Professional Ethics in

Public Service
Philosophy of Ethics in
Public Service
Lecture # 05
Understanding Ethics and
Morality
 Meaning of “Ethics”
“Rational, optimal and appropriate
decision, behavior and response on
the basis of commonly desired
values, preferences and
expectations with effect of
rightness”
 What is “Ethics”

Set of standards of conduct and moral

judgments to determine “rightness”
and “wrongness” in behaviour and
action.
Ethics at a glance
Morality: Response to
Externality
 Philosophy on Ethics
• Virtues: Justice, charity and generosity benefiting the person
and the society (Aristotle)
• State consequentialism: Evaluating the moral worth of an
action based on how much it contributes to the basic good of
a state.
• Utilitarianism: Conduct which produces the
greatest/maximum happiness or benefit to the greatest
number of people.
• Deontological theory: Ethics are central to morality - a
human duty - based on rational people’s respect for other
rational people.
• Hedonism: Maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain
 Scope of “Ethics”
• Meta-ethics: About the theoretical meaning and reference of
moral propositions and how their truth values may be
determined

• Normative Ethics:
Ethics Value for service, development, quality
outputs, productivity, competitiveness.

• Descriptive Ethics:
Ethics Value-free approach to ethics like
“ethical codes”, common pattern of behaviour irrespective of
real life situations. Prescriptive rather than normative ethics.
• Applied ethics: How moral outcomes can be achieved in
specific situations
Scope of “Ethics”
 Different Schools of Thought
School Interpretation

Consequentialism All that matters is the consequences of a decision or action;

motivation is not relevant.

Contractarianism It is based on the concept of fairness. All individuals are

accorded equal respect as participants in social arrangements,
leading to the idea of a social contract and the right of
individuals to veto a proposed
solution

Pluralism Focuses on the concept of duty – individuals have an obligation

to each other to be open, honest and fair.

Aristocratic Focuses on the need of the individual to be enriched by the

Ethics in Public Service
Public Service Values
 Benefits of Ethical Management
of Profession
• Social responsiveness
• Transparency and accountability
• Standardized performance and reputation
• Performance and service culture
• Sustainability
• Attraction and retention of competent human resource
• Customer support
• Orientation to reform and improvements
• Social legitimacy
• Teamwork and productivity
 Values of Public Service
Professionalism
• Providing public benefits: Adequacy, Utility and
appropriateness
• Emotional competence for performance and
delivery
• Promoting democracy and governance
• Empowering citizens and clients
• Continuous improvement for better performance
• Politico-administrative synergy in delivery of
public value
Challenging Issues
 Professional Ethics: A
Challenging Issue

• Conflict of interest
• Business rationality vs service
rationality
• Equality and equity considerations
• Process compliance vs compliance to
results
• Professional and positional ethics
 Improving Professional Ethics
• Philosophical base
• Selection of “good people”
• Cultural improvements
• Codes of ethics and management rules
• Leadership competency
• Goal-orientation and objectivity
• Participative management
• Independent social audits and monitoring
• Formal protective mechanisms for persons acting
ethically: Whistleblower protection