainly for human rights support for
education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province of northwest Pakistan.

Moral thinkers of India

Buddha: Buddhism is a set of moral guidelines and practices which, if followed, can

bring people to the ultimate state of reality and peace. The Buddha described these
morals after he reached enlightenment, or nirvana: the true understanding of the
universe.

Basic Buddhist principles of moral thought and action is karma. Fundamental

conviction in Buddhism is that life is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth and that
people’s actions in not only the present but also in the past affect into what realm they
are reborn and how their life is lived. This idea of the continued effects of all actions is
the definition of karma (John Daido Loori, et, al., 1996). Until such time, as one
becomes open-minded, one's actions in this life will determine the nature of future
rebirths. A related thought fundamental to Buddhism is merit. Acts of generosity
toward and support of Buddhist monks are channelled by the monks toward
progression for the giver in future rebirths or toward improving the lot of deceased
relatives.

The Buddha's Four Noble Truths are another guiding norm of moral thought and
action, particularly as expressed in the fourth truth, the Eightfold Path. The truths are
as follows:
1. The Truth of Dukkha is that all conditional phenomena and experiences are not
ultimately satisfying.
2. The Truth of the Origin of Dukkha is that craving for and clinging to what is
pleasurable and aversion to what is not pleasurable result in becoming, rebirth,
dissatisfaction, and redeath.
3. The Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha is that putting an end to this craving and
clinging also means that rebirth, dissatisfaction, and redeath can no longer arise.
4. The Truth of the Path of Liberation from Dukkha is that by following the Noble
Eightfold Path; namely, behaving decently, cultivating discipline, and practicing
mindfulness and meditation ; an end can be put to craving, to clinging, to becoming,
to rebirth, to dissatisfaction, and to redeath.

The motivation for following the Four Noble Truths is not to "be good", but to facilitate
the recognition the Buddhists call enlightenment. The English translation of the terms
within the path does nothing to dissipate the impression that the Eightfold Path is a
series of moral injunctions "right effort," "right livelihood," etc. as the term "right" in
English implies "correct." A more accurate translation for "right" in this case might be
"skillful." Practically speaking, since the earliest days of Buddhism, many have
regarded the Eightfold Path as a set of guidelines for correct behaviour, and it is not
difficult to see why. Even in the early texts, the Buddha often mentioned "do nots" when
discussing the Eightfold Path.

Buddhism agreed that there is evil in man, but it teaches that this evil can be
eliminated by understanding and determination. Because people, especially government
leaders and educationists, fail to understand the true nature of life, they do not attempt
to teach their young the right values. Buddhism teaches man to live in peace and
harmony. The Buddha exhorted his followers not to take His Teachings on blind faith
but to accept them only after close investigation and inquiry as to whether the
Teachings are really acceptable according to one's own intelligence and experience.
Even though Buddha wanted his followers to absorb the Dhamma. He did not want
them to accept it without clarity of mind and complete understanding.

The Buddha wanted all human beings to lead perfect lives to be kind, compassionate
and considerate to one another and to exercise patience, tolerance and understanding
in all activities and relationships. The Buddha, with his supreme wisdom, realised that
there were weaknesses and pit-falls in human society. He introduced the Buddha
Dhamma in order to enlighten, liberate and reform mankind to lead a meaningful life.
His Teachings were clear and comprehensive. They covered the existence of a human
being, from birth to the grave. Those who were unable to comprehend his teachings or
were not prepared to accept his Teachings, would rate his Teachings as too idealistic
and incapable of accomplishment. In spite of such assertions, his Teachings, if reduced
to the simplest of terms, could be contained in just a few words: "DO GOOD, SHUN
EVIL AND PURIFY THE MIND". These words were true during the Buddha’s period.
These words are just as true and applicable for the present and the future. If everyone
does what is good for oneself and for others as well and completely shuns evil, that
would affect others as well as oneself and the world would definitely be a better place to
live in. Buddhist Teachings are designed to empower men and women to achieve
fulfilment and satisfaction in this life through their own continued efforts and to boost
them to create a social order conducive to the benefit and welfare of all mankind. It
develops selfless moral codes, generosity, concern and a spirit of real discipline for the
good and wellbeing of relations, friends and acquaintances.

Buddhists morality is based on freedom i.e. on individual development. It is therefore

relative. In fact, there cannot be any goodness nor any ethical principle if there is
compulsion or determination from an agent outside ourselves.

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda is one of the well-known philosopher as well as educationist in the

history of Indian teaching. His educational views and ideas have been influenced by his
philosophy of life. Swami Vivekananda believed in the Vedanta philosophy which
considers that the ultimate goal of human life is to attain ‘Unity with the Creator’. He
believed that God resides in every human heart’. So that, the best worship of God is
service to mankind. According to Swami Vivekananda ‘Education means that process
by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, and intellect is sharpened,
as a result of which one can stand on one’s own feet’. According to Swami Vivekananda,
one idea stands out as the centre of all ethical system expressed in various forms,
namely doing good to others. The guiding motive of mankind should be charity toward
men charity toward all animals. Lessons and beliefs of Swami Vivekananda stressed on
different facets of religion, youth, education, faith, character building as well as social
issues relating to India. Swami Vivekananda emphasized to provide the public only
positive education, because negative thoughts deteriorate men. Swami Vivekananda
told, if young boys and girls are encouraged and are not unnecessarily criticized all the
time, they are bound to improve in time.

Swami Vivekananda always thought that the development of a nation is not possible
without real education. He opined that development of good personality in every human
being is very essential in case of nation building. That’s why, Swami Vivekananda
emphasised on Man making education by which we can make a good citizen for our
national development. According to Swami Vivekananda ‘Man making means a
harmonious development of the body, mind and soul’. According to him, Moral values
are the standards of good and evil, right or wrong which govern an individual’s
behaviour and choices. Moral values are the rules and guidelines, the mores, which an
individual or a group has about what is right or wrong, good or evil. Morality
communicates of a system of behaviour in regards to standards of right or wrong
behaviour. Moral values include some important characteristics:

1. Moral standards, with regard to behaviour.

2. Moral responsibility, referring to our conscience.
3. Moral identity or one who is capable of right or wrong action.

Vivekananda comprehended that mankind is passing through a disaster. The

tremendous importance on the scientific and mechanical ways of life is fast reducing
man to the status of a machine. Moral and religious values are being damaged. The
fundamental ideologies of civilization are being overlooked. Conflicts of ideas, manners
and habits are pervading the atmosphere. Disrespect for everything old is the fashion of
the day. In this situation, Vivekananda explored the solutions of all these social and
global troubles through education. Vivekananda stressed on such education through
which moral values can be developed among the students so that they can conduct
their life ethically. They can decide what is right or wrong; what is good or evil; what is
justice or injustice. Vivekananda believed that if we can make a student as a good
human being, the development of moral values within him is the prior task of
education. According to him, ethics is the important aspect of personality. To
accomplish such objectives, Vivekananda laid stress on religious education. Swami
Vivekananda believed in the generous concept of religion. Essential elements of all
religions are the same. No religion is inferior to other religion. Man should follow an
attitude of respect for all religion. According to Vivekananda, love is the highest goal of
religion. Man should imbibe love for all and hatred for none. Swami Vivekananda
realized three things are necessary to make every man great and every nation great.

1. Conviction of the powers of goodness.

2. Absence of jealousy and suspicion.
3. Helping all who are trying to be and do well.

Swami Vivekananda advocated that it is significant to give up jealousy and self-

importance and learn to work unitedly for others. He told, purity, patience and
perseverance overcome all obstacles. He suggested to take courage and work on.
Patience and steady work, according to Swami Vivekananda, this is the only way to get
success.

In brief, Swami Vivekananda offered new direction to meaning and content in the
thought of Political philosophy and, who stood firmly rooted in tradition in declaring
that service of humans was service to God, that one should see Janardana, God, in
Janata, the people. Swami Vivekananda reinforced the cause of egalitarianism and
socialism and declared that it was the working class that would be the ruling class in
the future.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was eminent personality and known for his great ideologies all over
the world. Mahatma Gandhi had immense sense of morality. Gandhi developed his life's
work around two moral values. He realized that it was important to recognize the
humanity of all people. He also felt that there is necessity to fight against injustice but
to always do so in a way (non-violence) that protected everyone's human self-respect.

He wanted to empower the Indian nation by empowering its people. In his famous book
Hind Swaraj, he interrogated Western civilization, which he felt was unspiritual. He
disapproved British democracy. In his opinion, it was thoroughly commercial. Its
elected leaders looked after their own self-interest. He called the British parliament a
chattering shop. He wanted that Swaraj for India in which everyone would enjoy the
glow of freedom. He did not want India to imitate the Western model of state and
democracy. He did not want 'white men' to be substituted by ‘dark men’ while the
British mechanisms of repression remained intact. He quoted the example of Italy: after
independence, Mazzini was not happy because the independent Italy for which he had
fought was not a democratic state; it had been captured by domestic vested interests.
Gandhi had a desire that the state to be freed of its forced elements and sought to instil
courage in the minds of people. In his concept of Swaraj, there was decentralization of
power and India was to be a confederation of thousands of self-reliant and self-
governing villages: innumerable circles of village republics. But these village republics
were not to be hierarchically organized; instead they would be ‘oceanically’ organized. In
the ocean, all waves maintain similar levels and none dominates over others; similarly,
to prevent oppression, no system should be hierarchically organized. In the Gandhian
idea of Swaraj, Ramrajya or the kingdom of God ought to be established first in our own
souls, only then can it be established in our villages. Swadeshi, use of home produced
materials in industry and the boycott of foreign goods was a means to attain Swaraj.

Primarily, Gandhi ji was concerned about the attitude of man through his conduct. He
emphasized that each man should aspire for living together which is called a social
living and should strive also to live for mutual benefit. The entire life of Gandhi ji was
based on two principles that include truth and nonviolence. These were considered by
several saints as greatest moral values (Ratana Dasa, 2005).

Kautilya

Kautilya was genius and prominent figure in the history. He was the minister in the
kingdom of Chandragupta Muarya. He was considered as shrewdest minister of his
time and had explained his view on state, war, social structure, diplomacy, ethics,
politics and state craft in his book Arthashastra. He had strong opinion on each of the
four dimension framework: war and peace, human right, international economic
justice, and world order (Santosh Ajmera, Nanda Kishore Reddy, 2015). It is visualized
that he was an epoch making personality. He nurtured the sense of nationalism and
inculcated in the minds of people that they owed their basic allegiance to the Rajya and
not to dharma (Chaturvedi, 2004). He highlighted the necessity of moral values in social
and political life and administration (Sen, 2006).

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, educational reformer and
humanitarian, who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of
progress for Indian societies under British rule. In modern times, Raja Rammohan Roy
who has been called the ‘father of modern India’, injected fresh life into political
thinking in the nineteenth century by attempting to bring together the democratic ideas
of the modern West and the philosophy of Vedanta as preached in the Upanishads. The
Raja had notions of establishing a modern democratic state in India and fought against
many superstitious and evil practices that were prevalent in the nineteenth century. He
had a very broad vision in sympathy with the known major religions of the world. He is
regarded as one of the pioneers who ushered in the age of enlightenment in modern
India. He supported the introduction of Western learning into Indian education system.
So he promoted study of English, Science, Western Medicine and Technology in India.

Sarojini Naidu

Saroji Naidu also recognized by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India, was a child
genius, Indian independence activist and poet. She was the first Indian woman to
become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become
the Governor of Uttar Pradesh state. She was a great patriot, politician, speaker and
administrator of all the famous women of India. Her birthday is celebrated as WOMEN’S
DAY. She got recognition as “BulBule Hind” for collection of her poems under the title
'Golden Threshold'.

During 1915-1918, she travelled across India, preaching on social welfare, women
empowerment, liberation and nationalism. She was motivated by Jawaharlal Nehru and
embarked on providing help and support for the indigo workers in Champaran who
were being subjected to violence and tyranny. She played a vital role in awakening the
women of India. She re-established their self-esteem and often said, "When there is
oppression, the only self-respecting thing is to rise and say this shall cease today,
because justice is my right".

With the institution of the Rowlatt Act in 1919, Sarojini joined the Non-Cooperation
Movement organized and led by Mahatma Gandhi. In the same year, she was chosen
the Home Rule League's ambassador to England. In 1924, she became a delegate to the
East African Indian Congress. In 1925, Naidu was appointed as the President of the
National Congress thus making her the first Indian woman to hold the post. With the
Indian Independence in 1947, Sarojini Naidu was made the Governor of the Uttar
Pradesh in the wake of her contribution to the movement.

To summarize, several moral thinkers and philosophers of ancient times to modern

period provided intellectual arguments against the various ways of developing a
virtuous character. Aristotle took his stand to debate that the actions contribute greatly
to the way a character is. Earlier to that, he elucidated how individuals act the way they
speak or behave. Confucius in Analects demonstrated the notion of how the
environment acts upon the way the person interacts. Another prominent figure, Plato
exemplified the soul as a lead to the characters desires and wants. Several modern
thinkers of India such as Mahatma Gandhi has great contribution in developing ethical
ideologies.

Accountability and Ethical Governance

Accountability
Ethics and accountability are important elements for modern government as in majority
of the countries, there is a severe crisis of legitimacy. Progressively, it has been realized
that performance management alone will not resolve this crisis period. Inhabitants also
expect from politicians and public servants ethical responsible behaviour. Devolution
and decentralisation processes have enhanced the responsibility of public officers. The
increase of transparency and openness and the service orientation of public
organisations have challenged the traditional values of discretion and equality before
the rule. The increasing interaction between the public and the private sector have
raised the demand of integrity. With these developments, it is vital to apprise the ethical
system, or reversibly, the traditional values of the public service can question some
actual evolutions in government (Hondeghem, 1998). As a facet of governance, it has
been central to debates related to problems in the public sector, non-profit and private
(corporate) and individual contexts. Broadly speaking, accountability exists when there
is a relationship where an individual or body, and the performance of tasks or functions
by that individual or body, are subject to another’s oversight, direction or request that
they provide information or justification for their actions. In the arena of ethics,
accountability is answerability, enforcement, blameworthiness, liability, and the
expectation of account-giving (Dykstra, 1939). Answerability is elucidated as the
obligation of the government, its agencies and public officials to provide information
about their decisions and actions and to justify them to the public and those
institutions of accountability tasked with providing oversight. Enforcement proposes
that the public or the institution responsible for accountability can sanction the
offending party or remedy the breaching behaviour. As such, different institutions of
accountability might be responsible for either or both of these stages (Bovens, M. 2005).

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It can be contended that accountability is the fundamental requirement for preventing

the abuse of power and for ensuring that power is directed towards the achievement of
efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and transparency. Open, transparent and
accountable government is an imperative prerequisite for community-oriented public
service delivery because without it covert unethical behaviour will result. In theoretical
studies, it has been represented that accountability is the process whereby public
sector organisations, and the individuals within them, are responsible for their
decisions and actions and submit themselves to appropriate external scrutiny. It is best
achieved when parties have a sound understanding of those responsibilities, and clearly
defined roles within a robust management structure. In effect, accountability is an
obligation for a responsibility conferred. This responsibility, which encompasses a
range of concerns, such as values and ethics and the effective and efficient
implementation of programs, entails a range of processes.

In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and postulation of

responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the
administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or
employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be
answerable for resulting consequences (Williams, 2006).

Accountability is important for good governance. Appraising the ongoing effectiveness of

public officials or public bodies ensures that they are performing to their full potential,
providing value for money in the provision of public services, instilling confidence in the
government and being responsive to the community they are meant to be serving.

Types of Accountability

The notion of accountability can be classified according to the type of accountability

exercised and/ or the person, group or institution the public official answers to.

1. Horizontal vs. Vertical Accountability: The predominant interpretation is that

institutions of accountability, such as parliament and the judiciary, provide horizontal
accountability, or the capacity of a network of relatively autonomous powers that can
call into question, and eventually punish, improper ways of discharging the
responsibilities of a given official. It can be put in another way, that horizontal
accountability is the capacity of state institutions to check abuses by other public
agencies and branches of government, or the requirement for agencies to report
sideways.

Whereas, vertical accountability is the means through which residents, mass media
and civil society seek to enforce standards of good performance on officials. While
parliament is typically considered as a key institution in constructs of horizontal
accountability, it is also important in vertical accountability. Citizens and civil society
groups can look for the support of elected representatives to redress grievances and
intervene in the case of inappropriate or inadequate action by government. Additionally,
through the use of public hearings, committee investigations and public petitioning,
parliament can provide a vehicle for public voice and a means through which citizens
and civic groups can question government and seek parliamentary sanctioning where
suitable.

Political versus Legal Accountability: Parliament and the judiciary act as horizontal

constitutional checks on the power of the executive. The role of these two institutions
can be further described in that parliament holds the executive politically accountable,
whilst the judiciary holds the executive legally accountable. Parliament is a political
institution, while the judiciary can only adjudicate on legal issues. Together, they
provide continuing oversight in order to keep the government accountable throughout
its term in office. They may also be aided by other institutions, such as supreme audit
institutions, anti-corruption commissions, regulatory offices and human rights
institutes. These secondary ‘autonomous institutions of accountability’ are typically
designed to be independent of the executive; in the case of supreme audit institutions,
anti-corruption commissions and regulatory offices they often report to parliament
while in the cases of supreme audit institutions and human rights institutes, they may
be part of the judiciary.

Political accountability usually establishes itself in the concept of individual ministerial

responsibility, which is the basis of the notion of responsible government.

Social Accountability: Social accountability is an approach towards building

accountability that relies on public engagement, namely a situation whereby ordinary
citizens and/or civil society organizations partake directly or indirectly in exacting
accountability. Such accountability is termed as society driven horizontal
 accountability. The term social accountability is a misnomer since it is not meant to
refer to a specific type of accountability, but rather to a particular approach (or set of
mechanisms) for exacting accountability. Mechanisms of social accountability can be
originated and supported by the state, citizens or both, but very often they are demand
driven and operate from the bottom-up. It is generally acknowledged that social
accountability mechanisms are an example of vertical accountability. Nevertheless,
some reviewers argue that, with respect to social accountability, a hierarchical
relationship is generally lacking between actor and forum, as are any formal obligations
to render account. Giving account to various stakeholders occurs basically on a
voluntary basis with no intervention on the part of the principal.

Therefore, social accountability would be a form of horizontal accountability. Social

accountability initiatives are as varied and different as participatory budgeting,
administrative procedures acts, social audits, and citizen report cards which all involve
citizens in the oversight and control of government. This can be contrasted with
government initiatives or entities, such as citizen advisory boards, which fulfil public
functions (Malena, C; R. Forster & J. Singh. 2004).

Diagonal Accountability: The notion of diagonal accountability is far from settled with

two groups of commentators adopting different definitions. Diagonal accountability
involves vertical accountability actors. Generally speaking, diagonal accountability
seeks to engage citizens directly in the workings of horizontal accountability
institutions. This is an effort to augment the limited effectiveness of civil society’s watch
dog function by breaking the state’s monopoly over responsibility for official executive
oversight.

The main principles of diagonal accountability are:

i. Participate in Horizontal Accountability Mechanisms - Community supporters

participate in institutions of horizontal accountability, rather than creating distinct
and separate institutions of diagonal accountability. In this way, agents of vertical
accountability seek to insert themselves more directly into the horizontal axis.
ii. Information flow– Community promoters are given an opportunity to access
information about government agencies that would normally be limited to the
horizontal axis, for instance internal performance reviews etc. Furthermore, they
have access to the deliberations and reasons why horizontal accountability
institutions make the decisions they do. Meanwhile, community advocates bring first
hand experience about the performance of the government agency to the
accountability process.

3. Compel Officials to Answer - Community activists co-opt the horizontal

accountability institution’s authority to compel a government agency to answer
questions.
III. Capacity to Sanction - Community advocates acquire the authority of the horizontal
accountability institution to enforce the findings or influence elected officials. Within an
organization, the ideologies and practices of ethical accountability has significant aim to
improve both the internal standard of individual and group conduct as well as external
factors, such as sustainable economic and ecologic strategies. More importantly, ethical
accountability plays key role in academic fields, such as laboratory experiments and
field research. Debates around the practice of ethical accountability on the part of
researchers in the social field whether professional or others have been thoroughly
studied by Norma R.A. Romm in her work on Accountability in Social Research,
including her book on New Racism, Revisiting Researcher Accountabilities, reviewed by
Carole Truman in the journal Sociological Research Online (Truman, 2010). It is
recommended that scholar accountability implies that researchers are aware of, and
take some responsibility for, the potential impact of their ways of doing research and of
writing it up on the social fields of which the research is a part. That is, accountability
is related to considering carefully, and being open to challenge in relation to, one’s
choices concerning how research agendas are framed.

In administration, civil servants have a special responsibility because they are trusted
with managing resources on behalf of the community, delivering services to the
community and taking decisions that affect a citizen’s life. The civil servants have a
pivotal role to ensure continuity and change in administration. However, they are
dictated by the rules and procedures which are formulated taking their advice into
account. It is the ‘rule of law’ rather than the ‘rule of man’ that is often blamed for
widespread abuse of power and corruption among government officials. The
community, therefore, must be able to trust the integrity of the civil service decision-
making process. Civil executives are expected to uphold high standards of
professionalism, responsiveness and impartiality. Holders of public office are
accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves
to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

To summarize, accountability is intended to make public officials answerable for their

behaviour and responsive to the entity from which they derive their authority.
Accountability also indicate establishing criteria to measure the performance of public
officials, as well as oversight mechanisms to ensure that standards are met.

