Assignment #2 Public Service Values Challenges in Identifying Common Public Service Values

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

Public Service Values help to shape the culture and ethical behaviors of public service. They not only provide a roadmap to which we should strive but they give us a framework within which to make day-to-day decisions. However, they are not concrete. They do have to be interpreted. They are highly contextual. Their interpretation is influenced by ones training, experience, discipline, worldview, and role. And they can be in conflict with one another. There are four features that are useful for understanding public service values. First is that they are action oriented (Molina & McKeown). They are not just are not just static ideas. Rather, they provide a roadmap for behavior to which we aspire. Additionally, they provide a touchstone for daily decision making and future decision analysis. Secondly, public service values represent the larger cultural values of the times. In his article Governance and Values in Contemporary Public Service, Garafolo describes how public service values shifted from a Weberian Bureaucracy where the focus was on compliance and risk aversion to a New Public Management model where performance outcomes, transparency, and accountability became key drivers in demonstrating legitimate and effective government services (Denhardt & Denhardt). Shifts in values such as this one, often happen in concert with ideological and cultural shifts around the role of government in society as a whole. Historians are able to identify connections between social and cultural value shifts and public service value shifts throughout history of government. In the New Public Management era, the public have new expectations related to how policy makers and public administrators respond to needs and demonstrate value in programs and services. Third, there is constant tension between differing values. This may be tension between personal versus organizational values or between competing public service values themselves. The tension can be seen in many ways. For example, a decision to pursue personal performance objectives

Assignment #2 Public Service Values

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

over organizational outcomes or a decision to compromise ethical standards for reasons of self preservation. Fourth, there are some values that are more salient to certain public managers and less important to others depending on the administrative context in which they operate. The same would be true depending on from which discipline they come (Molina & McKeown). For example, values such as lawfulness, obedience and organizational interest may be more important to fiscal administrators, contract managers and procurement officers because their role is to protect the organization from breaking the terms of contract agreements or ensuring compliance with spending regulations. On the other hand, public service values such as dedication, humaneness, and benevolence may resonate more with managers in social services or public health agencies whose missions are related to helping people in need.

Challenges in identifying and utilizing core public service values

One could become quickly overwhelmed with the sheer number of values in the public service sector. They run the gamut from values articulated in ancient ethical theory to the modern deontologists and teleologists. Luckily, for the busy public administrator, social science research has helped to narrow the number of public service values useful for consideration as core values. Molina and McKeowns research found that honesty and integrity were ranked highest. A study by the OECD highlighted impartiality and legality as most frequently cited values across a number of nations. In addition to the thirty administrative principles defined in Molina and McKeowns research, other scholars have also posited core values such as doing good, avoiding harm, and fairness and justice (Lewis & Gilman) or neutrality, transparency, collaboration, and public input (Witesman & Walters). Professional and academic organizations such as have also outlined values that they see as critical for members of their communities. For example, NASPAA, the academic accreditation association for public

Assignment #2 Public Service Values

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

administration programs emphasizes accountability, transparency, professional competence, efficiency, objectivity, acting ethically, and demonstrating respect, equity, and fairness as key values. Even having been narrowed down, the sheer volume makes for a very long list. This is particularly problematic in a setting such as public administration. Because of the diversity of roles and responsibilities in the field, the sense of community is already very tenuous. The existence of numerous core values only exacerbates this problem because some values will be more salient to some and not for others. Additionally, understanding, internalizing, and applying great numbers of these values to their work represent quite a daunting task for public administrators. Perhaps a more pragmatic approach would be to identify the core values that provide the biggest bang for the buck. In other words, could it be more meaningful to identify the most essential values that incorporate multiple values and principles of public service? That is essential values that produce the others as by-products over time. There are three core values which would produce such by- products. The first is professionalism. Professionalism encourages individuals to aspire to a higher standard (Lewis & Gilman). Seveulak and Brown argue that using a professional development model is the most effective way to develop an ethical bureaucracy (Lewis & Gilman). This is because placing a high value on professionalism will increase an employees self awareness, expertise, quality, effectiveness, and responsibility. All of which have been identified by scholars as public services values in their own right. A common value of commitment to professionalism could greatly enhance services and programs in public human services. A manager committed to professionalism would want to ensure that the programs he or she operated were efficient, effective, and qualitative. He or she would insist on having employees who had demonstrated competence. He or she would ensure that public dollars were being used in a manner that allowed for the best outcome for their community. He or she would hold himself or herself and his or her staff accountable for outcomes. And he or she would tie program

