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Unit 4: Responsibility,
Accountability, and
Ethics in Public
Administration
LECTURER: DR. SACHIN COOTHOOPERMAL
Ethics in Public Administration and 2

value framework
 Ethics relates to the elemental concern for doing right versus wrong
 Varies from person to person
 Applicable not only to public officers, but politicians, and military figures
 Based on a value system
 Values are enduring beliefs that influence choices made by individuals,
groups, and organisations. Values are organised in value systems by
ranking them in terms of their relative importance to one another e.g.
ranking of social, political, personal, and administrative values.
 Value conflicts – personal socialisation (family, schooling, mass media,
peer groups) vs organisational socialisation – conflicts may arise due to
selective internalisation
Important public service values in 3

modern administration systems

 1) neutrality – non-partisanship
 2) accountability - public servants answering for their actions through
compliance to legal, institutional, and procedural processes
 3) efficiency and effectiveness
3 distinct values can be mentioned here:
 Economy refers to the acquisition of satisfactory goods and services at
the best possible price. So for example, the government might ask
providers to submit proposals to conduct courses for unemployed
clients; it would select the most competitively priced provider.
 Efficiency is understood to mean the ratio between input and output.
This is the ratio of the output (clients who complete the course)
compared to the input (clients who register in the course).
 Effectiveness refers to activities meeting their objectives (clients who
find work).
Important public service values in 4

modern administration systems

 4) responsiveness to two main groups: (a) political executives and
legislators (b)the general public, including smaller groups that are
affected by particular policies that are implemented by public
servants
 5) representativeness - proportionately reflects the major ethnic,
religious, socioeconomic or other groups that comprise a society
 6) fairness and equity, and
 7) integrity - ethics in public administration
Responsibility, accountability, and 5

ethics
 More information from traditional media and modern media (social
networks)
 Administrative responsibility and accountabilty
Finer (1941) said that the primary way to ensure good behaviour was
the use of controls and sanctions over public servants, members of the
legislature, the judiciary, and administrative hierarchy
Friedrich (1940), on the other hand, argued that public servants tended
to be self-directing and self-regulating, which he attributed to their
responsiveness to an increase in technical knowledge
public servants with a strong ethical framework are best placed to
ensure administrative accountability
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 The media commonly discusses public service ethics including: conflict

of interest, political partisanship, public comment, confidentiality.
 Common solutions:
a) draft statutes, regulations, guidelines and codes regarding ethical
conduct to address these issues and thereby ensure public trust and
confidence in the government.
b) a statement of values,
c) provisions for administering legislation, regulations, etc.,
d) creating positions such as ethics advisory counsellors,
e) ombudsmen or committees to act as independent arbitrators,
f) education and training, and
g) ongoing evaluations and audit of ethics policies and procedures
Code of ethics
Written rules to regulate ethical behaviour of public servants.

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 They are statements of principles and standards about the right conduct of
public servants (as opposed to general ethics, statutes and regulations).
 The form, content, and administration of such codes vary among different
governments
 Benefits of code of ethics:
a) less room for argument regarding the content and penalties for violations;
b) the promotion of public trust and confidence in the ethical behaviour of public
servants. Citizens can expect to be treated with fairness and impartiality.
c) discouraging unethical practices and providing punishments for them, thus
enabling politicians and senior management to hold public servants more
accountable;
d) making public servants aware of the importance and often overriding values of
ethical behaviour in decisions and recommendations;
e) acting as a catalyst to reassess other rules regarding the participation of public
servants in various activities.
 Criticisms: (a) not always embedded in the system and this will not prevent an
unethical person to act unethically; (b) broad articulation may lead to multiple
interpretations (c) difficult to enforce if enforcement provisions are weak
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Thank you