Ethical Governance

Ethics is vital part of corporate governance, and administration must reflect

accountability for their actions on a global community scale. Ethical governance in
business is more than 'regulatory compliance'. It is not rule-based but value-based.
Human values are ingrained in virtues which, being difficult to measure, quantify and
monitor. 'Principle-centred' corporate guidelines are encouraged to replace 'rule-based'
ones. Values are learnt from childhood, not taught, from various contacts a person
experiences, stories and situations. Morals are, many a time not explicitly articulated,
but implicitly conveyed. Ethics should govern 'corporate governance' every action in
business. A Research Report (2006) by CFO Asia prepared in collaboration with ACCA
titled "Corporate Governance, Business Ethics & the CEO states as follows: "It is harder
to establish a connection between codified ethics and practical actions than to track
compliance on governance or accounting systems. But ethics can be reasonably seen as
an intangible, yet powerful, catalyst and supporter of compliance. Put another way, it is
not possible to legislate for ethical behaviour."

For factual 'ethical governance', the person in the business world involved in any action
has to absorb himself a commitment i.e. a strong conviction that 'social good' is more
important than 'individual good'. It has to come from 'within'. Whether it is awareness
or knowledge, it should create true transformation 'within' for the 'ethical' behaviour to
happen always on every occasion as a natural instinct. Performance consequence
reflecting true 'ethical governance' comes neither from those who do it with 'I am
sacrificing' attitude nor from those who do with 'I do sacrifice for the world to know'
attitude. This is major difference between 'ethical governance' and other forms of
'governance' including activities of CSR and Charities. The regulatory mechanism can
only provide a favourable environment for this to happen. Punitive environment cannot
create 'transformation' for ethical governance; it can only guarantee 'compliance'
approach.

To ensure ethical governance, an organization has to develop effective system to

address featuring commercial realities, challenging administrative processes and
difficult technical facts. This would essentially require, among other things, a well-
designed and structured training mechanism which is different from all other types of
corporate or industrial training.

Ethical Governance offers people array of great opportunity to differentiate from the
competition in the market to add value. A corporation which is known to be secure and
run on moral principles will be more trusted by customers, shareholders and investors,
and it will be more efficacious than those less ethical companies. Briefly, by operating
with a social conscience, the ethical leader does not just build confidence and loyalty
with staff, but builds goodwill in the market, community and society at large. Ethical
Leadership is not without its challenges. For instance, ethics are often highly personal.
Nor can Ethical Management be instilled in an organization or corporation overnight.
Ethical Governance requires habit, and it requires proper regulations. Education and
communication must be further enhanced, Ethical issues must find and gain support
in the work place and also in the society, and finally there must be proper motivation
and recognitions given for those wishing to follow Morals. It is well understood that
accountability and ethics are strongly related. Effective accountability assists the
accomplishment of ethical standards in the governance system. Legislative or
parliamentary control through questions, debates and committees provide ample
opportunity to the people’s representatives to raise, among other things, issues of ethics
and morality in the governance system. More particularly, the Public Accounts
Committee in India, which gives its comments on the report of the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India in its reports, raises matters that directly or indirectly relate to
ethics and good governance. Reports have indicated that a well-functioning civil service
aids to foster good policy making, effective service delivery, accountability and
responsibility in utilizing public resources which are the features of good governance.
“Good Governance” is being used as a comprehensive framework not only for
administrative and civil service reform but as a link between Civil Service Reform and
an all-embracing framework for making policy decisions effective within viable systems
of accountability and citizen participation.

It can be summarized that Ethics is the base of every business firm. Top managers are
undoubtedly the protectors of values of the firm. But individual and corporate values
drive behaviour. Collective human behaviour describes the organizational culture.
Ethics should oversee business. Ethical standards assist to make it happen.
Management control systems including various practices such as management audit,
operational audit and cost audit can be made more operative if such practices can
widen scope beyond 'compliance oriented' approach. Ethical governance is a continuing
focus, starting with the Board and extending to all workers. With transparency and
unwavering ethics, people will seek to earn the trust of those they partner with, forge
lasting service relationships and strengthen business over the long term.

Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Services

An aptitude is a constituent of a capability to perform certain task at a certain level,

which can also be considered “talent”. Aptitudes may be physical or mental.
Aptitude is not knowledge, understanding, learned or acquired abilities (skills) or
attitude. The innate nature of aptitude is in contrast to achievement, which signifies
knowledge or ability that is expanded. Aptitude is considered as natural capability for
doing a particular work or solving a particular problem or facing a particular problem
or facing a particular situation. Also to be very specific one requires a different skill for
law and order, for investigation of a case or for working in an intelligence agency.
Though to some extent skill is inherent, but it can be learned and upgraded through
training and capacity building. At the written examination stage, it is a fact that
applicants do not have working experience, yet they are expected to take decisions and
justify them. Experience can be successfully gained through discussing good number of
case studies.

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Following are some values which forms the basis of civil service ethics:

1. Impartiality
2. Objectivity
3. Reliability of administrative operations
4. Openness
5. The service principle
6. Responsibility

The changes in management and its operating environment have shaped also new
values, such as efficacy and result-orientation. These values usually relate to the
operations of agencies and they are defined separately for each agency.

Civil Service Values

The statutory basis for the management of the Civil Service is set out in Part 1 of the
Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

The Civil Service is an essential part of the government. It supports the government of
the day in developing and implementing its policies, and in delivering public services.
Civil servants are accountable to ministers, who in turn are accountable to Parliament.
As a civil servant, candidates are selected on merit, on the basis of fair and open
competition and are expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment
to the Civil Service and its core values: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

Integrity
Integrity is the fundamental moral concept in civil services. It is an important basis of
ethical behaviour and ethical competency. It is associated with the value of being
honest and maintain strong moral principles. Integrity includes financial integrity,
professional integrity and intellectual integrity. Ethics and integrity are closely related.
An ethical person having strong moral values is bound to be a man of integrity. Those
people who have experience of working in the government know that integrity is
evaluated every year through their Annual Performance Report. The assessment takes
place on the basis of decisions/performance of the individual Civil Servants throughout
the year. In conducting interview for testing personality of the candidates, the board
carefully observes the approach of the answer of individual candidate while assessing
their integrity. In written examination, the examiner will obviously look into moral
stand of the candidates especially on issues and conflicts faced by them while dealing
with various glitches.

The notion of integrity has to do with perceived steadiness of actions, values, methods,
measures, principles, expectations and outcome. When used as a virtue term,
"integrity" denotes to a quality of a person’s character. Some professionals visualize
integrity as the quality of having a sense of honesty and truthfulness in regard to the
motivations for one’s actions. Persons of integrity do not just act consistently with
their endorsements, they stand for something. They stand up for their best judgement
within a community of people trying to discover what in life is worth doing. Other
observers emphasize the idea of integrity as personal honesty: acting according to
one’s beliefs and values at all times. When discussing about integrity, it can
emphasize the “wholeness” or “intactness” of a moral stance or attitude.
Some of the wholeness may also emphasize commitment and authenticity. With
reference to accountability, integrity serves as a measure of willingness to adjust value
system to maintain or improve its consistency when an expected result appears
incongruent with observed outcome. Many scholars consider integrity as a virtue in
that they see accountability and moral responsibility as necessary tools for maintaining
such consistency. Halfon (1989) offers a different way to explain integrity in terms of
moral purpose. Halfon designates integrity in terms of a person’s dedication to the
pursuit of a moral life and their intellectual responsibility in seeking to understand the
demands of such life.

For an individual, his values and culture which determine personal integrity. Personal
integrity is about demonstrating accountability for personal actions, conducting
personal relationship and activities fairly and honestly. For an individual, it is
professional duty and obligation which determine his professional integrity. This means
conducting professional relationship and activities fairly, honestly, legally, and in
conformance with the professional code of ethics. Institutional integrity is a broader
concept which is determined by the mission and vision statements of an organisation.
The process which it follow: the code of conduct for its employees and the results of the
procedure followed. Thus Institutional integrity is the about fostering the ethical
behaviour throughout an institutions through personal example, management practices
and ethical training (Santosh Ajmera, 2015).

Basically integrity approach empowers an individual to make value judgement about

right or wrong. It is a value driven instead of rule driven. One has to learn how to deal
with challenges and dilemmas.
Integrity Model

Training, ethical education, leadership, incentives and ethical decision making models,
theories, are techniques which help in the integrity approach to decision making
(Santosh Ajmera, 2015).

Impartiality and Non-partisanship

Impartiality is a norm of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective

standards, instead of on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the advantage to one
person over another for unsuitable reasons. Impartiality is acting solely according to
the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political
persuasions. Impartiality means that civil bureaucrats in carrying out their official
work, including functions like procurement, recruitment, delivery of services etc.,
should take decisions based on merit alone. Impartiality implies that the behaviour of,
and treatment by a bureaucrat to any individual or entity has to be exclusively on the
basis of merit. An administrator has to take numerous major decisions such as
recruitment, procurement and allotment. To make such decisions effective and efficient,
there has to be absolute impartiality. Impartiality is the eminence of a person where
one is impartial while allocating any goods or services among several people or selecting
a person from a set of people based on certain set of abilities.

In Impartiality, candidates must: Perform his responsibilities in a way that is fair, just
and equitable and reflects the Civil Service commitment to equality and diversity They
must not act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular
individuals or interests.

In political Impartiality, person must:

Serve the government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of his ability in a
way which maintains political impartiality and is in line with the requirements of this
code, no matter what your own political beliefs are.
Act in a way which deserves and retains the confidence of ministers, while at the same
time ensuring that you will be able to establish the same relationship with those whom
you may be required to serve in some future government.

Comply with any restrictions that have been laid down on your political actions.

Candidates must not act in a way that is determined by party political considerations,
or use official resources for party political purposes and allow their personal political
views to determine any advice they give or their actions (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

Non Partisanship

Non-partisanship is not being precisely owned or allied with any group, party or cause.
Non-partisanship can be called political neutrality. Non-partisanship infers that the
officer is to do his task without any fear of, or favour to any political party. The values
of the administrator will flow from the constitution not from the philosophy of any
political party. Non-partisanship is the process of not involving any political party even
if the person has strong faith in any political thought.

Importance of these Two Values

In egalitarianism, well-organized civil service must have set of values that differentiates
it from other occupations. Integrity, dedication to public service, impartiality, political
neutrality, anonymity and non-partisanship are promises of an effective civil service.
The public has a right to expect the civil service functions honestly, impartially and
efficiently.

Impartiality empowers the administrator to fill the gaps of trust deficit between the
subjects and the Government. Impartiality provides lawfulness to the behaviour of
administrator and makes it more effective.

Major task of administrators is to adopt a partial (non-neutral in true sense) approach

towards serving the poor and underprivileged, over and above personal gain and
conferred interests. Non-partisanship strengthens the democratic procedures and
institutions along with maintaining the integrity of the service. The administrators are
always with continuous interface with the politicians, therefore it is necessary to detach
themselves from any political dogma and do his duty sincerely. It does not matter which
party is in power. Significance of non-partisanship can be appreciated by considering a
situation in which this virtue is absent. If the administrator is motivated to any political
party, there would always be a group that would remain alienated from the government
services as they would have voted for losing party. It strongly fascinates other
prerequisites of moral administration like clearness and trustworthiness.

Objectivity

Objectivity is founding advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence. It

entails that a truth remains true universally, independently of human thought or
approaches. It is established that objective decisions are not impacted by personal
feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. Taking an objective approach
to an issue means having due regard for the known valid evidence (relevant facts,
logical implications and viewpoints and human purposes) pertaining to that issue. If
significant valid evidence is denied or counterfeit, an objective approach is incredible.
An objective approach is particularly important in science, and in decision-making
processes which affect large numbers of people (e.g. politics, beurocracy). In some
circumstances, an objective approach is unmanageable because people will naturally
take a biased, self-interested approach. That is, they will select out those views and
facts which agree with their own.

To maintain objectivity in public services, candidates must:

 Provide information and advice, including advice to ministers, on the basis of the
evidence, and accurately present the options and facts.
 Take decisions on the merits of the case.
 Take due account of expert and professional advice.

Candidates must not:

Disregard inconvenient facts or relevant considerations when providing advice or
making decisions.
Frustrate the implementation of strategies once decisions are taken by declining to
take, or abstaining from, action which flows from those decisions. Therefore objectivity
means consideration of convenient and in convenient facts, taking decision based on
merits of the case in the matters related to:

 Public administration.
 Policy implementation.
 Policy formulation.
 Awarding contracts.
 Making recommendation for awards and benefits.

In brief, objectivity entails implementation of policy in letter and spirit without any
personal bias (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

Dedication

Dedication is the eminence of people to be devoted or loyal to a duty or purpose,

thought or action. Dedication is vital personality trait of an individual. In organizational
framework, faithful employees work towards achieving the organizational goals.
Dedication will carry person through a lack of motivation. It is his ability to continue
acting when motivation is lacking. Dedication will drive to certain task rapidly. There
are some occupation in which employees dedicate their lives to public service even
sacrificing their personal life and comfort.

Empathy, Tolerance and Compassion towards the weaker sections

A public service officials must possess all the three traits depending on situation. Public
servants are meant to serve and this requires developing a humanistic attitude. These
traits guarantee that the public servants act sympathetically and interpret the rules so
as to advance public interest.
Empathy

Empathy is described as understanding what others are feeling. Empathy is the

capability to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the
other person’s frame of reference. In general term, empathy is about being able to
accurately hear out and understand the opinions, feelings and concern of other people
in society. Positive psychology explain empathy as the quality of feeling and
understanding another person’s situation in present moment, their perspective,
emotions and action and communicating this to the person. Barker (2003) defined
empathy as "the act of perceiving, understanding, experiencing, and responding to the
emotional state and ideas of another person".

Empathy is emotional intelligence competency. Among many competency, empathy falls

in social awareness competency. This skill reflects person’s ability to connect with
others and to relate them which is necessary skill in building and managing healthy
relationships. Without the ability to understand what other is going through
relationship remains superficial and without the depth and richness that occurs when
candidates share an emotional connection the opportunity to work for the person in an
effective manner is lost (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

Importance of empathy: Empathy is considered as important in any social and

organizational setting. Empathy is the ability to recognise, understand, and share the
feelings of other people. It’s an invaluable trait for managers, since it enables them
to look at things from their employees’ perspective. Empathetic officers are required
in current scenario of administration targeted towards inclusive growth.

Power of empathy: Empathy may be used to understand negative emotions of other

person such as cause of aggression. Empathy makes officer noble and commendable to
the people being led. Sacrifice and solidarity for the greater good are easier for people
when their leader shows empathy for their struggles. Followers need someone they can
identify with, but more importantly someone who understands their pain.

For public servant, there are various level of empathetic situations. It starts from
understanding the content and promoting an environment and a culture of respect and
service (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

·         Demonstrates active listening skills ( such as

asking probing questions , not interrupting)

·         Recognises body language, facial expression

and/or tone of voice to understand the unspoken
Level 1: Understands message.
unspoken contents
·         Recognises unexpressed or poorly expressed
thoughts, concerns and feelings.

·         Picks up signals when others are not feeling

comfortable and displays considerations
 ·         Open to diversity of opinion.

·         Understands both what is being said by a person

and underlying reasons for the emotional state of the
person.

Level 2: Has concerns for ·         Understands and appreciates other’s

others concerns and feelings

·         Probes to understand people’s issues,

unspoken thoughts and feelings.

·         Displays openness to diversity of opinion and

adapts behaviour to be helpful and considerate.

·         Makes inferences that go beyond the explicitly

expressed content and emotion.

·         Identifies a unique characteristic or the strengths

of the other person.

·         Is sensitive to underlying the problems, and why

 
people act or behave the way they do.

·         Demonstrates empathy by correctly

understanding reactions or emotions of others.

·         Builds trust by demonstrating respect for

other’s point of view.

·         Displays an in-depth understanding of the

ongoing reasons for a person’s behaviour and
response.

·         Understands the longer term reasons for

behaviour
Level 4: Acts as a Role
model ·         Makes a balanced assessment of a person’s
strengths and weaknesses based on a deeper
understanding of the individual.

·         Demonstrates an astute understanding of

others’ view by asking the right questions at the
right time.

Level 5: Creates and ·         Creates a culture of mutual trust and respect.

promotes an environment
of respect ·         Encourages others to read deeper into others’
 emotions by providing practical tips.

·         Creates the systems promoting empathy.

Tolerance

Tolerance is a great feature of civil servants. Tolerance comprises of allowing people to

exercise their rights, religious or constitutional. Tolerance teaches us to exercise
restraint in sensitive matters. Tolerance is defined as a fair and objective outlook
towards those whose lifestyle differs from person. It refers to the skills person need to
live together peaceably. It is established in reports that the term tolerance means the
willingness to accept or to tolerate, especially opinions or behaviour people may not
agree with, or to behave sensibly with those who are not like them. It means showing
respect for the race, gender, opinions, religion and ideologies of other people or groups,
and to admire the good qualities and good work of others. And to express one’s
point of view in a decent and respectful way while respecting the sentiments of others.

In times of peace, people have a chance to thrive socially, economically and emotionally.
Tolerance creates a society in which people can feel valued and respected, and in which
there is room for every person, each with their own ideas, thoughts and dreams. Due to
these reasons, most of the experts believe that tolerance is important as it is an
indispensable aspect of a healthy, liveable society. Actually, it is the only way in which
a country as diverse as India (politically, religiously, economically) can function and use
each and every difference to make its people thrive rather than suffer.

In the age of globalization, individuals come from different backgrounds, cultures and
religions and work together, and where the world has become multicultural and full of
diversity, establishing tolerance and harmony has become very crucial and important,
and fostering mutual love and affection has become vital. Without tolerance and
harmony, the lasting peace of societies cannot be maintained, and loyalty for each other
cannot be established. Tolerance does not imply that only one person exhibit tolerance
and the others do not. When some people disagree on particular issue they must
support and express their opinion in a courteous manner, and they should not use
hateful and provocative words. Tolerance must be revealed from both sides on issues,
in order for it to be effective (Reddy, et, al., 2015).

Tolerance can be revealed in numerous ways, on different instances and at different

times. A person might fully disagree with others on any issue, from religion to politics,
while at the same time honouring and respecting those with different ideas and
opinions and treating them with full self-respect and honour.

Compassion

Compassion is a feeling of empathy towards another person. It is the emotion that

people feel in response to the suffering of others which in turn motivates a desire to
help. Compassion is a process of connecting by identifying another process. This
identification with others through compassion can lead to increased enthusiasm to do
something in an effort to relieve the distress of other. Compassion is regarded as having
an emotional aspect to it though when based on cerebral notion such as fairness,
justice, interdependence, it may be considered rational in nature and its application
understood as an activity based on sound judgement. There is also an aspect of
compassion which regards a quantitative dimension such as individual’s
compassion is often given a property of depth, vigour or passion (Reddy, et, al., 2015).
This term is often confused with empathy. Compassion has added element of
comprising a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of others.

Emotional support in distress

It can be recognized that above core values support good government and guarantee the
accomplishment of the highest possible standards in all that the Civil Service does. This
in turn helps the Civil Service to gain and maintain the respect of ministers,
Parliament, the public and its clienteles.
Strengthening of Ethical and Moral Values in Governance

Ethics is an effort to direct human conduct and it helps individual in leading good life
by applying moral principles. Ethics is elucidated as well based standards of right and
wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations,
benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. In present scenario, ethics in
governance are attracting attention of researchers, people who talk of good governance.
The spread of democracy in various countries of the world has highlighted the issue of
ethics in governance. The Overall purpose of ethics is to ensure good governance with
prime concern for ethical principles, practices and behaviour. Governance is described
as the way an organization takes itself and the processes and structure that are used to
realise its goals. Governance is also crucially concerned with how organizations relate
to each other, how they relate to citizens and the way in which citizens are given a
voice. The essential duty of governance is to effectively and equitably implement what is
called the social contract. Changeover to liberalization and economic reforms, and to
new types of managerial set-ups is a complex and difficult task which demands a highly
competent, well informed and caring administration.

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In prehistoric time of India, good governance was conceptualized as Ram Rajya. The
cardinal aphorism of be good and do good was applied to all the monarchies, whether
personal or professional; and the governmental system was no exception. Kautilya in
his magnum opus (Arthashastra) urged the rulers to be compassionate to their
subjects. In contemporary India, more and more inhabitants are becoming educated,
progressive and aware of their rights. Therefore, ethics in governance are attracting
attention of all the people who talk of good governance. The general objective of morality
is to ensure good governance with prime concern for moral values, practices and
behaviour. These moral values are inculcated in an individual by her parents, teachers,
religion, society and the environment of workplace.

The important duty of governance is to effectively and impartially implement what is

called the social contract. Hence, it demands a highly competent, well informed
administration. It envisages the government institutions to become innovative,
participatory and have a good deal of sound policy formulation, open-mindedness, and
distinct citizen orientation.

The advancement of ethics and moral values in good governance suggests legality of
government action, rationality in policy and decision making, evolving a sense of
responsibility, ensuring accountability, strengthening work commitment, creating
excellence, facilitating spirit of individual and organizational goals, developing
responsiveness, showing compassion, protecting the national interests, protecting the
spirit of justice, bringing transparency and elevating integrity. Actually, these values
expect the controllers of ancient India to be the civil servants of modern India that are
guided by a spirit of service.
Role of ethics and moral values is significant in bringing good governance. There are
numerous ways to strengthen the moral values in governance.

