this course help to understand ethics in public administrations

1. Ethics in public
administration

2. Topics that is going to be discussesd
• Origin of ethics
• Definition of ethics
• Ethics and moral

3. Origin of ethics
• Ethics originated from various cultures and civilizations. That
is why it is not a common code of law for all nations
• These situations or conditions continued even after the
bigger societies formed themselves into states
• At a later stage of development, people discovered that
some actions are good, and some are bad or wrong.
• Ethics, therefore, originated from people asking questions
and wondering about the activities around them
• For example the idea of killing and protecting one’s country from
enemy.

4. • Ethical theories are products of their own time. They arise because people
are not satisfied either with their personal lives or with the world in which
they live.
• Philosophical ethics began to develop with Plato (c.429-347 BC), who held
the view that if a person knows what the good life is, he or she will not act
immorally.
• Aristotle (c.384-322 BC) adopts a scientific or an empirical approach to
ethics. His answer to what is the good life for a man is “It is a life of
happiness. His ethical philosophy is referred to as virtue ethics.

5. Definition of ethics
• Social and political institutions are reflections of society and its value
• The word ethics is derived from Greek word ‘ethos’ which means way
of living.
• Ethics
• is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with human conduct.
• It consists of conduct of human beings living in a society.
• It study what morally is right or wrong , which define how individuals choose
to interact with one another
• It is a set of standards that society places on itself and which help to guide
behavior, choices and actions.

6. • Narrowly defined according to its original use
• Ethics is a branch of philosophy
• It used to deal with human behavior and ideal ways of being
• The approaches to ethics and the meanings of related concepts have
varied over time among philosophers
• As a philosophical discipline of study:
• it is a systematic approach to understanding, analyzing and distinguishing
matters of right and wrong, good and bad, as they relate to the well-being or
and the relationships among human beings.
• Ethics is an active process rather than a static condition.
• Because evaluations generated through the practice of ethics requires a
balance of emotions and reasons.

7. • Ethics and morals are intimately related.
• Ethics
• are based on morals and they provided specific norms that should guide one’s
conduct in concrete interactive situation.
• It refers to a generally accepted set of principles and standards used by an individual
to guide their thoughts , to determine the goodness/badness action.
• It essentially about making the right choices/decisions
• Ethics is both positive and negative: It enjoins virtues of honesty, integrity,
compassion, loyalty, beneficence ; at the same time, it imposes reasonable
restrictions to refrain from malfeasance such as stealing, lying, slander
• Morals
• It is derived from the Latin word ‘mores’ meaning custom, or habit
• are specific beliefs, behaviors and ways of being derived from doing ethics.
• standards are expressed in terms of values as a frame work that should endorsed
and followed.
• The opposite of morality is immorality
• Means that person’s behavior is in opposition to accepted societal, religious, cultural

8. ETHICS Vs Moral
Ethics Morals
origin Greek word ’ethos’ meaning
character
Latin word ‘mores’ meaning
custom/habit
What are they? Accepted set of
principles and standards
to guide thoughts,
behavior and actions
Values, ideas and beliefs
which are used to determine
the goodness/badness or
rightness/wrongness of
thoughts, behavior and
action
At what level they exist? Society, institution and
individual
Individual
Where do they come Social system – external Individual-internal

9. • As governance involves several stakeholders who have to interact
with each other and the government in the process of governance
there is a need for a framework of norms or rules (codified norms)
that guides the interaction.

10. importance of ethics in Administration
•The importance of ethics in administration are:-
• promote the sense of administrative responsibility
• establish and promote the good relations between the citizen
and civil service
• preserve and promote social wellbeing , public interest, and
common good
• improve the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative
process

11. determinants of ethics in administration
• The levels of ethics in governance are dependent on the historical, social,
economic, political, legal-judicial factors of the country.
• The historical factors
• The long legacy of unethical practices in governance is likely to enhance the tolerance level for
administrative immorality
• Precedents and traditions set by the top administrators, ministers and legislators also play an
important role.
• The socio-cultural factors
• family system and the educational system are influential instruments of socialisation
• Religion also plays significant role in influencing the work ethics of its people.
• other factors
• Communication patterns in the administrative system , Effectiveness of disciplinary action on the
civil servants ,Ethical standards and values existing in the society

