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Problems of Ethics in Public Sector Management

Richard A. Chapman

Centre for Public Sector Management , University of Durham

Published online: 15 Mar 2010.

To cite this article: Richard A. Chapman (1998) Problems of Ethics in Public Sector Management, Public Money &
Management, 18:1, 9-13
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9302.00098

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Public Service Ethics

Problems of Ethics in Public

Sector Management
Richard A. Chapman
This article draws attention to some of the effects of new public
management on questions of ethics. It does not argue that
there was some past golden period when all was right in the
context of public sector management but that it is important to
consider how moral standards were appreciated and applied in
official work in a previous period, how difficulties arose, what
they were and how they were
resolved. In the contemporary context it is important to
understand what difficulties are currently arising, to ensure
that the ethical dimensions of public sector work today are
appreciated, and to suggest that new approaches should be
considered if previous provisions are no longer adequate or
practicable.
Ethics in public service is about the
application of moral standards in the
course of official work. It is a broad
topic because it embraces all aspects
of the quality of government and its
administration. It therefore relates to
those
elements
of
structure,
organization, and
procedures that
provide the framework for public
sector management. It also relates to
the
professional
standards
of
everyone engaged in government
and
consequently has important
implications for citizens and has
always been one of the most important
topics in the study of politics and
public sector management.
In all political systems the
quality of
government and its administration
reflects the standards or values of
society. What is acceptable in one place
or at one time may differ from what is
acceptable in another place or at a
different time. There may also be a
two-way process linking government
and society, in which the values of
society affect the government but the
government may
also
affect
societal standards
or
values:
government
has
a
number
of
functions
and
sometimes
it
is
PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT JANUARYMARCH

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1998
1998

educative as well as representative.

However, citizens in representative
democracies
generally
expect
governments to abide by the rules
and values of society, in much the
same way as citizens are expected
to
abide
by
them.
In
representative democracies, these
values
generally
include
expectations that
the structure
and organization of government will
promote
justice,
fairness
and
equality, and also that the behaviour
and
decisions of officials will
be
consistent with those expectations.
From time to time, the system of
government and its administration
falls short of the standards generally
expected. This may
be rectified
by political change, by replacing
one
particular government by
another with different values

though, in
the
Western-style
democracies
of
developed
countries,
a
change
in
political ideology
or values may
appear
in
practice as little
more than
a
change
in
emphasis
compared
with
more
radical
changes
in
other
political
systems.
Nevertheless,
whatever
the
political
system,
it
should be noted
that the values
associated with
democracy
are
widely
recognized
and
stated as goals
to
be
sought,
even where they
do not already

PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT JANUARYMARCH

1998

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1998

10

10
condition day-to-day administrative
processes.
Such values, including justice,
fairness and
equality, and which perhaps now also
include
concepts
like
effi ciency,
effectiveness and economy, have
become hurrah words. They are
generally regarded as good, even by
people who do not appreciate the
academic niceties of their meanings
and applications. They are used to
justify change and therefore promote
what are presented as reforms. The
fact is, however, that many so-called
reforms are no more than changes in a
desired or approved direction, without
the changes necessarily being related
to any form of rigorous theoretical
justification. Consequently, a change
can be presented as a reform at one

PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT JANUARYMARCH

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1998

particular time, and a later reversal

can also be presented as a reform. An
example may be the creation in the UK
of the Civil Service Department in 1968
and its abolition in 1981.
The essence of a decision made in
the context of
ethics
in
public
service therefore is that it involves
a judgement about what ought to
be done.
Any
resolution of
a
problem
simply
by applying a
framework of criteria or a system of
rules
does
not
involve ethical
elementsthough those
elements
may
not be far removed because
whoever designs the framework or
system of rules should be aware of
the
implications
of applying
a
formula to resolve individual

Richard A.
Chapman is
Emeritus Professor
of Politics, Centre
for Public Sector
Management,
University of
Durham.

PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT JANUARYMARCH

1998

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1998

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difficulties. Designing procedures,

whether the design is by politicians
or senior managers, is a significant
responsibility; and the responsibility
for consequential outcomes cannot be
avoided by claiming that they are the
result of operational decisions.
All
decisions
that
involve
discretion,
at
whatever
level,
therefore have ethical implications.
Gerald Caiden (1983) put this well
when he wrote that:
Whenever public laws use such terms as
adequate,
advisable, appropriate, beneficial,
convenient,
equitable,
fair,
fit,
necessary,
practicable, proper,
reasonable, safe, or sufficient, or
their opposites, they oblige public
servants to exercise discretion and make
ethical judgements.

