Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

ETHICAL CONCERNS AND DILEMMA IN

GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS

u An Ethical dilemma conflict

between moral imperatives in which to obey one would result in transgressing another. This
is also called an ethical paradox

moral code, as well as the worldview that encompasses or grows from it.
– A moral imperative is a principle originating inside a person’s mind that compels that
person to act. It is a kind of categorical imperative,
the imperative to be a dictate of pure reason, in its practical aspect. Not following the
moral law was seen to be self-defeating and thus contrary to reason.
– Later thinkers took the imperative to originate in conscience, as the divine voice speaking
through the human spirit. The dictates of conscience are simply right and often resist further

of encountering the right.

u The term dharmasankat is used in Indian philosophy to represent a moral or ethical dilemma.
Etymologically, dharma can mean morality, sense of justice, code of conduct, law and other

Problems vs. Dilemmas

there is a language error that often takes place when we talk about ethics, and it creates the illusion
that ethics is far more complicated than it truly is. Most ethical questions revolve around the resolution
of some sort of problem, but very few ethical issues actually qualify as dilemmas. Thus, our purpose

when it is truly nothing more than a problem. This is problematic because of the suggestive
nature of the term “dilemma.” To suggest that something is a dilemma is to imply that it is irresolvable,
or that it requires us to choose among several equally terrible options. This is rarely the case, and the
language of “dilemmas” creates a false sense that the relevant ethical issue is not resolvable.
A dilemma involves choosing between two equally unattractive options. The key feature of a dilemma

your door and begs you to hide them from the murderer that is trying to kill them, which you agree to do.

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 Ethical oncerns and ilemma in o ernment and ri ate Institutions

Moments later, the same murderer comes to the door and asks if your friend is hiding inside. If you say
yes, your friend will be murdered, and you will be somewhat responsible. If you say no, you are lying,
which most people would agree is an immoral act.
Both of the available actions are morally objectionable, assuming these are the only options, and it
seems that the best we can do is to minimize the harm we cause. However, whatever we choose to do,
we cannot avoid being somewhat immoral. This is what makes a particular scenario a true dilemma.
Most ethical issues properly qualify as problems, rather than dilemmas.
many people cheat on their taxes every year. This is an ethical problem, but not a

morally undesirable option to choose from, but no obviously acceptable choice, is not present.

obviously immoral choice, while paying what you owe and being honest is clearly the right thing to

it involves a question of what we ought to do in the face of conflicting emotions. But this is not
the same as a genuine ethical dilemma.
As we have stated, understanding this distinction is important because of the problematic nature

regardless of what we choose. Further, some dilemmas simply have no obvious answer. Abortion is

moral consequences. Luckily, most ethical issues properly qualify as mere problems. If we keep this
in mind, it is much easier to feel comfortable about the prospect of actually making the right choice.

wrongness of the actions and the goodness or badness of the consequences of the actions.
In all men’s acts, it is the result that renders the verdict when there is no court of appeal.
Hence the dilemma: If doing what is right produces something bad, or if doing what is wrong
produces something good, the force of moral obligation may seem balanced by the reality of the good

Dilemmas in administration

When confronted with the fundamental question what to do and how to act in complex situations,

entering the world of ethical dilemmas or that of ‘hard choices’ .

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Conflict of interest

u
in an ethical dilemma. It involve situations where our own personal interest are at odds with our
obligation as a public official.

u They may involve combinations of conflicting roles and tensions between sources of authority
but more typically these occasions simply present us with an opportunity to use our public office
for the sake of private gain.
between objective responsibility and the possibility of personal gain or advantage.

u
can make competent judgements less reliable than it might otherwise be.

u
special access to the government and resources that most ordinary citizens do not. This access

personal gain.

u Its roots can be located in the spirit of individualism. Further, in the present century it becomes

these interests are overlapping and no longer separable, older norms of right and wrong, desirable
and undesirable are inadequate.

u It concluded that it is a part of the human condition to seek money and power from public sources

viewed as having lesser importance than private individual interests,then it seems quite likely that

u It could be understood by the analysis of the “tragedy of the commons” that why this occurs.
It is asked us to imagine a pasture that is open to all the village herdsmen for grazing livestock.
Every herdsmen quiet rationally seeks to maximize his gain. This is a logical consequence of
individualism.

consciously what the utility would be of adding one more animal to his heard. It is noted that
this utility has two components, positive and negative.
The positive component is a function of adding one more animal, he receives all the proceeds
from the sale of this additional animal. The negative component is a function of the overgrazing

the herdsmen, the negative utility for the herdsmen is only a fraction.

