Ethics and Public Administration
Ethics and Public Administration
For this essay you can choose to answer any of the following twelve questions.
- Show a theory or theories of ethics can illuminate a particular issue within the field of public sector management.
- Was Machiavelli right in arguing that the requirements of a moral life and of political life are incompatible?
- Is there a conflict between the new public management and ethics?
- To whom should public servants be primarily accountable? (you may use a case study to illustrate your answer)
- Should we expect politicians to be completely truthful?
- Evaluate the pros and cons of the different methods of improving ethics in the public sector. Which methods do you think hold the most promise?
- Is there a conflict between the requirements of organizational life as it is experienced by managers and those of morality, as Robert Jackall maintains?
- Use Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory to analyse an ethical issue within public policy or management.
- Mary Douglas argues that there are four cultures and four moralities. Examine a controversy in public policy or management and identify how the protagonists who are involved exemplify these different cultures/moralities.
- Use Alan Fiske’s relational models theory to analyse a policy or management issue.
- Which theory of ethics should public sector managers subscribe to: deontology, utilitarianism or virtue ethics? Justify your choice.