1. Principle of Selflessness: Officers of public offices should take decision solely in

terms of public interest. They should not do anything to gain financial or other
material benefits for themselves, their family or their friends.
2. High Integrity: Holders of public life should not place themselves under any
financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might
influence them in the performance of their official duties.
3. Objectivity: In conducting public business, including making public
appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and
benefits, holders of public office should make choices only on merit.
4. Accountability: Owners of public offices should be as open as possible on all the
decisions and actions that they take. They should record reasons for their decisions
and restrict information only when the wider public interests clearly demand.
5. Honesty: Holders of public offices have a duty to declare any private interest
relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve conflicts arising in a way
that protects the public interests.
6. Leadership: Holders of public offices should promote and support these
principles by way of leadership and examples.
7. Sense of belongingness with the Public: In order to implement ethics in
governance, the elected representative like village Panchayat members, Block Samiti
members, Zilla Parished members, Elected members to the local bodies, MLA’s and
MPs should develop a sense of belongingness with voters of their constituencies; and
listen and redress their grievances by visiting them periodically . There should not be
any communication gap between the two.
8. Responsible and Responsive Civil Servants: Each Ministry is headed by a
senior level bureaucrat who is a link between the public and the government. These
high level officers should give proper feed-back on the problems faced by the public to
the concerned Minister and suggest the feasible measure which can be taken to solve
the problem within the ambit of law. If possible they can also suggest to amend the
law to address the problem properly.
9. Friendly relation with people: If there are cordial relations between the
government and the people at different levels, then governance will transform into
good governance. People will feel that they are part of the administration, and they
shall better understand the position of the government if any of their critical demand
is not met with, due to any technical reason.

It is said that ethics and moral values can bring good governance and maximum public
welfare therefore government and private employs must promote ethical practices in
administration.
Corporate governance

In current business world, many people are aware of the standards on Corporate
Governance. The effectiveness of the Corporate Governance has become a global
concern. Mainly after many corporate collapse (e.g. Enron, Boeing etc), fraud cases (e.g.
Lehman Brothers), shareholder suits (Sun Hung Kai Properties between Chairman
Walter Kwok Ping-sheung and his younger brothers) or questionable strategic decisions
are drawing attention to the top level decision-making body of the corporation and the
board of directors.

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The term, ‘corporate governance’, defines the processes by which organisations are
directed, controlled and held to account. It holds authority, accountability,
stewardship, leadership, direction and control exercised within the organisation.
Numerous management theorists have elaborated the concept of corporate governance.
Corporate governance is a system by which companies can relay to run, at the centre of
the system is the board of director whose actions are subject to the law, regulations and
the shareholders in general meetings. Shareholders in turn are responsible for
appointing the directors and the auditors and it is up to them that the board of
directors reports on its stewardship at the annual general meeting.

Margaret Blair defines corporate governance as a set of policies, way of life measures
proportionately more than is customary. This measurement and others are deliberate,
using specifications that anticipate your paper as one part of the entire proceedings,
and not as an independent document (Cornelius & Kogut, 2003). In another definition
by Organization for Economic Co-operation Development - OECD (2005), corporate
governance is the way and methods by which organizations are directed and controlled.
Corporate governance spells out the rights and responsibilities among the member of
an organization and also the regulations and methods for making decision (Co-
operation & Development, 2005).

Corporate governance is the way a by which company polices itself. Briefly, it is a

technique of governing the company like a sovereign state, instating its own customs,
policies and laws to its employees from the highest to the lowest levels. Corporate
governance is intended to increase the accountability of company and to avoid massive
disasters before they occur. Failure of energy giant Enron, and its bankrupt employees
and shareholders, is major debate for the importance of corporate governance. Well-
executed corporate governance should be similar to a police department’s internal
affairs unit, weeding out and removing problems. A company can also hold meetings
with internal members, such as shareholders and debt holders as well as suppliers,
customers and community leaders, to address the request and needs of the affected
parties.
 Objectives of corporate governance:

i. To build up an environment of trust and confidence amongst those having

competing and conflicting interest.
ii. To enhance the shareholders’ value and protect the interest of other stakeholders
by enhancing the corporate performance and accountability.

Elements of corporate governance:

The essential elements of good corporate governance are as under:

1. Transparency in Board’s processes and independence in the functioning of

Boards. The Board should offer effectual leadership to the company and management
for achieving sustained wealth for all stakeholders. It should provide independent
judgment for achieving company's objectives.
2. Accountability to stakeholders with a view to serve the stakeholders and account
to them at regular intervals for actions taken, through strong and sustained
communication processes.
3. Impartiality to all stakeholders.
4. Social, regulatory and environmental concerns.
5. Clear and unambiguous legislation and regulations are fundamentals to effective
corporate governance.
6. A healthy management environment that includes setting up of clear objectives
and appropriate ethical framework, establishing due processes, clear enunciation of
responsibility and accountability, sound business planning, establishing clear
boundaries for acceptable behaviour, establishing performance evaluation measures.
7. Explicitly prescribed norms of ethical practices and code of conduct are
communicated to all the stakeholders, which should be clearly understood and
followed by each member of the organization.
8. The objectives of the company must be clearly documented in a long-term
corporate strategy including an annual business plan together with achievable and
measurable performance targets and milestones.
9. A well composed Audit Committee to work as liaison with the management,
internal and statutory auditors, reviewing the adequacy of internal control and
compliance with significant policies and procedures, reporting to the Board on the
key issues.
10. Risk is an important element of corporate functioning and governance, which
should be clearly identified, analysed for taking appropriate remedial measures. For
this purpose the Board should formulate a mechanism for periodic reviews of internal
and external risks.
11. A clear Whistle Blower Policy whereby the employees may without fear report to
the management about unethical behaviour, actual or suspected frauds or violation
of company’s code of conduct. There should be some mechanism for adequate
safeguard to employees against victimization that serves as whistle-blowers.

Principles of Corporate Governance:

Shareholder recognition is major factor to maintaining a company’s stock price. Small

shareholders with little impact on the stock price are brushed aside to make way for the
interests of majority shareholders and the executive board. Good corporate governance
seeks to ensure that all shareholders get a voice at general meetings and are allowed to
partake.

Stakeholder interests should also be acknowledged by corporate governance. In

particular, taking the time to address non-shareholder, stakeholders can help company
to establish a positive relationship with the community and the press.

Board responsibilities must be clearly delineated to majority shareholders. All board

members must be on the same page and share a similar vision for the future of the
company.

Ethical behaviour violations in favour of higher profits can cause massive civil and legal
problems down the road. Underpaying and abusing outsourced employees or skirting
around lax environmental regulations can come back and bite the company hard if
ignored. A code of conduct regarding ethical decisions should be established for all
members of the board.

Business transparency is the key to promote shareholder trust. Financial records,

earnings reports and forward guidance should all be clearly stated without exaggeration
or "creative" accounting. Falsified financial records can cause your company to become
a Ponzi scheme, and will be dealt with accordingly.

Corporate Governance as Risk Mitigation:

Corporate governance is of vital importance to a company and is almost as important as

its primary business plan. When executed successfully, it can prevent corporate
scandals, fraud and the civil and criminal liability of the company. It also improves a
company’s status in the public opinion as a self-policing company that is responsible
and worthy of shareholder and debt holder capital. It commands the shared philosophy,
practices and culture of an organization and its employees. Firm without a system of
corporate governance is often regarded as a body without a soul or conscience.
Corporate governance enables a company honest and free from trouble. If this shared
attitude breaks down, then corners will be cut, products will be defective and
management will grow complacent and corrupt. The end result is a fall that will occur
when gravity in the form of audited financial reports, criminal investigations and federal
probes finally catches up, destroying the company instantaneously. Deceitful and
unethical dealings can cause shareholders to escape out of fear, distrust and disgust.

Plethora of research has revealed that good corporate governance can result in
improved share price performance. It is well established in management reports that
there is a great potential for good performance by companies, which have got good
corporate governance mechanism and the greatest benefit is in developing companies.
Studies have showed that investors are enthusiastic to invest in a better-governed
company. Corporate Governance can be strong mechanism for development especially
in country like India.

The following issues are important for good Corporate Governance.

1. The rights and obligation of shareholders.
2. Impartial treatment of all stakeholders.
3. The role of all stakeholders clearly defined and the linkage for corporate
governance established.
4. Transparency, disclosure of information and audit.
5. The role of board of directors clearly defined.
6. The role of non-executive members of the board clearly defined.
7. Executive management and compensation and performance clearly defined.

Theories of corporate governance:

1. Agency Theory: Agency theory is major theory in the theoretical framework of

Corporate Governance (Kholeif, 2009). The theory placed shareholders as significant
stakeholder (Lan & Heracleous, 2010). According to Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants (CIMA), Agency theory as premise surrounding the
relationships that exist between the owners (principals) of organizations and the
managers or directors (agents) of organizations. The interest of agents might be in
conflict with the interest of principal in achieving the organizational goal.
2. Shareholder Theory: Shareholder theory as evolved by Milton Friedman
proclaim that corporate organizations’ social responsibility is to use its resources and
invest in business that will maximize its profits so far that, the business is open and
free competition and with no deception or fraud (Lee, 2008). Milton Friedman
contended that if business firms were to be ethically responsible then, their moral
obligations or social responsibilities will be nothing, other than shareholders wealth
maximization. Shareholders deliver their capital to organizations’ managers, they are
expected to use the capital for only organizations’ purpose to increase shareholders
returns (Dittmar, Mahrt-Smith, & Servaes, 2003).
3. Stakeholder Theory: Stakeholders are described by management experts as any
person or company who is affected by organization’s decisions or activities (Bryson,
2004). They are groups or individuals that benefit or harmed, and whose rights are
violated or respected by organization operations (Freeman, 2010). Stakeholder theory
states that business organizations should be concerned about the interest of other
stakeholders when taking strategic decisions (Mainardes, Alves, and Raposo, 2011).
In contrast to shareholder theorists that called for shareholder wealth maximization,
stakeholder theorists canvassed for satiating stakeholders interests. From
stakeholder viewpoint, shareholders are one of the important members of
stakeholder. Shareholders have stake and are affected by organization’s operations
and achievement, same with other stakeholders such as employees, customers,
suppliers, and environment. The stakeholder theorists appealed that, as business
owes special and particular duties to shareholders, it also has various responsibilities
towards other stakeholders (Heath and Norman, 2004).

Mechanism and control for corporate governance:

The mechanism and controls are planned to lessen the inadequacies that arise from
moral incongruities and adverse selection. Ethical diversion is a very important issue
for Corporate Governance, while designing mechanism and control.
The issues could be:
1. Monitoring the Role/effectiveness of the Board of Directors.
2. Remuneration of the Board Members and other employees in the company.
3. Responsibilities and accountability for Audit Committees financial reporting
process, monitoring the choice of accounting policies and principles, monitoring
internal control process and policy decisions for hiring and performance of the
external auditors.
4. Issues and concerns of Government Regulations.
5. Understand the strategic issues of the competition.
6. Management labour market and concerns of control mechanisms.

It is established that Good corporate governance standards are necessary for the
integrity of corporations, financial institutions and markets and have a bearing on the
growth and stability of the economy. In India, good governance is practiced from
ancient time from third century B.C. where Chanakya (Minister of Parliputra)
expounded fourfold duties of a king viz. Raksha, Vriddhi, Palana and Yogakshema. It
means that Substituting the king of the State with the Company CEO or Board of
Directors the principles of Corporate Governance refers to shielding shareholders
wealth (Raksha), increasing the wealth by proper utilization of assets (Vriddhi),
maintenance of wealth through profitable ventures (Palana) and protecting the interests
of the shareholders (Yogakshema or safeguard).

In Indian companies, corporate governance is new term. Over the past decade, India
has made noteworthy strides in the areas of corporate governance reforms, which have
improved public trust in the market. These reforms have been well received by the
investors, including the foreign institutional investors. Companies around the world are
realizing that better corporate governance adds substantial value to their operational
performance in the following ways:

1. It improves strategic thinking at the top by inducting independent directors who

bring a wealth of experience, and a host of new ideas.
2. It rationalizes the management and monitoring of risk that a firm faces globally.
3. It limits the liability of top management and directors, by carefully articulating
the decision making process.
4. It assures the integrity of financial reports.
5. It has long term reputational effects among key stakeholders, both internally and
externally.

The Corporate sector operated generally on a beliefs of cost of production plus in the
protected economy. Since they were not exposed to any serious competition, Indian
industries continued with existing technologies and remained insensitive about
technological developments and happening. But this trend is changing in many
corporate firms in due course of the time and the companies in India, some of them are
becoming very much competitive and are harnessing technological, process and
product innovation to become global players in their field. All such companies in India
have given huge importance to the issue of corporate governance.

The major corporate governance initiatives launched in India since the mid-1990s are
as under:
1. The CII Code: On account of the interest generated by Cadbury Committee Report of
UK, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) took special initiative with the aim to
develop and promote a code of Corporate Governance to be espoused and followed by
Indian Companies both in private & public sector, Banks and Financial Institutions.
The final draft of the code was circulated in 1997 and the final code called ‘Desirable
Corporate Governance Code’ was released in April 1998. The Committee was driven by
the conviction that good corporate governance was essential for Indian Companies to
access domestic as well as global capital at competitive rates. The code was voluntary,
contained detailed provisions with focus on listed companies.

2. Kumar Mangalam Birla Committee Report: While the CII code was well
established by corporate area and some advanced companies also adopted it. It was
realized that under Indian conditions, a statutory rather than a voluntary code would
be more meaningful. Subsequently, the second major initiative was undertaken by the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which set up a committee under the
chairmanship of Kumar Mangalam Birla in 1999 which has prime objective of
promoting and raising of standards of good corporate governance.

The Committee in its Report observed “the strong Corporate Governance is vital to
resilient and vibrant capital market and is an important instrument of investor
protection. In the beginning of 2000, the SEBI Board accepted and ratified the key
recommendations of this committee and these were incorporated into Clause - 49 of the
Listing Agreement of the Stock Exchanges. These recommendations, aimed at providing
the standards of corporate governance, are divided into mandatory and non-mandatory
recommendations. The recommendations have been made applicable to all listed
companies with the paid-up capital of Rs. 3 crore and above or net worth of Rs.25 crore
or more at any time in the history of the company. The decisive responsibility of putting
the recommendations into practice rests directly with the Board of Directors and the
management of the company.

3. Report of Task Force: In May 2000, the Department of Corporate Affairs (DCA) set
up a broad based study group under the chairmanship of Dr. P.L. Sanjeev Reddy,
Secretary of DCA. The group was given the determined task of examining ways to
“operationalise the concept of corporate excellence on a sustained basis” so as to
“sharpen India’s global competitive edge and to further develop corporate culture in the
country”. In November 2000, the Task Force on Corporate Excellence set up by the
group produced a report containing a numerous recommendations for raising
governance standards among all companies in India. It also recommended setting up of
a Centre for Corporate Excellence.

4. Naresh Chandra Committee Report: A committee was appointed by Ministry of

Finance and Company Affairs in August 2002 under the chairmanship of Naresh
Chandra to scrutinize and recommend inter alia amendments to the law involving the
auditor-client relationships and the role of independent directors. The committee made
recommendations in two key aspects of corporate governance, financial and non-
financial disclosures, and independent auditing and board oversight of management.

5. Central Coordination and Monitoring Committee: A high level Central

Coordination and Monitoring Committee (CCMC) co-chaired by Secretary, Department
of Corporate Affairs’ and Chairman, SEBI was set up by the Department of Corporate
Affairs to monitor the action taken against the disappearing companies and dishonest
promoters who misused the funds raised from the public. It was decided by this
committee that seven Task Forces be set up at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata,
Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad with Regional Directors/Registrar of Companies
of respective regions as convener, and Regional Offices of SEBI and Stock Exchanges as
Members. The main task of these Task Forces was to identify the companies, which
have disappeared, or which have mutualised the funds mobilized from the investors
and suggest appropriate action in terms of Companies Act or SEBI Act.

Bhattacharya, CB. et al in McKinsey Report (2011) talks about how companies can use
Corporate Responsibility towards stakeholders as a conduit for furthering its goals.
Ultimately stakeholders prefer companies which produce tangible and psychological
benefits which favour good Corporate Governance. Better governance reforms reduce
uncertainty and are engines of stability and continued progress has helped Asian
Corporates to transform themselves during the period of globalization, as per report by
Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo in 2004.

The private corporate such as the Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group, Infosys
Technologies, Wipro Technologies, Godrej Group, Mahindra & Mahindra Group and
Larson & Toubro (L&T.), of companies are giving more importance to the issue of
corporate governance.

To summarize, Corporate Governance is the application of best management practices,

compliance in true spirit and adherence to ethical standards for effective management
and distribution of wealth and discharge of social responsibility for sustainable
development of all stakeholders. Fundamentally, its process and structure by which the
business and affairs of the company are directed and managed in order to enhance long
term shareholder value through enhancing corporate performance and accountability,
whilst taking into account the interests of other stakeholders. In India, though it was
old age concept and adopted in the realm of Chanakya’ time, but Indian companies
adopted the principle of corporate governance after 1990. Good corporate governance is
important for overall market confidence, the efficiency of capital allocation, the growth
and development of countries’ industrial bases, and ultimately the nations’ overall
prosperity and wellbeing.

Dimensions of ethics
The different dimensions to study the ethics help in arriving at ethical decisions during
complex situation. These varied approaches to ethics look into the question of how
ethical action is determined during a particular situation. Human beings are confronted
with situations wherein their decisions about actions may lead to opposed and perhaps
equally unwelcome alternatives. There are many dimensions of ethics (Reddy, Nanda
Kishore, Ajmera, Santosh, 2015):

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I. Utilitarian approach: Utilitarianism was conceived in 19th century by Jeremey

Bentham and John Stuart Mill to help legislators determine the law which were morally
correct and better. According to them, ethical actions are those that offers the greatest
balance good over evil. The ethical administrative action is the one that produces
greatest goods and does the least harm for all who are affected such as citizens,
communities, employees, environment and society at Large. Ethical warfare balances
the good achieved in ending terrorism with the harm done to all parties through death,
injuries and destruction. Utilitarian approach is one of the teleological approaches to
ethics dealing with consequences tries to increase the good and reduce the harm that is
done (Reddy, Nanda Kishore, Ajmera, Santosh, 2015). To scrutinise an issue using the
utilitarian approach, people first identify the various courses of action available to us.
Secondly, they ask who will be affected by each action and what benefits or harms will
be derived from each. And they choose the action that will produce the greatest benefits
and the least harm. The ethical action is the one that provides the greatest good for the
greatest number.

It focuses on the consequences that actions or policies have on the well-being ("utility")
of all persons reasonably foreseen to be directly or indirectly (but rather immediately)
affected by the action or policy.

It must be established that different people often identify benefits and harms
differently.

The principle states: "Of any two actions, the most ethical one will produce the greatest
balance of benefits over harms."

II. The right approach: This approach is rooted in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant
and others who focused on the individual’s right to choose actions based on his or her
free will. These philosopher stated that people have dignity based on their capability to
choose freely what they will do with their lives and they have fundamental moral right
to have these choices respected. The Rights Approach focuses on respect for human
dignity. This approach holds that our dignity is based on our ability to choose freely
how we live our lives, and that we have a moral right to respect for our choices as free,
equal, and rational people, and a moral duty to respect others in the same way. People
are not objects to be manipulated, it is violation of human dignity to use people in way
wherein they do not freely choose their own actions. Other philosophers and ethicists
suggested that ethical action is one of the best protects and respects the moral rights of
those affected. Right to truth, right to privacy, right to not to be injured and right to
what is agreed are some of the rights considered under this approach to ethics (Reddy,
Nanda Kishore, Ajmera, Santosh, 2015).
III. Fairness or justice approach: Aristotle and Greek philosophers have contributed
the idea that all equals should be treated equally (Reddy, Nanda Kishore, Ajmera,
Santosh, 2015). In tasic term, The Fairness Approach focuses on the fair and equitable
distribution of good and harm, and/or the social benefits and social costs, across the
spectrum of society. It starts with the principle that all equals should be treated
similarly, and those who are unequal due to relevant differences, should be treated
differently in a manner that is fair and proportionate to, or commensurate with, their
difference. Rawls suggested the idea of "original position", a mental exercise whereby a
group of rational people must establish a principle of fairness (such as distribution of
income) without knowing beforehand where on the resulting pecking order they will end
up themselves.

IV. Common goods approach: Greek philosophers have contributed the notion life in
community is a good in itself and that our actions should contribute to that life. The
common good concept was originated in ancient time by many philosophers like Plato,
Aristotle, Cicero. More recently, contemporary ethicists, John Rawls defined the
common good as certain general conditions those are equally applicable to everyone’s
advantage. This approach to ethics assumes a society comprising individuals whose
own good is inextricably linked to the good of community (Reddy, Nanda Kishore,
Ajmera, Santosh, 2015). Rawls's theory of justice revolves around the adaptation of two
fundamental principles of justice which would, in turn, guarantee a just and morally
acceptable society. The first principle guarantees the right of each person to have the
most extensive basic liberty compatible with the liberty of others. The second principle
states that social and economic positions are to be (a) to everyone's advantage and (b)
open to all. In this approach, the focus is on ensuring that the social policies, social
systems, institutions, and environments are beneficial to all. Examples of goods
common to all include affordable health care, effective public safety, peace among
nations, a just legal system, and an unpolluted environment.

V. Virtue approach: This is very primitive approach to ethics in which ethical actions

ought to be consistent with certain ideal virtues that provide for the full development of
our humanity. The virtual approach to ethics assumes that there are certain ideals
toward which we should strive which offer overall development of humans. These
virtues are dispositions and habits that enables us to act according to the highest
potential of our character and on behalf of values like truth and beauty. Honesty,
courage, compassion, generosity, tolerance, love fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control,
and prudence are examples of virtue (Reddy, Nanda Kishore, Ajmera, Santosh, 2015).