12. Elements / Important aspects of ethics in
administration
• Integrity
• An administrator would undertake an administrative action on the basis of honesty and
not use his power, position
• It is much more than financial honesty.
• Responsibility and accountability
• no hesitation to accept responsibility for his decisions and actions
• Hold oneself morally responsible for ones actions and decision making
• be willing to be held accountable to higher authorities of governance
• Efficiency
• administrative system should faithfully adhere to principle of efficiency and quality
management

13. • Impartiality
• acting solely according to the merits of the case
• serving governments of different political parties and the general public equally well
and in the same spirit.
• Neutrality
• is an essential ingredient of civil service in a democratic setup for integrity the
efficiency of administration
• implementation of the decisions of the government by the civil service faithfully
whether such decisions were in consonance with their advice or not.
• Compassion
• without violating the prescribed laws and rules, would demonstrate compassion for
the poor, the disabled and the weak while using ones discretion in making decisions
• Justice
• those responsible for formulation and execution of policies and decisions of
governance would ensure that respect is shown to the principles of equality, equity,
fairness

14. Sub-discipline divisions of ethics
• As a branch of philosophy, ethics has three main subdivisions:
• meta-ethics
• normative ethics
• applied ethics
1. Meta-ethics
• It deals with the nature of moral judgement. It looks at the origins and meaning of ethical principles
• It tries to study the origin of ethical concept
• It addresses questions such as ‘what is good?’; ‘what is bad?’; ‘what is right?’; ‘what is wrong?’; Ethical Relativism and
Ethical Absolutism; Ethical Skepticism
• Ethical relativism: Moral Relativism and Cultural Relativism
• It holds that there are no universal or absolute ethical standards which apply across individuals or cultures
• Most philosophers reject ethical relativism while admitting that moral practices differ markedly from one culture to another. Regardless of
cultural context, there are certain universal principles and norms which ought to be followed
• )

15. • Challenges to Ethics/Moral Accountability: Ethical Scepticism
• First view is that human beings are incapable of following ethics/morals; this view supported by Psychological Egoism
(human beings are innately selfish try to maximize their self interest/utility
• However, there is no empirical evidence for this; too simplistic and over-generalization
• Second view is that although human beings are capable of being ethical, it is difficult to pursue moral goals due to
following reasons :
• Ethical relativism
• There are no universal/objective ethical standards: moral relativism(moral judgements differs from individual to
individual) & cultural relativism (cultures have their own ethical norms)
• Determinism and free will
• the decisions and actions of humans are determined by external forces
• Accountability of moral agents
• Morality is determined by three elements existence of free will, the purpose/intention of action & the
circumstances/time/place of action

16. 2. Normative ethics
• It tries to develop theories of morality which set standards of right and wrong conduct
• It is the branch of ethical philosophy that examines how one should act
• It investigates the standards and principles to assess the rightness/wrongness or goodness/badness of
actions
• Knowledge of normative ethical theories facilitates the process of ‘Ethical/Moral Reasoning’

17. • Ethical/moral reasoning
• is the process by which an individual tries to do the right thing when being
faced with an ethical dilemma.
• It has 4 components
1. Moral sensitivity
• the ability to see an ethical dilemma
2. Moral judgement
• the ability to reason correctly about what ought to be done in a specific situation
3. Moral choice
• choosing the best option and accepting moral responsibility for the outcome
4. Moral character
• courageous persistence in spite of temptation to take the easy way out; difference
between knowledge and wisdom

18. 3. Applied Ethics
• It examines specific, controversial ethical issues and seek to apply ethical principles to concrete social issues
• Environmental ethics: Balance between development and environment; ethics of climate change
• It tries to look at controversial topics like war, animal rights and capital punishment

19. Division of ethics
1.META-ETHICS 2.NORMATIVE ETHICS 3.APPLIED ETHICS
1.1. Realism 2.1. Consequentialism
1.2. Intuitionism 2.2. Deontology
1.3. Naturalism 2.3. Virtue Theories
1.4. Subjectivism
1.5. Relativism
1.6. Cognitivism
1.7. Non-Cognitivism
1.8. Universal prescriptivism

20. 1.META-ETHICS
• It investigates where our ethical principles come from, and
what they mean.
• It tries to give answer about ethics by focusing on the issues
of universal truths, the will of God, the role of reason in
ethical judgments, and the meaning of ethical terms
themselves.
• The term meta means beyond or after. So, metaethics
means beyond ethics.

