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Dept. of PAUS

Public Administration and Urban Studies Doctoral Program

Spring 2006

Dr. Raymond W. Cox III

Polsky, 261A

330.972.7618

rcox@uakron.edu

I. COURSE NUMBER AND TITLE 3980:730 Ethics in Government

II COURSE DESCRIPTION

The foundations of ethics in the public sector are in political philosophy and democratic governance. This course will explore the foundations of our political and moral perspective as they apply to public decision-making. The goal is to define the boundaries of "right" decision-making first from a theoretical and then from a practical perspective. This course will range broadly across political theory and its relation to moral development and ethical decision-making. The contrasting and conflicting notions of ethics and morality will be explored to better understand the choices made in the development and execution of public policy. The class will explore the differences between individual and collective responsibility, private and public morality and the nexus between notions of democracy, and moral development. The focus is on preparing students for the complex and changing circumstances that define governmental and non-profit organizations. We seek to convey a broad theoretical foundation in ethics, value formulation, decision-making and analysis to improve theory and practice. In this process we acknowledge the ancient Greek concept of praxis whereby theory must help a person understand and comprehend the world around him/her and simultaneously experience must be used to modify and inform theory development. Students will come to understand both the theoretical and practical realities of work-life so that they will be at the forefront of developing new ways of organizing and deciding for the betterment of the lives of the persons their programs and agencies serve. Students will be responsible for advancing our knowledge of ethical philosophy as a prelude to advancing ethical practice, through:

· An understanding of the importance of law, ethics, morality and civic responsibility in the operation of public and non-profit organizations;

· Exhibiting legal, ethical, moral and socially responsible behavior; and by

· Conveying the need to consciously and deliberately develop a set of values and an ethical perspective on decision-making in support of civic and democratic ideals

Ill COURSE OBJECTIVES

A. Entrance Competencies

1. Broad knowledge of public sector management theory and practice.

2. Understanding of the basic philosophical approaches to ethics.

3. Understanding of democratic and political philosophy and how those understanding might influence ethical judgments.

4. Understanding of the importance of law, ethics, and morality.

5. The ability to foster consideration, integration, and application of legal, ethical, moral and social values in decision making

6. Applying the value paradigm to create a "civic" culture which designs and delivers optimum long-term value to citizens

7. Creating citizen focused practices

8. Applying civic value costs in making managerial decisions

B. Exit Competencies

1. Develop the ethical capacity and competence to define problems and develop solutions that are focused upon the future, rather than being rooted in the present.

2. Apply the concept of praxis to the examination of present and future practices in the civic sector

3. Understand the need to create diverse, innovative team-oriented work environments to facilitate a "learning organization" as the basic "performance unit" of the organization, regardless of the formal structure.

4. Understand the skills and competencies that distinguish management from leadership in the transformation of organizations.

5. Apply the concepts of "valuing," trust and integrity to work situations.

6. Understand the need to establish a vision and future orientation as a fundamental aspect of a successful organization.

IV. COURSE ACTIVITIES TO MEET OBJECTIVES

A. Students are expected to read and study assignments before the class period in which they are presented or discussed.

B. Students will conduct research related to an issue specific ethics in the public and non-profit sectors. The research will integrate both the theoretical and practical and relate to the student's own career, dissertation topic, or the public sector in general.

C. The research will serve as the basis of a research paper (use the reference style of a journal that publishes on ethics).

D. The standard for the research paper to which each student will be held is that of a "publishable quality" paper. That standard means among other things that each student must fully and completely adhere to the ethics requirements outlined in the University and departmental guidelines. As important, this standard is a statement of the level of excellence to be achieved in the development and production of the paper. That means that it must conform to the expectations of academic journals in terms of length, clarity, organization, grasp of the current literature and advance the community's knowledge on the topic. While we do not expect that every paper produced in this, or any other class, will be published, we do expect that every paper will be of sufficient quality to be given serious consideration by reviewers, if it is submitted to a journal. We fully expect that learning how to create publishable quality research is an evolutionary process. Over time our expectation of the quality and depth of your research will improve and that before the completion of your coursework you will be producing works worthy of publication.

V. GRADING CRITERIA

Grades will be assigned accordingly:

94 - or higher % A

90 - 93% A-

87 - 89% B+

84 - 86% B

80 - 83% B-

77 - 79% C+

74 - 76% C

70 - 73% C-

Less than 70% F

The final grade win be based upon two criteria:

· Class participation (30%)

· Research paper (70%)

VI. REQUIRED AND SUGGESTED READINGS

REQUIRED READINGS:

Barbara MacKinnon (1998) Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues. 2nd edition ISBN 0-534-52504-0

Sissela Bok (1999) Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. ISBN 0-375- 70528- 7

Louis C. Gawthrop (1998) Bureaucracy in the Spirit of Democracy: The Ethical-Moral Imperatives of Public Service. ISBN 1566430755

John A. Rohr (1999) Public Service: Ethics and Constitutional Practice. ISBN 0700609261

Aristide Tessitore (1996) Reading Aristotle's Ethics: Virtue, Rhetoric and Political Philosophy. ISBN0791430480

Wendy Donner (1991) The Liberal Self; John Stuart Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy. ISBN 0801499879

Immanuel Kant (1982) Perpetual Peace and Other Essays on Politics, History and Moral Practice. ISBN091514572

Stephen H. Browne (1993) Edmund Burke and the Discourse of Virtue. ISBN 0817306765

George H. Frederickson (1993) Ethics and Public Administration. ISBN 1563240971

Reading materials assembled by faculty