In dealing with an ethical problem using the virtue approach, people might ask, What
kind of person should I be? What will promote the development of character within
myself? within my community.

This approach focuses on attitudes, dispositions, or character traits that enable us to

be and to act in ways that develop our human potential. It is to be noted that different
communities may identify differing virtues. The principle states: "What is ethical is
what develops moral virtues in ourselves and our communities."
Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and
problems

In rapidly changing society, there is a need of good public administration. Public

administration is the field of study and analysis that linked to law, political science,
sociology, business management, economics, psychology, technology and engineering.
Although the public administration differs from nation to nation, political science and
law have significantly affected the development of modern public administration
(Professor Michiel, 2011). In the administrative system of any country, The Public
service system such as Civil service, Policing, and other government officials are
mainstay of which acts as significant mechanism for governance. Over the period, the
role of Public services has transformed depending on the schema of the governance of
that particular period. The institution of Public service has reduced service to the
overall socio-economic development of the country. By advising the government of the
day, managing programs, and serving citizens, public servants has important role to
maintain India’s democratic institutions and nurturing economic affluence and social
wellbeing. It is essential to identify that the discipline of Public Administration has been
broadly influenced in the initial stages of its growth, by Political Science and the science
of Management. While the philosophical principles of Public Administration were
influenced primarily by Political Science, its technological facet was designed by
Management Sciences.

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Ethics and values has key role in smooth functioning of public administration system.

Values relate to the norms of a culture, but they are more universal and abstract than
norms. In certain cultures, norms reflect the values of respect and support of friends
and family. The source of values is an issue of substantial continuing debate in ethical
philosophy and is similarly challenged in organisational theory. Public values are
defined as those values that provide normative consensus about the rights, benefits
and prerogatives to which citizens to be entitled. These are the obligations of citizens to
society, the state and one another. Values are the principles upon which government
and policies must be based (Bozaman, 2007).

When appraising theoretical studies, it is documented that one school of thought

suggests that values emerge and evolve gradually through natural processes over time.
Another view is that values can be formed by institutional design and change, and that
conflicts between actors can cause new values to emerge. Different cultures reflect
different values. It is established that values mould and inform behaviour. Thus, they
provide a basis for the achievement of organisational aims that cannot be achieved by
simply steering according to those objectives alone, and are worthy of further
consideration in the context of public service development. It is well documented in
studies that values are essential components of organisational culture and
instrumental in determining, guiding and informing behaviour (Hofstede and Hofstede
2005).

Kernaghan (2003) described values as those ‘enduring beliefs that influence the choices
we make among available means or ends’. The New Zealand State Services Commission
explained the notion of values as ‘essentially the link between the daily work of public
servants and the broad aims of democratic government in New Zealand’ (2001).

However, values are not only concerned with resource allocation and decisions on
public policy but can also inform other features of organisation life such as human
resource policy and interpersonal employee relations. OECD study (1996: 12) defined
values as ‘the individual principles or standards that guide judgement about what is
good or proper'. While this is a more useful interpretation.

For bureaucracies, adherence to high-level public service values can produce

substantial public trust and assurance. On the contrary, weak application of values or
promotion of incorrect values can lead to reductions in these essential elements of
democratic governance, as well as to ethical and decision-making quandaries. Though a
core set of public service values is necessary, it is also factual that different values
apply to different parts of the public service. As values can differ within different parts
of the public service. One of the principal tasks of managers and leaders is to
synchronize, reconcile or cope with differing values between individuals or even
between parts of the organisation. Also, there are a number of dynamics challenging
traditional values in the public service. These include new modes of governance and the
fragmentation of authority, market-based reforms, politicisation and political
expectations, the growth in the use of agencies, decentralisation or relocation, changes
in human resource management and recruitment, and the advent of new technologies
and methods of information sharing.

The study of public service values is one pigeonholed by ambiguity, measurement

difficulties and with competing and conflicting definitions and interpretations. However,
as all public service activities are value-based, identifying the nature of those values is
worthy of assessment. Public service organisations operate in environments subject to
regular change and replete with competing demands and obligations. Process is as
important as outcomes and public trust is predicated on democratic values being
represented at all stages in the decision making process. In an environment of doubts,
and which is subject to frequent structural and functional change, values offer a
compass for guiding activities. If the work of the public service is not based on or driven
by proper set of values, it may lose the trust and respect of those who rely on it that is
the public. Different stresses may be placed on different values according to the
administrative and political priorities at a given time, but adherence to a set of broadly
coherent and accepted values is vital for stability and consistency (Toonen 2003). As
public administrators' values are developed through an interaction of self, situation and
society, it is important that values are therefore periodically re-examined and
challenged.

Ethics: Values, standards and ethics in public life is major concern since earlier time
in administrative system. Ethics, whether in an entire society, or in a social sub-
system, evolves from ancient time and is influenced, during its nurturance and growth,
by a variety of environmental factors. Ethical behaviour and decisions maintaining
citizens’ trust, guarantee effective use of resources, and allow government to preserve
individual rights while assisting those who will benefit the most. Ethics is one of the
prime components that allow democracy to succeed in any country. Ethics in
government is critical to realizing the promises of democracy. In an egalitarianism,
government has an obligation to treat everyone equally and to provide the greatest good
to most of citizens. The effective operation of democratic government requires that
public officials and employees be independent, impartial, and responsible to the people.
Government decisions and policies should be made within the proper structure of
government; public office shall not be used for personal gain; and the public has to
have confidence in the honesty of its government. When ethical wrongdoings and
scandals occur in government, they pose a threat to the democratic ideologies of the
rule of law, equity, and individual rights. Fraud, bribery, and other abuses in
government take the power from people and give it to a few in position of control, which
distorts the concept of the equality of all participants of public life (Jane, et, al., 1999).

Administrative ethics is the product of several contextual structures and it never ceases
to grow and change. Public service ethics rooted in Western states during the 1960s
has been supplemented by a more recent concern with public service values. In bulk of
literature, ethics is a system of accepted beliefs, morals and values that influence
human behaviour. It has been stressed upon in individual life as well as public life
through time immemorial through sacred texts and theorists like the Manusmriti,
Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bentham and Rawls as well as Arostotle respectively.

In India, there is a long history of immoral practices in the governance system.

Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions number of corrupt practices in which the
administrators of those times indulged themselves. The Mughal Empire and the Indian
princely rule were also plagued with the unethical practices of the courtiers and
administrative bureaucrats, with ‘bakashish’ being one of the accepted means of selling
and buying favours. The East India Company also had its share of employees who were
criticised even by the British parliamentarians for being corrupt. The forces of probity
and immorality co-exist in all phases of human history. Which forces are stronger
depends upon the support these get from the prime actors of politico-administrative
system.

In theoretical framework, The Behaviouralist school brought a dichotomy between facts

and values in decision making and made it firmly rational like a machine model which
was not successful and was questioned all the time. That led to the New Public
Administration school of thought that brought back values at the centre stage along
with facts and rationality in decision making. The society, educational institutions, laws
and their implementation and family play a large part in inculcating good values and
morals in people. The political environment is also of significance as well as the
behaviour of politicians directly and majorly affects the behaviour of his/her
subordinates and his/her ethics.

Ethics guide human conduct and it help people to lead good life by applying moral
principles. Ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong that commend what
humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society,
fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics is related to issues of propriety, rightness and
wrongness. Values are often exchanged with ethics (and not infrequently also with
standards), particularly in relation to addressing corruption or maladministration.
While there is a close and often interdependent relationship between both, such
interchanging is difficult for the study of either notion. In general term, Ethics are in
effect the rules that translate values into everyday life (OECD 1996, p. 12).

When analysing ethics and values with regard to public administration, it can be said
that ethics is about determining what is ‘wrong’, ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘right’, and ethical
choices are informed by values which help actors decide on what option to take when
faced with an ethical dilemma (Kakabadse et al 2003, p.478). Whereas, the values of
different bureaucracies may vary between states, similar ethical challenges are
regularly met, particularly in respect of issues of resource management. It is because of
conflicts between ethical and unethical behaviour that Codes (or Standards) of Conduct
and rules of procedure have emerged in importance. They provide an aide or
benchmark against which decisions can be made and acted upon. According to Van
Wart, ethics are a sub-set of values, and that values form our broad, socially derived
ethical standards for how the world should operate (1998: 163). He suggested that
ethics is doing the right thing that is, acting on values. Values inform all aspects of
ethical decision-making, ethical judgment, ethical choice and ethical behaviour and are
reinforced by them. Correspondingly, Gortner recommended that ‘an understanding of
the role of values in choices clarifies many of the issues related to ethics in public
administration’ (2001).

Ethical Concerns in Public Administration:

Public administration is a profession that offers and unusually array of opportunities to

make moral or immoral decisions, to make ethical or unethical choices, to do good or
evil things to people. Public servants are servants of the public, of government, of their
immediate organisations and of the law. Their role is traditionally conceptualised as
part of an interconnected structure existing alongside but outside of the private sphere.
In Western society, the dominance of democratic theory means that it is assumed
public servants share the values of wider society, whilst also recognising the need for
representative government (Gortner 2001). Though public servants perform a numerous
of tasks and undertake a multitude of responsibilities, there are common elements to
their work.

'International Code of Conduct for Public Officials' has following general principles:

1. A public office, as defined by national law, is a position of trust, implying a duty

to act in the public interest. Therefore, the ultimate loyalty of public officials shall be
to the public interests of their country as expressed through the democratic
institutions of government.
2. Public officials shall ensure that they perform their duties and functions
efficiently, effectively and with integrity, in accordance with laws or administrative
policies. They shall at all times seek to ensure that public resources for which they
are responsible are administered in the most effective and efficient manner.
3. Public officials shall be attentive, fair and impartial in the performance of their
functions and, in particular, in their relations with the public. They shall at no time
afford any undue preferential treatment to any group or individual or improperly
discriminate against any group or individual, or otherwise abuse the power and
authority vested in them (United Nations 1996).

Currently, the concept of ethics has extended itself to involve all major areas of human
existence. There are certain prominent aspects of ethics in public administration. These
are summarised as following maxims:

Maxim of Legality and Rationality: An administrator will follow the law and rules that
are framed to govern and guide various categories of policies and decisions.

Maxim of Responsibility and Accountability: An administrator would not hesitate to

accept responsibility for his decision and actions. He would hold himself morally
responsible for his actions and for the use of his discretion while making decisions.
Moreover, he would be willing to be held accountable to higher authorities of
governance and even to the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of his decisions
and actions.

Maxim of Work Commitment: An administrator would be committed to his duties and

perform his work with involvement, intelligence and dexterity. It is well explained by
Swami Vivekananda. He observed, “Every duty is holy and devotion to duty is the
highest form of worship.” This would also entail a respect for time, punctuality and
fulfillment of promises made. Work is considered not as a burden but as an opportunity
to serve and constructively contribute to society.

Maxim of Excellence: A bureaucrat would ensure the highest standards of quality in

administrative decisions and action and would not compromise with standards because
of convenience or complacency. In a competitive international environment, an
administrative system should faithfully adhere to the requisites of Total Quality
Management.

Maxim of Fusion: An administrator would reasonably bring about a combination of

individual, organisational and social goals to help evolve agreement of ideals and imbibe
in his behaviour a commitment to such a fusion. In situation of conflicting goals, a
concern for ethics should govern the choices made.

Maxim of Responsiveness and Resilience: An administrator would respond

successfully to the demands and challenges from the external as well as internal
environment. He would adapt to environmental transformation and yet sustain the
ethical norms of conduct. In situations of deviation from the prescribed ethical norms,
the administrative system would show flexibility and bounce back into the accepted
ethical mould at the earliest opportunity.

Maxim of Utilitarianism: While devising and implementing policies and decisions, an

administrator will certify that these lead to the greatest good (happiness, benefits) of the
greatest number.

Maxim of Compassion: An administrator, without violating the prescribed laws and

rules, would establish compassion for the poor, the disabled and the weak while using
his discretion in making decisions. At least, he would not grant any benefits to the
stronger section of society only because they are strong and would not deny the due
consideration to the weak, despite their weakness.

Maxim of National Interest: Though universalistic in orientation and liberal in

outlook, a civil servant, while performing his duties, would keep in view the impact of
his action on his nation’s strength and prestige.

Maxim of Justice: Executives who are responsible for formulation and execution of

policies and decisions of governance would ensure that respect is shown to the
principles of equality, equity, fairness, impartiality and objectivity and no special
favours are given on the criteria of status, position, power, gender, class, caste or
wealth.

Maxim of Transparency: An administrator will make decisions and implement them in

a transparent manner so that those affected by the decisions and those who wish to
evaluate their rationale, will be able to understand the reasons behind such decisions
and the sources of information on which these decisions were made.
Maxim of Integrity: An administrator would accept an administrative action on the
basis of honesty and not use his power, position and discretion to serve his personal
interest and the illegitimate interests of other individuals or groups.

Presently, duties of the public servant remain many, complex and often apparently
conflicting, but successful public servants recognise their multiple roles and prepare for
them. These include maintaining secrecy, acting in the public interest, regulating,
providing quality advice, adjudicating, avoiding conflicts of interest, guaranteeing
accountability to a range of actors and treating all colleagues equitably. To execute
such tasks, public servants employ array of values as a means to guide their behaviour
and to assist them in steering a course through multiple requirements. The intricacy of
public service ensures that its value system is unique and specific to its work.
Invariably, given that there are so many elements to it, the mechanisms of a value
system often compete with one another. Therefore, clarity over an organisation’s values
is vital and the suitability of a particular value-system is worthy of regular
consideration in the context of changing expectations and functions.

Public services officers has vital role to implement public policy and should understand
the significance of values to all aspects of their work. Poor intelligibility or uncertainty
about values can not only lead to ethical and decision-making problems, but also
affects organisational coherence by lessening team spirit, creating organisational
confusion and weak external communication. Public administrators are responsible not
only for understanding the values implicit in the decisions they take, but also for
enunciating those values clearly for others in the organisation and for external
customers (Van Wart1998). Such external customers may include not only peoples, but
politicians and other stakeholder representatives. There is a belief that the public
service are extended to the government places an emphasis on particular values such
as (political) neutrality and loyalty, while viewing the service as holders of the ‘public
interest’ implies greater emphasis on fairness, transparency and impartiality. Given the
various tasks performed by bureaucracies, and the varying levels of direct contact with
the public, different values will also apply to different parts of the public service
(Sherman 1998).

Global Values Committed to service: The Public officers should be innovative, objective,
professional and efficient and work to get better results for the community and the
government.

Ethics: They show leadership, trustworthy, and acts with integrity, in all tasks they do.
They should respect all people, including their rights and their heritage. They should be
open and accountable to the people community under the law and within the
framework of government responsibility. A public servant is expected to be apolitical
and provides the government with advice that is frank, honest, timely and based on the
best available evidence.

In civil service, administrators and bureaucrats must show some ethical behaviour for
smooth functioning of government system. Service delivery at the cutting edge level
Provide ‘continuity and change’ to the administration.
Public Servants Obligation to the Community: Public servants have special obligations
to the community because of three reasons. First, they are responsible for managing
resources entrusted to them by the community. Second, they provide and deliver
services to the community. Third, they take important decisions that affect all aspects
of the community life. The community has a right to expect that their Public servants
function honestly, efficiently and open-mindedly. It is essential for the community to be
able to trust and have assurance in the reliability of the Public servant’s decision-
making process. The decisions and actions of Public servants should reflect the policies
of the government of the day and the standards that the community expects from them
as government servants and they are expected to maintain the same standards of
professionalism, openness, and fairness.

Though 'global' public service values exist, 'local' values may be espoused according to
the type of function and environment in which public servants operate. For example, a
difference may be made between technical, regulatory and administrative tasks, or
between those parts of bureaucracy in direct contact with the public and those which
are not. Likewise, values that are 'local' to a particular part of the service may rarely
come into conflict with the more common service-wide values. This can also occur in
the context of individual or functional parts of the service moving between departments
or even between divisions within a department. It has been observed that public service
organisations are more significant for their shared values instead of the variety of value
sets within them. After assessing the codes and guidelines, Sherman (1998: 15)
discovered the following values that are most common:

1. Honesty and integrity

2. Impartiality
3. Respect for the law
4. Respect for persons
5. Diligence
6. Economy and effectiveness
7. Responsiveness
8. Accountability
Categories of public service values:

Academic research conducted by Hood (1991), Toonen (2003) identifies three ‘families’
around which primary values in public administration are as follows:

Parsimony and economy: Values in this family are concerned with ensuring optimal
and efficient use of resources, and are at the core of public management as viewed from
a financial perspective.

Fairness, equity and rectitude: These values are concerned with honesty and the
development of public trust in government.

Robustness, resilience and sustainability: These values are concerned with ensuring
that public administration and government are strong in the face of various pressures,
but are flexible enough to learn and adapt to changing circumstances in order to
maintain public confidence.

Theoretical literature on ‘public values’ by Beck Jorgensen and Bozeman (2007)

recognized seventy two such values informing the social and organisational
environment of public servants.
Structure of the Public Values Universe (Beck Jorgensen and Bozeman, 2007):

The categories and values required for each are as follows:

General social values:

1. Public sector's contribution to society: Common good, altruism, sustainability,

regime dignity.
2. Transformation of interests to decisions: Majority rule, user democracy,
protection of minorities.
3. Relationship between public administrators and politicians: Political loyalty.
4. Relationship between public administrators and their environment: Openness-
secrecy, advocacy-neutrality, competitiveness-cooperativeness.

Organisational values:

1. Intra-organisational aspects of public administration: Robustness, innovation,

productivity, self-development of employees.
2. Behaviour of public sector employees: Accountability.
3. Relationship between public administration and the citizens: Legality, equity,
dialogue, user orientation

It is observed that the nature of public service and several tasks of public officers will
inexorably result in value conflicts. The environment in which the public service
operates is a continually changing such as new technologies, growing and changing
public expectations, demographic changes and the effects of economic and social
globalisation. Demmke (2004) identifies, public policy is delivered through a multitude
of ‘complex networks, decentralised governance structures, public-private partnerships,
and cooperative ventures between NGOs, consultants and Government’. In this
environment economic, political and social values can come into conflict with the
professional values of the public manager. Values can also differ within public service
organisations, and one of the prime tasks of managers is to organise or reconcile
differing values between individuals or between parts of an organisation. Kreitner and
Kinicki (2005) suggested that there are three different types of value conflict.
Intrapersonal value conflicts arise within the individual when he or she is faced with
competing personal values. Interpersonal value conflicts occur between individuals with
different ambitions and goals. Lastly, individual-organisational value conflicts occur
when the values employed by an organisation are at variance with the personal values
of an employee. They proposed that while intrapersonal value conflicts require an
almost exclusively personal self-assessment of work urgencies, interpersonal and
individual organisational value conflicts can be resolved through the provision of clear
value statements and the inspiring capacity of ‘value-centred leaders’. Cooper studied
the administrative ethics and argues that the role of the ‘responsible administrator’ is
being accountable for conduct to relevant others whilst also acting in a manner that is
consistent with the professional values that support the role of protector of the public
good. He also signified that the most common conflicts of responsibility faced by
administrators are conflicts of authority, role conflicts and conflicts of interest (2006).

In this framework, the requirement on public services to clearly communicate and

maintain common core values becomes even more imperative, however radical change
can make this even more difficult if not properly managed. Newman (1996) debated that
two of the most noticeable value conflicts have been between efficiency and equity, and
cooperation and competition. The former emerges in the context of demands for greater
cost-cutting while simultaneously being a good employer and providing quality services
for all. The latter refers to the challenges faced by local authorities in an environment
where they are expected to emulate the ‘competitive edge’ of private sector firms, yet
cooperate and engage meaningfully with several stakeholders across a range of service
areas. Dealing with any policy issue involves values and value judgements. Another
theorist, Van Wart (1998) argued that there is no such thing as a value-free decision
and this makes it all the more important that public administrators fully understand
the values they use when making decisions. Given the increasing range of demands on
the public service, as well as the frequent ambiguity in terms of goals, relationships and
responsibilities, value conflicts or 'clashes' are not therefore unusual. These clashes can
arise in relation to issues such as:

1. Tensions between the need for control and the need for discretion.
2. Tensions between the needs of different stakeholders.
3. The requirement to provide efficient and effective service within budget and to
respond to growing public expectations.
4. The tension between adapting to changing circumstances and the need to
maintain existing standards (Lawton 1998).

Similarly, Korac-Kakabadse et al (2000) also categorize some of the contradictory

requirements faced by public servants which lead to value conflicts:

Free market economy Versus Accountability

Freedom of information Versus Privacy

Public sector codes Versus Ministerial discretion

Public servant Versus Political servant

 Information sharing Versus Confidentiality

Value clashes are unavoidable, particularly in organisations performing manifold tasks

and with a range of stakeholders. Instead of impeding progress, however, conflict can
enhance the quality of decision making through problem identification and deliberation.
The challenge for public servants is to handle with and manage conflict and
simultaneously make decisions based on the appropriate value-set. For many public
servants, managing conflict is something learned ‘on the job’, but training can support
in the process of prioritising values in times of crises or difficulty.

Problems of public service values:

Many economists and public service experts have realized that the significance of public
values have been declined. Bozeman (2002) stated emerging problems of public value
failure. These failures occurs when

1. Mechanism for articulation and aggregation of values have broken down.

2. Imperfect monopolies occur.
3. Benefit hording occurs.
4. There is a scarcity of providers of public values.
5. A short time horizon threatens public value.
6. A focus on sustainability of assets threatens conservation of public resources.
7. Market transactions threatens fundamental human subsistence.