21. • it does not prescribe moral precepts and has no practical effects.
• Some of its key aspects are:-
1.1. Realism
• it is objectivistic because it supposes something independent of
the perceivers.
• To claim that something is objective means that it exists,whether its
existence is held to be true or not
• Realism in the context of ethics is thus the view that morality is
objective.
• Intuitionism and naturalism are closely related to realism.

22. 1.2. Intuitionism
• It is the view that moral claims can be true or false independent of the
person making a claim & is what leads to the knowledge of such truth or
falsity.
• basically it is direct and immediate knowledge of values without the need
to define the notion, to justify a conclusion or to build up inferences.
• Intuitive knowledge is self-evident
• Accordingly, intuitionism in ethics maintains that basic moral propositions
are self-evident, that is evident in and of themselves and so can be known
without the need of any argument.

23. • Another feature of intuitionism is that moral properties are
indefinable and non-natural
• because they are simply put differently; they deny that moral properties can
be defined wholly in terms of psychological, sociological or biological
properties.
1.3. Naturalism
• It agrees with intuitionism that moral judgements are propositions
which can be true or false.
• Unlikely to intuitionism it dismisses the view that moral fact or
properties are not simple but can always be reduced to, or identified
with other properties such as needs, wants or pleasure,
• For instance, it maintain that goodness can be further analyzed or explained,
reduced to something else or identified with some other properties.

24. • It is against this background that naturalists believe that goodness is a
unique property which does not exist. The same view holds for badness,
rightness, and wrongness.
1.4. Subjectivism
• It denies that moral properties are objective in nature.
• This implies that no moral opinion is superior to the other.
• This view which ties ethical statement to the expression of one’s
approval or disapproval, is also described as emotivism.

25. 1.5 Relativism
• This is subjectivism at the social or cultural level.
• It claims that society shoulders the duty to determine what counts
as morally right or morally wrong.
• Logically it leads to the conclusion that different things are right
for people in different societies and in different periods in history.
• A branch of metaethics also called descriptive ethics; relativism
studies the actual moral beliefs or rules that guide conduct in
different society.
• Relativism thereby denies universal truths.

26. 1.6 Cognitivism & Non-cognitivism
• cognitivism
• This concept holds that ethical propositions are meaningful and they can be
true or false
• Both naturalism and intuitionism are forms of cognitivism.
• Non-cognitivism
• It claims that ethical statement does not express a proposition; they are
meaningless and can neither be true nor false. Subjectivism is a form of
non-cognitive theory.

27. 2 Normative Ethics
• It is a branch of ethics that prescribes moral principles which should regulate
people’s conducts.
• It is concerned with the analysis and systematization of ethical theories.
• It is substantive because it tells what counts as morally right or morally wrong.
• It includes the formulation of moral rules that have direct implication for both
human actions, institutions and how ways of life should look like.

28. 2.1 Consequentialism
• It s is also known as teleologony, and it is the view that the result produced by
action is what determines whether or not such action is moral or not.
• If the good is greater, then the action is morally right if otherwise, the action is
morally improper
• Some consequentialist theories are utilitarianism, egoism and altruism
• Utilitarianism, is the view that action is right if it produces good or happiness to the
greatest number.
• Egoism, claims that a morally right action is one which is favorable only to the agent
performing the action. In other words, rational behavior requires attempting to
maximize self-interest
• Altruism, action is morally right if the consequences are favorable to others
even if they are not favorable to the agent.

