1 / 8

The Moral Responsibilities

The Moral Responsibilities. of Policy Professionals. Professional Ethics. The ethics of: Individual responsibility (i.e., the problems of ‘many hands’) Administrative discretion Policy advising. Professional Ethics. Two main possibilities for reform: Improve individual ethics

matteo
Download Presentation

The Moral Responsibilities

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Moral Responsibilities of Policy Professionals

  2. Professional Ethics • The ethics of: • Individual responsibility (i.e., the problems of ‘many hands’) • Administrative discretion • Policy advising Mark Carl Rom

  3. Professional Ethics • Two main possibilities for reform: • Improve individual ethics • Inculcate ethical values through training • Improve ethical systems • Create standards that support and enforce ethical decisions Mark Carl Rom

  4. Moral Responsibility of Public Officials (Thompson) • What is the problem of many hands? • Collective responsibility • Hierarchical responsibility • When do individuals bear responsibility? • Your actions or omissions cause the outcome • Your actions/omissions are not done through compulsions or ignorance • Question: Did McNamara fulfill his collective and hierarchical responsibilities? Mark Carl Rom

  5. The Ethics of Discretion (Warwick) • Question: How should you make decisions given administrative discretion? • Public orientation • Reflective choice • Veracity • Procedural respect • Restraint on means • Question: What is the ‘public good’ • Question: Did McNamara use administrative discretion wisely? Mark Carl Rom

  6. Ethics of Administrative Discretion (Thompson) • Ethics of neutrality • Administrators should follow principles of organization, not their own principles? • No: Exit, loyalty, voice or resistance • Ethics of structure • Organization, not administrators, should be responsible for policies? • No: Moral culpability of individuals • Did McNamara follow the ethics of neutrality and structure? Mark Carl Rom

  7. The Moral Responsibility of Policy Advisors (McPherson) • What obligations do advisors have? • To serve superiors honestly • To promote better policies • To respect and improve democratic processes • Question: Did McNamara fulfill his moral responsibilities as an advisor? Mark Carl Rom

  8. Ethical Responsibilities: Conclusions • Should we work to improve • Individuals? • Systems? • Both? If so, which one deserves our highest priority? • Note…ethical perfection is not possible…but progress towards it is. Mark Carl Rom

More Related