Ethics in the Public Sector
UST 634 [501]/UST 734 [501]
Public Administration Program
Summer Semester, First Six Weeks, 2016
Dr. L. F. Keller, Instructor
Glickman-Miller Hall 217
Levin College of Urban Affairs
Cleveland State University
Syllabus
This is an online course that investigates the descriptive and normative dimensions of ethical behaviors
in public and not-for-profit organizations. As these are often complex organizations embedded in deep
politics ethical behavior can be counter-intuitive; that is, different from what is considered such
behavior outside of the organization and often even from what is to be expected within organizations.
The course will be both theoretical and experiential, calling upon and building from actual
organizational experiences. The class will use Blackboard exclusively. There will be a mandatory
class session on Saturday, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 21 May in UR 247. At that meeting we will set dates
for two other class sessions but attendance will be optional.
Scope
The course will cover all types of public organizations and organizations vested with public purposes at
all levels of government. All types of ethical behaviors will be examined and explanations of that
behavior studied.
Focus
The focus is on the nature and origins of ethics in complex American public and not-for-profit
organizations (NFP). Conceptually, most NFP’s are organizations vested with public purposes.
Complexity is related to but not solely determined by the size of the organization. Many NFP’s
organizations can be quite small in terms of staffing and budgets but quite complex in programming.
The most significant issues are how to create and sustain an ethical culture, an ethos, within and
without these organizations. This is a core requirement for administrative and political leadership in a
democratic republic. The quality of life for citizens and their ability to pursue personal visions of
happiness depend upon the effectiveness of ethical and constitutionally aware administrators in
organizations vested with public purposes.
Requirements
The study and understanding of ethical behavior requires careful reading of the text materials and
attention to Blackboard lectures as well as research. Thus, the course will require students to read,
listen and do. Readings will be from the textbooks as well as other assigned readings. All other
readings in addition to the textbooks shall be available from Blackboard.
Readings are listed in the Order of Study section below. They are organized by topic with the week for
which they are to be read in parenthesis after the topic. Students will have three (3) types of
requirements. One assignment is to analyze case studies and design strategies to deal with the ethical
issues and problems of the cases. The analysis and strategies will be done in several web assignments.
These web assignments will be in a pdf document on the home page for the course in Blackboard. The
specifics of the Web Assignments will be posted the Thursday of the week to be completed by the
following Tuesday. Feedback on the completed assignments will be added to the document.
Assignments are must be completed by midnight, well, 11:59 PM technically, of the day due.
Case studies will be from the textbook, Ethics in City Hall. Students will complete a written analysis
with recommendations and post them in the Discussion Area for the specific case. The most important
component of the analysis is the “why's,” that is, why do you see the case as you do and why do you
recommend what you do. You will post more than once, with the second post a reaction to the main
post of another student. You may post as often as desired, but only the first post with your
recommendations and reasoning along with a second post in reaction to the main post of another
student are required. All posts will be included in your grade for that assignment.
A second requirement is an analytical paper on the ethical code or if not a code, then the laws and
regulations of a governmental or not-for-profit organization. The requirements for the paper are
detailed below. A final requirement is a take-home final examination. This will be available on
Blackboard one (1) week prior to the due date.
In all written assignments, half a grade point is assessed for the quality of the writing; that is, you are
penalized for misspellings, poor grammar, etc. This follows what happens in the real world where any
and all of your writings identify the quality of your work, whether an E-Mail message or a formal
report. You can write your Discussion response in a word processor and shape it to a final more correct
form. You can then copy the posting from the word processor and paste it into the Discussion Board.
Don’t insert a file into the Discussion Forum – post your answer in the Forum space.
A Forum will be added when a new Assignment is added to this List. Grades will be posted on
Blackboard. Note grading for the course is not done on Blackboard. However, you can find grades for
each of your assignments on Blackboard. For each assignment the grade will be a number. Interpret
the number by Scale 1 in the Grade Section of the Syllabus. Thus, a score of 85 is a B. You can
calculate your grade using the information about how much each assignment counts in the Grade
Section of the Syllabus.
