Ethics in Public Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Ethics in Public Administration - Essay Example It is commonly described as the study of moral conduct. The term 'moral' as here used covers all conduct which is subject to the judgement of right and wrong. The distinction implied is not between moral and immoral, right and wrong, but between moral and unmoral, i.e., between conduct which has a moral aspect and that which has none. Ethics in public administration suffers from the absence of a theoretical framework to supply focus, definition, background, and a common frame of reference for the research and practice of ethical administration. There seems to be little disagreement that such a framework is lacking. In 1980, Dwight Waldo described the state of moral and ethical behaviour in public administration as "chaotic" (Waldo, 1980: 100). In 1983, James Bowman stated that "in both practice and theory, the ethical implications of administrative and political conduct remain largely unexplored" (Bowman, 1983a:71). Most recently, John Rohr, in presenting a "state of the discipline" report at a major conference, states that "throughout this report I have stressed the diversity in the ethics field; a diversity that comes close to chaos" (Rohr, 1986a:53). Utilitarianism Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is the idea that moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility: that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all people. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. Utility, the good to ETHICAL FRAMEWORKS 4 be maximized, has been defined by various thinkers as happiness or pleasure (versus suffering or pain), although preference utilitarians define it as the satisfaction of preferences. It may be described as a life stance, with happiness or pleasure being of ultimate importance. Utilitarianism is described by the phrase "the greatest good for the greatest number of people". Therefore, it is also known as "the greatest happiness principle." Preference Utilitarianism Preference utilitarianism is one of the most popular forms of utlilitarianism in contemporary philosophy. Like other utilitarian theorists, preference utilitarians define a morally right action as that which produces the most favourable consequences for the people involved. However, preference utilatairans interpret the best consequences in terms of ;preference satisfaction'. This means that 'good' is

Compare and contrast Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Research Paper Example To begin with, the integrative negotiation strategy is stipulated as expanding the agenda negotiation strategy. As the name suggests, it aims to expand the boundaries of the negotiation by bringing in new ideas and issues to the negotiation situation that did not previously exist. Through this strategy, the parties are able to trade issues that are less important to them while retaining the more relevant issues to them and hence achieve the outcome they needed in the negotiation (Hatfield, Agoglia & Sanchez, 2008). Problem solving approach is the second form of an integrative negotiation strategy. This is a learning approach that is mainly aimed at identifying the interests of the involved parties and gathering information aimed at coming up with new solutions to the involved parties in the negotiation situation. It is mainly applied in an auditing negotiation situation whereby the auditor uses additional information to safeguard his desired outcome while still giving the client an avenue to feel that his objective was also achieved (Hatfield, Agoglia & Sanchez, 2008). Integrative negotiation strategy can be applied in the work setting whereby both parties will lose heftily if an agreement is not reached and where one party does not have undue influence over the other. An example is in negotiation situation involving a manufacturer and a sole supplier of its raw commodities. The two parties need each other and hence problem solving or expanding the agenda using data collection will have to be employed to come up with a decision that favors both parties (Hatfield, Agoglia, & Sanchez, 2008). In contrast, a distributive negotiation strategy is achieved using the interplay of three principles; conceding, compromising or contending. When contending is applied in a negotiation situation, it is mainly aimed at making the other party comply or resisting