29. 2.2 Deontology
•Deontology is otherwise referred to as non-consequentialism
•It is a theory which state that the rightness or wrongness of
an action is inherent in the action, which is independent of
the result it produces.
•identify duty or obligation as the foundation of our
moral conduct.
•It is from the Greek word ‘deon’ which means duty. Kant’s
duty ethics emphasizes categorical imperative and leaves no
room for personal desires in ethical matters.
•For instance, self improvement.

30. 2.3. Virtue Theories
• It emphasis on the learning of well-defined ethical norms and following them
accordingly.
• It stress the development of good habit or character and putting them to
action.
• According to it morality becomes a habit
• According to it Not only must we acquire good character, but the bad character
must also be avoided.

32. Chapter Two. Ethics in Public Administration
• Ethics are the rules that define moral conduct according to
the ideology of a specific group.
• ethics in public office and administration are important for
good conduct based on the needs of a specific town, state or
country.
• Adhering to a code of ethics can be challenging but it is
important for trust in society and smooth running of
government.
• Public sector ethics is a broad topic because values and
morals vary between cultures.

33. • Government ethics constitutes the application of ethical rules to
government.
• It covers issues of honesty and transparency in government,
dealing with matters such as bribery, political corruption, police
corruption, legislative ethics, regulatory ethics, conflict of interest,
avoiding the appearance of impropriety, open government, and
legal ethics.

34. Importance of Ethics in Public Administration
• It provide accountability between the public and the administration.
• It also gives the administration guidelines for integrity in their operations
• It foster the trust of the community in return , the administration helps the
public understand that they are working with their best interests in mind.
• It creates standards of professionalism that co-workers in the public sector
can expect from each other .
• There will be timely and informative communication with the community.,
transparency.
• Transparency in return, builds trust and prevents or minimizes the potential
issues that can arise when information is discovered from outside sources

35. Reason for public sector ethics
• Public sector/the state is the government with all its ministries ,departments
,administration and so on.
• The public sector is made up of two components
• Political level
• Political institutions
• Where policies are made and the main decision is made
• Administrative level
• Public sector administration
• In charge with implementing those policies
• This stage is also called civil service/government administration
• Sometimes can also be called bureaucracy
• The difference b/n policies as well as administration is not completely clear.
• The public sector also range from delivering social security, urban
management, organizing national defense. So in order to do so there must
be ethical enough action.

36. Principles for Managing Ethics in Public Service
• ethical standards for public service must be clear
• ethical standards for public service must be clear, precise and well organized
statement.
• It must also be reflected in the legal frameworks across the board
• Ethical guidance must also be available to the public servants
• Guidance and internal consultation mechanisms must also be made available
in efforts to enable the public administrators apply the basic ethical principles
• The decision-making process should also be open to scrutiny and transparent.
• public scrutiny should also be facilitated through democratic as well as
transparent processes.

37. Challenges in the management of ethics
•public management reforms
• entailing greater devolution of responsibility or discretion for
public officials, budgetary pressures
•new forms of delivery of public services
•budgetary pressures
•globalization and development of the international
economic relations

38. ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS
• Administrative Ethics
• It denote the professional code of morality in civil services
• constitute the moral character of civil servants
• regulate the conduct and behaviour of different categories of civil servants
• In the context of the growing size and role of administration and its impact on
the society, the civil servants are expected to set-up high moral standards not
only for themselves but also for the community at large.
Element/Component of Ethics
• The various elements/components of Ethics are:
• Integrity Honesty Loyalty to the nation
• Efficiency Neutrality Non-partisan attitude
• Anonymity Impartiality Fairness Devotion to the duty
• Non-corruptive Humbleness Sense of public good

39. Need for administrative ethics
•To check arbitrary activities of civil servants
• To promote sense of administrative responsibility
• To foster correct relations between citizen and civil servants
• To cultivate high standards of conduct among civil servants
• To preserve and promote public interest
• To facilitate better use of discretion by civil servants
• To improve efficiency in administrative process
• To strengthen the legitimacy & credibility in the system
• To stabilize relations between official &political executives
• To foster & maintain high morals amongst all categories of civil servants

40. Hindrances
• Various factors which hinder the observance of ethics by civil servants
are:
• Corruption Lawlessness
• Departmentalism Nepotism
• Political influence Bribery
• External pressure Favoritism
• Indifferentism

