Practical Ethics in Public Administration

Providing today's public administrators with the skills to deal with complex ethical problems, make decisions with greater self-assurance and perform their duties in the most ethically justifiable manner, Practical Ethics in Public Administration is an invaluable guide to applying sound ethical theories to everyday situations.

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Ethically problematic cases occur everywhere, but rarely can the implications be as wide-reaching or the consequences as serious as with those in the arena of public management. Most people working in the public sector want to do the 'right' thing, but the issues involved can be complex, and sometimes the answers are anything but easy. This third edition of Practical Ethics in Public Administration offers, at its core, the tools, techniques and methods needed to clarify difficult or problematic ethical situations and to determine the best course of action.

Designed for use as a text on public administration and professional ethics courses, or as a reference book for those working in the public sector, Practical Ethics in Public Administration is an engaging and informative blend of theory and practice. The authors introduce established ethical theories and, using real-life and hypothetical examples, develop a unified ethical approach that can be applied to everyday situations. Readers will learn the ethical nature of questions such as whether to fire an employee, how to allocate departmental funds and how to evaluate an employee's performance in a yearly appraisal.

New material in this edition also covers the emerging ethical issues related to private-public partnerships, the shift from compliance-based to moral-based integrity and the context of moral complacency.