ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITY
Fall 2014
Pub Adm 400
Contact information:
Dennis Hatch
e-mail: drhatch@uwm.edu
Bolton Hall 6th floor
Masters of Public Administration
The University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee
Phone: 262-821-3170
P.O. Box 413
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201
IMPORTANT: Please remember that I will be sending everything to your UWM e-mail account. If you
don’t regularly use that account, make sure that you check it or forward it to an account that you do use
regularly. All notes and course information will be sent via Word file and PDF file.
Course Description
This course is about ethics, or the principled choices between alternative actions faced by public
administrators. Each day, policymakers and administrators in the public sector are faced with the
dilemma of making ethically-sound decisions. This course seeks to understand how public
administrators make such decisions by examining the moral and value systems that shape public
administration as well as the temptations that can cause officials to stray from ethical standards. This
course is intended for upper level undergraduate and graduate students interested in obtaining an
understanding of practical applied ethics in the field of Public Administration and non-profit
Management.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will . . .
1.
Have a better understanding of the value and ethical issues public administrators face on a dayto-day basis.
2. Have an understanding of the tools and decision-making processes public administrators use to
make ethical decisions.
3. Be engaged in analyzing real world ethical dilemmas faced by public administrators through case
studies of actual events.
4. Be provided with the background knowledge in ethics necessary for working in the public sector
Required Texts
Geuras, Dean and Charles Garofalo 2011. Practical Ethics in Public Administration, 3rd ed. Vienna, VA:
Management Concepts. ISBN:978-1-56726-295-7.
Menzel, Donald C. 2012, 2nd ed. Ethics Management for Public Administrators. Amonk, NY: ME Sharpe
Inc. ISBN:978-0-7656-3261-6.
Required for Graduate Students only: O’Leary, Rosemary 2014. The Ethics of Dissent: Managing the
Guerrilla Government. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. ISBN:978-1-4522-2631-6
Class Structure
It is absolutely essential to check the “Announcements” section of the D2L page every few days for
course updates and reminders.
For the purposes of this class, each week will start on Monday at 12:01 a.m. and end on Sunday at 11:59
p.m.. I will post lecture notes and other files to D2L each week.
You should review the readings and files on D2L each week. There will be no new postings or assigned
readings during exam weeks. As the exam in this class will be closed book, access to note files on D2L
will be limited during exam weeks (i.e. when an exam is active, the notes for that section will not be
available).
Topics in the lecture notes posted to D2L do not always coincide with topics in the textbooks. In some
cases, the texts do not give enough coverage to topics I would like to see covered, so the notes will go
into more detail on these topics. In other cases, the books simply don’t present coverage on certain
topics at all. In other words, the note files posted to D2L don’t simply rehash what’s in the textbooks.
The main point is that you need to read the books and D2L lecture files to do well in this course.
This is NOT a self-paced course where you have the option to finish the course assignments/exams
whenever you would like. New course materials (e.g., notes and outlines) will be posted on a weekly
basis rather than everything being available on D2L all at once at the start of the semester (of course,
you are free to read ahead in the textbooks if you would like).
All e-mail notices to the class will be sent to the list of addresses I have on the D2L website. You should
make sure your e-mails are forwarded to an account you do check regularly. I will not be held
responsible if you miss e-mail announcements because of how you manage your e-mail accounts.
Course Requirements and Grading
Grading Scale used to determine final course grade:
A 93-100
C- 70-72.9
A- 90-92.9 B+ 87-89.9 B 83-86.6 B- 80-82.9C+ 77-79.9
D+ 67-69.9 D 63-66.9 D- 60-62.9 F 0-59.
C
73-76.9
Grades for undergraduate students will be based on the following:
Personal view of ethics paper
10%
Case study paper
15%
Mid-term exam
20%
Code of ethics and related law paper
20%
Final research project
35%
Grades for graduate students will be based on the following:
Personal view of ethics paper
5%
Case study paper
10%
Mid-term exam
15%
Code of ethics and related law paper
20%
Final research project
35%
Public Administrations Book Review
15%
There is no final exam for this course.