The Final Examination will be an essay examination. The completed examination shall be submitted
via Blackboard as will all assignments. All will be submitted via Turnitin which checks the submitted
file to all files available on the Internet. You will receive a report from Turnitin that notes if any of the
content of your file was found on the internet and where it is located. You can then determine if you
need to cite the source. Each question will have a page limit. This is a limit not a target.
The paper will examine a code of ethics for a specific local, state, and national government or a not-forprofit organization. Each students shall select a specific local, state and national government or a notfor-profit organization. Organizations selected shall be in one of the four (4) categories – national
government; state government; local government; and not-for-profit sector. Selections of organizations
will be equally allocated among the categories; that is, if the course has 25 students, the first 6
selections in one of the categories will close that category to any further selections.
Examples of governments and organizations are Cleveland or San Francisco or Dallas; Ohio, Missouri
or California; a federal agency such as Internal Revenue Service, National Labor Relations Board or
National Park Service; or a specific not-for-profit organization such as the International City/County
Management Association (ICMA), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), American Red
In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics. Earl Warren
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Cross, Ford Foundation or Gund Foundation. A selection becomes official by sending a course message
to the Instructor via the Course Message tool in Blackboard. The instructor will post the selections
daily in the Main or Home Page of Blackboard. The Home Page is where you login on Blackboard.
Selections of a particular government or organization go to the first person requesting that government
or organization. A list of all organizations selected and by which students will be maintained on the
homepage of Blackboard.
The paper will detail the main provisions of the specific Code of Ethics. In addition, the provisions
will be analyzed with the Ethics Triangle that Jim Svara develops in the Fourth Chapter of his textbook,
The Ethics Primer. Using a table format – this format is in most word processors – is an excellent
way to summarize provisions of a Code by type – principle, virtue or consequences. Finally, each
paper will conclude with an evaluation of the Code, noting any deficiencies as well as any questions
that may be raised. If available, attach the full Code in an appendix or a working link to the Code. If
time permits, all papers will be posted on Blackboard and available to all students. Thus, the class will
generate detailed examinations of four (4) types of Codes of Ethics.
All dates on which all assignments are due will be the Important Dates section below. All papers and
final examinations shall be submitted via Blackboard.
All assignments shall use one inch margins, 12 point typeface and be double-spaced. Any word
processor may be used. No pdf files will be accepted! Late submissions will lose points. Letter
grades may be assigned. In computing the final grade, letter grades will be converted to points as
detailed in the Grading Section. The final course average will be converted to a letter grade as detailed
in the Grading Section.
Textbooks
The required textbooks for the course are listed below. Both are available in the bookstore. Both will
used previously and may be available as used books. All other readings are available on Blackboard.
Readings on Blackboard are listed in the folder Readings and are organized by Topic.
The required textbooks are:
James Svara, Ethics Primer (second edition)
William N. Thompson and James E. Leidlein, Ethics in City Hall
Office Hours
I check Blackboard at least once a day. If useful and necessary, a face-to-face meeting can be arranged
at a mutually convenient place and time.
Contacting the Professor
For all course purposes, use the Course Message Tool within Blackboard to contact the professor. For
Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics. Jane Addams
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other purposes, he can be contacted via E-Mail at l.keller@csuohio.edu.
Grading
The final grade will be a weighted average of the following items with the following weights.
Web Assignments
(Analysis of three Cases)
30%
Code of Ethics Analysis Paper
40%
Final Examination
30%
For purposes of calculating the final course grade, all letter grades are turned into numeric scores
according to Scale 1 below. The course numeric average is turned into a letter grade according to Scale
2 below.
Scale 1
A+ = 99, A = 96, A- = 92, B+ = 89, B = 86, B- = 82, C+ = 79, C = 76, C- 72, etc., with F = 59 and
less.
