Ethical Governance Changing Administration

Anu Verma(Puri), Journal of Management Research and Analysis (JMRA)
Available online at http://jmraonline.com

ISSN: 2394-2770, Impact Factor: 4.878, Volume 05 Issue 02, June 2018, Pages: 97-105
“Ethical Governance: The Changing Face of Administration”

1
Anu Verma (Puri)
1
(Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of Public Administration, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra)
Abstract: In the present-day society, the citizens are very much aware of their rights and the role of
administration. They also take interest in the working of the government and how to demand the services for
what they pay directly or indirectly in the form of taxes. As such, they demand basic services from the
government in terms of “value for money”. But the point of concern is “Whether the citizens are listened to by
the administrative officials/agencies or not”. The past experience of the citizen‟s with the government reflects a
bitter taste. The government of any country is successful only if it meets the aspirations of its citizen‟s and
enables them to lead a secure and quality life. Corruption is deep rooted in the public organizations since the
pre-independence era. With growing years, it has further strengthened its roots. With their past experience in
terms of the quality and areas of public services delivered, their dealings with the administrative officials and
the implementation of various policies and programmes covering different target groups, the people have lost
their faith on administrative agencies/organizations.
In the present time administrative organizations, the citizen‟s perspective goes missing in
administrative ethics to some extent. With increased level of awareness, they have now started demanding the
qualitative services from the administration for what they pay. As such, there is an imperative need to have an
open, transparent and responsive government. A modern welfare government should work for the welfare of its
citizens and promote citizen-oriented public service delivery. The absence of an efficient and accountable
government paves way for unethical behavior of the administrators. The responsibility to run the administration
lies with the civil servants. They have the obligation to distribute the available resources fairly in an open and
transparent manner, justifying their preferences and decisions. Active communication between the government
and the citizens is required and should be an integral and continuous part of a successful decision making
process. Hence, professionalized civil services are the need of the hour which can be achieved with the help of
ethical governance.
Keywords: Ethics, good governance, integrity, citizens, welfare society, moral values, public service delivery
ETHICS AND ADMINISTRATION