Specific guidelines regarding each assignment will be provided in advance via a separate handout
posted on the D2L site well in advance of all assignments (papers). Your work should be sent via the
D2L drop box function and placed as an attachment created in a Microsoft Word document. Upon
receipt of your paper submissions and my reading, I will provide individual feedback on your work and
a grade, again via the drop box. All papers must be submitted on or before the deadline specified.
The D2L function will not permit submission after the deadline date and time.
The following are the required products for the course semester/more specifics will be provided in
advance.
Personal View of Ethics Paper – This will be a 3 page paper where you discuss your personal
feelings about the field of ethics. This paper will be due the third week session, after we have covered
some of the basic concepts in ethics (both in notes and through the assigned readings). While it is
difficult to grade personal opinions as being “right” or “wrong”, the paper should reflect upon and
reference the readings assigned for the first two weeks of class.
Case Study Paper (1 paper:
3 pages required for undergraduates and 5 pages required for graduate
students) – The case study will be a real world ethical decision-making dilemma and will be selected by
you, the student. Your chosen case can be from current events (e.g. stories about political officials you
read in the newspaper or on the Internet) or a case relevant to your specific field of interest, for
example, within Public Administration, (e.g., financial administration, nonprofit administration, etc.) .
Please note the page difference for undergraduate and graduate papers.
Case study papers should adhere to the following format:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Introduction/definition of the problem
Reason(s) the problem has ethical dimensions/is an ethical problem
Facts and circumstances involved in the case
Ethical theory or problem-solving framework that can be used to resolve the dilemma
Concluding comments about the case
Mid-term exam – The mid-term exam will be a combination of multiple choice, True/False
questions (50 questions)and two short essays. You will be able to select two from three choices. The
exam will be administered via D2L. You will be able to take it anytime from 8:00 a.m. on October 22nd
until 11:00 p.m. October 23rd, during the exam week.
The exam is closed book and closed note. Using notes, books, or working with other students are all
prohibited activities. You should prepare for this exam just as you would for an exam administered in a
traditional classroom setting. There will be a time limit of 60 minutes for the entire exam. This is the
same time limit you would have if you were taking a 50 minute exam and two short essays in the faceto-face version of the course, so you should have ample time. (Assuming you prepare for the exam like
you would for a regular closed book/note exam.)
Once you log on and start an exam, you must complete it. You cannot begin an exam then re-enter D2L
at a later time and finish it. For this reason, you need to be absolutely sure you have a reliable Internet
connection before logging on to take the exams. Please do not wait until just before an exam period
closes to log on and take an exam. I will not accept excuses if you wait until the last minute and find
that you have computer or other issues that prevent you from taking an exam.
Due to reliability issues, the Learning Technologies Center at UWM asks that students NOT take exams
for online courses via wireless Internet connections. Please try to use a computer with a wired Internet
connection (e.g., DSL, cable modem, etc.) when taking the exam.
Code of Ethics and Related Law Paper
(7 to 9 pages, not including copy of the code selected)
– This paper will be an analysis of either a Code of Ethics from a public or nonprofit organization.
Whichever topic you choose, a copy of the code of ethics from the organization should be included with
your paper. Your paper should provide a thorough discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the
code and why. You should also provide a summary assessment about the overall effectives of the code.
The “related law” component of the paper gives you room to discuss local, state or federal laws related
to the code of ethics you have selected. Your analysis should be grounded in what you have learned
from the notes and readings to this point in the course, and references to other researched literature,
i.e., state and federal law, relevant cases and articles. This paper will be due the week of November
17th.
Final Research Project (10 to 12 pages) – Your project should be an examination of a topic in
the field of Public Administration where ethical conflicts/problems have occurred and/or an issue where
ethical problems/conflicts are likely to occur in the future. Both current public policies and proposed
public policies are fair game. The focus can be on issues that are local or national in scope. You will be
expected to conduct outside research (e.g., books and articles beyond the assigned readings) on the
topic you have selected. Each student will be required to turn in a brief topic abstract along with a
bibliography of proposed research resources during the week of October 27th but no later than 11:59
p.m. October 29th. The final paper is due during final week , no later than December 18th at 12:00 noon
.