41. Ethics and the Public Interest
• Since 20’s and 21 century , the ethical conduct of public officials elected and
appointed alike, and civil servants, has been a major focus of attention for the
general public, the media, politicians, and public administrators .
• At the same time, attention to public officials’ role as guardians of the public
interest has been equally high.
• Emphasis is on the fact that the public interest should be viewed as a moral
and ethical benchmark for public administrative decision making.
• scope of work for contemporary public administration and the diversity of
those to serve have greatly changed from what pertained centuries ago.
• public officials have to administer and manage expanded and varied interests
of both the government and public including national security, social welfare,
social services and infrastructure, health and disease control, collection of
taxes, control of drugs, technology and cyber space, etc

42. • All this means that for a public administrator, more difficult ethical challenges
and dilemmas are encountered and more ethical choices have to be made.
• In public administration, the proper course of action is not always easy to
determine, and the contemporary complexity of government and its roles
make decision-making harder for bureaucrats.
• Being aware of ethical challenges does not mean capability to confront them.
• As James Madison observed, “If men were angels, no government would be
necessary. If angels were to govern men neither external controls on
government would be necessary”
• In order to enhance ethical performance, formal ethics training is offered,
ethics audits are conducted, control mechanisms that enforce accountability
and responsiveness are set up, formal rules and regulations are devised, and
external control mechanisms like codes of ethics and codes of conduct are
formulated to guide public administrators.

43. The Public Interest
• The term “public interest” has generated a great discussion among scholars,
theorists, practitioners, journalists, and social critics
• A commonly cited definition of the term asserts that it is “what men would
choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, acted disinterestedly and
benevolently.”
• Accorgding to Lewis;
• Public interest is the demands of modern-day public administration: representation,
dialogue, and democratic values.
• She views public interest as a “process, not as an objectively identifiable endpoint.”
• Indeed, public interest is imbedded in the pursuit of democratic governance
and ethics.
• public administrators make professional decisions on behalf of the public
and the interests and values that the society holds.

44. Ethics and Public Interest
• Public administrators implement policies and programs, enforce regulations,
and provide goods and services that the citizenry deems worthy and is willing
to sanction government to spend resources on.
• In doing so , public servants do and should pursue values like responsiveness,
representativeness, equality, openness, transparency, and accountability
• Public administrators must therefore recognize that their roles impose both a
professional and a moral burden.
• Ethics provide the moral connection between the democratic values in
governance and public administration
• In other words, the public interest (common good) is intrinsic to
administrative and democratic tenets

45. • Characteristics if ethical public administrator is that he/she:
• Is dedicated to serve the public interest
• has commitment to the highest traditions of public service
• responsive to the will of the people
• pursues the public interest
• cope with the complexities and conflicts of modern
government while maintaining the highest ethical standards.

46. Ethical dilemmas
Ethical dilemmas :-
• are situations in which there is a choice to be made between two
options
• neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable
fashion.
• In such cases, societal and personal ethical guidelines can provide no
satisfactory outcome for the chooser.

47. • Ethical dilemmas don't just center upon right versus wrong;
• Can involve right versus right'.
• Ethical dilemmas can arise from equally attractive options that could be
justified as being `right’ in particular situations.
• It is not about the legality of the act.
• Within complex contexts and circumstances it may not be so easy to
discern what the ‘right’ option might be and what the ‘wrong' option might
be or whether the action is legal or illegal.

48. Significance of managing ethical
dilemmas
• Ethical dilemmas complicate the work place in the following manner.
• Ethical behavior can be rationalized by convincing oneself that:
– Behavior is not really illegal.
– Behavior is really in everyone’s best interests.
– Nobody will ever find out.
• This might lead to distorted decision making
• Ethical decision making in tune with the organizational policies is important
because they tend to establish the ethical tone of the organization, ultimately
impacting organisational goals and objectives

49. Factors influencing ethical behavior
of an Employee
• The person
– Family influences, religious values, personal standards,and personal
needs
• The organization
– Supervisory behavior, policy statements and written rules, and peer
group norms and behavior
• The environment
– Government laws and regulations, societal norms and values, and
competition climate in an industry

