Often, public administrators’ morals and identity as well as their capacity for decision making and innovation are entangled in their standard of ethics. These entanglements may cause challenges in determining ethical behavior. However, such entanglements are necessary. Public service is society’s instrument for managing and resolving complex, interdependent issues affecting all individuals and organizations. Public expectations and formal standards demand that public administrators undertake sophisticated ethical reasoning and apply rigorous ethical standards to decisions and behavior.
As discussed in the text, Cooper’s ethical decision-making model assists the responsible public administrator in assessing and addressing ethical dilemmas. Public administrators need to consider all underlying factors of a dilemma and the potential solutions in order to ensure the most proper outcome.
For this Assignment, review the following resources:
- Chapter 2 of The Responsible Administrator, focusing on the components of ethical decision making
- Dryburgh (2009), “Personal and Policy Implications of Whistle-Blowing: The Case of Corcoran State Prison”
The Assignment (3 -4 pages in APA format): To demonstrate proper case analysis using Cooper’s ethical decision-making model, your assignment should include the following:
- A description of the situation and the ethical issues involved in this case study (Dryburgh, 2009)
- A description of the possible courses of action that the guards could have taken
- An explanation of why they chose to be whistle blowers
- An explanation of the positive and negative consequences for each possible course of action the guards could have taken
- An explanation of how the ethical dilemma was resolved as well as its impact on the organization and individuals involved