Challenges to values:

Although value conflicts occur in manifold areas and at all levels of the public service,
there are specific challenges to current public service values which are considered here.
They arise in the context of:

1. New modes of governance

2. Market-based reforms
3. Politicisation
4. Agencification
5. Decentralisation/relocation
6. Changes in HRM and recruitment
7. ICT.

In Indian context, the civil service personnel are accountable to ministers/elected

representatives, who in turn are accountable to Parliament. The Parliament is elected
by the people. Thus the bureaucrats serve the people by executing functions which are
directed by Parliament in the best interest of its people. Whether it IAS or IPS or any
civil service, there are a set of core values common to all. These core values determine
the standards of behaviour a person in civil service must follow. Each individual service
will have its own set of values which are based on these core values. In Indian terrain
where there are so many diverse cultures, treating all people with respect is of
paramount significance. This includes giving respect to diversity of people and also
giving respect to fellow employees.
The Government of India encourages values and a certain standard of ethics of
requiring and facilitating every civil servant such as:

1. To discharge official duty with responsibility, honesty, accountability and without

discrimination.
2. To guarantee effective management, leadership development and personal
growth.
3. To avoid misuse of official position or information.
4. To serve as instruments of good governance and foster social economic
development.

In India, there is high level of corruption, favouritism which has increased the
importance to retain civil service values. At global level, governments and international
agencies draw their attention to developing and maintaining high standards and values,
ethics and conduct in public administration to combat corruption. All these factors are
essential components of ethical infrastructure of public life. Every nation has some
lawful framework with provisions to cover various unethical and corrupt practices such
as the breach of official trust and duties, abuse of power, misappropriation, and
extortion, corrupt practices, acceptance of undue advantage and abuse of officials
influence. Major problem is not corruption, but weak enforcement. Without effective
enforcement mechanisms, legal and administrative provisions on ethics and corruption
are in themselves unsuccessful. Weak enforcement capacity may be blamed partly on
the fact that several document, which makes access to them difficult, especially where
enforcement officers lack experience.

The flaws of the administrative system with implication for ethics are structural
hierarchies, cumbersome processes and weak control over administrative action.
Individual senior officials seem to wield too much power and discretion without effective
accountability. Administrative procedures are such that routine decisions by front line
staff often have to be cleared through the hierarchy. The consequences of these
procedures results in delay and frustrations in obtaining decisions and services on
time, which partially encourages bribery and petty corruption at the point of service
delivery. There is need to simplify systems and procedures in order to remove the
unnecessary blockages in organizational systems that create opportunities for bribes to
be extracted from the public. Ethics reforms and anti-corruption policies would not be
useful if they left in place the restrictive laws and cumbersome processes that produced
incentive for bribery and other unethical practices in the first place (Susan Rose-
Ackerman, 1999). Imposing accountability for the exercise of administrative power has
become more difficult as public service has continued to grow in size and as there
responsibilities have grown in complexity.

The decision-making process in government is often so lengthy and complicated that it

is difficult to single out those public servants who should be held responsible for
specific recommendations and decisions. Another hindrance in accountability is the
wide range of authorities to which public servants are deemed to be accountable. It is
well observed that Code of ethics play a guiding role in the ethics infrastructure, but
they also take on a controlling function since they establish and publicize boundaries of
behaviour and set standards for public servants. Government bodies that synchronise
the overall ethics framework range from parliamentary committees, central agencies,
and departments or specially created independent agencies mandated to supervise
ethics in the public service. They serve a management function by coordinating and
supporting all the other infrastructure elements. They operate either through directly
implementing ethics initiatives or by delegating these tasks to the other departments or
agencies.

To summarize, values and ethics of civil service has imperative role in healthy public
administration of country. Values are important in giving yardsticks and prescribing
how goals must be accomplished. Moses Sindane designated that there is a need to
establish appropriate infrastructure, institutions, and framework to promote values and
ethics in public administration. But, it is realized by many experts that there are
numerous problems and unethical behaviour in public services. He stated that Public
values and ethics are meaningless in public administration if these are not
implemented, enforced, coordinated and integrated in public services (Professor Michiel
S, 2007). Many experts have realized that Ethics is gaining importance in the discourse
about governance presently. It is observed that standards in public life are in decline.
This raises concern about the costs of misconduct on the part of those who have been
entrusted with guarding public interest and resources. It is necessary that public
servants must be aware of the basic principles and standards they are expected to
apply to their work and where the boundaries of acceptable behaviour lie. A succinct,
well-publicised statement of core ethical standards and principles that guide public
service in the form of a code of conduct, can accomplish this by creating a shared
understanding across government and within the broader community.

Laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance

Laws:

Laws are similar to the legal form of rules. The term law is defined as a rule (for want of
a better word) that has been legally made to apply to everyone in a civilisation. In a
democratic system, a law is phrase that has been passed by a legislature. It can be said
that a law is much more formal than a rule. Laws are prescribed by a higher
governmental office, usually the police and the prosecutor’s office. Laws are written in
specific code so that they can be interpreted as required. Laws must go through certain
processes to become laws, including a voting process. Based on society’s beliefs, laws
are created and enforced by governments to mediate in our relationships with each
other. Laws are made by governments in order to protect its inhabitants. The judiciary,
legislature, and public officials are the three main bodies in a government that are
assigned to the task of the creation of laws.

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Laws have to be approved and written by these three branches of government before
they are implemented and enforced by the police and the military, with the help of the
legal system comprising of lawyers and other government servants. Nevertheless, the
enactment of a law varies based on the government. In dictatorship system, the leader
has the power to pass any law he wishes. In an egalitarianism, the bill to pass a law
must be voted on by the different parts of the government. Laws must be followed by
all, including private citizens, groups and companies as well as public figures,
organizations and institutions. Laws set out standards, procedures and principles that
must be followed. A law is enforceable by the judicial system, i.e. those responsible for
breaking them can be prosecuted in court. There are various types of laws framed like
criminal laws, civil laws, and international laws. Breaking a law is a punishable crime
and has drastic consequences such as hefty fines, jail time and community service
time.

Rules:

Rules are made by firms and individuals. Rules are codes of conduct that are designed
for specific situations, similar to customs but have immense importance because there
is usually a punishment related with them. Rules are more flexible and has less
consequences. Rules are strategies that are provided to maintain smooth functioning of
an organization and to maintain peace and harmony among its people. Rules are
personal in nature, and they are often attuned as the conditions of the home change.
Rules assist people learn to prepare for living in society. Fundamentally, Rules are
judicial legal findings as in a judge's ruling on a case. It is the legal principle or
principles established in a legal dispute. Rules are a less formal set of guidelines which
has little or no consequences depending on the person that is imposing them. Rules are
also applied by the person that is making the rule.

Difference between Laws and Rules:

There is significant difference between rules and laws. Main difference is the
consequences related with breaking them. While each is developed to invoke a sense of
order, fair play, and safety, law is more powerful as compared to a rule. Laws are like
the legal form of rules. Laws are written in specific code so that they can be interpreted
as needed. Rules are supple. Laws must be passed through due process in order to take
effect. Rules are merely set and adjusted as the need arises. In order to establish a
society it must follow specific rules and laws that help govern its smooth running. The
laws and rules are established to guarantee that everyone is treated as the same. The
laws and rules ensure that each individual must follow a set of guidelines and if/she
ends up breaking any of those rules they must accept the consequences no matter their
social standing or position. The laws and rules used to retain smooth and efficient
functioning of the society.
Regulation:

A regulation is a legal standard that has intention to shape conduct that is a by-
product of imperfection (Orbach, Barak, 2012). A regulation may be used to recommend
or ban conduct, to standardise incentives or to change preferences (Orbach, Barak,
2012). Regulations comprises of two factors that include a process of monitoring and
enforcing legislations and a written instrument containing rules that have law on them.
The art of regulating is to fix, establish or to adjust by rule, method or established
mode, subject to governing Laws or ideologies. Regulations are made by the executive
branch usually through the various departments such as departments of state,
agriculture, treasury, etc. Regulations are similar to rules in that they provide more
specificity to a particular law passed by a legislative body.

Regulation creates, limits, constrains a right, creates or limits a duty, or allocates a

responsibility. Regulation are of various types such as legal restrictions promulgated by
a government authority, contractual obligations that bind many parties (Marcos
Antonio Mendoza, 2014).

Regulations are generally set by the executive for smooth functioning of the laws. Laws
usually provide framework for addressing a subject. Regulations are intended for
providing a detailed and intricate framework for making the laws work.

Conscience:

Conscience is a capacity, intuition or decision that help to distinguish right from wrong.
In psychological terms, conscience is defined as leading to feelings of remorse when a
human commits actions that go against his moral values and feelings of pleasure and
well-being when our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to value systems of
people.

The phrase ‘conscience’ originates from the Latin conscienta, meaning ‘with-knowledge’.
In the Greek word translation, “conscience” means “moral awareness”. Commonly used
metaphors for conscience include the “voice within” and the “inner light”. It indicates ‘a
person’s moral sense of right and wrong’ as well as consciousness of one’s own actions.
Expressions such as ‘gut feeling’ and ‘guilt’ are often applied in conjunction with
conscience. In this sense, the conscience is not essentially a product of a rational
deduction but is something that can be influenced by the indoctrination of one’s
parentage, social class, religion or culture.

The extent to which conscience informs moral judgment before an action and whether
such moral judgments are or should be based in reason has caused discussion through
much of the history of philosophy.

John Locke debated that the conscience was proof for the thought of innate principles
but reflected whether these principles provide moral absolutes, whether they are
objective or subjective “if conscience be a proof of innate principles, contraries may be
innate principles; since some men with the same bent of conscience prosecute what
others avoid.” Similarly, Thomas Hobbes practically noted that the conscience can be
possibly mistaken therefore opinions formed on the basis of conscience, even with full
honest belief should not always be trusted.

According to Fromm, it is ‘a reaction of ourselves to ourselves; the voice of our true

selves’ that guides us to achieve our full potential’. Sigmund Freud supposed that
conscience was attained through experience and that it was the part of the human
mind that seeks to make sense of disorder and to deal with the internal conflicts
caused by guilt. He believed that the conscience was influenced by both early and later
life principles.

Immanuel Kant expressed the idea of the critical conscience which was rather like a
court of law in our minds where the prosecutors or conscience excuse or accuse
thoughts and actions. He also claimed that although moral people feel contentment
within the soul after following the instruction of one’s conscience, they should not do
good deeds for the sake of experiencing this inner peace, rather they should do it as
part of their duty. Rousseau expressed an analogous opinion that conscience somehow
connected man to a greater metaphysical unity.

Psychological studies have revealed that a conscience aims to make moral decisions in
‘overwhelming forces of inescapable situations’ despite the risk of adverse
consequences. If conscience goes, then everything collapses, conscience is central to
our identity and it is as component in the moral decisions making process, however,
failure to acknowledge and accept that conscientious judgements can be seriously
mistaken on account of their relativistic nature, may only promote situations where
one`s conscience is manipulated by others to provide unwarranted justifications for
non-virtuous and self-centred acts. Without adequate constraint of external, altruistic,
normative justification, conscience may be considered morally blind and dangerous
both to the individual concerned and humanity as a whole.

Philosophical theories of conscience might be categorized under three headings. These

are moral knowledge theories, motivation theory and reflection theories. People speak of
their conscience telling them to do. Such talk might imply that conscience is a source of
moral knowledge about what to do. Moral knowledge theories tries to explain how
conscience affords us such knowledge. Some religious theories of conscience interpret
the voice of conscience as the voice of God within us. Kant’s notion of conscience is a
motivation theory set in the context of reflection theory. Kant regarded conscience as
distinct both from our awareness of moral principles and from the faculty of moral
judgement which are the source of moral knowledge that is to be implemented in the
process of self-examination (Allen W. Wood, 2007).

Conscience is consistent guide to ethical decision making:

It is arguable topic whether or not the conscience is the most reliable form of decision
making or not. However, there are many different opinions on conscience when it comes
to decision making. The idea of the conscience has developed from early christian
views, however it has now developed through the psychological views of it being linked
or part of the mind. The notion of the conscience was also later developed by Freud who
advocated that the conscience could be explained best by using scientific knowledge
instead of using religious views and opinions on the conscience.
Secular perspectives of the conscience advocate the statement that the conscience is
not a reliable guide to ethical decision making as it determines that there is subjectivity
within moral values due to individual experiences and nurture. Ethical decision-making
help people to make the correct decisions when it comes to moral judgement. However,
the secular approaches do not provide a precise method of understanding what the
right path is.

St Paul thought the conscience was a moral guide, which is within and does not need
any rules or theories to be followed. St Paul’s idea of the conscience is widespread to
everyone. Butler believed that the conscience was a God given ability to reason. Due to
the fact that they were both christians St Paul and Butler established on many of their
ideas. Butler thought that the conscience should be understood as a judge within
everybody, a judge that makes moral decisions for people. He recommended that as it is
within people and appears to have a higher authority we therefore must listen to it, and
take on board the decision in which our conscience makes. One of the main
weaknesses is the idea that not everyone can have the same type of conscience as
young children and people with mental illnesses will not have the same.

Saint Augustine visualized the conscience as the voice of God speaking to people from
within. It is the law of God in the hearts of people that they use to understand right and
wrong actions. For him, the conscience must always be in every circumstance turned
towards the good and away from all that is evil.

With religious viewpoint, the conscience is a reliable guide to ethical decision-making as

it relies on our innate ability to determine what is good and bad.

Conscience can act as source of ethical guidance for bureaucrats, politicians and
citizens in a democratic system:

Conscience is the intrinsic intuitive capacity to discriminate between right and wrong.
“Inner Voice” is important especially in democracy as it has various participants such
as citizens, NGOs, corporates to be administered by the politicians who are elected by
them only.

But at individual level, every person has conscience which assists them to take
important decision. Thus it can act as strong tool to evade away the individual self-
centred thinking.

Political Level: Conscience can help to lesson corruption, nepotism and profit seeking
behaviour. Thus provoke them to act in benevolence of society at large and uphold the
constitution principles. At each and every decision they should keep in mind that they
were elected to serve the citizens and not to serve their own needs and greed.
Bureaucratic Level: The crisis of conscience is important whether to just mere follow
the orders from superior’s v/s to follow the right path of judgement. The intrinsic voice
of serving the nation maintaining highest standards of honesty and probity is important
as they are link between citizens and political figures.

Citizen Level: Collective and individual conscience of inhabitants is very important

because it describes the existing society conditions such as keeping surrounding
clean, actively contributing in elections, dissent to undemocratic principles. Therefore
adhering to it will also control mass prejudice such as riots and lynching of offenders.

Furthermore, it is important to dynamically excel and improve at individual and

institution level. Thus if everyone acts and adhere to their principles values, the moral
degradation can be controlled and faith in governing institutions can be reinstituted.

Moral and political attitudes

Laws:

Moral attitude:

Moral attitudes are grounded in moral beliefs of “Right” and “wrong” action. Moral
attitudes are stronger than moral principles.

It has been well documented that ethical values are the highest among all types of
natural values. Moral values include Goodness, purity, truthfulness, humility of man
rank higher than genius, brilliancy, exuberant vitality and the beauty of nature or of
art, than the stability and power of a state.

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It is established in studies that moral values are always personal values. They can only
inhere in man, and be realized by man. Person responsible for his actions and his
attitudes, for his will and striving, his love and his hatred, his joy and his sorrow, and
his basic attitudes, can be morally good or bad. A man will have personality radiating
moral values if he is humble, pure, honest and affectionate. As long as a man
unseeingly disrespects the moral values of other persons, as long as he does not
differentiate the positive value which inheres in truth, and the negative value which is
proper to error, as long as he does not comprehend the value which inheres in the life
of man, and the negative value attached to an injustice, he will be incompetent of moral
goodness. Family, society, religion and education contribute a lot in shaping those
moral convictions. Positive implication of moral attitudes are that these attitudes
tangled with strong emotions. Therefore averts deviant behaviours among normal
societies due to fear of social Osctricization e.g. child molestation, incest.

Qualities of Moral Attitudes:

1. Reverence
2. Faithfulness
3. Veracity
4. Goodness

1. Reverence: It is the ability to hold moral values, to sustain them, and to respond to
them, is the foundation for realizing the moral values of man. These marks can be
found only in the man who possesses reverence.

Reverence is a feeling or attitude of great respect towards others touched with awe;
veneration. It is the attitude which can be labelled as the originator of all moral life, for
in it man first takes a position toward the world which opens his spiritual judgements
and enables him to grasp values.

Reverence is the vital presupposition for all deep knowledge above all, for the capacity
to grasp values. Reverence is the assumption for every response to value, every
abandonment to something important, and it is, at the same time, an essential element
of such response to value. The essential attitude of reverence is the basis for all moral
conduct toward our fellowmen and toward ourselves. The basic attitude of reverence is
the presupposition for every true love. A similar reverence is obvious in justice toward
others, in consideration for the rights of another, for the liberty of another’s decisions,
in limiting one’s own lust for power, and in all understanding of another’s rights.

2. Faithfulness or Constancy:
Among the attitudes of people which are basic for his whole moral life, faithfulness is
another important feature of moral attitude. Faithfulness is the concept of dependably
remaining loyal to someone or something and putting that loyalty into consistent
practice, regardless of extenuating situations. The more faithful, the more constant a
man is, the more substantial will he be, the more capable of becoming a vessel of moral
values, a being in whom purity, justice, humility, love and goodness will dwell lastingly
and will radiate from him to the world about him. This loyalty in the true sense of the
word is a fundamental moral attitude of man. It is a necessary concern of all true
understanding of values, and it is a component element of every true response to
values, and consequently of the whole moral life. The prominent importance of
faithfulness will stand out in a special way against the background of human
relationships.

3. Veracity:
Truthfulness is another of the basic suppositions for a person’s moral life. A dishonest
person not only exemplifies a great moral disvalue, but he is crippled in his whole
personality; the whole of his moral life; everything in him which is morally positive is
threatened by his untruthfulness. The deceitful man lacks reverence toward values. He
assumes a lordly position over being, he deals with it as he pleases. This attitude
implies an element of arrogance, of disrespect and impertinence.

Veracity is fidelity or constancy and the awareness of responsibility, a basis of whole

moral life. Like these other virtues, it bears a high value in itself, and like these is also
indispensable as a basic presupposition of a personality in which genuine moral values
may flower in their plenitude.

4. Goodness:Goodness is the central characteristics of moral values. Among the

different moral values, there is none which represents more completely the entire reign
of moral values, than goodness. The goodness of a man does not limit itself to generous
intentions toward one particular person whom one loves. When it is said, someone is
good, it means that person continually manifests this open benevolence, that his
attitude toward every man has this loving, this generous character. For goodness, like
every other virtue, is not limited to a particular temporary attitude, but it is a basic
attitude and position.

Goodness flows from a conscious response of love. It is the most intensive moral life,
and not inertia and dullness; it is strength and not weakness. The good man does not
allow himself to be made use of because he lacks the strength to resist, but he serves
freely and humbles himself eagerly.

While the other fundamental attitudes, such as reverence, faithfulness, awareness of

responsibility and veracity respond to the world of values as a whole, goodness not only
responds to this world of values, but it is the reflection of the whole world of values in
the person.

To summarize, moral attitudes encourages a person towards Altruism, volunteerism,

social service. Negative impact of moral attitude are that person can use such attitude
to defend violence behaviour and insanity and still society will accept it because moral
attitude is a strong emotions. It motivates a person towards riots, massacre and
terrorism. Since moral attitude is tied with strong sentiments, people do not get along
with those who do not share their moral attitude.

Political attitudes:

Political values are important when they frame political behaviour. Political attitudes
are the approaches of people to the areas of public life covered by political psychology
such as views on nationalism, political conservatism, political liberalism, and political
radicalism. Political attitudes fall on a range between extremely liberal and extremely
conservative. Abundant of scholars stated that Political Attitude means the beliefs and
values which underpin the operation of a particular political system. These attitudes
were seen as including knowledge and skills about the operation of the political system
positive and negative judgments about the system. These attitudes decide how people
participate, whom they vote for and which political parties they support. The factors
which make attitudes are family, gender, religion, race, ethnicity and region. Political
attitude tells us which party someone vote for, what kind of political ideology someone
prefer most, which social, economic, cultural, international policy someone prefer etc.
Factors that shape political attitude:

Family: Family is generally the first and most persistent factor which influence on
young people’s mind for shaping political opinions. Despite family incongruities and
generation gaps, children tend to grow up and have the political attitude similar to their
parents. Though there are generation gaps it is understandable that children tend to
vote the way their parents do. If a family is more politically active the child is more
expected to hold the same principles and attitudes. As children grow older, other
influences crisscross the family and naturally their attitudes tend to diverge from those
of their parents.

Religion: Religious principles often affect the way people vote. Religion is the faith of
the people in values and beliefs. The recent experiences have revealed that the religious
right has supported more conservative candidates for public office in more favour of the
Republican Party than to the Democratic Party. Associates of the “Religious Right” differ
in their political attitudes from everyone else. The religious right tends to support to be
more conservative. This tendency is more clearly associated with social issues such as
gay rights, cow protection than with economic issues or foreign affairs.

Race and Ethnicity: It has been established that for the past half century, African
Americans are affiliated to Democratic Party than any other identifiable group. Some
professionals believe that this loyalty is fading. It is very obvious in several studies that
Asian Americans tend to vote conservative, but there is still a lack of concrete evidence
to prove this.

Economic pressures: Many scholars affirmed that economic pressures are prime

stimulus for choosing a particular political position, and, indeed, this does appear to be
an important factor. People who are doing well in society usually do not want it to
change. On the contrary, the poor have little to lose materially and much to gain from
progressive change. Or so it can be supposed. Economics is not the only factor in the
choice of political beliefs, however. Age: Age is also important factor in developing
political attitude. Usually, the young are more likely to be liberal than the aged. This is
possibly because the older generations have a vested interest in the status quo that the
younger generations have not yet acquired. Young people lack not only wealth, but also
a sense of commitment and belonging.