Scale 2
93.5 and above = A, 89.5 - 93.4 = A-; 86.5 - 89.4 = B+, 82.5 - 86.4 = B; 79.5 - 82.4 = B-; 76.5
- 79.4 = C+, 72.5 - 76.4 = C; 69.5 - 72.4 = C-; etc.
On all graded papers, including all tests, comments will be in brackets, [ ]. Thus you can
find all comments by searching for a bracket. Comments at the end of a paper detail why
the particular grade. Two comments that are used frequently are [ww] – indicates a
wrong word or form of a word was used – and [sp] – word is misspelled. Some comments
may be comments on the substance of the paper, such as acknowledging an insight or
that a perspective may be interesting. Such comments do not directly affect the grade
but are feedback on the paper.
Honor Code
The Levin College Public Administration Program does not have a formal Honor Code. Often, a
program requires students to sign such a Code which details the ethics that should guide behavior of
both Faculty and students. Any questions about the Code should be asked prior to engaging in any
behavior that one thinks may be under its provisions. The Professor will enforce an Honor Code that
includes but is not limited to the following:
1. Each student shall treat all students and their opinions with respect.
In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics. Earl Warren
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2. Each student shall diligently complete all assignments.
3. A student shall do his or her own work. Any work taken from others will be correctly footnoted and
acknowledged.
4. All problems with any aspect of the class or with any other student shall be reported to the Professor
in a timely fashion.
5. The Professor shall clearly state course goals and how these relate to professional needs.
6. The Professor shall treat all students in a similar and just fashion, varying any treatment to meet
course goals and/or the specific needs of a student.
7. The Professor shall timely return all assignments, complete with explanation of why they received
the grades they did.
8. The Professor will answer all relevant and appropriate questions and be available to meet with
students at mutually agreed upon times.
Punishment for failure to comply with the above provisions will be fair, formal and clear. In the case of
rule 3, conscious plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of another’s materials as one´s own with the
intent to do so, a second violation will result in an F for the course. The first violation is a F for the
specific assignment. The punishment reflects the nature of the crime; it is repugnant to academic,
professional and personal integrity.
Important Dates
21 May – First Class, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM UR 247
1 July – Last Day of Class
28 May – Last Date to Drop Course, course does not appear on transcript
2 June – First Web Assignment Posted
7 June – First Web Assignment Due
16 June – Second Web Assignment Posted
20 June - Last Day to Withdraw, W appears on transcript
21 June – Second Web Assignment Due
23 June – Third Web Assignment Posted
28 June – Third Web Assignment Due
29 June – Final Examination Posted
1 July – Code of Ethics Paper Due
5 July - Final Examination Due
Version 6.5
Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics. Jane Addams
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Order of Study
Part I: Essential Background and Tools of Understanding (Week 1)
Topic 1 – Science, Technology and the Tools for the Study of Organized Life
Readings
John Holland, Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity.
Introduction and Chapter 1
3 handouts on Science and Research
Topic 2 – Organizations, Theory and Administration
Readings
Lawrence F. Keller, Chapter 1 Public Administration and the American
Republic: The Continuing Saga of Management and Administration
in Politics
Topic 3 – Basic Understandings of Ethos and Public Service
Readings
James Svara, Ethics Primer, Chapter 1 [hereinafter Svara]
William Thompson and James Leidlein, Ethics in City Hall, Introduction
and A Note on the Cases [hereinafter Thompson]
Part II: Understanding and Managing Ethics in Organizations
Topic 4 – Ethics and Duty (Week 2)
Readings
Svara, Chapters 2 and 3
Topic 5 – Ethical Philosophy and Codes (Week 3)
Readings
Svara, Chapters 4 and 5
In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics. Earl Warren
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Topic 6 – Challenges and Responsibilities (Week 4)
Readings
Svara, Chapters 6 and 7
Topic 7 – Ethical Acts and Culture (Week 5)
Readings
Svara, Chapters 8 and 9
Topic 8 – Ethical Public Administration (Week 6)
Readings
Svara, Chapters 10 and 11
Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics. Jane Addams
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