Ethics in Public Service

4 May 2016

Ethics in Public Service

Public service can be a very rewarding career path. However, it is demanding and requires one to live with a certain set of internal principles. Ethics in practice means following a moral code that does not promote your own self interests above that of the organization. In order to ensure that an organization’s members follow an ethical code, the organization should implement an ethic policy and perform periodic reviews to determine actual compliance (as well as effectiveness) with the policy.

An ethic policy should exist because not all ethical violations are immediately obvious to every employee. Ethical lapses can accumulate over time due to a culture that has allowed such behaviors. For example, it may have become “common practice” for people to take home office supplies, without anyone ever questioning the ethics of the practice. Further, having an ethics policy encourages a culture of compliance – and encourages open discussion about what should and should not be considered ethical. A distinction should be made between an ethical violation (purposeful action placing self interest above organization) and negligent behavior (true accidental behavior, such as accidental transposing numbers in a mileage report).

Once a clear policy is formulated and clearly communicated to a group, it makes it easier to implement clear policies for violations of the ethical policy. Depending on the degree of the violation of the ethical policy, an organization could implement an escalating punishment system – from reprimand in their file up to and including suspension, and/or termination of employment. Public service organizations must be particularly careful if they are government organizations when taking actions that could be considered a deprivation of an employee’s property rights (i.e. their job) because of Due Process concerns.

Having an ethic policy serves the public interest in a number of ways. It reduces the...