Psychological factor: Some people are also more psychologically suitable for liberalism
or conservatism than others. To be a liberal, one must have a comparatively high
tolerance for disorder.

Nature of People: This is determining factor in shaping political attitude. If person

believes that people are essentially bad, selfish, and aggressive, then one is likely to
lean to the right of the spectrum. Anyone who thinks that people are innately evil will
tend to rely on strict laws and firm punishment for violators in the belief that such
measures are necessary to control errant behaviour. On the other hand, people who
consider their colleagues to be essentially well meaning and sensible will lean toward
the left. They will try to avoid inhibiting human liberty by “needlessly” severe laws, and
they will try to reason with lawbreakers.
Gender: It has been observed in our social structure that females tend to develop
political attitude according to their husband or other family members but in many
cases it is observed that they have a different political views. Generally women tends to
be liberal as they want equal rights, equal pay, more opportunities etc. But their
political views also depend on religion, family, and class. Wherever chief minister is
women (Like Jayalalita, Mamta Banerjee), women are more motivated to vote for their
parties. In present situation, women also started voting for parties who support
“women’s issues,” such as women protection, women reservation, equal pay, and equal
legal rights.

The study of political behaviour have political attitudes as its major element. Research
in political science has since that date been focused on empirical research on political
behaviour and institutions. Political attitudes have a prevailing function since they are
a predictor for vote choice. Lane (1959) highlighted the importance of political attitudes
in a larger segment of attitudes and beliefs. He connected political attitudes of
respondents directly to other psychological factors.

Process of formulation of political attitude:

For smooth functioning of the society and system and to maintain concord and co-
ordination within the society, every society plans the effective governing of its people.
Every society develops few mechanisms or agencies such as the state, the government,
the political parties and election or selection of representatives. The political attitude
formation guide how people nurture their political beliefs and how they pass on their
values to others from one generation to the next. Political attitudes formulation process
is an indispensable element of a political system. Political attitude formulation and
political attitude move parallel.

Political attitude formulation is a learning process by which an individual attains

orientations, beliefs, values and norms and behaviour patterns in political system.
Political attitude formulations decide the pattern of socio-political behaviour. Political
attitude formulation is a psychological concept as it is concerned with the society in
general and with individual in particular.

According to Easton and Dennis, there are four stages in the process of political
attitude formulation.

1. A child identifies authority through particular individual such as parents,

policemen and the president of the country.
2. There should be a differences made between private and public authority.
3. The understanding about impersonal political institutions such as national
legislature, judiciary and voting behaviour is developed.
4. Difference between political institution and person engaged in the activities
associated with those institutions so that idealized images of particular persons such
as the president or the congress.

Functions of political attitude formulation:

1. Maintaining Political Culture: Maintaining of political culture is vital function of
political attitude formulation in stable conditions. This function is performed by
having communication between political cultures from a generation to another
generation. But in present situation, the political socialization does not always act for
maintaining political culture.
2. Alteration of Political Culture: Modification of political culture is an important
function of political attitude formulation.
3. Building Political Culture: Creating political culture is performed by means of
process of political attitude formulation. Every society needs to create new political
culture with the establishment of new political system.
4. Foundation of Present Pattern of Political System: There is no scope for
difference of opinions of opposition into totalitarian state whereas if we see there are
in number of opportunities for difference of opinions and opposition in open societies.
5. Continuity and Change: There is continuity and change in attitude formulation
and this is an important factor of the process of attitude formulation.

Political attitude formulation is continuing process and it is achieved through several

institutions and agents. Individuals pass through several stages before they completely
get socialized. Various agents of political attitude formulation can be categorized into
five groups.

1. Interpersonal agencies-family and peer groups.

2. Organizations-schools, religious institutions and workplaces.
3. Mass media-newspaper, TV and radio.
4. Specialized political input structures-the legislature, the executive, courts and
the bureaucracy.

In general, this gamut exemplifies that what someone believes about social issues and
government's role in society. In present scenario, liberals, who are most likely to be in
the Northeast and the West Coast, have generally believed that government should play
a more active role in supporting the economy and be less involved in foreign matters.
Conservatives, who tend to live in America's middle and southern regions, tend to
consider the economy needs less government support and more aggressive foreign
policy. On social issues, liberals tend to support non-traditional changes, like allowing
same-sex marriage, whereas conservatives favour maintaining tradition and are more
likely to cite Christianity as an influence on their views.

Role of Political attitude and ideology is important in determining ethics in politics

because:

1. Political ideology is edge service. In society, there is a need of healthy political

attitude for constructive politics. It will lead to more working hours of assemblies and
Parliament which is ethical demand of constitution and people.
2. Ethics in politics are determined mainly by how near party is to people and how
fast grievances are addressed. Both are litmus test for Political attitudes, while each
is claimed in political ideology, but having positive political attitude is important.
3. Positive Political attitude strengthens Ethics in politics which is important as it
attracts youths toward politics and re-establishes faith in democracy in difficult times
when nation needs.
To summarize, political attitude is belief and action system that decides an action
based on electoral gains. Political attitude on positive side can lead to showing zero
tolerance toward corruption, pro-poor, welfare for weaker sections, listening to public
grievances, but on negative side political attitude can take shape of regionalism,
communalising public to polarise them during election. Political Philosophy is basis of
Political party for which it stands. It is like internal constitution of party. Every political
party has healthy and pro-people political ideology but hardly do they follow it because
for electoral gains, political attitude of individual politicians comes into action and
hence bribery, lobbying, fake protests, walkout, insensitive defamation on other parties
and perks politics comes into play.

Human Values: role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating

values

Human values: Values are beliefs that have an inherent worth in usefulness or

importance to the holder," or "principles, standards, or qualities reflected worthwhile or
desirable.” Values institute an important characteristic of self-concept and serve as
supervisory principles for person. In literature, it is documented that values are so
indissolubly woven into human language, thought and behaviour patterns that they
have fascinated philosophers for millennia. Yet they have proved so "quick-silvery" and
complex that, despite their decisive role in human motivation, we remain desperately
ignorant of the laws that govern them. (Toffler, 1969). Scott and Kluckhohn described
value as a conception: explicit or implicit of desirable which influences the selection
from available modes, means and end of action (1951).

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Rokeach impacted with this idea and stated that value is abstract ideals, positive or
negative, not tied to any specific object, or situation, representing a person’s belief
about modes of conduct and ideal terminal goal. It can be represented that values are
global beliefs that transcendentally guide actions and judgements across specific
objects and situation (Rokeach, 1968). According to Rokeach, Rokeach (1969), value are
type of belief that is “centrally located within one’s total belief system, about how one
ought or ought not to behave” (p. 124). On the contrary, Feather (1975) criticizes
Rokeach on equating values. He claimed that values are not “neutral”; they are held
with a slight degree of feeling. Feather (1975) continued to criticize Rokeach by arguing
that values may be classified as prescriptive or proscriptive beliefs rather than as a
descriptive or evaluative belief.

Human values are necessity in today’s society and business world. Human values are
the features that guide people to take into account the human element when one
interacts with other human. They have many positive characters that create bonds of
humanity between people and thus have value for all human beings. They are strong
positive feelings for the human essence of the other. These human values have the
effect of bonding, comforting, reassuring and procuring serenity. Human values are the
basis for any practical life within society. They build space for a drive, a movement
towards one another, which leads to peace. In simple term, human values are described
as universal and are shared by all human beings, whatever their religion, their
nationality, their culture, and their personal history. By nature, they persuade
consideration for others.

Common human values are as under:

1. Brotherhood, friendship, empathy, compassion, and love.

2. Openness, listening, welcoming, acceptance, recognition, and appreciation.
3. Honesty, fairness, loyalty, sharing, and solidarity.
4. Civility, respect, and consideration.

The function of these basic values enable every human to realize or maintain highest or
human value for establishing relations of peace and yet it remains indefinable. Its
understanding varies according to age (child, teen, adult), to one’s education and
surrounding culture. It is better assumed when combined with other values: a
disposition that is deeper than graciousness, very close to consideration, and
approaching appreciation. Truly, to respect someone, one must be able to appreciate
some of his/her human qualities, even if one does not appreciate his/her opinions or
past behaviour.

Several universal human values such as Truth, Righteous conduct, Peace, Love and
Non- violence are directly associated to physical, intellectual, emotional psyche and
spiritual facets of human personality. There is need and urgency to reinforce these
values for a better and humane society. These are described below:

Co-operation: It is the procedure to work jointly to attain some goal, but many scholars
visualize co-operation as a luxury and not an important human value. It is
unquestionably one of the most vital assets one can have when working through a
problem. Having the opinions and voice of another person will not only draw out a
discussion of the topic, but also lead person to good solution. Co-operation has been
under-appreciated for years in its importance and should be held in high regard.
Caring: This human value is viewed as exhibiting kindness and concern for others, the
true importance of this value comes from the work or practice of looking after those
unable to care for themselves. Caring for others both physically and spiritually is an
extremely important value to have; people will always rely on someone else for help at
one point or another, but we often fail to realize how much of a difference caring for
another person can make.

Honesty: Honesty is also vital human values. Presently, adopting an honest approach
can often feel intimidating and impossible, but people fail to realize is that it is not the
act of simply telling the truth that makes someone honest rather the quality of person
who is being honest. An honest person is often straight, upright, sincere and fair and
being an honest person brings more reward to the soul than the damage a lie could do.

Love: The presence of love in human life, the love they have for their families, friends,
our faith and for themselves is important source of energy to lead smooth life.

Respect: Respect is a feeling of deep esteem for someone or something elicited by their
abilities, qualities, or achievements.
Faith: Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

Beauty: Beauty is something that has really been spoiled by human society. The way
we think about something that is beautiful is judged on a purely physical response, but
the true meaning of beauty is being in balance and harmony with nature. Many
researchers would argue that beauty is not a human value and, although beauty is a
subjective experience, when they analyse what a subject of beauty is, it becomes
anything that resonates with personal meaning, not just emotion. The prominence of
this Human Value is clear when people think about the things that bring meaning into
their life such as family and friends, these things become beautiful in a greater sense.

Trust: Trust can be understood in many ways, but finally it comes down to reliability
and truth. Without trust, the world simply would not function.

Integrity: As a human value, integrity is imperative that people stand spiritually

undivided and hold true to our integrity, the importance of which is often forgotten.

Wisdom: Wisdom is also significant human value in many ways; under-appreciated in

its importance, in its value in our lives and in its true meaning. Wisdom is also very
often confused with words like knowledge or intelligence but the word wisdom is
defined as the quality of having experience and good judgment and the resulting
soundness of that action or decision.

A value system is a continuing organization of beliefs concerning preferable modes of

conduct along a continuum of importance. Therefore the importance of different values
co-varies with the importance of others in the value system.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic value:

An intrinsic value is a value that one has of itself, independently of other things,
including its context. An extrinsic value is a property that depends on a thing’s
relationship with other things. Extrinsic value is the value, which depends on how
much it generates intrinsic value.

The reason that things have extrinsic value is because they themselves lead to
happiness or pleasure or they lead to a series of other things that eventually lead to
happiness. Pleasure (Intrinsic Value) is the ultimate end to which all things of extrinsic
value are the means.

Need of human values:

Value education is always essential to shape one’s life and to give one an opportunity of
performing on the global stage. The need for value education among the parents,
children, teachers etc, is constantly increasing as we continue to witness increasing
violent activities, behavioural disorders and lack of unity in the society etc. Value
education enables us to understand our needs and visualize our goals correctly and
also indicate the direction for their fulfilment. It also helps remove our confusions and
contradictions and enables us to rightly utilize the technological innovations.
There are different views that call urgent need to inculcate human values in Indian
society. Numerous traditional values which have been inherited from past remain valid
and true to be adapted by future citizens but many fresh values to match confronting
problems in emerging Indian culture. Presently, negative human values are in upper
side. It may be because of neglect of value education which created vagueness and
indiscipline in the mind of people (Satya Pal Ruhela, 1996).

Assumption of Nature of human values (Satya Pal Ruhela, 1996):

1. The total number of values that person possesses is not very large.
2. Moore stated that all person everywhere possess the same values though the
degree may differ.
3. Values are the standards and guidelines for one’s life influenced by experience,
desire and specific situations.
4. The anticipants of human life can be traced to culture, society and its
institutions. Values differ in extent because of the difference in culture.
5. Values are organized into value systems. A value system is an enduring
organization of beliefs concerning preferable mode of conduct or end state of
existence along a continuum of relative importance (Rokeach, 1973).
6. Values as standards direct one’s way of life and value system guides to make
general plans when the conflict arises.
7. Values serve in the form of expression given to human needs and as guide to
make decisions in various ways (Satya Pal Ruhela, 1996).

Role of family and society in teaching values:

Bulk of literature have shown that the family and society plays a significant role in
shaping moral values of child. There is a strong bonding between the parents and
children, which determines the personality of child. Family is the basis on which values
are built.

Moral values such as truthfulness, happiness, peace, justice are inculcated in

children’s thoughts, feelings and actions and they function as ideals and standards
that govern their actions in their life. The value system practised in the family becomes
automatic to the young family members if they are taught moral values thoroughly. The
family has a great responsibility to pass on to the children many truths and values, and
competencies to accomplish their place in life, whatever the society, whatever the
culture or times. The eternal values of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and
Harmlessness (Non-Violence) are transmitted on first through the family. Mothers are
the first teachers. Mother is foundational, central, life-bringer and life-shaper. From
their mothers, children acquire self-knowledge, self-confidence, learn self-satisfaction,
self-worth, the capacity for self-sacrifice.

The family, forms the child’s viewpoint towards people and society, and helps in mental
development in the child and supports his desires and values. Delightful and joyful
atmosphere in the family will develop the love, affection, tolerance, and generosity. A
child learns his behaviour by demonstrating what he sees around him. Family also
contribute significantly in helping a child socialize and has great influence and bearing
on the progress of the child. In joint family system, the presence of elders in the family
plays an effective role in social and moral development of the children. It will also aid
young generation of the family to develop human values and eliminate their negative
mental tendencies when they are among elders.

Children recognize themselves with their parents, other family elders and espouse them
as their personal models for emulation and imitation. The behavioural problems are set
correct only by the involvement of family in the child’s life as they spend most of their
time in adolescence with the parents. Family is the first social organisation that
provides the immediate closeness from which the child can learn his behaviour.

Social standards and customs demarcated by a family provide the emotional and
physical basis for a child. Values developed by a family are the groundwork for how
children learn, grow and function in the world. These principles, transmits the way of
life a child lives and changes into an individual in a culture. These values and morals
guides the individual every time in his actions. Children turn out to be a good person
because of the value taught and given by his family members. Philosophies passed
down from generation to generation make up a family values. Customs and Traditions
followed and taught by the family leads a disciplined and organized life.
Families values helps the child to stand strong on his views regardless of others efforts
to break through with opposing views. A child has a strong sense of what is right and
wrong and are less likely to become sufferers of deviant influences.

Role of educational institutions in inculcating values:

Value education is important to help everyone in improving the value system that
he/she holds and puts it to use. Once, one has understood his/ her values in life
he/she can examine and control the various choices he/she makes in his/ her life.
Many reports signify that the aim of educational institutions should not only be to
teach education alone but should also be to inculcate values and improving skills of
children and teens.

Education as important driver to enhance value

In school, children are affiliates of a small society that exerts a great influence on their
moral development. Teachers serve as role model to students in school. They play a
major role in inculcating their ethical behaviour (Satya Pal Ruhela, 1996).

Peers at school diffuse confidence about cheating, lying, stealing, and consideration for
others. Though there are rules and regulations, the educational institutions pervade the
value education to the children in an informal way. They play a key role in developing
ethical behaviour in children.

General Steps are as under:

Accountability: The children should be exhilarated to be accountable for their own
actions and should learn to respect and treat others kindly.

Role model: The teachers are the first role model to the children outside their family.
When the children see the model showing concern for others, motivating them for their
good deeds and cooperating and helpful with their academic issues, the children learn
them by observing and imitate it with fellow peers. Helping: The children are taught
basic morals and values in school. They should be taught by emphasizing the idea
through many activities, stories and tales, which will encourage them to engage in more
helping behaviours.

Appreciation: The teacher should appreciate the children for developing pro-social
behaviour, especially for any specific action they have done to help others. It is
appraised that human values enhances person’s life but in present scenario, these
values are deteriorated in several countries. This trend of weakening in human values
does not only pose serious threat to the future course of development of the nation but
even for its survival, respect and authority itself. However, change in social/human
values in younger group is unavoidable with time but the decline in Indian youth group
is at disturbing rate as compared to other country around the globe. It devolves on the
parents, teachers and society to imbibe the desired human values in young age group
(Gandhi K. K., 1993).

To summarize, values are bridge between individual and social. Individual holds value
but others influence the formation of those values (Kenneth Fleischmann, 2013). In
philosophical frameworks, values are those standards or code for conduct conditioned
by one's cultural doctrines and guided by conscience, according to which human being
is supposed to conduct himself and shape his life patterns by integrating his beliefs,
ideas and attitudes to realize cherished ideas and aims of life (Gupta, 1986). Families,
groups and societies tend to share common values (Kenneth Fleischmann, 2013).
Family has been regarded as cornerstone of society. It forms a basic unit of social
organisation (Goel, 2008).

Social influence and persuasion

Social influence and persuasion are fundamental functions of communication.

Social influence:

Social influence is described as the change in person’s behaviour, thoughts, feelings

and attitudes that results from interaction with another individual in society. It can be
intentionally or unintentionally, as a result of the way the changed person perceives
themselves in relationship to the influencer. It is different from conformity, power and
authority. Many psychologists affirmed that social influence is the process by which
individuals make real changes to their outlooks and behaviours as a result of
communication with others who are perceived to be similar, desirable, or expert. People
adjust their views with respect to others to whom they feel similar in accordance with
psychological principles such as balance. Persons are also influenced by the majority:
when a large portion of an individual’s referent social group holds a particular attitude,
it is possible that the individual will adopt it as well. Additionally, individuals may
change a belief under the influence of another who is perceived to be an expert in the
matter at hand.

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Social influence has numerous connotations in psychology field. It is usually used to

summarise the field of social psychology. It studies, "how thoughts, feelings and
behaviour of individuals are influenced by actual, imagined or implied presence of
others" (Allport, 1968).

French and Raven (1959) presented an early formalization of the notion of social
influence in their dialogue of the bases of social power. According to French and Raven,
agents of change included not just individuals and groups, but also norms and roles.
They viewed social influence as the outcome of the application of social power from one
of five bases such as reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, expert power, or
referent power. A change in reported opinion or attitude (conformity) was considered as
an instance of social influence whether or not it represented a true private change

Human social life is characterised by social influences; influences, they are aware of
and some they are not. As individuals, they rarely give way to social influence to fit in
and at times they do it because they are not sure of the proper way to feel or act and so
use others as a resource of information. Social life of individual is also governed by
social norms, which are usually accepted ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that
are shared among others in a social group. When a social group has well recognised
norms, there is a huge pressure for people to maintain such norm.

It is apparent that social influence is a phenomenon that involves a change in

behaviour, actions or perspective as a result of a stimulus in environment. It is
generally evident in everyday world, from how we adhere to unwritten social norms that
systemize human lives to obeying instructions given by an authority figure. Effect of
Social influence is especially visible in the long history of humankind, particularly
World War II, where individuals were observed to commit immoral acts because they
scuffle to act in sync with their personal judgments when faced with external pressure.
The changes that precede social influences can be intended or unintended, instant or
delayed, explicit or implicit.

Since 1959, researchers have distinguished true social influence from forced public
acceptance and from changes based on reward or coercive power. Social scholars are
still concerned with public compliance, reward power, and coercive power, but those
concerns are differentiated from social influence studies. Current research on social
influence generally uses experimental methodology in several areas such as minority
influence in group settings, research on persuasion, dynamic social impact theory, a
structural approach to social influence, and social influence in expectation states
theory.

Minority influence in group settings:

Several studies regarding social influence have concentrated on the power of the
majority within groups. Moscovici, Lage, and Naffrechoux (1969) recommended that
characteristics such as consistency, autonomy, and rigidity empower minorities to act
as influential agents. Additionally, evidence of the power of minority influence was
established by Moscovici (1980), who suggested the conversion theory. Evidence exists
that firmly establishes the minority as a strong source of influence.

Dynamic social impact theory:

Social impact theory was originated by Bibb Latane in 1981. This theory has three
basic rules which consider how individuals can be sources or targets of social influence.
Social impact is the result of social forces including the strength of the source of
impact, the immediacy of the event, and the number of sources exerting the impact.
Social impact theory is described as the idea that conforming to social influence
depends on the strength of the group’s importance, its immediacy, and the number of
people in the group (Aronson, Wilson, and Akert, 2007). According to Aronson et al.
(2007) social impact theory envisages that conformity will increase as the strength and
proximity increase. The more important the group is to us the more likely we are to
conform to it (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, 2007). Argo and colleagues (2005) described
social impact theory as people are impacted by the real, implied, or imagined presence
or action of a social presence (i.e. another person or group of people). This impact
results from three “social forces”: number, immediacy and social source strength.

Three areas of social influence are conformity, compliance and obedience.

