Chapter two

Philosophical Perspectives in Administrative Ethics

2.1. Introduction to Philosophy of Administrative Ethics

Ethics and Philosophy are humanistic fields of inquiry that ask questions about right action and
the nature of truth, reality, and meaning. Ethics and philosophy with public administration,
public policy, and governance including philosophical and ethical questions that arise in political
theory and practice.

Ethics in general and administrative ethics in particular and examine the prevailing or
conventional model of ethical thinking among public administrators. This is called the basic
ethics model. An important source of standards is philosophy and its major theories of ethics.
The sources of ideas for administrative ethics will focus initially on the ethics derived from the
nature of the administrative position itself; in other words, the standards and expectations that are
based on a duty to serve the public. it will then be possible to consider how this duty-based ethics
is linked to other approaches that draw on philosophical arguments. Finally, it is important to
consider how ethical thinking develops and the alternative levels of ethical reasoning
Ethics refers to well-based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do,
usually in terms of duties, principles, specific virtues, or benefits to society.
This definition identifies four dimensions or sources of ethics, one based on the
nature of public service and three based on the philosophical perspectives to ethics:
1. Duties: The behaviors expected of persons who occupy certain roles; that is, the
obligations taken on when assuming a role or profession
2. Virtues: Qualities that define what a good person is; moral excellence
3. Principles: Fundamental truths that form the basis for behavior; “kinds
of action that are right or obligatory” (Frankena 1963, 49)
4. Benefits to society: Actions that produce the greatest good for the greatest
number
For persons who work in government and nonprofit organizations, duty has a special
importance. They must serve the public, fulfill the expectations of public office, and be trustees
of public resources. These are the actions required by their occupation or role independent of—
but reinforced by—other ethical considerations.
The ethics of public administrators begins with and is grounded in duty. Duty
is an old-fashioned term that at first glance may seem too narrow to be more than
the starting point for developing administrative ethics. In a narrow view, duty
implies the restricted range of actions one is required to take without question, as in the phrase
“It is my duty to...”. Ethics implies a broader range of expected behaviors and reflection about
what should be done, and definitions of duty can encompass such views.
Duty means the “action required by one’s business, occupation, or function” but also “the action
or behavior due by moral or legal obligation.” Thus, duty implies obligations, responsibilities,
and meeting expectations that are imposed on the individual from outside sources. This is the
tradition of external control that was promoted by Finer (1941), who argued that
elected officials should exercise minute control over administrators. In this view,
the most important duty is to obey authoritative orders.
2.2 Administration and the Ethics of Virtue:

2.2.1. Administration

Administration must always exist in the context of public institutions with their strong tendency
to permit and even encourage corruptions or other immoral behavior. Thus, administrators must
learn and relearn to exercise virtues in the context of governmental institutions regardless of their
circumstances if corruption and other immoral behavior are to be kept to a minimum. The
retention and enhancement of integrity depends on sustaining but often of improving institutions.
Immoral behavior in government institutions is due to vices that the exercise of virtue can curb.
Unfortunately, institutions often foster and even encourage the eroding of virtues within public
administrators. Thus, reformers must reinforce the development of virtues within public
administration by addressing both the individuals and the institutions. Virtue ethics influences
external and internal goods differently. Virtue ethics essentially create internal goods, but they
can and sometimes do hinder external goods. The latter are objects of human desire that are
almost always in dispute within a group of any size and even dispute sometimes within a single
person. In a materialistic culture, individuals place extreme value on achieving riches, fame, and
power. In such an environment, virtues such as justice within public administration can hinder
achieving external goods for many private interest groups. In such circumstance, political rulers
and others would punish public administrators for acting with virtue.
2.2.2. Ethics of Virtue

It defines good actions as ones that display virtuous character, like courage, loyalty, or wisdom.
Bad actions display the opposite, such as cowardice, treachery, and ignorance.

For Aristotle, ethics was a key element of human flourishing because it taught people how to
differentiate between virtues and vices. By encouraging examination, more people could live a
life dedicated to developing virtues.

Virtue ethics suggests treating our character as a lifelong project, one that has the capacity to
truly change who we are. The goal is not to form virtues that mean we act ethically without
thinking, but to form virtues that help us see the world clearly and make better judgments as a
result.
According to "virtue ethics", there are certain ideals, such as excellence or dedication to the
common good, toward which we should strive and which allow the full development of our
humanity. These ideals are discovered through thoughtful reflection on what we as human beings
have the potential to become.

