Ethics, is termed as moral philosophy, and is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, recommending and defending the concepts of the wrong and right behavior. The chief areas of the study in ethics incorporate; meta-ethics, which is the theoretical meaning and position of moral propositions and how their true values if any can be determined; normative-ethics, which concerns the realistic means of determining the moral line of action and applied ethics which considers how the moral results may be achieved in particular situations. The studies of how ethics is identified can be divided into non-cognitive and cognitive and is similar to the contrast between non-descriptivist and descriptivist. Non-cognitive ethics asserts that when we judge something as wrong or right, this fact is neither false nor true because we might, only be expressing our sentimental feelings concerning these things. On the other hand, cognitive ethic may be perceived as the declaration that when we speak about wrong and right, we are talking matters concerning fact.The ethical consideration and professional ethics in the education in administration, which is complemented by many case studies, illustrates the numerous ethical problems the administrative managers face. In the cartage scene for example, the management of the local government which is in the hands of council managers has not been spared the problem of failure to balance through professionalism, office politics and public demands based on ignorance. Tom Gilchrist a populist deputy town manager receives the support of the public even when records show that he is not committed to work under the seating town manager because they both applied for the position of the town manager and he was not given the position because of incompetence.
His boss Grant Albert then decides to fire him on the grounds of incompetence and corruption. However, this decision is frustrated by an ignorant public demanding his reign statement and a council that is insecure of being voted out. He therefore lacks the support of councilors and the public even when the track record of his past period shows that he is very serious with his job. Observations in the field of ethics and the significance of administrative ethics reveals that the, responsibilities of administrators are identified, as obligations of embracing legal obligations, avoiding conflict of interest, commitment to professional excellence, loyalty, formality, justice, whistle-blowing and prudence. The need for obligatory administrative managers, code of ethics, the traditional sources of moral values including hedonism, cynicism, stoicism, sophism and Machiavellianism should be enforced. The incompatible strains of administrative ethical thought, their implications and development, covers the acceptance and institutionalization of moral philosophies.
Grant Albert takes administrative ethics seriously. This is demonstrated in the way he cracks down on officials who are corrupt and none performing and through this radical action he manages to save a lot of dollars for Lakeview town. Administrative ethics also involve the revelation as a basis of ethics, the exercise of unadulterated reasoning, and experimentalism. The administrative managers should ensure that existentialism, naturalistic moral philosophies, ethical systems based on empirical study of society, utilitarianism, moral philosophies, and logical positivism are in place in their work places. The administrative ethics infer that administrative managers in organizations must make moral judgments while dealing with employees.
Consequently, there are views of the administrative ethics that the administrative managers ought to either follow the guidelines of an organization or resign from office. They should not be held morally accountable for the wrongs of their organizations since by denying these assumptions may perhaps make the administrative ethics impractical. However, by being perceptive how these views are acknowledged, we may understand how the administrative ethics are achievable and what forms they ought to take. This is the dilemma that faces Grant Albert. As an administrator he is torn between fulfilling the public’s wishes of a better secure town free of corruption and the council which is more concerned of re election and not fulfilling the wishes of the same public.
However, the ethical resistance of the helpless employees and the administrators’ capability to exercise power over them is consequently what impose unenforceable responsibility on them because of the other's deficient of power. The obligations that are enforced may, by the virtue of the force exerted on them, not be freely undertaken and be in the realm of the ethical issues. Until the state apparatus or legislation enforces a moral order that in some way addresses the sources of resistance, these issues will linger in the administrative ethical realm. For instance, if an animal experimentation is illegal in a society, it may no longer be termed as an ethical issue. Similarly, one hundred and fifty years ago, having a black slave in America or not could have been deemed as an ethical option but this issue has been engaged into the fabric of an enforceable societal order and is consequently no longer an ethical issue (Bruce, pg 279).
Applied ethics is a kind of philosophy that tries to relate the ethical theory to real-life situations and comprises of various fields, including bioethics, engineering, business ethics and public service ethics. Applied ethics is practical in some aspects for determining some public policies, by administrative managers who need to make difficult decisions concerning the employees. The kind of questions addressed by applied administrative ethics may include: Is doing euthanasia immoral? Is procuring an abortion immoral? Is affirmative action wrong or right? A more definite question could be: If an individual can do better in his/her life than I can, is it moral for me to sacrifice for them if required? If devoid of these questions there is no clear fulcrum on which to balance politics, law, and the practice of arbitration since the capability to formulate the questions come before the rights of balancing. The administrative ethics principles can guide the administrative managers or officials in decision-making as well as service to their workers. Also fundamental to the idea of administrative ethics is the perception that actions and decisions are founded on what best serves the worker's interests, as opposed to the official's self-serving financial, political or personal interests. In the field of moral psychology, administrative ethics is an issue in philosophy that is appropriately regarded as part of the discipline of psychology. Some term it as moral psychology, which refers to the study of moral development, but others have a tendency to use the phrase more broadly to include ethics and psychology. Some of the major topics of this field are moral development, moral character, and moral responsibility particularly as related to virtue ethics, psychological egoism, altruism, moral luck, and moral disagreement (Bruce, pg 278).
Administrative ethics in the civic sector is the moral consideration and justification for the decisions which are made during the conclusion of the managers daily duties when working with employees in non profit organizations and governments. The administrative ethics are accountable standards by which the public are able to scrutinize the work being performed by the managers of the organizations, since the decisions are based on the ethical principles and the opinion of what the common members of public views as being correct. Having such a peculiarity can make certain that the administrators are not in any way acting on an in-house set of ethical principles since they are not striving to question if the principles might hold to further employees scrutiny. Administrative ethics have placed an additional burden on the managers as regards the behavior of their individual lives as well as that of the workers. The administrative ethics is actually a challenge that makes every effort to fashion a more open atmosphere within governmental and organizational operations. Individuals in general are more contented with dichotomies but, in administrative ethics the issues are most regularly multifaceted and the best projected actions address many diverse areas concurrently. In arriving at administrative ethical decisions the answer is on no account a yes or no, and is neither a wrong or right statement. Relational ethics are related to administrative ethics and are used in qualitative research, particularly in ethnography since they help to build a bridge between the managers and the workers.
Conclusively, the work of an administrative manger is not an easy one. The person has to balance between un ending usually ignorant public demands, fulfilling the wishes of the appointing authority, abiding by the organization’s code of conduct and office politics. The winner is an individual who can accurately balance through and as well as try to fulfill the wishes of all these parties.
Work Cited
Bruce, Willa. Classics of Administrative Ethics, Sahakian:Westview Press Publishers, 2001.Print.
