Ethics Management for Public Administrators: Building Organizations of Integrity

232 Pages·2006·1.17 MB·English

by  Donald C. Menzel

Ethics
Management
for Public
Administrators

Ethics
Management
for Public
Administrators
Building
Organizations
of Integrity
Donald C. Menzel
M.E.Sharpe
Armonk, New York
London, England
Dedicated to
Kristi Lynn and David Scott—proud am I!
Copyright © 2007 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the publisher, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.,
80 Business Park Drive, Armonk, New York 10504.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Menzel, Donald C.
Ethics management for public administrators : building organizations of integrity /
by Donald C. Menzel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7656-1813-9 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7656-1813-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Public administration—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Civil service ethics. I. Title.
JF1525.E8M46 2007
172'.2—dc22 2006015471
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z 39.48-1984.
~
BM (c) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ..................................................................xi
1. Ethics Management..............................................................................3
Challenges to Ethical Governance .........................................................3
Building Ethical Organizations..............................................................4
Is Ethics Management Possible?........................................................5
An Ethical Blind Spot........................................................................7
Managers as Ethical Leaders..................................................................8
Ethics in Government ........................................................................8
Governing Ethically...........................................................................9
Ethics Management Is Important .........................................................10
The Ethics-Performance Linkage ....................................................11
Ethics-induced Stress.......................................................................11
Ethics Management in Practice............................................................12
Proactive Ethical Risk Taking..........................................................13
Managers Speak Out........................................................................14
Responses to Ethics Failures............................................................15
Trust Building..................................................................................16
Organizational Perspectives on Ethics Management............................18
Organizational Cultures........................................................................20
Building an Ethical Culture.............................................................21
Practical Wisdom..................................................................................23
Key Themes..........................................................................................24
Plan of the Book...................................................................................26
Ethics Management Skill Building.......................................................27
Practicum 1.1. A Late Night Surprise!.............................................27
Practicum 1.2. Moral Management?................................................28
2. Constitutional and Administrative Environments...........................30
Government of, by, and for the People.................................................31
Administration, Science, and Ethics.....................................................32
Morally Mute Public Management.......................................................34
v
vi CONTENTS
No Road, Low Road, or High Road Ethics? ........................................35
Administration as Management ...........................................................38
An Unfinished Portrait .........................................................................43
Evolution of Government Ethics in the United States..........................44
1792–1828: Character and Integrity in Governance........................44
1828–1870: Age of Patronage Governance.....................................44
1870–1900: Anti-patronage Movement...........................................44
1900–1930: Zeal for Government Integrity.....................................45
1930–1960: Administration as Science ...........................................46
1960s: Rise and Demise of “Can Do” Government.........................46
1970s: Ethical Breakdown...............................................................46
1980–1990: Into the Ethical Wilderness..........................................47
1990s: Benign Neglect and Reawakening .......................................47
2000: Restoring Ethical Governance? .............................................48
Ethics Management Skill Building.......................................................48
Practicum 2.1. When the Chief Asks You to Lie..............................48
Practicum 2.2. Moral Courage.........................................................49
3. Tools for Ethics Managers.................................................................51
Exemplary Leadership..........................................................................51
How Does One Become an Ethical Leader?....................................53
Beware of the Utilitarian Trap .........................................................53
Ethics Training .....................................................................................55
Compliance Training .......................................................................55
Effectiveness of Ethics Training......................................................55
Codes....................................................................................................61
Professional Association Codes.......................................................62
Local Government Codes of Ethics.................................................65
Code Implementation ......................................................................68
Why Codes Succeed or Fail.............................................................69
Oaths ....................................................................................................70
Ethics Audits ........................................................................................72
Local Government Ethics Audits.....................................................75
U.S. Office of Government Ethics Audit.........................................76
United Nations Integrity Survey......................................................77
When Serious Wrongdoing Turns Up ..................................................78
Human Resources Management...........................................................78
Hiring Practices ...............................................................................79
Annual Evaluations..........................................................................80
Ethics Counselors............................................................................80
Are Some Tools More Effective Than Others?.....................................81
CONTENTS vii
Ethics Management Skill Building.......................................................82
Practicum 3.1. An Ethics Audit for Your Agency?...........................82
Practicum 3.2. Ethics Training for the Trainer.................................82
4. Ethics Management in American Cities and Counties....................84
Cities and Counties in the American Federal System ..........................85
Ethics Management and Local Governance.........................................85
Filing and Investigating a Complaint ...................................................88