Someone has
to make
these
decisions, but
it is important to
recognize that the frameworks within
which a public official operates have
to be acceptable, and that officials
should be as
well equipped as
possible in
terms of resources,
including their own education and
training, to exercise judgement.
Constraints on decision-makers in
particular
circumstances
may
therefore be numerous, but so may
pressures
to
improve
the
administrative system and make it
more
suited
to
the
changing
standards and values of society. For
example, there may be exogenetic
pressures, i.e. pressures from outside
the administrative system, to improve
structures and procedures, perhaps
to introduce new
safeguards and
appeal mechanisms, and to ensure
that
the
changing
values of
society, including demands for more
justice, fairness, and equality
are
given
appropriate attention in
individual decisions. There
are also
endogenetic
pressures,
i.e.
pressures
from
within
the
administrative
system,
by
individuals most involved, and by
their representative organizations,
to ensure that decision-makers are as
well equipped as possible for their
tasks, or to ensure that citizens are
adequately
protected
against
unacceptable decisions. As the report
of an
important inquiry in the
1950s put it:
Administration must
not only be
efficient in the sense
that
the
objectives of policy
are
securely
attained without delay. It must also

satisfy the general

body of citizens that
it
is
proceeding
with
reasonable
regard
to
the
balance
between
the public interest
which it promotes
and
the
private
interest which it
disturbs
(Franks,
1957).
The
problems of ethics
in
public
sector
management may
consequently
be
considered in two
groups:
those
relating
to
structures
and
procedures,
and
those
relating to
the
professional
standards and the
behaviour
of
individual
practitioners.

Structur
es
and
Procedur
es: The
Cons
titut
iona
l
Dim
ensi
on

The values of society

are
generally
reflected in its
system
of
government.
The
essence of a system
of government is
reflected
in
its
constitutionthat

is, if one takes

K. C. Wheares (1951)
definition of a constitution:

very

broad

the collection of rules which establish and regulate or

govern the government, or the framework without which the
details would have no form or pattern.

This has a number of implications for ethics in public

service. The overall implications in a liberal democracy
generally include the practical applications of the
rule of law, to ensure that officials themselves obey
the law when carrying out their official duties, and to
ensure that officials are not given powers that place
them above the law. Officials also have an obligation to
implement the instructions of elected representatives.
These
are
commonplace
and
rather
simplistic
statements but they
lead
to implications which
illustrate some important consequences.
Constitutions consist of much more than the contents
of formal written
documents which are called
constitutions. This is clearly evident in the United
Kingdom
which
has
no
such
document
the
constitution of the UK includes case law and precedent,
customs and conventions, and even the writings of
significant authorities. However, some of these sources
of rules and practices are also important in other
countrieseven in those which have
a written
constitution. In most cases these features of a
constitution are subordinate to what is contained in the
constitutional document, but
there are
occasions
when
their
practical significance has to be
determined, requiring the professional knowledge and
judgement of officials. This is particularly important in
relation to the development and promulgation of the
rules within which administrators work.
Constitution s and their subordinate documents
and
statements
publicize what
is expected of

officials. At their highest or most

important level, this may be seen
in bills or declarations of rights, but,
at a more mundane level, the same
expectations relate
to
customer
charters or quality of service codes. In
terms of ethics
in public
service,
these
documents are important
because they contain statements of
rights which should be observed and
details of the standards or quality of
service which
officials should be
achieving, or, at least, to which they
should be aspiring.
Public servants contribute to the
making and interpreting of
the
constitution, often in the context of
confidential advice if not official
secrecy. One example of this is the
development of the Ministerial Code
(Cabinet Office, 1997): this is the
recently issued successor to what was
previously known as
Questions of
Procedure for Ministers (Cabinet Office,
1992). Questions of Procedure was first
made
publicly available by Prime
Minister John Major as recently as
1992,
though
the document
originated as a confidential Cabinet
paper issued soon after the Second
World War. Its confidential status until
the
1990s
has
always
been
surprising
to
contemporary
historians

