Question 1:
Yes, I have encountered ethical dilemmas in the work setting, which are similar to those presented in the book “An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role, 6th Edition” by Cooper, Terry L. As an employee of small local store, I was working late one evening when I noticed that my workmates had been steeling boxes from the store and selling them to clients without recording these transactions. Even though the customers were not aware of the side plays involved, these employees did not allow these customers to pick items from the shelf, but pretended to assist them do their shopping. As a junior employee, I used the concept of “rehearsal of defenses” (37) to warn my colleagues about the dangers of being found out and the administrative consequences, which included losing their jobs and facing legal procedures. I was sure that they valued their jobs and would not want to lose it. Additionally, I instilled the fear in them that I could report the issue to the authorities.
Question 2:
In the book The Ethics Edge” by Jonathan Page West, Evan M. Berman, the authors talk much about ethical perspectives, especially on making ethical choices, ethical reasoning, and ethical conduct, which all require that we seek the truth (p. 9). In their view, which I also believe is true; truth is the principle of life (p. 9). If an individual possesses truth, then he or she has knowledge, which is the expected outcome of critical reasoning. In my opinion, critical reasoning is fundamental in making ethical decisions. In order to make such decisions or reasoning, an individual needs the knowledge about the facts and figures about an issue before making conclusions on the issue involved. Ethical conducts are only considered ethical if they hold elements of truth. An individual cannot argue that his actions are ethical if they do not conform to the truth.
Key Idea: The public interest, Cooper page 399
Public administrators are always faced with the dilemma of working on behalf of shared interests or particular ones. In most cases, MPA graduates and public servants understand the scope of public interest than the public. A practical example is in flight. The passengers can determine the destination of a plane through their tickets. However, it require someone aeronautical engineering degree to determine the design of the plane that the passengers would travel in it, and not the vote of airline passengers. After the public have determined the policies, public administrators have the responsibility of designing these public policies. In page 399, Cooper suggests a handful of administrative ethical universals such as freedom, self determination, trust, honesty, and stability (p. 399). Equally, in Jonathan’s book, he connects the truth with ethical conduct through several examples.
References:
Cooper, Terry L. An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role, 6th edition
West, Jonathan P., and Evan M. Berman, Eds. The Ethics Edge, 2nd edition
