Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Government Workers free essay sample

Thics and Governance (Aspire AS) Part 2 Whistle Blowing and Ethics (Very Important for upcoming examination) How can government encourage whistle blowing? In an article about whistle blowing in a business context , Lilanthi Ravishankar makes a useful distinction between external and internal whistle blowing. She argues that companies should encourage internal whistle blowing so that problems are solved within the organization before employees feel they must go outside to get action. The same is true for government bodies, which need to know about problems early† efore illegal contracts must be renegotiated or aquifers have been polluted or the publics money has been squandered or unethical behavior has become front-page news. She makes several suggestions about how to encourage internal whistle blowing in companies. We repeat some of them here, with slight modifications for a government context: Create a policy about reporting illegal or unethical practices, which should include: Formal mechanisms for reporting violations, such as hotlines and mailboxesy Clear communications about the process of voicing concerns, such as a specific chain f command, or the identification of a specific person to handle complaints Clear communications about bans on retaliation Get endorsement of the policy from top officials†mayor, manager, councilmembers, boards†and publicize the organizations commitment to the process. We will write a custom essay sample on Government Workers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Elected and administrative leadership must encourage ethical behavior and hold everyone within the organization to the highest standards, including the disclosure of activities that would have a negative impact on the publics business. Investigate and follow up romptly on all allegations of misconduct. Report on these investigations to the council or board. What ethical dilemmas does whistle blowing present? When a person encounters wrongdoing in the public sphere, his or her first step should probably be to use the organizations internal whistle blowing mechanisms. William Black, professor of law and economics at University of Missouri-Kansas City, was himself a whistle blower when he worked as a Savings and Loan regulator in the 1980s. During a term as visiting scholar at the Ethics Center, he wrote about his experience: Whistle blowers in the public sector often face the unique problem that their disclosure may constitute a crime. This can create an ethical dilemma when the ongoing misconduct is severe and there is no reasonable prospect that the abuse will end absent blowing the whistle. would still recommend trying to get the committees and/or inspector general) to take action first unless the threat to public safety was imminent. All government bodies should have fairly straightforward lines of authority. For example, if a councilperson has a problem with city staff, he or she ould go to the city manager. If an employee of the water district sees wrongdoing, he or she would start with a supervisor and move up the chain of command, and so f orth. Its always best to start with the mechanisms the organization has set up to deal with problems because these represent the best chance at an amicable solution. If this process does not produce results, however, its not enough to say, Well, I did my best. If wrongdoing is not being addressed within the organization, it may be time to move outside†to the district attorney, the grand Jury, or to the press. Kirk Hanson, Ethics Center executive director, and Jerry Ceppos, former vice president/news, Knight-Ridder, have written on the ethics of leaking information to the press and suggest these The first thing a potential leaker should ask is the status of the information itself. Is the information classified, proprietary, or otherwise protected? Is there a system in place which clearly considers this information restricted? If the information is clearly intended to be protected, then the leaker must meet a stiff test if he or she wants to leak it. The second consideration is whether the otential leaker has a specific obligation, legal or ethical, to protect the information, or has the information only because another person violated his or her obligation to keep it secret. If so, then it is a much more serious matter to reveal it. The third consideration is whether the information is about public or private matters. Information about anothers sexual orientation, about his or her private finances, or about personal phone calls has more of a claim to privacy than information about a persons actions as a corporate executive or a government official. The difficult cases, f course, are those where thanson and Ceppos also argue that potential leakers must assess the good and harm their leak may do. When lives are at stake or millions of public dollars are being misappropriated, those concerns for the public good trump the harm to personal privacy or government secrecy. e private life of individuals arguably influences their public actions. On the other hand, a leaker must determine if the conduct he or she is exposing represents actual wrongdoing or if it is simply represents a policy disagreement. Of course, much of the publics business hould be debated in public, and speaking up about disagreements on most issues is not only acceptable but also desirable. Closed-door sessions, however, are secret for a reason. Revelations about a citys interest in a particular piece of property may boost the price of that parcel. Exposure of sensitive information about a hiring or firing decision may needlessly cause harm to an individual. As much as council or board members views may differ on these issues, they should remain secret if the problem does not rise to the level of misconduct. Top of Form