"Virtues" are attitudes, dispositions, or character traits that enable us to be and to act in ways that
develop this potential. They enable us to pursue the ideals we have adopted. Honesty, courage,
compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples
of virtues.

How does a person develop virtues? Virtues are developed through learning and through
practice. As the ancient philosopher Aristotle suggested, a person can improve his or her
character by practicing self-discipline, while a good character can be corrupted by repeated self-
indulgence. Just as the ability to run a marathon develops through much training and practice, so
too does our capacity to be fair, to be courageous, or to be compassionate.

Virtues are habits. That is, once they are acquired, they become characteristic of a person. For
example, a person who has developed the virtue of generosity is often referred to as a generous
person because he or she tends to be generous in all circumstances. Moreover, a person who has
developed virtues will be naturally disposed to act in ways that are consistent with moral
principles. The virtuous person is the ethical person.

At the heart of the virtue approach to ethics is the idea of "community". A person's character
traits are not developed in isolation, but within and by the communities to which he or she
belongs, including family, church, school, and other private and public associations. As people
grow and mature, their personalities are deeply affected by the values that their communities
prize, by the personality traits that their communities encourage, and by the role models that their
communities put forth for imitation through traditional stories, fiction, movies, television, and so
on. The virtue approach urges us to pay attention to the contours of our communities and the
habits of character they encourage and instill.

The moral life, then, is not simply a matter of following moral rules and of learning to apply
them to specific situations. The moral life is also a matter of trying to determine the kind of
people we should be and of attending to the development of character within our communities
and ourselves.

Important of Virtue ethics

Resolution of difficult problems depends, above all, on the character (that is, on the
virtues) of the people making decisions.
to note that, strictly speaking,
Virtue ethics is focused on character rather than on specific action.
2.3 The Public Interest vis Administrative ethics
Public Interest the welfare or well-being of the general public; commonwealth: health
programs that directly affect the public interest. appeal or relevance to the general populace: a
news story of public interest.
Some countries build “the public interest” into their legal systems. ... It is important, therefore, to
examine the legal conditions in which information is given and whether or not it has legal
protection when it is revealed in the public interest.
Acting in the public interest is a concept that is fundamental to a representative democratic
system of government and to good public administration. However, this commonly used concept
is, in practice, particularly complex, and presents two major obstacles to governments and their
public officials acting in the public interest:
firstly, while it is one of the most used terms in the lexicon of public administration, it is
arguably the least defined and least understood – few public officials would have any
clear idea what the term actually means and what its ramifications are in practice.
secondly, identifying or determining the appropriate public interest in any particular case
is often no easy task - as Lyndon B Johnson once said: ’Doing what’s right isn’t the
problem..

The primary purpose of non-elected public officials is to serve. Serving the public interest is
one of the four dimensions of this primary purpose, the other three dimensions being:
o To serve the Parliament and the government of the day (not applicable to all
public officials);
o to serve their employing agency (where applicable), and
o to serve the public as customers or clients.

The two components of the public interest

acting in the public interest has two separate components:
o objectives and outcomes - that the objectives and outcomes of the decision-
making process are in the public interest, and
o process and procedure - that the process adopted and procedures followed by
decision makers in exercising their discretionary powers are in the public interest.

The objectives and outcomes component is the aspect of the public interest most referred to
in the literature. The process and procedure component appears to be less discussed, but is
just as important. This component would include:
o complying with applicable law (both its letter and spirit);
o carrying out functions fairly and impartially, with integrity and
professionalism;
 o complying with the principles of procedural fairness/natural justice; • acting
reasonably;
o ensuring proper accountability and transparency;
o exposing corrupt conduct or serious maladministration;
o Avoiding or properly managing situations where their private interests
conflict or might reasonably be perceived to conflict with the impartial
fulfillment of their official duties, and
o Acting apolitically in the performance of their official functions (not
applicable to elected public officials).

2.4 Introduction and Meanings of Compromise

Compromise is to make a deal between different parties where each party gives up part of
their demand.
Compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a
mutual acceptance of terms—often involving variations from an original goal or desires.
Defining and finding the best possible compromise is an important problem in fields like game
theory and the voting system.
Possible advantages of compromise:
 Faster issue resolution. Compromising may be more practical when time is a factor.
 Can provide a temporary solution while still looking for a win-win solution.
 Lowers the levels of tension and stress resulting from the conflict.