Towards Value-Based Professional Ethics in Public Administration

Abstract

The postmodern administration redefines its role as 'instance of mediation' between the citizen and politics. Public administration has a double purpose; maintaining a political position of axiological neutrality, while showing the citizen transparency and encouragement to participate in all stages of the public decision, from adopting and implementing to its evaluation. In this paper, we will argue the importance of a public administration centred on ethical values. Public good, alongside justice, can be considered a constitutive ethical value of any type of public administration, and the values of equity transparency and responsibility, as ethical operational values of a contemporary public administration system. The constitutive values make necessary the emergence and functioning of a system of social institutionsin this case, those related to public administration. The ethical operational values are those values that manage the functioning of an institutional system and establish its limitations. We bring a series of arguments for replacing the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic values with a distinction between constitutive and operational values, in the context of social-constructionist ethics development in public administration.

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“…Explicitly, transparency plays a pivotal role in every communication between administrative representatives and members of an organization: it not only ensures procedural justice but also amplifies the effectiveness of decision-making (Habermas, 1990;Sandu, 2016).…”

“…Primarily, from an ethical perspective, transparency, as a guiding principle in administrative actions, substantiates the legitimacy of administrative authorities and the decisions they make, by ensuring inclusion of its members in their management processes (Sandu, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, embracing transparent administration improves both the effectiveness of decision-making and action implementation (Sandu, 2016). Empowering organizational members to express their opinions and contribute insights to the administrative process serves to inspire and enlighten management, consequently facilitating the more successful attainment of administrative objectives (Sandu, 2016).…”

“…Information substantiality denotes whether members perceive to be provided with accurate, neutral and prompt information on a given issue (Men, 2014); participation reveals the two-way dialogic communication perspective, indicating how members show their voices and actively participate in the communication process to establish transparency (Albu & Wehmeier, 2014;Kang et al, 2018;Men, 2014); and accountability refers to the demands for an organization to be responsible for the information offered and be responsive to criticism (French, 2011;Men, 2014). Specific to administrative contexts, transparency has emerged as a crucial element in modern public administration (Sandu, 2016).…”

“…With the increasing complexity of society and the specialization of tasks, administrative transparency has evolved, encompassing a broader range and diverse applications across various levels and sectors (Sandu, 2016). In the specific context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transparency practices of different organizations vary in their functions and focus.…”