BUILDING A LANDSCAPE FOR ETHICS TRAINING

Controlling corruption requires political morality to inspire society and influence government organizations to pursue integrity and accountability. Citizens expect public servants to manage public resources properly and make decisions based on social equity. Fair and reliable public services inspire public trust and create a favorable environment for businesses, thus contributing to the markets and economic growth. Principles for managing ethics in public service include:

1. Core ethical standards and principles that guide public service
2. A legal framework created for communicating minimum obligatory standards.
3. Professional socialization, training and internal consultation made available to the public servant.
4. Protection for public servants through rights and obligations.
5. Commitment by the political leaders to foster ethical climates through high standards of conduct.
6. Transparency of government.
7. Clear rules of ethical standards to guide the behavior of public servants in dealing with the private sector.
8. An organizational environment that fosters ethical behavior.
9. Management policies and procedures that demonstrate commitment to ethical standards.
10. Merit and other mechanisms to promote integrity in public service.
11. Making public servants accountable to their superiors, and more broadly, the public.
12. A system of detection, investigation and punishment of wrongdoing.

Training and Ethics

Public administrative style, methods, hierarchy and training are closely interrelated with ethics. Training alone is not enough. However, serious, sustainable improvements of the public service without adequate education and training seem to be impossible. Public servants must understand what is acceptable behavior, and, in the end, when the risk of detection and punishment outweighs the gains.

Appropriate legislation, established, accepted ethical standards by policy makers and senior officials are among the preconditions of training effectiveness.

At the individual level, the problem is not knowledge or skills. The problem is the mindset and mind maps of the public servant. To change this mindset requires a specific training strategy.  When training is organized haphazardly, without training needs analysis or as a result of reorganization efforts in a series of unrelated, non-sequential activities insensitive to the ethic standards, it is both inefficient and ineffective. The environment for ethical learning processes within the public service and on the job becomes inadequate.

Training concepts, content and methodologies must be adapted to national context. What may be morally unacceptable in one culture may not be so judged in another.

Values Alignment as a Training Strategy

Values alignment as an element of an ethics training programme can have a positive effect on public trust and facilitate efforts to combat corruption. Aligning values concentrates less on what must be prevented, but more on what is to be accomplished. Values define moral character and are non-institutional by definition, and create the justification for an individual’s beliefs, decisions and actions. .

Step 1. Standards of conduct and other structural issues that affect core values within must be clear. Those involved, including citizen special interest groups, advisors from the economic systems within the country, political officials, senior managers from the bureaucracy, supervisors and employees in the public service and other identified stakeholders must agree upon a set of core values, expectations and boundaries of authority.

Step 2. Once this framework is determined, it must be communicated to each stakeholder and time allowed for each individual to internalize the information. Regulatory guidelines, policies and organizational boundaries must be correlated with these values.

Step 3. Individual employee (and work unit) values should be discovered and aligned with the core values including decision processes and day-to-day rituals. A participatory approach to this process will encourage an increased sense of inclusion and openness among employees.

Step 4. Leaders can now create a strategy of public administration that describes the underlying values within the organization. This information comes from clarified values and expectations. This strategy along with the implementing policies and procedures should be reviewed regularly and aligned with these values. Then policies and procedures should ensure individuals are given the opportunity to exhibit these values. Furthermore, appropriate procedures and sanctions should be included to deal with misconduct and deviation from the values and included in new or revised code of ethical conduct.

Strategy and planning sessions within each unit must include ethical considerations. These strategy sessions, which focus on overarching values and objectives, should include key stakeholders, allowing for a transparent view of the process and allowing greater scrutiny.