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The result is that when these positive and negative partial utilities are added together, there is a
clear net gain and “the rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible quotes for him to
pursue is to add another animal to this herd and another and another and so on.”
The problem, of course, is that every other herdsmen is drawing the same conclusion.
Each one feels compelled to increase his herd without limit until the pasture is over- grazed
to the point of being useless for all.It is observed from this scenario that ruin is the
destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that
believes in the freedom of the commons.Freedom in a commonsbrings ruin to all.
It may be that the public sphere is a “common” subjects to this kind of abuse.It may have
become so secondary to the pursuit of individual interest that we are constantly tempted

term result of that course of conduct by millions of individual citizens and citizen public

u In public service many situations can be identified where we can see conflict of interest, such as -

1. Bribery
u

willingly comply.
u

of himself.
u

2. Influence peddling
u
of a third party in which the employee has an interest. Understood in typical legal terms,
this might include such cases as policy decisions regulating a business in which the

some religious organisations, helping or curtailing particular NGOs, etc. At times delaying
passing of some laws/rules.

3. Information Peddling
u privy to information not available to the general public and use it to
their own advantage, monetary or otherwise, are guilty of this. The key factors are the

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 Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

u
plans for an area where a friend’s home was located. He was not a member of the
planning team for that area but had access to the changes being considered.

about the plan until it was publicly disclosed to the entire community. However, the friend

money, that would have been information peddling

4. Financial Transactions
u when a public servant has direct or indirect financial interests
that directly conflict with the responsible performance of the job.

u This differs from influence peddling

near undeveloped land that he owned.

5. Gifts and Entertainment

u
employee’s impartial discharge of his or her duties. This category simply amounts to a
broadening of our understanding of bribery.
u
vehicles, lavish meals, recreational equipment, and liquor.
u
case with bribery, but are intended to create a generally positive predisposition toward the
donor.

6. Outside Employment
u Part-time employment, consulting, contractual retainers, and self-employment may cause
use of public
employment status to enhance a private employer (or oneself), the draining away of
the use of government services and
equipment in outside work.

7. Future Employment
u

employee may present his inside contacts and knowledge of agency procedure as an

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 Ethical oncerns and ilemma in o ernment and ri ate Institutions

u The widespread “in-and-out” or “revolving door” syndrome, particularly problematic in

and forth between public- and private-sector service, intertwined interests resulting from

8. Dealings with Relatives

u Situations in which a public administrator may be in a position to do favors for a relative

nepotism,
such cases just discussed.
u Essentially, it involves using influence to gain preferential treatment in hiring, promoting,

public administrator who engages in such practices gains not directly but indirectly, by
reinforcing family bonds and mutual support.
u noneconomic interests.
u

As a member of the planning group she discovered at an early stage that their home was
to be replaced with commercial development.
worried her, but the disturbance in continuity and stability of their lives.

and equal treatment of all residents. She felt strongly inclined to encourage her fellow
planners in the department to change the plan to exempt her parents’ home.

servant yields to the temptation. However, being in a potential conflict of interest situation
is almost as serious as an actual conflict.
Because maintaining the public trust is a crucial aspect of administrative responsibility,
the appearance of conflict of interest may be sufficient to jeopardize faith in the integrity
of government.
As we face situations that are ethically problematic, we must consider possible public
perceptions of our actions as well as the acts themselves. The reflective process of
imagining alternatives, projecting the consequences of each, considering the
justification for our conduct, and attempting to anticipate how we will feel about
ourselves in retrospect is particularly demanding in these cases. Ji is also necessary to
imagine whether objectively honourable behaviour is likely to be perceived otherwise.

Conflict of Responsibility : Ethical Dilemma

There are broadly two types of responsibility i.e. Objective responsibility

imposed from outside ourselves, whereas Subjective responsibility concerns those things for which

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 Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

minor to serious ethical dilemma.

of being caught between incompatible alternatives.

Frequently we do not identify this dilemma as an ethical issue, rather be treated as only a practical
problem. However at base these situations involve ordering our values and principles, consciously or
unconsciously. Therefore, they are problems of ethics as well as practical problem.

Conflict of authority

E.g. Case study:two seniors giving conflicting commands while both going against personnel
regulations :
You are first lieutenant in a military organisation. You report to captain who in turn reports to Major.
You share positive working relation with both.
In your office there arises vacancy of a supervisor. In this regard both of your officers encourage you
to appoint a particular person from other department. However you are not impressed with that
person and found that person unsuitable for the post. In-spite of this you decided to trust your
seniors and appoint him.
After one month it is clear to you that your judgement was correct that this person is not competitive
enough. Although given time he can improve and develop his skills.
However, very soon situation has become very complicated new supervisor has developed
misunderstanding with the Captain and now the Major and the Captain are sending conflicting
signals. Captain suggests that you immediately transfer supervisor during his probation period
while Major urged you to write an early highly positive evaluation for him even before prescribed
three months.

the personal regulations. The regulations provide for the performance evaluation at the

month.
Further, the regulation requires you to provide regular evaluative comments and constructive
advice during the probationary period and objective evaluate his performance on the various

If that candidate is to be retained you are to recommend steps to improve his skills wherever
necessary. If you comply with the requirements of this source of authority you will undertake and
even handed review of his performance 2 months from now, not now as your superiors are urging.