50. Chapter Three:
Ethical Decision Making and Moral
Judgments
• Decision making
• is the action or process of thinking through possible options and selecting one
• A basic framework for how managers engage in the decision making process
contains four steps.
1) Identify the problem
2) Generate alternatives
3) Decide on a course of action
4) Implement

51. Identify the Problem
• The first challenge in decision making is working to understand what the
problem is
• Ineffective managers focus on the symptoms without identifying the
underlying issues
• For example:-turnover issue
• First step is to identify the real problem.

52. Generate Alternatives
• The problem identification is simply a matter of understanding that personal
preferences and personal obligations will conflict as he tries to schedule
shifts.
• This problem does not require the manager to generate a wide list of
alternatives
• there are bigger problems that require a manager to generate a long and
comprehensive list of alternatives
• When problems have intense consequences, or the context is an unknown
one to the organization, a wide list of alternatives is necessary.
• The future is unknown, and the problem is unlike one you’ve ever seen.
This is the time to brainstorm, get creative, and generate alternatives.

53. • If we encounter a problem we have seen before, we don’t need to
stray too far to find viable alternatives
• However, when we face a new problem in an unknown context, we
need a wide range of alternatives
•Decide and Implement
• Once we have generated a list of alternatives, we need a way to
decide which of the alternatives should be pursued
• Again, managers can use intuition, analysis, or democracy to achieve
this.
• However, a common approach is the employment of a cost benefit
analysis

54. • The cost-benefit analysis is a process by which managers evaluate a
course of action based on the anticipated positive and negative
effects an alternative will generate.
• In financial analysis the calculations can be quite complicated, but
once you have an output the decision is easy
• However, when making decisions that are more difficult to quantify, a
cost benefit analysis becomes more challenging
• Once the alternatives are evaluated and one (or more) are selected,
implementing the course of action requires the manager to put
resources towards that choice

55. GROUNDWORK FOR MAKING AN EFFECTIVE DECISION
• A foundation to good decision-making is acceptance of two core principles:
1. we all have the power to decide what we do and what we say, and
2. we are morally responsible for the consequences of our choices.
• Sometimes the power to choose is not self-evident. Outside control and
inner emotions can leave one feeling powerless.
• components of good choices are:-
• Taking Choices Seriously
• When the issues are not morally complex and the stakes are small, our normal instincts are
sufficient.
• The problem comes when we don’t distinguish between minor and potentially major issues, when
we "go with the flow" in situations that demand a much more careful approach

56. Characteristics of decision making
• It is a goal oriented process;
• It is an intellectual process as it is a product of deliberations, reasoning and
evaluation;
• It is a dynamic process varying with the type of problem and available time ;
• It is situational in nature as the same decision cannot be taken in general for all
situations;
• Decisions have to be taken keeping in mind the environmental factors—
political,economic,geographical,social etc.
• It is a continuous and ongoing process--one decision being followed and
supplemented by another one and so on;
• It cannot be fully objective as intuition, instinct and a host of other psychological
factors contribute to the choice of an alternative out of seemingly similar
alternatives

57. Process of Decision Making
• Herbert Simon, best known for his analysis and model of decision making,
refers to three consequential steps in the process of decision making,
namely:
A. The Intelligence Activity
B. The Design Activity
C. The Choice Activity

58. Models of Decision Making
• There are numerous models of decision making attempting to determine
the extent of rationality of the decision makers and range from complete
rationality to irrationality of the economic man and social man
respectively.
• The Classical/ Rationality Model
• The Classical School of Administration consisting of scholars like Henri Fayol,Gullicketc
had a very simple and rigid approach to the study ofthe process of decision making
that involved a series of steps like:
• Identification and analysis of the problem in context of the goals and objectives.
• Conceptualization of alternatives and collection of relevant pieces of information.
• Choosing the best course of action or alternative that would bring the best return.
• Implementing the decision
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the decision

