TOPIC 6 : ETHICS VS QUALITY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Definition of Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy, ask the basic question about the good life, about what is better and worse, about whether there are any objective right and wrong, and how we know it if there is. (McKinnon, 2004). Ethics is about doing the right thing within a moral framework. It is the practical application of morality.(Goetsch & Davis, 2006). Ethics refers to responsibility and consequences of behaviour of a person or a profession towards the society...(INTAN, 1991). Importance of Ethics in Public Sector 1. The center of success or failure of government. I f the bureauccrate fail to fullfill its role in ethical manner, it will create public distrust and give effect to the government. 2. Responsibility of public administrator to formulate and implement the policy using the public resources(taxes). Public administrator need to have ethical awareness: Public interest vs Personal interest. 3. Public administrator must adhere to the ultimate centrality of the democratic values in accomplishing their task. Public administrator must respect individuals liberty, freedom, equity, justice. 4. Public administrators decision affect the peoples live. Their decision accountable for the consequence of solution which they carry out. Ethical dilemma. Most of public servant always facing dilemma in performing their job. The most popular are: 1. They are pressured to carry out tasks that they consider to be wrong. 2. They are asked to overlook wrong actions by someone else. 3. They gain useful information to the government/organization but cannot get anyone to listen them. There are many factor contribute to unethical behaviour. Human factor Greed A CEO might decide to deliver a large lot of manufactured goods which he knows are defective.

Impatience. A person might push her employees to perform a job in an unsafe manner that could lead to accidents and injuries. Fear Fear of retribution, a person who knows his boss is lying to stockholders might simply ignore the fact and look the other way.

Ego. A person might claim credit for superior work that was actually performed by someone else. Expedience. A person might cut corners in ways that could lead to tragic results. Misguided ambition. A person might lie on his resume, adding a degree that he has not completed. Need. Driven by need to pay the mounting hospital bills for his sick child, a person might use a company credit card for personal expenses.

Organizational factor Ethics is not part of organizations core value. fail to make high ethical expectations a core value in the strategic plan is the same to approving unethical behavior. Fail to set a consistent positive value. if management personnel expect ethical behavior, they have to set a consistent example of it. Employees will follow the actions of management personnel rather than their words. Ethical dilemma. this can happen, for example, when the pressure to meet a deadline. A manager might say to his team, I dont care how you do it, but I want you to finished it before the deadline.

Fail to adopt. Deploy and enforce the code of ethics. even a code of ethics cannot cover every ethical issues that might arise, but it can provide guidance that is specific enough to be meaningful but common enough to allow for the application of good judgment.

Apply unrealistic pressure. because of global competition, organizations are under increasing pressure. The pressures on the leaders of organizations that operate in a competition are then passed throughout the organization in unrealistic manner.

Fail to rewards ethical behaviour. for example, a quality worker discovers that his company has just shipped a box of defective parts to a customer. He quickly contacts the customer, tells about the defective parts, and replaces them with parts that meet all quality standards. This causes a shortterm loss, but that is clearly the right thing to do. But then, the companys CEO responds by giving the quality worker a bad performance review. This CEO actually punished him for doing the right thing instead of rewarding him. By failing to reward the ethical behavior, the CEO actually encouraged unethical behavior.

Factors Determining Ethical Behaviour In The Public Sector Trust & Total Quality Trust something is being given to the others based on belief. Elements of Total Quality that depend on trust and ethical behavior are: Communication receivers accept messages only from senders they trust. Interpersonal relations people who trust each other will be able to get along and work well together even in the worst circumstances. Conflict management a manager must be trusted by both sides in a human conflict to help resolve the conflict. Teamwork if one team member is concerned that another team member is promoting his or her self-interests over those of the team, teamwork will not succeed. Involvement and empowerment managers will not involve and empower employees unless they trust them.

 Customer focus it is the fundamental aspect in order to create trust towards the customers internally and externally. If all the above elements are established then the trust in customer focus will existed. Characteristic of Trustworthiness Spend the working hours properly. Use wisely the allocation provided via procedures, rules and regulations. Not practising any misconduct, corruption, and misuse of power . Completing the job in time.

Values and Total Quality Ethical values guide our behavior. An organization will not produce a quality product or provide a quality service unless the organization values quality. Values that lead to ethical behavior include fairness, dependability, integrity, honesty, and trustfulness. Employees and organization will apply their knowledge and skills to what they value, what they believe in, and what they feel is important.

Main Values in Public Administration Basic Personal values Sincerity, trustworthy, dedicated, responsible, co-operative, Modesty, comitted Customer oriented values Friendly, Kindness, Polite, responsive Just, Coherrent, Courageous, Wise, Responsible, visionary Leadership values Profesionalism values Productivity and quality values Knowledgeable, Supportive Creative, Innovative, Integrity, Neutral, Intellectual honesty, accountable and cooperative top management, Good strategic planning, customer oriented, Professional, esprit-decorp, Excellence, having authority. Concurrent values