Conformity:

It is changing how people behave to be more like others. This element plays to
belonging and esteem needs as we seek the approval and friendship of others.
Conformity can run very deep, as people will even change their beliefs and values to be
like those of peers and admired superiors. Conformity refers to the act of changing a
particular belief or behaviour to fit in with one's social environment. Main factor that
influences conformity is social norms. Social norms are the expected behaviour within a
specific culture or society. Once a particular way of doing things is established as a
norm, people will start conforming to it as it gives the impression of being the 'right'
thing to do. Person who conform to social group have low self-esteem, high need for
social support or approval, need for self-control, low IQ, high anxiety, feeling of self
blames and insecurity in the group, and lastly, feeling of inferiority.

Numerous researches demonstrate that when a person is confronted with social norms,
one will often adjust their behaviour to closer approximation of the perceived norm
(Bond & Smith, 1996). Dissimilar to popular belief, conformity is not personality-driven
but highly situational (Goldberg 1952). In his experiment, Goldberg observed that
conformity usually occurs in the initial stages of exposure and any additional exposure
thereafter does not affect the influence. The results from his experiment also
demonstrated that the more displeasing the subject initially was to the particular social
norm in question, the greater the conformity, as the compromise in this case will be
larger.

Factors that affect conformity:

Conformity categorized into two parts that include normative conformity and
informational conformity. Normative conformity is usually prompted by a need to fit in
while informational conformity usually occurs when a person is looking for guidance in
a vague situation. While a person involved in normative conformity usually conforms for
fear of being rejected by a group. A person involved in informative conformity usually
conforms because he is uncertain of the situation, and thus, do not have his own
viewpoint in that particular situation to begin with. Finally, while normative conformity
usually ends in compliance where the changes are evident in overt behaviour and
actions (explicit), the influence of informational conformity usually results in
internalization (implicit), where a person adopts the views and opinion of the group for
his own.

Sherif (1935) conducted an experiment to measure conformity. The aim of the

experiment was to test for informational conformity by placing participants in an
ambiguous situation. They were first individually tested before being tested in groups of
threes. Results demonstrated that the answers given in a group coincide with the rest
even though the answer initially given in the first test was greatly different. Asch (1951
did not agree with the results of the auto-kinetic experiment as there was no correct
answer in the experiment. Hence, he conducted another experiment that has an
obvious answer to investigate the extent to which an individual would conform to the
social pressure from a majority group. Participants in this experiment were placed with
other confederates who gave the wrong answer on purpose. The results obtained from
this experiment displayed that 75% of participants conformed at least once while only
25% of them did not conform. Interviews held after the experiment revealed that
 participants went along with the rest of the group for fear of being ridiculed. Some of
them said that they genuinely believe the group's answers were correct. This
experiment exemplifies both normative influence and informational influence.

Other Studies have revealed that conformity varies across different cultures. People
from Western cultures are categorized as individualist while people who are from Asian
cultures are classified as collectivities. While the former places greater emphasis on
self-development, the latter usually put the needs of family and other social groups
above their own. Because of this difference, people who are from Asian cultures tend to
conform more (Smith and Bond, 1998).

Compliance:

Compliance is described as a particular kind of response, acquiescence to a particular

kind of communication, a request. The request may be obvious, as in the direct
solicitation of funds in a door-to-door campaign for charitable donations, or it may be
implicit, as in a political advertisement that sellers the qualities of a candidate without
directly asking for a vote (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). But in all cases, the target
recognizes that he or she is being urged to respond in a desired way. In general term,
compliance is where a person does something that they are asked to do by another.
They may choose to comply or not to comply, although the thoughts of social reward
and punishment may lead them to compliance when they really do not want to comply.

Compliance greatly impact everyday behaviour, especially in social relations. Social

psychologists interpret compliance as way of social influence used to realizer goals or
accomplish social or personal gains. To study compliance, social psychologists
investigate overt and subtle social influences and their relationship to compliance.

Factors that impact compliance are as under:

i. Group strength: The more important the group is to an individual, the more likely
the individual is to obey with social influence.
ii. Immediacy: The closeness of the group makes an individual more likely to comply
with group pressures. Pressure to comply is sturdiest when the group is closer to the
individual and made up of people the individual cares about.
iii. Number: Compliance increases as the number of people in a group increases.
Importantly, the influence of adding people starts to decrease as the group gets
larger.
iv. Similarity: Perceived shared characteristics cause an individual to be more likely
to comply with a request, particularly when the shared feature is perceived as
unplanned and rare.

Obedience:

It is different from compliance, in that it complies with an order from someone that
people accept as an authority personality. In compliance, there is some choice. In
obedience, there is no choice. Basically, obedience refers to a social influence in which
a person follows explicit instructions that were given by an authority figure. In the long
 history of humankind, the effect of obedience is bold. It is deduced that the most
conspicuous feature of obedience is the presence of an authority figure.

Milgram (1963) stated that there are various factors that affect the extent of obedience.
Firstly, it was observed that prestige and obedience are positively related. When the
experiment was moved to somewhere less prestigious as opposed to the original
location (a university), obedience level dropped. Secondly, surveillance was also
observed to affect level of obedience. Buffers that prevent the participant from being
fully aware of the impact of their actions also increase the level of obedience. It was also
observed that authority amplifies level of obedience.

An individual is said to conform if they choose a course of action that is preferred or

considered socially acceptable by the majority. Because the individual is influenced by
how the majority thinks or behaves is referred to as majority influence. The fact that an
individual conforms along with the majority in public, does not necessarily mean they
have changed their private outlook or beliefs. Therefore, most majority influence is
characterised by public compliance rather than private acceptance.

Factors that affect Obedience:

Milgram and Zimbardo concluded through their experiments that there are many
factors affect obedience:

i. Proximity to the authority figure: Proximity designates physical closeness; the

closer the authority figure is, the more obedience is demonstrated. In the Milgram
experiment, the experimenter was in the same room as the participant, likely eliciting
a more obedient response.
ii. Prestige of the experimenter: Both researchers have advocated that the prestige
associated with Yale and Stanford respectively may have influenced obedience in
their experiments.
iii. Expertise: A subject who has neither the ability nor the expertise to make
decisions, especially in a crisis, will leave decision making to the group and its
hierarchy.
iv. Deindividuation: In obedience, people come to view themselves not as individuals
but as instruments for carrying out others' desires, and thus no longer perceive
themselves as responsible for their actions.
It can be said that Social influence is the ways in which external factors produce
change in an individual. It guides the way person form his/her thoughts and organize
overt behaviour and actions. Social influence is a phenomenon people experience every
day. Because of some noticeable differences, social influence has been grouped into
three different categories as conformity, compliance and obedience. While they share
various resemblances when compared against each other, and even among each other,
they have some distinct qualities. While conformity is generated by social norm,
obedience involves an authority figure. Compliance involves an explicit request that is
less aggressive as opposed to that of obedience. It can be concluded that though the
notions of compliance and obedience are analogous, conformity stands distinctly apart
because of its unique stimulus and result.

Persuasion:

Generally, persuasion is defined as communicative activities that are mediated.

According to the communication scholar Gerald R. Miller, any message that is aimed to
shape, reinforce or change the perceptions, emotions, beliefs, behavioural intentions
and behaviours is to be considered as persuasive communication (2002). When
tracking historical record, the study of persuasive communication started in Ancient
Greece and has a history of more than two eras. Ancient intellectuals like Plato and
Aristotle framed rhetoric as a technique for oral persuasion, which was followed by the
notable Roman scholars Buintillian and Cicero. Cicero described rhetoric as a speech
designed to persuade (Quoted in Burke, 1969,). After many decades, the development of
mass media facilitated the broadening of the concept of rhetoric beyond oratory. The
philosopher Kenneth Burke was the first to recognize the persuasive potential of
nonverbal domains. Burke’s work gave rise to the study of persuasiveness in other
domains, increasing interest in visual rhetoric, understood as the art of using imagery
and visuals persuasively. It is established in literature that persuasion is long term
endeavour. It is a way of seeing and being in the world.
In management literature, persuasion is the process of changing or reinforcing
attitudes, beliefs or behaviour of a person. People respond to persuasive messages in
two ways: thoughtfully and mindlessly. When people are in thoughtful mode, the
persuasiveness of the message is determined by merits of the message. When people
respond to messages mindlessly, their brains are locked on automatic. Persuasion is
mainly dependent upon the attractiveness of the speakers and reaction of the listeners.
Persuasion is exclusively related with communication, learning, awareness and
thought.

Process of persuasion:

In the process of persuasion, both the persuader and the receiver of the persuasive
message are wilfully active. As Bettinghaus writes, "perception of a persuasive message
is not a passive process. The receiver is as active in the receiving process as is the
source in the transmitting process. The attitudes and beliefs of the receiver mediate the
way in which the message will be received and responded to"
Process of persuasion

The process of persuasion involves a series of consecutive steps:

The communication is presented; the person pays attention to it; he comprehends the
contents of the message and also the basic conclusion being urged. However, for
persuasion to be effected the individual must agree with or yield to the point being
urged and then finally act on it or in other words carry out the behaviour implied due to
the new change in his attitude.

Components of Persuasion:

The components in the communication process are source, message, the context of the
message channel, receiver and the audience.

1. “Source” factors include the perceived sender of the communication. The

“message” denotes to what person says and includes style, content and organization,
while “Channel” designates the medium (e.g. press, radio, television) through which
the message is communicated. The source of a persuasive message is the
communicator who is presenting it. A source is more persuasive if he or she is seen
as credible (believable) and attractive.
 There are two ways for a source to be trustworthy: (a) claiming to be an expert, and
(b) appearing to be trustworthy.
2. The Message: Persuasive messages can involve emotional appeals or rational
opinions. When time is limited, short emotional appeals may be more effective than
rational arguments. There is also evidence that more intelligent audiences are
persuaded better by two-sided messages, probably because they more readily
recognize that there are two sides to the issue.
3. The Context: Promoters often have difficulty in capacitating the internal
arguments that compete with their persuasive messages. When people listen to or
read a persuasive message, they are usually free to limit our attention or silently
counter argue with its arguments. Research has revealed that when subjects are
distracted, they are more likely to accept a persuasive message than when they have
been allowed to concentrate on their counterarguments.
4. The Audience: Numerous research concentrated on the recipients of persuasive
messages, the audience, to discover when some people are more persuadable than
others. Many audience characteristics interact with message variables, such as
involvement or intelligence. Intellectual recipients are more persuaded by complex
messages, while unintelligent recipients are more persuaded by simple emotional
messages.

Persuasive communication can be directed at

1. Cognition: Persuasion can be used to change individuals’ beliefs about an object

or an issue, which includes attributes, interpretation, definition, outcome, etc.
2. Attitude: Persuasion can be used to change individuals’ attitude toward an object
or an issue, which refers to the categorization of an object or an issue along an
evaluative dimension.
3. Behaviour: Persuasion can be used to alter individuals’ behaviour, which is the
overt actions regarding an object or an issue.

Famous theorist, Perloff (2003) explained persuasion a symbolic process in which

communicators try to persuade other people to change their attitudes or behaviours
regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free
choice.

Prime elements of his explanation of persuasion are that:

1. Persuasion is symbolic, utilizing words, images, sounds.

2. It involves a deliberate attempt to influence others.
3. Self-persuasion is a key. People are not coerced; they are instead free to choose.
4. Methods of conveying persuasive messages can occur in various ways that
include verbally and nonverbally via television, radio, Internet or face-to-face
communication.

Persuasive psychological manipulation techniques: There are some classic

persuasion techniques that are frequently used.

1. Foot-in-the-door
 2 Low ball

3 Door-in-the-face

4 Foot-in-the-mouth

5 That’s-not-all

6 Because

7 Hard-to-get

8 Deadline

9 Fear-then-relief

10 But-you-are-free-of

11 A little is better than

nothing

12 Attribution technique

13 Touch Technique

Foot-in-the-Door:

The persuasion technique foot-in-the-door, which begins with a small request in order
to gain eventual compliance with larger requests. The foot in the door technique
assumes agreeing to a small request increases the likelihood of agreeing to a second,
larger request (Freedman & Fraser, 1966).

Low-Balling:

Low-balling is a persuasion practice that intentionally offers a product at a lower price

than one intends to charge. Low-balling is successful technique to convince people to
pay a higher price by ensuring buy-in at a lower level. Once people have made a
decision to purchase something, their need to be consistent in behaviour assures their
choice was right, even if the price is later increased. The low-balling technique is very
common in auto sales. Main success factor in low-balling is not only to make the initial
offer attractive enough to gain compliance, but also to not make the second offer so
excessive that it's refused.

Door-in-the-Face:

The persuasion technique, door-in-the-face begins with a large, typically unreasonable

request in order to gain eventual compliance with a smaller request. The door-in the-
face technique works by first making a request that is excessive and likely to be
refused. Major objective is to get people to agree to the second, smaller request, which
may seem very reasonable because it is compared to the first, larger request. Also,
when people refuse the first request, they may feel guilty (Robbie Sutton, 2013). The
second request gives them an opportunity to get rid of that guilt. So, they are much
more likely to say yes.

Foot in the mouth:

In this technique, by telling someone that person feel wonderful, he may make himself
feel committed to behave in a way that is consistent with that declaration.

That's Not All (TNA):

This technique of ‘That’s not all folks’ talks about discounts, incentives and little perks.
That's Not All process capitalize on the reciprocity principle and involves the persuader
giving the person something that will further convince them to comply with the request.
In this technique person is offered product at high price, not allowing them to respond
for a short while and then offering them a better deal by offering another product or
lowering the price (Robbie Sutton, 2013).

Fear than relief:

In this technique, fear is invoked in the other person. Then, when they seek a solution,
provide one that leads them in the direction you choose. Fear is invoked by threatening
needs. Relief may be gained by doing what you request. Relief may also be given 'freely'
to create trust and invoke the rules of social exchange.

Scarcity & Reactance Theory:

Persuasion technique, scarcity uses the perception of limited availability to tempt

interest or competition. Research studies on persuasion defined as change in attitudes
or beliefs based on information received from others, focuses on written or spoken
messages sent from source to recipient. These research based on the assumption that
individuals process messages carefully whenever they are motivated and able to do so.
There are two types of theories in modern persuasion research that include the
elaboration likelihood model and heuristic-systemic models.

The elaboration likelihood model:

The elaboration likelihood model created by Cacioppo, Petty, and Stoltenberg (1985) is
most widely used in therapeutic and counselling settings. It designates that the amount
and nature of thinking that a person does about a message will affect the kind of
persuasion that the message produces. Aspects of the persuasion situation for this
model include source, message, recipient, affect, channel, and context. Main
importance is the degree to which the recipient views the message’s issue as relevant to
himself. This model has established its utility in persuading various people to make
various types of healthier choices such as in cancer patients, those at risk from
HIV/AIDS and adolescents at risk from tobacco use (Robbie Sutton, 2013).
Elaboration likelihood model (Source: Robbie Sutton, 2013)

Heuristic-systemic:

Heuristic-systemic models suggest that argument strength will be most effective in

persuading an individual when she is inspired and able to attend to the message. When
the target individual is not motivated or is unable to attend carefully, persuasion will
take place through more indirect means such as nonverbal cues or source credibility.
Persuasion that occurs through the systemic route will be comparatively permanent.
Persuasion through the heuristic route is more likely to be temporary (Robbie Sutton,
2013).

Attribution theory of persuasion:

Attribution is a technique by which individuals clarify the causes of behaviour and

events. Attribution theory is the study of models to explain those processes. Humans
try to explain the actions of others through either dispositional attribution or
situational attribution. Dispositional attribution, also known as internal attribution,
attempts to indicate a person’s traits, abilities, motives, or dispositions as a cause or
explanation for their actions. Situational attribution, generally called as to as external
attribution, attempts to point to the context around the person and factors of his
surroundings, particularly things that are completely out of his control.

Fundamental attribution error is people’s tendency to place an unnecessary emphasis

on internal characteristics (dispositional explanations) to explain other person’s
behaviour in a given situation, instead of considering external factors (situational
explanations). Generally, people tend to make dispositional attributions more often
than situational attributions when trying to explain or understand a person’s
behaviour. This happens when people are much more focused on the individual
because they do not know much about their situation.

In order to persuade others, people tend to explain positive behaviours and

accomplishments with dispositional attribution, but their own negative behaviours and
shortcomings with situational attributions.

Classical conditioning as a persuasion process:

Conditioning also plays vital role in the persuasion. It is more often about leading
someone into taking certain actions of their own, rather than giving direct commands.
It is useful in advertisement of products. This conditioning is thought to affect how
people view certain products, knowing that most purchases are made on the basis of
emotion.

Cognitive dissonance theory in persuasion:

Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or uneasiness experienced by an individual

who holds two or more contradictory views, ideas, or values at the same time, or is
confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
Human beings continually struggle for mental consistency. Their cognition (thoughts,
beliefs, or attitudes) can be in agreement, unrelated, or in disagreement with each
other. These mental processes can also be in agreement or disagreement with our
behaviours. When people detect conflicting cognition, i.e. dissonance, it gives them a
sense of incompleteness and discomfort. People are motivated to decrease this
dissonance until their cognition is in harmony with itself. There are four main ways to
reduce or eliminate dissonance:

1. Changing minds about one of the facets of cognition.

2. Reducing the importance of cognition.
3. Increasing the overlap between the two.
4. Re-evaluating the cost/reward.

Elaboration likelihood model: Persuasion has usually been associated with two routes.
Central route: Whereby an individual evaluates information presented to them based on
the pros and cons of it and how well it supports their values. Peripheral route: Change
is mediated by how attractive the source of communication is and by bypassing the
deliberation process.

Effects of Persuasion:

Miller (1980) suggested that communications exert three different persuasive effects:
shaping, reinforcing, and changing responses.

1. Shaping: Attitudes are "shaped" by associating pleasurable environments with a

product, person, or idea.
2. Reinforcing: Contrary to popular opinion, many persuasive communications are
not designed to convert people, but to reinforce a position they already hold.
3. Changing: This is perhaps the most important persuasive impact and the one
that comes most frequently to mind when we think of persuasion. Communications
can and do change in attitudes.

To summarize, Persuasion is an effective technique to influence a person’s principles,

attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is a process that intended
at changing a person’s outlook or behaviour toward some event, idea, object, or other
person. Systematic persuasion is the process through which attitudes or beliefs are
changed by appeals to logic and reason. There are numerous persuasion techniques
used in business settings such as low balling, foot in the door, door in the face and
others to persuade clients.
In theoretical models, Heuristic persuasion is popular. It is the process through which
attitudes or beliefs are changed because of appeals to habit or emotion. Process of
persuasion is to change a reader’s attitude, beliefs or action in persuader’s favour. It is
a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to alter their
attitudes or behaviour regarding an issue through the transmission of a message, in an
atmosphere of free choice.

Codes of Ethics

Code of ethics is a written set of rules issued by an organization to its workforces and
management to help them conduct their actions in accordance with its primary values
and ethical standards. Basically, it is guidelines of principles for experts to conduct
business honestly. The Code of Ethics describes the principles and anticipations
governing the behaviour of individuals and organizations in the conduct of business. It
defines the minimum requirements for conduct, and behavioural expectations instead
of specific activities.

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A code of ethics document may shape the mission and values of the business or
organization, how professionals attempt to resolve problems, the ethical principles
based on the organization's core values and the standards to which the professional will
be held. Both businesses and organizations have code of ethics that its personnel must
follow. If they disobey the rules of the code of ethics, it may result in termination or
dismissal from the organization. A code of ethics is important because it clearly lays the
"rules" for behaviour and provides a preventive cautioning.

A code of ethics is an important document for any type of business because breaches of
ethics can create serious trouble with customers, other organizations or government
authorities. When company has a code of ethics, Management can take wise decision. It
can reduce ambiguity and considerations of individual perspectives in ethical
standards.
The main purpose of a code of ethics is to guide all managerial decisions, creating a
common framework upon which all decisions are founded. This can aid to create a
unified understanding of the boundaries within an organization and the standards set
for interacting with external stakeholders. A formal, well-communicated code of ethics
can also assist to shield a company's status and legal standing in case of a breach of
ethics by an individual worker. A code of ethics can help company to show customers
that it values integrity, define the terms of ethical behaviour at work and guide
decision-making in difficult situations.

Principles of code of ethics:

The five fundamental principles of code of ethics are as under:

1. Integrity: A professional should be straightforward and honest in all professional

and business dealings.
2. Objectivity: An expert should not allow bias, conflict of interest or unnecessary
influence of others to supersede professional or business judgments.
3. Professional competence and due care is another principle of code of ethics. A
professional has a responsibility to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the
level required to guarantee that a customer or employer receives competent
professional services based on current developments in practice, legislation and
techniques. A professional should act assiduously and in accordance with applicable
technical and professional standards.
4. Confidentiality: An expert should respect the confidentiality of information
acquired as a result of professional and business relationships and should not reveal
any such information to third parties without proper and specific authority unless
there is a legal or professional right or duty to disclose. Confidential information
acquired as a result of professional and business relationships should not be used for
the personal benefit of the professional accountant or third parties.
5. Professional behaviour: A professional should obey with pertinent laws and
regulations and should avoid any action that discredits the job.
There are two main types of codes of ethics. The short code of ethics and the longer
code of ethics.

The shorter codes are meant to be a general framework that guides the professional of
the society towards certain moral goals and responsibilities. These code have strength
in the fact that they are concise and therefore more likely to be read by the members of
the society. They are also more open to personal interpretation and application which
may allow the flexibility to apply the ethics in a large assortment of situations. The
drawbacks of the shorter codes are that they do not provide a specific course of action.
A member must decide the suitable course by interpreting the codes themselves.

The longer codes of ethics are more precise. Benefit of these codes are that they can
give specific solutions to some ethical dilemmas that may be encountered by their
members. A shortcoming of the longer codes is that many of the members will not have
the patience and motivation to read through all of the details of the codes, and are more
likely to not use them because of the intimidation of the length and complexity.