Assignment #2 Public Service Values

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

outcomes to the larger strategic goals of their communities. An emphasis on professionalism would also encourage managers to look beyond their own disciplines to consider how decisions impact the ethical behavior of other disciplines and areas of the organization. Second is being committed to a participative approach to governance. When public sector employees behave in a participative manner, they make concerted efforts to promote citizen participation in administrative decision making (Molina & McKeown). Participatory governments are able to create processes that are more democratic. Over time, they become more inclusive and pluralistic. As closer relationships are built among public managers and the public, they become more accountable, responsive to, and representative of the communities they serve. Additionally, public managers become more likely to act in the public interest as they have a better idea of what that actually is (Fung & Weil). Being participative then, may also increase other public the administrators capacity to demonstrate other public service values. This follows because in being participative, requires a certain level of community engagement and responsiveness. Without it, participatory governments cant exist. To be participatory, administrators have to earn the public trust, by being accountable, responsive, inclusive, and representative. Within the public human service sector, managers could not meet the human service goals of remedying and preventing human problems or enhancing the overall quality of life for citizens living in a community without being participative. When human service managers include citizens in planning, problem resolution, and quality of life issues, they can use that input to implement programs that address specific needs and prevent problematic social issues. When communities feel heard and respected, they participate at a higher level. When communities give their own explanations for a particular social problem, identifying root causes can be easier. And when communities have an opportunity to suggest their own solutions, alternatives that may not have been considered are brought to light. An emphasis on the participative value would encourage managers to better understand the

Assignment #2 Public Service Values

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

changing cultural and political values of the society in general to ensure public service values are aligned. The third essential core public service value to be considered is a commitment to social justice. Social justice values are the idea that that the exercise of authority and responsibility must be dictated by respect for human dignity, fairness, and social equity (Frederickson). A core value of social justice would incorporate other values like courage, benevolence, humanness, integrity, responsiveness, reliability, and sustainability. This follows because supporting social justice values would require, for example, public managers to speak out (courage) when they see improper behavior in government. Social justice values require public managers to understand that government exists in part to help people in need (benevolence and humanness). And since social justice values recognizes the importance of equity, the value expects public managers to be fair and responsive (integrity and reliability) to everyone. Public human services are founded on the assumption that some people need assistance to ensure economic, political, and legal equality. Human service managers who are committed to social justice values can address structural issues related to disparities in access and outcomes for excluded populations (benevolence). They can help create messaging which encourages the exploration of root causes of social issues (humanness) and encourage investment in those individuals or communities that have not been prospered (responsiveness). They can also use social justice values to ensure that services and programs are provided in a fair and equitable manner (integrity). An emphasis on social justice values will require managers to fully explore the tensions that arise between personal and organizational values as well as how to evaluate the tension between values to make the most appropriate decisions at that time. Emphasizing social justice values will also increase action orientation of values as social justice requires managers to be proactive in addressing inequities. Conclusion

Assignment #2 Public Service Values

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

There are several notions important for determining what values are most essential in public service. Public service values are living expressions of our collective experiences as a nation and our shared expectations of how government should behave. Understanding these notions allows for a more pragmatic approach for identifying values that encourage the development of public managers who exhibit multiple behaviors that demonstrate legitimacy in government. Values that emphasize a commitment to professionalism, participative government, and to social justice provide a method to develop a multitude of values in public servants without the confusion of dozens of articulated values. By focusing on just three core public service values which embody multiple principles, we can develop shared beliefs within a field that struggles to find a common identity and common set of values.

Assignment #2 Public Service Values

References

Cecily Rodriguez PAPA 6414 Fall 2013

Denhardt, R., & Denhardt, J. (2006). Public Administration: An action orientation (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth. Frederickson, George. (2005). The State of Social Equity in American Public Administration. National Civic Review. National Civic League. Pg. 32. Winter. Denver, CO. Fung, A., Graham, M., & Weil, D. (2007). Full disclosure: The perils and promise of transparency. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Garofalo, Charles. (2011). Governance and Values in Contemporary Public Service. In Micheal S. De Vries and Pan Suk Kim. Value and Virtue in Public Administration. Pp. 17-33. New York, New York. Palgrave McMillian. Lewis, Carol W. and Gilman, Stuart C. (2012). The Ethics Challenge in Public Service. San Francisco, CA. Josey Bass. Molina, Anthony Deforest and McKeown, Cassandra. (2012). The Heart of the Profession: Understanding Public Service Values. Journal of Public Affairs Education. 18(2), 375-396. Public Service Values: A new approach to the study of motivation in the public sphere Witesman, Eva and Walters, Lawrence. (2007). Public Service Values: A new approach to the study of motivation in the public sphere. Unpublished manuscript. Romney Institute of Public Management. Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah.