Test Bank for Public Service Ethics Individual and

Test Bank for Public Service Ethics Individual and Institutional Responsibilities, 3e by James Bowman, Jonathan West (All Chapters)

Chapter 1: Pertinence and Poppycock

1.List five reasons to explore ethics.a)Personal b)Pervasive c)Professional d)Powerful e)Costs of ethics failure are high.

2.Why mankind is defined as moral agents?Because they have the capacity to think about thinking, to ponder about what is “right” and “proper” and “fair”.

3.Explain the “what is” question in public service.It seeks to discern what is actually occurring in a particular setting and aims to better understand or make judgments about ethical behavior.

4.Explain the “ought to be” question in public service.It is normative and focuses on what should be done in a particular situation. The issue for managers and leaders is how to get from “what is” to “what ought to be” in practice.

5.In public service a carefully considered set of values are going to impact _____(decision making).

6.What are the implications of the personal reason for studying ethics?They can be both enabling and debilitating.

7.List the three reasons that contribute to magnifying ethical issues.

a)Scale effect: technology allows for misdeeds on a massive scale;

b)D isplay effect: communication systems can dramatically package, instantly distribute, and repetitively repeat incidents;

c)PR effect: public communication has become professionalized public relations.

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Public Service Ethics: Individual and Institutional Responsibilities

• Explain the classic definition of a professional.

It encompasses leadership in technical competency and ethical character. A professional is so because of her expertise and because of adherence to ethical standards.

• Is management an end or a means? Explain.

It is a means to an end. The ethics of process is the key. If process is well done, policy is likely to be ethical as well.

• What are the arguments for governance?

It is both a democratic and moral endeavor.

• What is the argument for democracy?

It is the right form of government.

• How can social control of ethical behavior in public service be assessed?

a) By considering the types of power being exercised;

b) The source of the power within or outside the organization;

c) The locus of social control mechanisms applied to individuals and organizations.

• List and describe the three types of power.

a) Symbolic power is linked to values and beliefs and it invokes emotional reactions used to appeal to

the organization members, the media and other stakeholders.

b) Economic power involves material rewards or sanctions to achieve ethical objectives.

c) Coercive power entails the use of force or threat to control behavior.

• What are the three levels of costs that ethical problems can incur?

a) Level 1 costs are less problematic to calculate and are often overemphasized by leaders. They

include fines, penalties.

b) Level 2 costs are “clean-up” expenditures (audit, attorney, investigator fees) usually as high or

higher than level 1 costs.

c) Level 3 costs are underappreciated by executives and harder to quantify but often devastating. They

include loss of reputation and morale and increase of cynicism and regulation.

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Public Service Ethics: Individual and Institutional Responsibilities

• In what ways were the Houston Astros cheating scandal costly?

The Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal is costly to careers and pocketbooks.

• Ethics and violation of ethics are based on _____(the action of people).

• What are the three forms of hesitation in discussing ethics in policy and administration?

a) Possibility

b) Necessity

c) Complexity

• What is the basis for ethics perceived as impossible?

Relativism which maintains that all judgments are subjective and private, a matter of taste and opinion.

• Why is it a mistake to say that if some values are relative, then all must be?

It would mean that there are no cultural practices that are wrong. If everything is relative, then, reduction absurdum, relativism as no foundation; everything loses meaning, including relativism.

• What is the underlying proposition for ethics as unnecessary?

Society is a market where participants have only to look out for themselves and let the “invisible hand” handle all conflicts.

• What is the rebuttal to this statement?

Public life encourages citizens to see themselves as living with others in common purpose; to lead an ethical life is to build a just society. In this scenario, the economy serves society not vice-versa.

• List and explain the five reasons why ethical decision-making is not a simple process.

a) Extended consequences: first level consequences have multiple impacts both within and outside the

organization;

b) Multiple alternatives: they are not dichotomous options, but involve more complex choices;

c) Mixed outcomes: outcomes are seldom clear and win-win, but frequently mixed and murky;

d) Uncertain consequences: unanticipated outcomes are not unusual;

e) Personal implications: decision makers often face real costs and benefits.

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Public Service Ethics: Individual and Institutional Responsibilities

• What are the potentially dangerous pressures leaders face when dealing with decision deadlines?

a) The need to craft timely solutions before all of the facts are in;

b) The temptation to be more confident than circumstances warrant.

• Describe the concept of mindfulness.

It results in heightened consciousness and a sense of personal responsibility to prevent its occurrence. This in turn should promote “right-doing” and avoid wrongdoing. It requires open lines for communication form the bottom up, not just the top down.

• What is a common failure that leads people to think that ethics is simple?

They fail to distinguish between what ethics is and what it is not.

• What does not characterize ethics?

a) Only complying with the letter of the law;

b) Solely linked to religion;

c) Religious beliefs or religious requirements;

d) Only what our feelings prompt us to view as right or wrong;

e) Merely confirming to prevailing social norms;

f) Based on strict scientific formulas.

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