WHAT IS ETHICS?
 Ethics is beyond fraud & corruption.
 Standards of right & wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, in terms of rights,
obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.
 Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain
from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud.
 Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty.
And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to
freedom from injury, and the right to privacy.
ETHICAL VALUES
 Trustworthiness: honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, loyalty;
 Respect: autonomy, privacy, dignity, courtesy, tolerance,
acceptance;
 Responsibility: accountability, pursuit of excellence;
 Caring: compassion, consideration, giving, sharing, kindness, loving;
 Justice and fairness: procedural fairness, impartiality, consistency, equity, equality, due process;
and
 Civic virtue and citizenship: law abiding, community service, protection of environment.
("Six Pillars of Character" -The Josephson Institute of Ethics)
CAN/SHOULDETHICS BE MANAGED?
 HOW?
 WHAT? Is about changing behaviuors.
 WHY?
 To build organizations of Integrity. WHY? Key to good governance.
 Strength of any government system - respect of citizens it earns and holds. That respect comes
from the confidence people have in the integrity of government & services it provides. Every
public servant has a role to play in earning that respect for government and maintaining
confidence in its institutions.
 Public Service has extensive influence over people’s lives. People expect public servants to be
honest, fair, and loyal. These are absolute standards. We must meet those expectations.
 They expect that public money is spent wisely and public assets are used and cared for
responsibly. They expect that public servants always behave ethically, & be conscientious and
competent in their work.
 Ethics does not happen by it self.
 Organization brings together people with different values and motives. Ethics should be actively
managed to set common norms and standards, communicated and enforced.
 Greater the different value sets or interpretations brought together in an organization, greater
the need for a common understanding of core ethical values &what they require in terms of
concrete conduct.
HOW CAN EHTICS BE MANAGED?
 From “organization to person” & “regulation to stimulation.”
 Ethics is actively managed by means of an organizational ethics program driven from the TOP,
setting the tone.
 Commit — Executive and senior management commitment to the program.
 Assess — Measure the organization’s ethical effectiveness and ethical culture
 Codify — Develop a Code of Ethics — A values statement and conduct provisions (code of
conduct) that communicate with each other
 Formalize — Set up formal ethics structures and systems, such as an ethics office with Ethics
Officer(s), ethics committee (HRC), ethics training, ethics communication systems, and an ethics
line (encompassing a whistle-blowing line/hotline for reporting observed misconduct and a help
line for advice)
 Integrate — Make the formal structures work efficiently and build an ethical culture that
legitimizes ethics discourse and conduct.
ETHICS MANAGEMENT (Glance)
(Source: Philippine)
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
 HRM is related to “good employeeship” as well as to “good employership.”
 How employee relates to organization, resources, colleagues and citizens in a decent, respectful
and honest manner. Through the application of (specific) HR (integrity) instruments,
management can try to influence the behavior of the employee. This use of HRM is aimed
primarily at protecting the organization.
 How employer (organizational management) relates to the employee in adecent, respectful and
honest manner. Management will have to use HR instruments in a sound manner that entails,
amongst other things, honest remuneration and evaluation, but also handling reorganizations,
mergers and cutback operations in an honest way. This offers protection for the employee in
particular, but also for the organization. With regard to personnel who feel that they are treated
discourteously, the temptation to act in a dishonest way appears to arise quicker (Trevino and
Weaver, 2001).
(e.g. ACC Ethical Code of Conduct – resp. of employer & employee)
(ETHICS) INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT
(ETHICS) INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT INSTRUMENTS (OECD)
CHECK LIST (OECD)
PRINCIPLES FOR MANAGING ETHICS IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE (OECD)
 Ethical standards for public service should be clear.
 Ethical standards should be reflected in the legal framework.
 Ethical guidance should be available to public servants.
 Public servants should know their rights and obligations when exposing wrongdoing.
 Political commitment to ethics should reinforce the ethical conduct of public servants.
 The decision-making process should be transparent and open to scrutiny.
 There should be clear guidelines for interaction between the public and private sectors.
 Managers should demonstrate and promote ethical conduct.
 Management policies, procedures and practices should promote ethical conduct.
 Public service conditions and management of human resources should promote ethical
conduct.
 Adequate accountability mechanisms should be in place within the public service.
 Appropriate procedures and sanctions should exist to deal with misconduct.