A modern welfare state aims for the overall well-being of the citizen‟s and supports an individual in all
walks of life. It serves as a guardian to them and safeguards the rights of the citizens. With changing times, the
expectations of the citizen‟s from the administration have also been increased. They deal with the officials to
carry their day-in and day-out activities having direct impact on their lives. But while dealing with them, they
come across various behavioral issues. As such, they lose their faith on the public officials as well as in the
administration. This demands the revival of the relations between the administration and the citizen.
In administration, ethics plays a pivotal role and provides guidelines to administrative actions. It acts as
a framework of some standards of integrity and honesty for the administrators while dealing with public issues.
It takes into consideration the moral values of the society when implementing the public policies to ensure
welfare of the citizens. According to Appleby;
“Moral performance begins in individual self-discipline on the part of officials, involving all that is
meant by the word „character‟. But this is not enough. It also requires systematic process which supports
individual group judgement enriched by contributions from persons variously equipped and concerned and
differentiation in responsibilities to each other and to a whole public-responsibility. The official individually
and organizationally must be concerned to be beyond simple honesty to a devoted guardianship of the
continuing reality of democracy”.
Though Code of Ethics and Codes of Conduct has been implemented to some extent in the Civil
Services but lack effectiveness and thus become less efficient. The civil servants should exercise committed
administrative leadership. There should be provisions to check and limit control on the activities of political
leaders too.
Relation between Ethics and Administration
Ethics is a vital part of administration and should ensure accountability for its actions at a global level.
It forms the foundation of administration to serve its purpose for which it has been established. With the concept
of a modern welfare state, the administrative actions should reflect the concern for the overall well-being of its
citizens. This demands the need for the civil servants to set high moral standards not only confined to
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themselves but also for the community on the whole. In administration, civil servants have a implementing the
public policies. Their role is also pivotal in terms of managing the available resources on behalf of the
community, delivering qualitative public services to the society and taking meaningful decisions that affect the
life of the citizen‟s in carrying out day-in and-day-out activities. The responsibility lies with the civil servants to
ensure continuity and change in administration to sensitize to the societal needs and touch the basic areas of
services connected to their lives. They should take interest in delivering quality services and also maintain the
integrity of public officials.
In democracy, public participation forms a central element in governance. Addressing civil servants on
20-21st April, 2018 on “12th Civil Services Day”, PM Modi said, “Democracy is not any agreement, it is about
participation.” Though, popular participation in government organizations is not a new concept. But it has been
one of the significant reforms in the administrative set-up. The Prime Minister asserted that all available
technology, including space technology, should be used for improving governance. It is important for civil
servants to keep pace with emerging technologies worldwide. He said that participatory democracy is a must
for the development of the nation. He added that “Janbhagidari” (people‟s participation) is a cornerstone of the
success of a country such as India. In an apparent reference to administrative delays in the decision-making
process, “It is said in Hindu mythology that one get „Moksha‟ (heaven) after „char-dham yatra‟ (visit to four
pilgrims)...But in the government, even after 32 such journeys a file does not get „Moksha‟.” While
addressing the civil servants, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked civil servants to innovate and use technology
to bring change in the life of the common man. Further, he added, “Lives of people would transform when they
are kept at the centre of decision making process.” The community, therefore, must be able to trust the
integrity of the civil services in the decision-making process.
With the view of involving the civil servants rather than the citizens in the formulation of the
administrative rules and procedures, thus acts as a „rule of law‟ rather than the „rule of man‟. The civil servants
are dictated by these rigid rules and procedures as it often reflects widespread abuse of power and corruption
instead of serving its citizen‟s. Different corruptive or unethical actions have been on the rise in administration
such as bribe, negligence, injustice, discrimination, poor treatment to citizen‟s, fraud, bias, misuse of public
office, sexual harassment, mismanagement of financial and other available resources, lack of control, theft, etc.
among government officials.
While serving the nation, civil executives are expected to uphold high standards of professionalism,
responsiveness and impartiality. They should reflect accountability in their behavior towards public for their
decisions and actions. Accountability and ethics are strongly inter-related. Effective accountability supports the
accomplishment of ethical standards in the system of administrative governance. As a part of the system of
governance, the Legislative or parliamentary control exercised through questions, debates and committees
provide ample opportunity to the people‟s representatives to raise issues related to ethical and moral principles.
If the civil servants are well trained in terms of ethical behavior in their dealings with public and while
discharging their duties, it may lead to better functioning of civil services and facilitates better policy
formulation and policy implementation, qualitative and time-bound service delivery, accountability and
responsiveness towards the society they serve. They become good managers to utilize the available public
resources in a well-planned and judicious manner.
Governance relates to interaction of public officials within a political framework for the coordination
of organizational activities to induce best possible working environment. This can enhance quality of life of
citizens; promote economic development and national growth as well as development of the nation. All these
characterize the path leading towards good governance. “Good Governance” is being taken as a comprehensive
framework not only as a part of administrative and civil service reforms but also aims to bridge the ever-
increasing gap between Civil Servants, political executives and citizens.
Good governance depends on the extent to which the government is perceived and accepted by the
citizens in general and is committed to progressively improve the general public welfare. It is and should be
responsive to the needs of its citizens. Also, the government has to be equitable in its conduct, and should not be
inclined towards special interest groups or target groups. Thus, it becomes necessary that sincere and committed
efforts should be made for achieving bureaucratic accountability and political accountability in alignment to the
voice for citizens, freedom of association and organization. The government should focus on the well-being of
its citizens and act as a promoter of efficient and effective public services.
To bring about the desirable change at a large scale in the traditional working of the government is a
difficult task. In this journey, it has to confront numerable challenges to promote good governance in the public
sectors. Hence, the administrative managers should be open to adapt to the external environment and bring in
the required organizational changes to make the work culture comfortable for the officials so that they are able
to serve at their best and make the administration citizen-friendly. They should be able to cope up with the