60. • the administrator is bound to have all the relevant knowledge and
sure shot prediction of success by choosing the best course of
action(Decision).
• In reality the process is quite complex and not as simple as
mentioned above as there are many unforeseen factors that crop up.
• The Bounded Rationality Model
• . Herbert Simon has put forward an alternative model to the classical
„Economic Rationality Model‟ which he believed was comparatively a more
realistic alternative.
• he proposes the model of Administrative Man rather than Economic Man
while making decisions in an organisation.
• . It states that there are limitations of human capacity in formulating and
solving complex problems that arise from internal that is, psychological
factors of stress or motivations on one hand or external,that is, environmental
factors on the other hand. Thus, decisions are made within such constraints
of the circumstance by the administrator in a given situation

61. • so according to him that decision is the best but actually there will
always be a better choice which is not known to the administrator
due to his knowledge constraints and coming in between of his
habits,personal beliefs or intellectual capacity
• Simon's Behaviourist school has 3 aspects(parts) of decision making
process:
• Scheme of Individual's Decision Choice.
• Fact - Value Dichotomy.
• Bounded Rationality

62. • Recognizing Important Decisions
• The simple formula is: the greater the potential consequences, the greater the need for
careful decision- making.
• help identify important decisions, ask yourself these four questions
• 1. Could you or someone else suffer physical harm?
• 2. Could you or someone else suffer serious emotional pain?
• 3. Could the decision hurt your reputation, undermine your credibility, or damage important
relationships?
• 4. Could the decision impede the achievement of any important goal?
• Good Decisions Are Both Ethical and Effective
• Ethical Decisions
• A decision is ethical when it is consistent with the Six Pillars of Character – ethical decisions generate and
sustain trust; demonstrate respect, responsibility, fairness and caring; and are consistent with good
citizenship. If we lie to get something we want and we get it, the decision might well be called effective,
but it is also unethical.
• Effective Decisions.
• A decision is effective if it accomplishes something we want to happen, if it advances our purposes. A
simple test is: are you satisfied with the results? A choice that produces unintended and undesirable
results is ineffective
• For example if your friend came morethan hour late

63. • Discernment and Discipline
• Discernment.-knowing what to do
• It requires knowledge and judgement
• Discipline-doing what we know in a good manner
• Stakeholders
• Good decisions take into account the possible consequences of words and
actions on all those potentially affected by a decision ("stakeholders").
• Being thoughtful or considerate about the way our choices affect others is
one aspect of using the stakeholder concept.
• The stakeholder concept reinforces our obligation to make all reasonable
efforts to foresee possible consequences and take reasonable steps to avoid
unjustified harm to others.
• For example prank

64. THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO BETTER DECISIONS
• 1. STOP AND THINK
• 2. CLARIFY GOALS
• 3. DETERMINE FACTS
• 4. DEVELOP OPTIONS
• 5. CONSIDER CONSEQUENCES
• 6. CHOOSE
• 7. MONITOR AND MODIFY

65. Decision making process
• a stepwise approach in your decision-making process
•Recognize there is an issue
•Identify the problem and who is involved
•Consider the relevant facts, laws and principles
•Analyze and determine possible courses of action
•Implement the solution
•Evaluate and follow up
• A simple decision-making tool is detailed below. In this example you are
required to ask yourself the following questions.
•What should we do? (What options are good or right in this context?)
•Why should we do it? (Exploring the values and reasons that support each option.)
•How should we do it? (What plan of action best aligns with these values and
reasons?)
•Who should do it? (Who is responsible for making the final decision and enact and
communicating it?

66. • An ethical dilemma describes a conflict between two morally correct
courses of action. There is a conflict between values or principles. The
dilemma is that you would be doing something right and wrong at the
same time, and by taking one right course you will negate the other
right course.
• This process is captured in the acronym ISSUES
•Identify issue and decision-making process
•Study the facts
•Select reasonable options
•Understand values & duties
•Evaluate & justify options
• Sustain and review the plan

67. Three broad frame work to guide ethical
decision making
• The three broad frame work to guideline ethical decision making are:-
• Consequentialist
• Duty
• virtue

68. Ethical dilemma in public sector and ethical
decision making –reading assignmnet
•Thank you