Content of code:

 Rationale
 Values
 Guidelines for conduct
 Guidelines for ethical-decision making
 Sanctions
 Resources and references
Steps of writing code of ethics:

When writing a code of ethics for organization:

1. It is important to first consider organization’s mission, values, and goals,

including its position on sustainability.
2. Secondly, use clear language to make the code user friendly.
3. Include expectations for general conduct at work, as well as examples of
unprincipled behaviour.

The scope of code of ethics is wide. Codes of ethics can cover from the corporate level to
the workgroup level. Corporate level ethics standards speak in grand, principled terms,
communicating the entire ethical idea of the organization in a single document. Ethical
standards for business units or geographical divisions can be more specific, applying to
the particular industry or region in question. Codes of ethics at the departmental level
often deal with highly specific issues, which are often related to experiences and trends
within the department.

The process of code of ethics is quite simple. An executive of company can create in the
privacy of his own office, but an individually dictated set of standards can often fail to
achieve its purpose. Involving a wide range of workers from all levels of company in the
process of enlisting and formalizing a code of ethics can aid to safeguard that all
employees are on board with and dedicated to the standards.

It is a good practice to revise code of ethics from time to time in order to make changes
in the industry or legal environment. It can help to guarantee that company's ethical
reputation remains perfect.

Codes of ethics has great prominence in the international arena. Ethical standards vary
between countries and regions. International business people must develop good
understanding of each culture's ethical standards to get success in business and the
company's code of ethics either be written to compromise with foreign ethical standards
or to maintain a single code in all nations.

Benefits of developing code of ethics are that these guidelines identify core values,
encourage reflection on the meaning and application of values, enhance reputation,
build trust both internally and externally and increases awareness of ethics issues.
Code of ethics also stimulates ethics talk, guides decision-making, reduces ethics risks,
fosters reporting of problems, encourages seeking advice and enhances good
governance and leadership.

To summarize, a code of ethics, elucidates an organization’s mission, values, and

principles, associate them with standards of professional conduct. A code of conduct is
guiding process for managers and personnel when making decisions for organization. A
code of ethics is a document, customarily issued by a board of directors of company
that outlines a set of principles that affect decision-making.
Ethical issues in international relations and funding

In modern International Relations, there is immense development in the revival of

ethics. Since last many decades, scholars are concerned to converse the way that
states, institutions and individuals must behave. The situation that exists among
nations in their relations to one another is such that it entices even those who
ordinarily come for short of sarcasm to say that there is no connection between ethics
and international relations.

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International ethics is described as the good that international interactions, exchanges,

relations which can bring to all life forms and which can be harmed by unfriendly,
hostile, uncooperative behaviours. In simple term, international ethics is an area of
international relations theory which concerns the extent and scope of ethical
obligations between states in an epoch of globalization.

International ethics offers understandings into how nations and other entities treat
other nations and its people. Good acquaintance of international ethics provides people
with insights to assess the good and harms, the rights and wrongs, which can occur in
the international space. For example, the UN has been encouraging various principles
of friendly and cooperative and peace related humanitarian international actions by all
the member countries.

The community of nations which respect other nations and their interests can itself be
harmed by the governing nations willing to enforce their interests and will on other
poorer nations when poorer nations are reluctant to cooperate without being treated as
equals. Various agencies of the UN by their presence and action in various countries,
promote certain world-wide principles that surpass the boundaries of individual nations
and the ethical principles pursued by individual nations.

International ethic is not just an ethic of some leading country, it is not simply an ethic
of a powerful country having obligations towards others because of the power they have
over others. International ethics may be elaborated as that which enables one to
participate more actively in shaping and building good international community. The
vision of international community that every country has and reality of an international
community provides us with food for thought on what ought to be the nature and
purpose of investing in international relations to build an international community.
The challenges of international conflicts must be dealt in appropriate way to embark
upon studying what international community promotes and builds, whether perpetual
peace and justice provide the much needed foundation on the basis of which it can
succeed.

Nations and multinational organizations expand their boundaries of national domestic

arena to trade or interact with other nations and organizations. Every nation had its
own focus, as nations accepted the production methods, technologies, political systems
and legal systems from other nations, similar problems began to appear in almost every
country. These were not regarded as shared problems that required joint action by all
those affected by it. Each country was mainly responsible for problems occurring within
it. But eventually, there is more interconnectedness between people and nations greater
interdependence and greater shared responsibilities, which call on nations and other
multinational organizations to act mutually. Joint action of international community
becomes necessary. International ethics may be visualized as responding to this need
for international action.

International ethics monitors international relations and tenacity of international

conflicts. International ethics guides the international environmental effort to fight
against ozone depletion, global warming which are collective problems and which
require actions from numerous nations who are major contributors to forces generating
such problems.

It is to identify that the power that human collectives have over nature and economic
and social goods and services in the international spaces, it is easier to see how
different organizations may be working at counter purposes or competitive purposes. It
is also easy to see how and why harms may be done by one against another and
without any hope of international justice. There are numerous issues which have
profound ethical implications present in international spaces that people create or in
which they participate in many different ways. International relations can easily
flourish in a global system renewed continually by greater levels of sensitivity to
international ethics.

Power and International Ethics:

It is generally observed that the world attention, gets itself focused on the most
powerful nation, both domestically and internationally, a nation that is willing to force
its powerful will on the world, taking into task any nation that challenged its authority
and its interests. Many wars and conflicts are certainly caused by the unilateral moves
of dominant nations against other nations that endangered its global interests.
International ethics is influenced by different philosophies of international and national
power and the way this power play its role. There are beliefs that power does not follow
any rules and this reasoning and is extended to apply to international spaces and
relations. In its so called “chaos” nature, this belief in power, particularly power not
following any rules slants the global balance in favour of dominant nations and entities
and is unfavourable to weak or developing nations and entities. It is true that the
anarchy of a dominant power imposes its will on other nations and entities. Under such
conventions, justice follows national boundaries without any space for international or
global justice.
In contradiction of “anarchy” nature of power, that is, power which does not follow any
rules, there is another belief that international power follows certain rules which
provide an international order which is qualitatively different from the previous case of
anarchy. Power that follows rules of international order is better than power that does
not.

Philosophy of International Ethics:

(I) Realism and International Ethics

Realism concentrations on a single reality, international power: It is the power that one
nation has to influence another nation directing and shaping its fortune in the direction
it desires specifically into a kind of unspoken servitude of serving and protecting its
interests at the cost of the other. In the international realm, realism embraces that the
only thing that really matters is power, what power a country has. Other factor like
morality, ethics, law, and political systems, legal systems, cultural systems are all
irrelevant. The argument is raised that in international sphere, human nature is such
that no one can be trusted and each seeks to dominate the other. Either one country
will dominate the other or the other will try to dominate the first, so it is better to be the
dominating or dominant country. The realist approach to international relations is to
deny any role for common or shared ethics, and create an ethically neutral zone or an
ethics free zone which can be filled by the power of one who is dominant.

Visibly others will perceive realist conception of international space, international

relations based exclusively on the belief of power is quite unjust. There is nothing in
realist conception that prevents someone from making an ethical assessment of the
power motivation and the dominant actions of the prevailing country and be able to
withstand such pressure and claim it to be unethical or unjust. For some people, the
attempt to control other people and direct their destinies in the international sphere is
objectionable and disheartening. There is a maxim that may be invoked implicitly, that
power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. When power is the only
basis of international relations and international action, valuations will be blushed by
such perceptions. It is established that realism considers the international sphere as a
space where “anarchy” conquers and there are no ethical rules. This claims that there
are no compulsory rules in the international sphere to which international relations are
committed to follow and are questionable. If power is the only thing that works in
international relations, then human rights violations or human dignity violations will
continue to occur and there will be no control except a power greater than itself.

Chasing realism and realist policies will be harmful to common world with its common
vision of a humane future for everyone. Realism is powerless of allowing such an
achievement. Realism is an element for creation of a superpower and a relative
independence or servitude as the case may be for others in relation to it. Currently only
one country still retains the status of a superpower, and others are expected to follow
its lead.

Realism does well in business as trade terms are set by the powerful against the weak
to reflect the power imbalance and the power advantages. International ethics then, in
so far realism is concerned is just the field of international trade wars and international
war and peace and the requirement of having some kind of “international justice”
dictated and dominated by the rule of the powerful country in the relation.

(II) Idealism and International Ethics:

Idealism stresses on “common interests” between nations, and not essentially at the
power or power distance or at power balance. It builds the international sphere on the
basis of idealist values that are of common interests to nations participating in any
international issues and problems. It is said that idealism built on common interests
seems to be stronger in power than unilateral power of realism and therefore can have
capability to replace realism in thought, word and deed and as a philosophical thought.
Idealism theory also create more lasting hopes of peace and of a emergent international
sphere where mutual interests and common concerns are addressed more sincerely in
the spirit of pursuing human purposes. Thus, the rise of idealism holds out a promise,
even though conflicts remain.

Idealism designates professional interests between nations as common interests and as

good stand to build better, growing and mutually advantageous international relations.
The growth of international and global market place and the increasing
interdependence between nations are shown to be aiding and being supported by
idealism. Human beings are capable of exhibiting high levels of idealism. In idealism,
the international system, international order and the international sphere follow rules,
laws and institutions. In idealism, ethics, morality, laws, legal systems, international
institutions all have significant role. Thus idealism contrasts with realism which
emphasized only power. International treatises, the UN organizations and the system,
have pivotal role and supports idealism and idealist thinking endorses it. These provide
international ethics guidance, even though it is voluntary, it has rational force of
agreement and appeal to conscience to be accepted and guided by it.

Major challenges of Idealism are the dominant views of realism which holds that war is
a necessary consequence easily justifiable by the powerful. International ethics has to
guide and deal with how international power is used. International disparities infer that
some nations have international power whereas others do not have. There may have
been even historical injustices involved in the rise and fall of nations and their
international power. It is important to realise international ethical sensitivities
harnessing international power for international growth and development, peace and
security.

There must be freedom of speech. Freedom of speech involves religion or world

religions, the world press or international press and media, the education sectors, the
cultural expressions, exchanges and products. Religions are powerful players in
international relations and international peace and security. The international press
has important role and can raise the issues on nations and their covert or overt
activities, reveal uncomfortable or disgusting truths to the international publics.
Analysis of international relations, international power are needed and it may be guided
by rules of international media ethics which would be part of international ethics as
well.

The cultural exchanges offer a mutual obligation of different culture and cultural
differences and a welcome richness of diversity and social inclusion instead of the
extensive social exclusion and discrimination. The education sectors provide the basis
for sustainable societies and healthy international connectivity. The future of the world
is determined by events in the education sector which spans internationally as people
move to countries to gain access to education they desire for their future wellbeing.

In the realm of international ethics and international actions, Freedom of Information is

necessary. There must be good international and global flow of information. Primary
actions and activities in international space are the issues of technology, particularly
information technology and to put internationally and nationally by individuals and
countries. Information is useful for countries. Various international receptionists can
control the flow of information. Information technologies and their use also may be
directed by ideas of international ethics. Information technologies not only control the
availability and flow of information, they also make it easier for nations and people to
communicate suitably, easily, without any government or individuals interfering in
their “private” conversations. Obviously, this may intimidate some as it is possible to
carry out “suspicious activity” from the supposedly safe borders of another country
against some other country.

Another important factor in international ethics is the development of scientific

Research Agendas and Projects. Science has been a teamster of global developments.
Every country has its group of scientific advisers to offer best science advice to their
governments and these are in constant international and global contact with their
counter parts in exchanging ideas and scientific research trends and information that
could be strategically employed. International ethics may be prejudiced and driven by
developments in the scientific research fields. Different research fields have different
circumstances and so research ethics may be more circumstantial and international
ethics then follows various contextual offerings and multidimensional. This is not just a
matter of its scope but also of the very nature of international ethics that it is
continually challenged by global research in various frameworks.

Constructivism and International Ethics:

Constructivism focuses on the matters such as foreign policy, diplomatic initiatives to

shape international relations and the international sphere where a country has
trustworthy influence. In these matters, the focus is on domestic politics and how it
forms foreign policy with goals. Every nation and every state create a sense of national
identity in various ways and develop it through historical and cultural celebrations and
means. Thus national identity is constructed and it in turn is said to influence the way
the nations interact. Fundamentally, constructivism allows for influence of national
identities and its constructions on the international sphere.

International sphere can also be a place where various identities can liquefy into more
humane indulgent between people through the ‘give and take’ of identity respects and
exchanges. Constructivism demonstrates that nations resist any danger to their
identities, nationalism, national independence that are perceived. This works against
attempts to make the world a better place or to change world systems. These efforts by
other nations will be resisted if national identity is not valued. Constructivism gives
more power to individual nations through its focus on national identity which is
politically a more powerful tool to having less to do with other nations in the
international sphere than with what furthers and promotes its own identity.

In present scenario, there is increase of identity politics and political power arising out
of it harnessed by interested parties for their own advantage. National identities based
on religious domains span across countries and define international relations. Religious
baseless conflict may accelerate and cause problems not only in the international
sphere but within a nation itself. It also leads to violence and anger instead of the spurs
of peace and humane relations. Identity tensions will be strongly felt and whatever
feeds identity tensions and forms them is far from allowing people to be truly free and
open in shaping the one world destiny of all of human kind. Cultural identities may not
all be good, but they are to be respected even when critically evaluated for their role in
determining international spaces, international sphere and international freedoms.

Cosmopolitanism and International Ethics:

Cosmopolitanism shares views of idealism, which entails do the right thing. The right
thing to be done is to behave as person would want others to behave. It focuses on how
people interact in a global society. It embraces that since people interact with other
countries, therefore they have a moral responsibility to treat people of that country
morally as moral people. Hence the prescription in cosmopolitanism is to “do the right
thing”. Cosmopolitanism thus empowers international ethics and the development of
“global values and ethics” fully.

Cosmopolitanism claims for following morally lawful behaviour. Where rules and laws
do not exist, it needs that people come together and negotiate the rules and laws that
are ethical to follow and follow them in international relations. Cosmopolitanism
welcome people of all origins and identities without any discrimination or treatment of
them as means to some ends. It will give reputation to people, their freedom and rights
rather than dominance of nation states. It is certainly capable of universality in
thought, word and deed. In simple term, cosmopolitanism focuses on the international
community as having an important role on determining what a country should or
should not do morally. Such developments may be resisted by nations who feel they are
at the receiving end of world opinion or world politics and which select their national
identity and sovereignty sentiments.

The size of the nation with respect to population appears less of an influencing factor as
the population is contained by migration policies inhibiting or prohibiting international
movements for economic opportunities. It poses challenge in the future years. Nations
with older generations and few young people will experience an imbalance of the need
for labour. So, nations with younger generations and less older generations will also
experience an imbalance. International policies favour movement of talented and highly
capable populations. Various levels of cultural exchanges also occurs as people harbour
their culture with them and learn other people’s language and culture as well. This
enables to develop international understanding. People move across national
boundaries and their international interaction and experience provides a dimension to
international relations guided by international ethics.
Nations competition in the international space and national advantages are the drivers
of the space of international ethics. National shortcomings will work against the
expanded role of that nation in international ethics, while national advantages facilitate
its development. It is easier to grasp the international problems and the ethical issues
related with international problems when visualizing various nations competing with
one another for natural resources, competing for markets, competing for investments,
competing for talents, competing for technology and education.

Constrained Choices and International Ethics:

International ethics also control choices of nation in the international sphere, but
evidently choices are constrained rather than free. The choices may be constrained by
the necessity of pleasing the domestic political support. The choices may be inhibited
by the identity politics. The choices may be constrained by power equations and
balances.

Several practical restraints may also be present, assuredly economic constraints and
national interest constraint will not be missing when choices have to be made. Many
experts squabbled that preference is given for national interests when it is a choice of
national interests versus global interests. While accepting in general that a country’s
goals must be defended as ethically that means right thing to do. A country’s goals and
interests are several and may be in conflict within themselves without any transparency
and more confusion. It is no doubt that morality infers choice between two or more
alternative states of action. It is argued that if the practical necessities or constraints
are such that they concern the survival or extinction of a state or its identity, any such
constraints make morality or ethics, or law or political systems, immaterial.

There is an issue of equality of Life and International Ethics. All humans must be given
equal moral weight. This viewpoint must be accepted at global level. No preference is
given by governments or by anybody else to the welfare of citizens of that country.
There are no differentiating factors acknowledged by such governments that distinguish
between the welfare of its citizens and those belonging to another country. Everyone
has equal rights. Everyone is treated equally in equal respects. In such cases, it
becomes meaningful to make sacrifices for others. It is generally observed that people
hardly sacrifice themselves for even their close ones in present scenario. But people
sacrificing themselves for others in the international space are truly worthy. Respect for
life should guide international ethics.

International ethics must be pursued to compete ecological System: Nations are

competing for ecological system advantages to help the environment to preserve its
natural capacity and vitality. This will secure for nations an ecological and economic
advantage. At the same time, they are not ready to bear much burden for the climate
change action which can impede economic progression in short term. Ethical reflection
on the natural environment has actually become international and global phenomena.
Various perceptions are available from each of these fields for critical reflection on
harms that human beings pose through daily activities.

Currently, all nations have made vision plans for long term future foreseeing the
changes necessary say for 2020, which have domestic and international implications
and effects. All such vision plans by several countries are drivers of international ethics.
These promises to be realized and fulfilled.

Interdependence, Cooperation and Collaboration must be judged to maintain

international ethics. In the obscurities of dominant countries, other countries have
evolved certain international cooperation and collaboration treaties for several reasons.
It is well recognized that one country emerged as a super power and have a dominant
role in international relations between nations. International cooperation and
collaboration are a measure of countries interdependence with other nations. Such
international cooperation provides a measure of international order between them.
International ethics in the framework of cooperation and collaboration are based on
recognition of their mutual interests with each other. There may be several fields in
which international cooperation has worked well and thus provides the basis for further
cooperation and collaboration. Interdependence between nations through cooperation
and teamwork, can provide the basis for a “law of peace” to be established for relations
between people.

Diplomatic Relations and Understanding is also major drivers of International ethics.

Diplomatic initiatives are always available for nations to resolve their differences and
make agreements that ensure peace and security and also to further their rights and
interests and to share duties and responsibilities. The movement of people can be eased
by the diplomatic presence and provides another driver for international relations and
international ethics which guides it. Each country may have its own interests in
another country and or in promoting ties with other countries. In each country
recognizing the other, there is the “international law of peace”, even though it may not
resolve all conflicts between nations. A rule of reason can triumph under such
circumstances.

Defence and Military Enterprise: Each nation use the power to achieve its global
interests. International ethics can also be considered as the use of power by one
country against another country to accomplish its international goals and protecting its
national interests. International conflict and wars are still a probability and it may even
be impacted by the defence related establishments which have international reach and
influence. International conventions on “international law of war” may be binding only
when international community analyses and insists on it.

The Poverty and Wealth of Nations: Nations who want to become wealthy, have to
reckon with poverty which hampers them from being active and responsible
international actors involved and partaking in emergent international issues. Poverty
may be a national issue.

Lessening poverty is major issue at international level. “International law of justice”

may be invoked to have nations pledge to reduce and eradicate poverty wherever it is
found, through responsible joint actions. The UN framework on Millennium
Development Goals calls on nations to reduce poverty to half and continue to decrease
poverty around the world. Poverty measures, poverty indices, are available to guide
policy. Several international NGOs involved in this field to eliminate poverty have
frameworks to make decisions and choices which offers other field of international
ethics and can drive the values of global solidarity and justice.
The Inequality of Nations: At global stage, there is growing inequalities. Inequalities
lead to certain conflicts which may be domestic in origin or international, but they are
indicators of troubling trends. In an unequal world, expectations of equity,
international equity are high. Any international action must be aimed at benefiting the
least advantaged nations more than that would be expected for a most advantaged
nation. Otherwise, there would not be an incentive for less advantaged or least
advantaged nations to participate in international actions. In cases of such failures,
only those international actions which are driven by prevailing nations will be carried
through creating and endorsing a more divided world with even a greater possibility of
future conflict.

International Ethics with respect to economic, Social and Environmental Frameworks:

There are a number of frameworks available for making decisions concerning
international actions which have economic, social, and environmental consequences
and impact over future generations. There is a gap between any system of global and
international values and international ethics on the ground. This is because of the
broadening gap in ground realities between nations and international organizations due
to levels of difficult conflict. The frameworks are evolved to provide a way to resolve the
conflict and they are useful to deal with numerous conflicting ideas on international
ethics.

For instance, the framework provided under UN agencies, the framework of Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the framework of Universal Declaration of Human
Genome and Human Rights, the various international declarations and conventions
which offer the necessary framework for supportive and collaborative international
action to resolve international issues.

There are several global institutions concerned with the global economic order, others
with the global information order, still others with the global environmental regimes or
order. Each of them provides frameworks within which its members are expected to
take decisions that are respected and supported by virtue of the frameworks agreed
upon.

To summarize, there is vast literature that demonstrates ethics as an important

determinant for good understanding of international relations. International relations
must forestall serious and sometimes dangerous conflicts between nations or groups.
Ethnic and ideological differences can explode into major conflicts. The threatening
complexity of competing narratives distinguishing national and non-state actors alike
disrupts the relative tranquillity of formal dialogue on ideological differences. Cycles of
ethnic conflict, civil war shape clashes in ways where formal dialogue may never
progress or deter. Many professionals have stated that matters of equity and justice, of
human dignity in the face of adversity and terror, are to be judged morally and not
merely administratively (Bietz (1979). It is significant that moral issues in international
relations must be shown.