Graduate Students Only : Public Administration Ethics Book Review (8 to 10
pages) – This assignment is for graduate students only. This paper will be a review of the ethics text
required for the course, The Ethics of Dissent, by Rosemary O’Leary. Your review of the text and
comments will be due anytime during final week but no later than 12:00 noon December 18th.
Late Work Penalties
Your overall course grade is based largely on writing assignments. You are expected to turn in
assignments on time. The due dates for all assignments are clearly listed in the Schedule of Class
Sessions portion of the syllabus. I will accept work turned in late but there will be a 10% grade penalty
applied for each day an assignment is turned in after its specified due date.
Other Course Policies
Students with Special Needs- Students with Special Needs are encouraged to contact me at the
beginning of the semester to work out any necessary arrangements.
Academic Misconduct – The University has a responsibility to promote academic honesty and integrity
and to develop procedures to deal effectively with instances of academic dishonesty. Students are
responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of
sources and for respect of others’ academic endeavors. Any instances of cheating will be referred to the
appropriate authorities for disciplinary action.
Information or UWM policies related to students with special needs, academic misconduct, course
incompletes and other topics can be found at the following link:
http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Schedule of Class Sessions
9/1-9/7
Week 1
9/8– 9/14 Week 2
9/15 – 9/21
Introduction (No readings)
Definitions and Ethical Concepts: Readings: Garofalo: Chapter 3 (p. 43-69)
Week 3 Morals, Values and Professional Conduct: Garofalo: Chapter 1 (p. 1-14),
Chapter 6 (p. 125-144), Menzel: Chapter 1 (p. 3-31)
Personal View of Ethics Paper Due: 9/25 12:01 a.m.
9/22-9/28
Week 4
Administrative Responsibility, Conflicts and Decision-making:
The Politics/Implementation Dilemmas: Readings: Garofalo: Chapter 4
(p. 71-95), Menzel: Chapter 2 (p. 32-53)
9/29-10/5
Week 5
Responsible Approaches to Ethical Deliberation (Ethical Decision-making on
a Daily Basis): Readings: Garofalo: Chapter 7 (p. 145-159), Chapter 9
(p. 193-231)
Paper 2 (Case Study Paper ) Due 10/9 12:01 a.m.
10/6-10/12
Week 6 Formats and Skills to Identify and Deal with Ethical Dilemmas:
Readings: Garofalo: Chapter 8 (p. 163-192).
10/13-10/19
Week 7Codes of Ethics: Models for Decision-makers: Readings: Garofalo:
Chapter 5 (p.97-123), Menzel: Chapter 4 (p.77-116)
10/20-10/26
Week 8 Mid-term exam week – Mid-term 10/22-10/23
Abstract Final Paper Topic Due: no later than: 10/29
10/27-11/2 Week 9 Managing Ethics in The Government and Nonprofit Organizaitons:
Readings: Menzel: Chapter 3 (p. 54-73), Chapter 5(p.118-132), Garofalo:
Chapter 13 (p.313-336),Chapter 14 (p.337-368).
11/3-11/9
Week 10 The Law and Ethics 1: State and Local Laws Related to Ethical Standards and
Conduct: U.S. and International: Readngs: Menzel: Chapter 7(p.161-183),
Chapter9(206-232).
11/10-11/16
Week 11 The Law and Ethics II: Federal Whistleblower “Quo Tam” Statutes
(Relevant Case Law): Readings: Menzel: Chapter 8 (p. 184-205)
Code of Ethics and Related Law Paper Due: 11/20 (no later than 11:59 p.m.)
11/17-11/23
Week 12 Comparative Ethics and Standards, Government versus Business: Is there
a difference?: Readings: Carofalo: Chapter 2 (p. 15-42)
11/24-11/30 Week 13 Thanksgiving Break- no readings (suggest work on final paper)
12/1-12/7
Week 14 The Future of Ethics for the Professional Administrator: Readings:
Menzel: Chapter 10 (p. 234-255). Garofalo: Chapters 10-12 (p.239-312)
12/8-12/4
12/15-12/20
students.
Week 15 Wrap-up and key points: Readings: Garofalo: Chapters 15-16 (p. 369-404)
Final Week: There will no final exam. Final research paper project due for all
Graduate students: Book review also due.
All papers due no later than 12:00 noon 12/18