contradictory interests and expectations of different interest groups. This can enhance qualitative public service
delivery thereby improving customer satisfaction in public services.
If the public administrators are honest, morally strong and efficient to discharge their duties well, they
can focus and perform better delivering quality public service. This strengthens the ethical behavior of civil
servants and help to retain trust of citizen‟s in public organizations and improves the ethical standards of the
public organizations. Trust forms an essential part of ethical governance. For citizens, trust refers to their
confidence in policy making and policy implementation on part of political executives and higher official
authorities in the delivery of the qualitative public service delivery. Salminen and Ikola-Norrbacka considers
justice, honesty, equality and reliability as the most important values of good governance.
In modern democracy, societies are striving for equality between different societal groups. With the
increase in population and rising demands of the citizen‟s, the complexity of the functions and the nature of
administration have adversely affected the administrative efficiency and working behaviour. Also, instead of
strengthening the administrative agencies to promote and maintain the welfare system, the bureaucrats are busy
meeting their selfish ends. Even if the policies are made and involve huge funds to serve the citizen‟s, they are
not tailored to meet the needs of the deserving target groups. Only, politicians and bureaucrats benefit from it in
the real sense.
In welfare societies, the government is responsible for creating and sustaining economic and social
welfare of its citizens solely. In a modern welfare state, the public sector organizations are mainly concerned
with the maintenance and funding of services for the society. With the LPG effect (liberalization, privatization
and globalization), there has been a shift of public sector from the “doer” of public activities to a “distributer” of
public benefits.
To make the government working more efficient, sincere and directed efforts should be made to
develop the management capabilities of higher civil servants and modernize the public sector. This will facilitate
the operations of government with greater efficiency and foster economic growth along with customer-
orientation of public utilities and services. In comparison, new and young administrators can sense need and
change in societal values and believe in the equality, safety and welfare concerns of the citizen‟s. The
progressive stages of governance aim in improving citizen‟s possibilities for participation in the policy-
formulation and decision-making process in issues that concern them directly. Actually, only a limited group of
citizens actively participate in common affairs in the issues which affect them directly.
In democracy, active participation of citizens holds much importance. In the words of Brannan, John
and Stoker active citizenship;
“Active citizenship is about engaging people in decision-making processes, giving them a say in the
planning and delivery of public services, and involving them in their communities, as a means to improve
outcomes.”
Active citizenship contains a notion of membership in a community and holds the power to bring a
considerable change with their will and power. An active citizen makes an effort to reduce the societal problems
and greatly influence the surrounding environment. Active citizenship involves engaging people in decision
making processes and giving them a voice in the development of public services. The important notions of
politeness, respectfulness and social capacity play an active role.
As per views of Cleaver & Nelson;
“Active citizenship invokes such core values as human rights and social responsibility; democracy,
legality, and freedom as legal values; and tolerance and empathy as human values”.
According to democratic set-up involving citizen‟s considerations, voting is a privilege for citizens
which enables them to affect societal issues. With periodic elections, the people have the power to change the
ruling party if they are not satisfied with its working and performance. They can actively participate in making
the policies and programmes for the betterment of a large group of people. However, their interest in political
participation has been on the decline as a result of their distrust towards politicians or bureaucrats due to their
past experiences. As a result, openness and transparency as ethical values are threatened.
Ethics in Administration
The term “Ethics” is derived from the Greek word “ethos”, which means good and bad, right or wrong.
Ethics is concerned with values relating to human beings and determines an expected mode of behavior
acceptable in society and organizations. It acts as a supporting system to the decision making process. The
responsibility to run the administration mainly rests with the civil servants which act as administrative leaders.
Administrative Leadership with Ethical standards leads to Good Governance which further strengthens the
machinery of ethical governance. It depends upon following factors which prove as pillars in strengthening the
administrative organizations and resulting in the process of growth and development of such organizations:
(1) Moral character of the administrator
(2) Ethical values and beliefs embedded in the vision of the administrative leader