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 Ethical oncerns and ilemma in o ernment and ri ate Institutions

1. Hiring this new recruit was a mistake but you want to try to redeem the error. you

of the scheduled review and that his motivation will have improved as he feels more

job but needing training in supervisory skills, time management and advanced training
in the use of computers
2. However you know that compliance with the personnel regulation will place you
in conflict with the authority of your 2superior officers. Generally speaking, you are
required by basic military rules to carry out the orders of superior but in this case if you obey one
you will disobey the other. If you follow the orders of either the captain or the major you will be
violating the personnel regulations, as a neither wants to wait out the probationary period and
neither wants an objective evaluation.

3. You explore following alternatives–

l

l confront the captain with your knowledge and try to get him get him to withdraw his order
l confront the major with your knowledge and try to get him to withdraw his order.
l

intervene
l ask both the captain and the major to put their orders
l

performance,progress and promise and to appropriate sections of the personal regulations

and procedures.
each alternative will almost certainly produce intense conflict
and potentially dire consequences for your future.
you realise
that you must clarify your own subjective responsibility and consider any broader or more
fundamental objective responsibility.
you must first turn to your own beliefs,
values and principles
best and how you could justify your conduct.

feel responsible to follow the orders of either of them. The sources of that feeling require some
deep sense of loyalty to the military service, to
the nation and more concretely to the constitution.
the constitution. To you taking that oath meant more than simply meeting a legal requirement to
join the Military Service.

always involved in service activities for the community and has encouraged you to do so.

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 Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

be broken in order to challenge their consistency with the constitutional and fundamental ethical
principles. But that does not seem to be the case here. The personal regulations seems fair and
consistent with constitutional values like due process and equal protection under the law as well as
with basic ethical principles like justice.
8. As you consider your devotion to the rule of law, it occurs to you that the legal structure of the
nation including military laws, rules and regulations represents a source of authority and objective

military is required legally to obey an illegal order, the authority of law is higher than the authority

being fair with your subordinates.

Academy training - one of your instructors in leadership estranged the Cardinal importance of

what is best for your organisation. Because its management is your

what gives you professional satisfaction and meaning. If recruit is transferred for other than
will that serve the
organisation’s best interest or will it have destructive consequences? What if you keep recruit
for the full 3 months and he does not improve or even become increasingly destructive.
u
more fundamental objective responsibilities, you attempted to move towards an alternative
that will fulfil both objective and subjective responsibility.
u Following the line of reasoning developed here, this will necessarily required subordination
although not abandoning, some objective responsibilities to others - probably your
responsibility to superior to your responsibility to the regulations. Also, it will likely
require subordinating your objective responsibility to your superior, to your subjective
responsibilities rooted in your long standing beliefs.
u
ethical resolution does not resolve the practical problems. It only helps you identify your
primary obligation and establish a basis for explaining your behaviour to yourself
and others. In other words, it is a way of establishing a perspective on the problem, a place to
stand in dealing with the superiors and recruit or other higher authorities in the government.
u In situations such as this you are likely to suffer in one way or another, but it is still
important to be clear about what you will suffer for and why. It is important to have a means

we create
an operational ethics, develop integrity and maintain responsible behaviour.

Conflict of roles

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 Ethical oncerns and ilemma in o ernment and ri ate Institutions

Rather, we feel the collision of roles governed by those values. We may be confronted with an

the administrative role and one or more of our roles outside the work organisation.
E.g. case study
You are public health manager. Your professional training was in public health but you
have been administrative position for last 10 years. Recently city administration decides to hold a
very big star concerts. Actually it was believed to be need of the hour. It will showcase your city and
generate huge revenue and various future prospects.
Organisers contact you to discuss the requirements of public health services: toilets, water, food,
emergency, medical care etc. Since there are no laws/rules regarding such events, you have been given
the responsibility for determining what should be required.
As you begin to talk/discuss it is revealed that your standards are much higher than
organisers e.g.You suggest 1 toilet per 50 people while according to them it is 1 toilet per 300 people.
Organisers find your standards absurd as it leads to about 10000 toilets.
Since there are no clear cut legal requirements you have resorted to the recommendations approved
by NPHA with respect to such huge concerts 2 years ago.You were also member of that NPHA. There
you had taken a very tough stand to maintain high standards. You refused to bow before any pressure.
You discuss the issue with your senior whom you consider a man of great integrity. He urges to co-
operate with organiser and to acknowledge the practicalities of the situation.

the roles we occupy.

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