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because, as Peter
Hennessy has
written, it is the nearest thing we
have to a written constitution for
British
Cabinet
government
(Hennessy, 1986). Nevertheless the
important lesson emerges that the
document must have been drafted and
revised many times over the years,
largely by officials working out and
implementing what they felt ought
to be done to run a system of
Cabinet
government
within
the
context of the standards and values
in the UK.
Not only do officials contribute to
systems of government through
their important responsibilities in
drafting
and
implementing
constitutional provisions, they
also
make
many
thousands
of
discretionary decisions every day
and in so doing they participate in the
governing
processes
of
all
democratic
regimes.
This
is
unavoidable because of the scope and
complexity of modern government;
indeed, it is now impossible for
government to be carried on by
elected representatives on their own.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that
these discretionary activities give
public
servants important moral
responsibilities.
An example of this important role in
ensuring that societys standards
and values are implemented within
the UK system of government is
illustrated by the
creation of new
institutions and procedures. The 19th
century saw the creation of the Civil
Service Commission, to ensure high
standards
of
efficiency
in
administering
the
business
of
government by recruiting to its
service the most able people on a
basis of fair and open competition.
Another safeguard for citizens was
introduced in the 20th century by the
creation
of
the
office
of
the
Parliamentary
Commissioner
for
Administration
and,
later,
the
associated
system
of
local
commissioners
of
administration.
Within the last couple
of years, a
new constitutional provision has been
introduced which allows appeals to
be heard from
individual officials
troubled by matters of conscience.
In a country like the UK, top
officials
can
become
leading
authorities on the practice of the
constitution; and one of the best
examples of this is to be found in the
career of Edward Bridges (Chapman,
1988). By the time he became Head of
the
Home
Civil
Service in 1945,
Bridges
was
already
an

acknowledged authority on the practice of the British

constitution. As Head of the Civil Service he not only
played
an
important
role
in
ensuring
that
constitutional propriety was respected throughout
the service, he also influenced the development of the
constitution by ensuring that, for example, his own
expert understanding and interpretation of the political
activities of civil servants was reinforced through
significant constitutional documentslike the Report
of the Masterman Committee on the Political Activities
of Civil Servants (Masterman,
1949). Matters of constitutional significance were dealt
with by Bridges on an almost daily routine basis, when
he was Secretary to the Cabinet (1938
1945) and Head of the Home Civil Service (1945

1956),
and
he
brought
to
his
tasks
a
shrewd
appreciation of the
constitutional
and
practical limitations
on
what
was
possible. He was a
strictly
partisanneutral career civil
servant who led by
setting an example
to others of the
standards
he
expected in public
service; but
his
position
of
authority
would
not have
existed
without
the
uniquely
relevant
practical
experience
he
gained over
a
period
of
many
years.
It
follows
that any changes
in
the
career
structure
for
senior
civil
servants in
the
British system of
government could
diminish their role
in contributing to
the
important
machinery
of
government and
constitutional
aspects of ethics in
the
British
civil
service.

Professi
onal
Standar
ds
and
the
Behaviour of
Individual
Practitioner
s

It
is
in
the
sphere of public
personnel
administration that
some of the most
publicized
issues
have
arisen in

recent years. The

case
of Clive
Ponting in the 1980s drew attention
to the position of an individual with
anxieties about what he should do
when he believed a Minister was
misleading
Parliament.
More
recently, the investigations into arms
sales, that resulted in Sir Richard
Scotts 1996 Report, caused questions
to be asked about what civil servants
should do when expected standards
of
conduct,
within
the
closed
administrative system, are less than
individuals feel they should be. This
is a complex matter involving the
education, training and socialization
of
officials,
new
patterns
of
recruitment,
the
obligations
of
officials within a democratic context,
and,
especially, ministercivil
servant relationships.
As far as pre-entry education for
fast stream entrants to the British
civil service is concerned, the service
has, in the past, been criticized for
recruiting a disproportionate number
of
ex-public
school
pupils
who
graduated in arts subjects from
Oxford or Cambridge. These entrants
generally received a liberal education
that often introduced them
to
philosophical and historical facets of
government. After recruitment they
received very little formal training but,
as a result of socialization, they
assimilated an appreciation of the
standards
expected
and
of
acceptable patterns of conduct. They
learned this from working with others
and from
frequent postings to
different jobs. Over a period of time
they also acquired experience of the
work of a particular department or
area of work, especially in relation to
the political environment, and an
understanding
of administrative
processes and expected behaviour,
that fitted them for promotion to the
highest administrative positions in the
civil
service.
Some
of
these
characteristics of civil service work
have changed and are changing
further. The proportion of Oxbridge
arts
graduates being recruited to
fast stream positions is declining,
more graduates in other subjects are
being recruited, and a conscious
effort is being made to attract more
women applicants and applicants

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from ethnic minorities. Questions