(3) Morality of the processes of social ethics, choice and action of the administrators and public engaged
collectively in the public service delivery
In the words of Dr. Radhakrishnan while seconding the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent
Assembly,
“Much has been said about the sovereignty of the people. We have held that the ultimate sovereignty
rests with the moral law….People, as well as kings are subordinate to that Dharma, righteousness is the king
of kings – Dharmamam Kshatrrasaya Kshatram-it is the sovereignty of this law which we have asserted.”
In administration, it exhibits the professional code of morality in civil services. Ethics regulate the conduct and
behavior of different categories of civil servants. But Chester Barnard describes the ethical conduct as
“governed by beliefs or feelings of what is right or wrong regardless of self-interest or immediate
consequences of a decision to do or not to do specific things under particular conditions”.
Thompson explains it as;
“In administrative context, ethics involves the application of moral principles to the conduct of
officials in organizations”.
Ethics play a key role in providing guidelines to the public administrators to approach the societal
problems in the right direction, putting the citizen‟s needs first. From the viewpoint of a citizen, these
administrative leaders should actually make a sincere attempt to avoid everything which denies citizens access
to government. Any individual working for the government cannot be a person of integrity without the will and
conviction “to do the right thing even at some cost to him”. Integrity helps to integrate individual persons to
larger systems. According to Solomon‟s view;
“Integrity is not itself a virtue so much as it is a synthesis of virtues, working together to form a
coherent whole. This is what we call, in the moral sense, character. The word integrity means “wholeness”,
wholeness of virtue, wholeness as a person, wholeness in the sense of being an integral part of something
larger than a person – the community, the corporation, society, humanity, the cosmos. Integrity thus suggests
a holistic view of us”.
Ethics is regarded as a set of principles that provide a framework for conduct and gives the right
direction to the judgment on what is good as well as beneficial for the society. It represents the good and
acceptable action in the best interest of the citizen‟s. For citizens, the most important ethical values are justice,
honesty, equality and reliability. (Salminen & Ikola-Norrbacka 2009a; Lähdesmäki 2010) Ethical codes are
helpful in maintaining high ethical standards in government service and build a good equation between public
officials and the public. This also increases public confidence in the integrity of public officials and employees.
Values also build the grounds for action and reflect conceptions of desirable or undesirable behavior of the
administrators. Integrity violations lead to the path of corruption and unethical social behavior in the work
culture of the administrative organizations.
The ethical quality of governance can be good or bad. If ethical quality is good, it is said that
governance is ethical or conforms to ethical requirements. On the other hand, bad ethical quality depicts that
governance is unethical or breaks ethical standards. Thus, in good governance, civil servants and higher
authorities follow the ethical standards and other norms, commands and prohibitions they are obligated to
follow in their actions. Bad governance violates these norms. The concept of ethical governance gives an
evaluative aspect which simply means obedience to rules. Thus, ethical governance denotes the characteristics
or virtues of ethically good civil servants.
Ethical governance-------The Changing Face
Government is a tool and governance is an act to achieve the pre-defined administrative goals. It can
also be considered as the impact or result of government. In the present day administrative set-up, concept of
governance and good governance are gaining popularity and are becoming the matter of global concern. They
are the pre-requisites of a democratic principle.
The World Bank used the notion of governance in 1989 for the first time. It defines governance as;
“The manner in which power is exercised in the management of country‟s economic resources by
the government”
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) explains it as;
“The term governance is refers to the use of political authority and exercise of control in society in
relation to the management of its resources for the social and economic development.”
The term governance emphasizes on the effectiveness of the government on how decisions are taken
and implemented at different levels of government. Governance is a value-based notion whereas good
governance is exhibits a particular quality of governance. The notion of good governance was also used by the
World Bank in 1992. It focused on the need of good governance as an important factor leading to economic,
human and institutional development.
World Bank has identified the following characteristics of good governance as:

1. Participation of People in the process of governance

2. Political Accountability
3. Legal Framework based on Rule of Law and Independence of Judiciary
4. Transparency and Responsibility in the Administration
5. Efficiency and effectiveness of Administrative and Political System
6. Cooperation Between the Government and Civil Society Organization
7. Equity and Inclusiveness
8. Consensus Oriented
Our Honourable PM Mr Modi believes that good governance is the key to all-round development of the
nation and it is time people shun the attitude of seeking personal gains while drawing up public schemes. He
said;
“Governance cannot happen when the dominant thought process begins at „mera kya‟ (how will it
benefit me) and ends at „mujhe kya‟ (why should I bother). We have changed this mindset. For us, decisions
are about national interest and not political gains.”
Governance, good governance and ethical governance are interrelated concepts and can be regarded as the
progressive stages of the continuous process of governance as shown in fig (a).
Fig (a)
Good Ethical
Governance Governance Governance
Good governance can be regarded as an attempt to get close to ethical governance which would remain
always like a “bridge too far” because of susceptibility of human nature. Ethical Governance refers to taking
morality, ethics into consideration while making policies for people. Briefly, ethical governance covers
administrative measures, procedures and public policies that fulfill criteria required for the ethically good or
acceptable handling of public affairs, such as in public administration, public health care, education, and social
security. In the context of public administration, ethically good or acceptable behavior means values of justice,
fairness, equality, and integrity. Thus, ethical governance is a normative expression and not purely descriptive in
nature. The concept of ethical governance also implies a value-assessment and is thus value-laden e.g.: “Give it
up” scheme is the perfect example of Ethical governance. It lighten up the burden on government as it requires
affluent sections to give up LPG subsidies, shuns greed as well as generates empathy in people belonging to
poorer sections of society.
Ethical governance from citizen‟s point of view indicates that people appreciate qualitative and not
only quantitative public services as well as the fair and just treatment given to them while dealing with public
officials. But as politics and administration are inseparable, the past experience reflects signs of people‟s distrust
in political executives as well as of alienation from politics and the democratic decision making process. The
citizens have lost their faith on the trustworthiness of the political leaders and the civil servants. However, the
administrative officials can bridge the gap between citizen‟s and government and rectify the distorted image of
the administration by showing efficiency and performance in the service delivery. This can only be achieved if
administrative corruption is controlled at all levels of government. Citizens believe that if the public officials are
honest, bias-free and reliable, they can exercise their role with greater effectiveness.
The civil servants who fail to implement the government policies and programmes effectively and
efficiently for the well-being of its citizens in compliance to the Ethical standards in the real sense tend to be
ineffective in controlling corruption and inefficient or incapable of providing qualitative public services. In most
established civil service system, traditionally, recruitment and promotion are based on merit system and not on
political or family connections, and is protected by law. Increasingly, attempts are being made by the
bureaucrats to employ friends and relatives/ any individual/s contrary to merit-based procedures. This is being
regarded as a serious form of corruption. This has led to dismissals and prosecution for public officials/political
executives who are involved in such practices.
With greater awareness and increased literacy rate, people are aware of their rights and duties of the
government. The administration has also accepted that people have started expecting more from the government
as they pay for the public services through various taxes. They also expect the basic minimum standards of the
public services delivered. Hence, the citizens are informed from time to time by the Political leaders and public
servants on compulsory matters whenever necessary. The citizens can address their concerns to the government
through various channels like social media, redressal mechanism, public debates in the media etc. Sometimes