Tampa, Florida .....................................................................................91
Tampa’s Ethics Code .......................................................................92
Ethics Commission..........................................................................93
Code Implementation ......................................................................93
Chicago ................................................................................................94
Ethics Training.................................................................................95
Advice..............................................................................................95
Investigation and Enforcement........................................................95
New York City......................................................................................96
Conflict of Interest Board................................................................98
King County, Washington ....................................................................99
Board of Ethics..............................................................................100
Office of Ombudsman....................................................................100
Salt Lake County, Utah ......................................................................102
Cook County, Illinois.........................................................................104
Advisory Opinions.........................................................................105
Investigations.................................................................................105
Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas 106
Ethics Commission........................................................................106
Ethics Training...............................................................................107
Jacksonville-Duval County ................................................................108
Georgia’s Cities of Ethics...................................................................111
Challenges to Ethical Governance in Cities and Counties.................112
Next Steps ..........................................................................................114
Conclusion .........................................................................................115
Ethics Management Skill Building.....................................................115
Practicum 4.1. What to Do?...........................................................115
Practicum 4.2. Ethics Challenges in Disasters...............................116
5. Federal and State Ethics Management...........................................118
Federal Ethics Laws ...........................................................................118
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics ..............................................120
Presidents ...........................................................................................123
viii CONTENTS
Congress.............................................................................................125
House of Representatives...............................................................126
Senate ............................................................................................128
Judiciary—Federal and State .............................................................128
Ethics Management in the States........................................................130
State Ethics Laws...........................................................................132
State Legislative Ethics..................................................................133
Ethics Commissions and Boards....................................................135
Effectiveness..................................................................................135
A Patchwork of Laws and Regulations ..............................................144
Ethics Management Skill Building.....................................................145
Practicum 5.1. FEMA and Hurricane Katrina ...............................145
Practicum 5.2. Getting a Code Adopted ........................................146
6. Ethics Management Internationally ...............................................148
International Organizations................................................................148
Transparency International and the Utstein Group........................149
OECD ............................................................................................150
Ethics Laws and Codes Internationally..............................................152
Codes in Central and Eastern Europe............................................154
Whistle-blowing Laws...................................................................155
Europe................................................................................................156
United Kingdom............................................................................157
The Netherlands.............................................................................159
Asia ....................................................................................................160
China..............................................................................................161
Japan..............................................................................................163
Moving Forward.................................................................................166
Conclusion .........................................................................................166
Ethics Management Skill Building.....................................................167
Practicum 6.1. The Greater Good..................................................167
Practicum 6.2. Religious Expression in the Workplace.................168
7. Ethical Governance in the Twenty-First Century..........................170
The Privatization Challenge...............................................................170
Use and Abuse of Insider Information...........................................173
Private Contracting for Prison Management..................................173
Privatizing Home Building Reviews and Inspections....................174
Information Age Challenges...............................................................175
The Winds of Globalization ...............................................................177
Ethics Education Challenges..............................................................178
CONTENTS ix
Sensitivity and Awareness Teaching..............................................179
Moral Reasoning............................................................................180
Leadership and Exemplar Modeling..............................................181
Effectiveness of Ethics Education......................................................181
Survey of MPA Graduates .............................................................182
Professors as Exemplars ................................................................184
The “New” Ethics...............................................................................185
Building Organizations of Integrity ...................................................186
Staying the Ethical Course.................................................................189
21st Century Challenges ....................................................................190
Ethics Management Skill Building.....................................................191
Practicum 7.1. Nonprofit Contracting............................................191
Practicum 7.2. Entrepreneurialism at the Office............................192
References...............................................................................................193
Index .......................................................................................................203
About the Author.....................................................................................217