might
be asked
about
the
consequences of these background
changes for the ways
recruits
approach the issues that face them
in their work.
As
far
as
p ost- en try
soc ializ atio n is concerned, it seems
likely that the creation of executive
agencies and devolved recruitment
to
the
numerous
individual
departments
and
agencies
will
result in less movement of staff.
This, of c ou r se , is c on siste n t with
the recommendations of offi cial
reports and commentators, which
suggest that too frequent postings
reduce
the
efficiency
of
staff.
However, the
new
arrangements
may result in fewer opportunities
for staff to benefit from processes of
socialization: in particular, officials
may have less appreciatio n of the
constraints and sensitivities of the
political
environment.
While
the
rather
luxurious
provisions
for
socialization by
regular
postings
may not necessarily be suitable for
todays civil service, to deny the
significance of its benefits and to
make no alternative provisions may
be short-sighted.
Training has, in recent years,
received more emphasis, and
the
Civil Service College has achieved a
well-deserved reputation for its
courses
on
such
matters
as
management techniques, language
skills, and familiarization with the
policies
and
practices
of
the
European
Union;
but
its
more
educational courses, often focusing
on current issues in a seminar
context, do not
seem
to have
expanded. Questions may b e asked
abo ut
the
eff ec ts
the
new
arrangements, taken together, will
have
on equipping individuals for
issues
of conscience that
might
result.
The situation is well illustrated
by Derek Lewiss autobiographical
account of his experiences as Chief
Executive of the
Prison Service
(Lewis, 1997).
Brought into the
Prison Service from
a previous
career as a television executive,
Lewis raises a number of serious
questions
about
public
sector
management and draws attention
to some of the weaknesses he saw.
However, his book also demonstrates
his lack of familiarity with
civil
service ways of working and, often,
of the political environment which
affected much of the work for which
he was responsible.

The provision in
the
new
Civil
Service
Code,
for
appeals to the Civil
Service
Commissioners,
might have
been
expected
to
resolve issues
of
conscience
for
individual offi cials.
Formerly,
the
arrangement was
that
anyone who
wished to resolve
such
personal
problems
could
consult his or her
permanent
secretary
and
ultimately the Head
of the Home Civil
Service. However,
it has been stated
that
hardly any
cases
ever cam e
f o rw a r d
in
a c c o rd a n c e
with
t his
procedure.
The
new
arrangement
is
that
an official
facing
a
conscience
issue
should first report
the
matter
in
accordance
with
civil service
and
departmental
rules; then, if the

response does not resolve the issue, he or she may

report the matter in writing to the Civil Service
Commissioners. The new provisions have not resulted
in a flood of cases (a flood could hardly have been
expected), but in the first year of its operation the First
Commissioner had six cases, and two that reached the
conclusion of the appeal mechanism both involved
anxiety to meet targets accorded a high degree of
importance. These targets or performance indicators
are a feature of what is i n c rea s i n g l y k n o w n a s ne w
pub li c management (Civil Service Commissioners,
1997).

Ethics and New Public Management The

main concern of this article has been to draw

attention to some of the effects of new public
management on questions of ethics in public sector
management. It would be easy to misinterpret what is
being said. It is not being argued that there was some
past golden period when all was right in the
context of public sector managementa period to
which it might be hoped there could be a return.
What is being argued, however, is that it is useful
to consider how moral standards were appreciated and
applied in official work in a previous period, how
difficulties arose, what they were and how they were
resolved. It is also being argued that in the
contemporary context it is important to understand
what diffi culties are currently arising, to ensure
that the ethical dimensions of public sector work
today are appreciated, and to suggest that new
approaches should be considered if previous
provisions are no longer adequate or practicable.
There are no easy answers to the questions raised
here.
Of
course
reformed
structures and

procedures, and the new Ministerial

Code, and the Civil Service Code, may
make valuable contributions to good
practice
in
public
sector
management, as, indeed, a large
number of constitutional provisions
and official
reports have
in the
past.
An increased emphasis on
ethical issues
in educational and
training programmes may
also
make
a contribution by aff ecting
professional standards and
the
behaviour of individual practitioners.
However, one of the most important
features
of
a
healthy
liberal
democracy is the political activity
of individuals and groups, both
within
the
political
and
administrative systems and outside
them. It
is only
through such
constant attention to matters of
practice that the highest societal
standards will be maintained and that
proposals
fo r
re fo r m
wil l
be
i mp le me n t ed . T he application of
moral standards in official work is
not a matter that can be decided on
a once- and-for-all-time basis.
It
requires continuous attention from
everyone involved in the practice of
public
sector
management and
also
from everyone
in
whose
interests public sector
management exists.

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Procedure for
Ministers (Cabinet Office, London).
Cabinet Offi ce (1997), Ministerial Code
(Cabinet
Office, London).
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ethics: What should be done?
In
Kernaghan, K. and Dwivedi, O. P. (Eds),
Ethics in Public Service (International
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Brussels).
Chapman, Richard A. (1988), Ethics in
the British
Civil Service (Routledge, London).
Civil
Service
Commissioners (1997),
Civil
Service Commissioners
Annual
Report 1996-97 (Office
of the Civil
Service Commissioners, London).
Franks, Sir Oliver (Chairman) (1957),
Report of the

Committee on Administrative Tribunals and

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(1986), Cabinet (Basil
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Derek
(1997), Hidden Agendas,
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