direct communication takes place between the politicians and bureaucrats, when as citizens they are being heard.
The highest level of influence of the citizens is realized in a situation where not only they are being listened to,
but are also actively involved in the decision making process. Citizens have a basic constitutional right to
express their opinions as they have wide range of views and knowledge on rules and norms they want to share
with the community. Active communication between the government and the citizens is need of the hour. The
political decision makers should take into consideration the perceptions of citizens on ethically good
governance. They should also take the feedback from the citizens of how they assess the quality of public
services and make changes in the existing administrative procedures sincerely.
The modern democratic government should be transparent and open to public. The public
administrators must be accountable to the people whom they serve. The public sectors have started outsourcing
their work to the private agencies to exercise balance between work load, finances, time-frame and limited man-
power. Hondeghem views the increasing interaction between the public and the private sector resulting in
raising the demand of integrity. Further, he added, “With these developments it is vital to appraise the ethical
system, or reversibly, the traditional values of the public service can question some actual evolutions in
government”.
They also expect a decent and ethical behavior from politicians and public servants. The unethical
behaviour has been on the rise when it comes to dealings of public officials with the common man as a citizen.
In the modern era, the greater degree of awareness in public has led to the development of sense of
accountability in the young administrators. To some extent, this provides a solution to the problems like absence
of ethical values, unresponsive behavior, favoritism, injustice, bribe etc. Accountability is an answer to prevent
misuse of power and government resources. It gives direction to the public officials in power to utilize their
knowledge, skills and experience towards the achievement of organizational goals with citizen-centric approach.
It thus improves the efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and transparency of the organizations on the
whole. Accountability in public administrations means that the public officials are themselves responsible for
their decisions and actions and are open to appropriate external scrutiny. Accountability demands ethical values
to successfully implement the government programmes and policies in compliance to the people‟s needs.
William remarks;
“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.”
Thus, accountability can be regarded as an important tool to achieve good governance. It helps to
establish the criteria to measure the performance of public officials, as well as oversight mechanisms to ensure
that basic minimum standards are met. It also aims to make public officials answerable for their behavior and
actions as well as decisions and be responsive to the entity from which they derive their authority.
Ethical governance is the right and justified conduct of organizational/governmental activities. It aims
to serve the larger public interest. Some attributes vital for the attainments of ethical governance are
impartiality, accountability, transparency, honesty, integrity, probity, perseverance, truthfulness, citizen
centricity, patriotism etc.
Ethical governance is value-based and not rule-based. We as citizens should also make an attempt to
restore the standards of moral values and reflect ethical behavior in public dealings. As individuals, we should
resist corruption and should not be/act helpless to tolerate all such actions which support corruption and act
against the ethical values. Human values are ingrained in virtues which are difficult to measure, quantify and
monitor in particular. Values are learnt from childhood directly or indirectly from various
persons/groups/institutions and personal experiences, stories and situations. Many a times, morals are not
explicitly articulated, but implicitly conveyed. A Research Report (2006) by CFO Asia prepared in collaboration
with ACCA titled “Corporate Governance, Business Ethics & the CEO” states;
“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.”
The present government under the leadership of our Prime Minister Sh Narendra Modi has started
working in this direction. In the words of our PM Narendra Modi;
“I believe government has no business to do business. The focus should be on Minimum
Government but Maximum Governance.” Further, he added; “For decades, we have had extraordinarily large
governments while ironically the quality of governance has been quite poor. There has been more attention
paid to the size of the government and not so much to its quality. Thus, Narendra Modi‟s model of a small yet

efficient government stands out. Narendra Modi believes that the role of a Government in businesses should
be limited to that of a facilitator”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech on 22nd January, 2018 said, “India's improved image and
global rankings is a result of good governance, clarity and policy framework in line with global standards.”
Appraising the on-going effectiveness and transformation in the work culture of public administrators ensures
that they have started performing in a better way, providing value for money in the delivery of public services
and retaining the confidence of public in the administrative agencies. Thus, they are now becoming responsive
to the community they are obliged to serve. But still we have miles to go and focus on sustainable growth and
development of our country at global level.
For successful and purposeful working of the administration, „ethical governance‟ is the key element
which demands the sincere commitment from a public administrator to exercise his role for social welfare and
not meeting his selfish ends. This means that he should serve the society on the whole and not
individual/individuals in particular. This quality of ethical behavior should be rooted within an official and
reflect his sincerity and devotion towards his role and position. This behavioral approach aims to spread a
positive environment and enhance the productive work culture for other employees too. They will also be
motivated to behave in the same manner as their administrative leader/head.
Administration that works in the framework of ethical standards gains greater confidence of service
users, clients, customers, shareholders and investors. It will be more efficient and more successful than the
organizations which do not follow ethical principles. The ethical leader does not just build confidence and
loyalty with his employees but contributes to a large extent in the growth and development of the community in
particular and nation on the whole.
Ethical environment cannot be built in the administrative organizations overnight. Its seeds are grown
in the childhood at home, in schools, in society, in the state, in the country and in the world directly or
indirectly. It forms an integrated part of everyday life of a man in one way or the other. Ethical Governance
requires habit and should be regulated properly. Value education should also be an integral part of school
curriculum not only as a formal obligation but a social obligation and should be taken seriously. The children of
today will be the framers of the nation tomorrow. If Ethical issues are taken good care in schools and colleges,
it can further support the well-being of an individual and society.
To ensure ethical governance incorporated in the organizational set-up, organizational institutions need
to develop an effective and influential administrative system. It should be capable enough to address featuring
commercial realities and overcome administrative processes and difficult technical facts to meet the upcoming
challenges.
Measures to improve ethical standards in administration/organization:
1. Selection of competent and suitable candidates according to skills, knowledge and experience
2. Ignoring favoritism and nepotism aspects with more focus on the ability and moral values of the person
3. Apart from professional training, value education and training should also be an integral part in civil
services/public services
4. Value education should be better taken care of at school and college level
5. There should be strict adherence to “code of conduct” for the public administrator
6. Fixed responsibility should be followed to ensure accountability of public services. This will avoid
confusion as well as duplication of work
7. All levels of hierarchical set-up of governmental organizations should work following the principle of
coordination
8. There should be surprise checks by the higher authorities to put a check on the civil servants so that they do
not misuse their power or positions to meet their selfish ends
9. System of rewards and punishments should be followed sincerely to put the administrative system back on
the track and bring back the trust of the citizens on the government
10. The rules and regulations should be equally followed by all citizens of our country including political
executives, administrators, people and other higher officials. They should not be given too much VIP
treatment/benefits out of way but should be regarded as a common man so they can understand the
problems of a common man.
11. To ensure accountability, transparency and responsiveness in administration, proper implementation of
Citizen‟s Charter document should be mandatory
12. The government should set minimum standards of delivery of public services to ensure quality and make
them hassle-free
13. Periodic evaluation should be done on the performance and achievement of organizational goals

14. Effective Redressal system should be incorporated in the organizations. A sincere endeavour should be
made to improve the quality of public service delivery taking into consideration the feedback from the
service users
15. Focus should be shifted from “code of conduct” to “code of ethics” in administrative set-up
CONCLUSION
The modern welfare state aims for serving its citizens at its best by making the judicious use of the
available resources. It inculcates the sense of administrative and social responsibility among the administrators,
enhances their communication skills and improves their interpersonal relations with personnel and political
executives. It engage them in problem-solving skills rather being a part of the problem itself, improves their
confidence to take initiatives to meet the societal needs, to make administrative reforms when required, to
inculcate a sense of social responsibility in the officials, makes them more accountable etc. In this context,
Ethical governance is pivotal for any country to best serve its citizens and enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of the administrative process. It can be a panacea for all the administrative evils like corruption,
red-tapism, bribe, nepotism etc. that are adversely affecting the concept of governance in our country. Hence,
ethical governance can strengthen the legitimacy and credibility of public administrators in particular and
community on the whole.
In ethical governance, not only the organizational goals should be ethical in nature, but the means and
ways to achieve those objectives should also be ethical. Practically, we are far away from this approach. Ethical
governance concept not only relies upon ethical principles involved in the policy formulation and policy
implementation process but also exhibit ethical behavior of the officials governing the organizational
institutions.
The top managers are entrusted with a vital role in shaping the future of any organization as the
judicious use of available organizational resources hinges upon the efficacy of the management. Any
management can be successful only if it has Clarity of Vision, Plan of Action and proper implementation of the
Plan of Action. Even if the policies and programmes are framed properly but fail to touch the target groups, all
efforts and resources are wasteful. If there is no balanced equation between them, desired success and
organizational goals cannot be achieved. This balance can be achieved with the help of ethics in the
organizational set-up. Organizations are managed by Policies, Guidelines and a proper working System. As they
are dynamic in nature, they should be reviewed from time to time and modifications are gone to maintain the
efficacy of the organization to its best interest. Generally, decisions are being taken within the framework of the
policies and guidelines of the organization. In case of modifications done, a very clear and precise note should
be brought out in notice of all the concerned officials justifying the same. This action of the top managers may
project a transparent and an Objective analysis, bringing out the need for deviation from the policy.
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“Ethical Governance: The Changing Face of Administration”

ETHICS AND ADMINISTRATION

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1. Participation of People in the process of governance

Governance Governance Governance

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