ETHICAL THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES IN THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION CONTEXT

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MORAL LEADERSHIP THROUGHOUT HISTORY

The study of ethics has been at the heart of intellectual thought since ancient times. Its ongoing contribution to the advancement of knowledge and science makes it a vital aspect of management theory. Ethics can be regarded as a set of moral principles (Carrol & Buchholtz 2008:242). Without explaining the concept of ethics here (to be explained in the next section), it is a discipline that deals with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation (Caroll & Buchholtz 2008:242). The need for high ethical standards and moral conduct has had many advocates throughout history. Confucius talked about the ethical path that one should follow here on earth, which he called ‘the way’ (Hansen, 2007:2).

Values and norms

There is a widely recognised and rapidly growing body of empirical research on organisational core values for public sector organisations and employees (see, for example, Schmidt & Posner 1986; Kernaghan 1994, 2003; Goss 2003; Vrangbak 2006; Beck Jorgensen 2006; Beck Jorgensen & Bozeman 2007). Values are general standards by which people live, views about what is desirable. Values refer to ethical standards, and entail deep emotional dedication to certain cognitive views of the value of objects normally relating to human activity (Hilliard & Ferreira 2001:93). Individuals’ views of public managers within local government have an important influence on the formulation of organisational goals. Values and ethics play a role in determining organisational goals and what the organisation is willing to devote to social 34 responsibility and the development of employees. Managerial values influence and set the culture of the organisation (Smit & Cronje 2001:103).

Morality

Morality in its various forms is a dominant influence on the conduct and evaluation of day-to-day life. The pervasiveness of the moral domain can be detected in every aspect of life. Appeals to rights and responsibilities are found in the discourse occurring in every sphere of social life where moral commitments shape the goals and aspirations that give direction to individuals’ lives, and moral judgements are constituent elements in the determination of appropriate courses of action (Killen & Hart 1995:1). The word morality is derived 36 from the Latin word mores and like the Greek work ethos refers to customary behaviour (De Beer 1998:292). Morality has to do with personal conduct (Mbatha 2005:38). Morality can therefore refer to human behaviour and to what happens in practice. Morals are described as right or wrong, good or bad human behaviour and therefore have to do with the personal conduct of the individual. Morals refer to habits and behaviour, the correctness or wrongness of actions (Hilliard & Ferreira 2001:93 in Holtzhausen 2007:95).

Ethical dilemma

Ethical decision-making refers to complex and difficult ethical dilemma situations where people usually perceive it to be very difficult to judge what ethical behaviour is. The second sub-variable, ‘unethical behaviour’, refers to behaviour that most people would reasonably judge to be unethical. Obviously, ‘unethical behaviour’ is a very ambiguous term that leaves much scope for bias (Maesschalck 2004:474). Municipal functionaries and councillors function in accordance with democratic, societal and personal values and ethical dilemmas often come to the fore. Such dilemmas are complex.

ETHICAL THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES IN THE PUBLIC

ADMINSTRATION CONTEXT Ethical theories and principles are the foundations of ethical analysis because they are the viewpoints from which guidance can be obtained along the way to a decision. Each theory emphasises different points such as predicting the outcome and following one’s duties in order to reach an ethically correct decision (Ridley 1998; Penslar 1995 in Rainbow 2002:1). However, in order for an ethical theory to be useful, the theory must be directed towards a common set of goals (Rainbow 2002:1). Ethical theories and principles are the common goals that each theory tries to achieve in order to be successful. Three schools of thought include consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics, which will be discussed next.

RECEPTION OF A CODE OF CONDUCT AT THE CAPRICORN DISTRICT :

• MUNICIPALITY IN THE LIMPOPO PROVINCE
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• CONTENTS PAGE
• CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 1.2 BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
  • 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
  • 1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
  • 1.6 RESEARCH METHODS
    • 1.6.1 Literature study
    • 1.6.2 Gathering of information
    • 1.6.3 Choice of research method
  • 1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
  • 1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
  • 1.9 DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
    • 1.9.1 Ethics
    • 1.9.2 Code of conduct
    • 1.9.3 Values
    • 1.9.4 Ethical conduct
    • 1.9.5 Unethical behaviour
  • 1.10 SEQUENCE OF THESTUDY
  • 1.11 SUMMARY
• CHAPTER TWO: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ETHICS AND A CODE OF CONDUCT IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
  • 2.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 2.2 MORAL LEADERSHIP THROUGH HISTORY
  • 2.3 CONTEXTUALISING AND CONCEPTUALISING THE WORD ‘ETHICS’
  • 2.4 CONCEPTUALISATION OF TERMINOLOGY RELEVANT TO ETHICS
    • 2.4.1 Values and norms
    • 2.4.2 Morality
    • 2.4.3 Ethical conduct
    • 2.4.4 Ethical dilemma
    • 2.4.5 Accountability
  • 2.5 ETHICAL THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES IN THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION CONTEXT
    • 2.5.1 Theory of consequentialism
    • 2.5.2 Theory of deontology
    • 2.5.3 Theory of virtue ethics
  • 2.6 CODES OF ETHICS VERSUS CODE OF CONDUCT IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
  • 2.7 STATUTORY GUIDELINES AND CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MUNICIPAL FUNCTIONARIES AND COUNCILLORS
• CHAPTER THREE: CULTURAL ASPECTS THAT ENHANCE ETHICAL CONDUCT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
  • 3.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 3.2 WHAT IS CULTURE?
  • 3.3 DEFINING THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL CULTURE
    • 3.3.1 Nationalism
    • 3.3.2 Charterism
    • 3.3.3 Africanism
    • 3.3.4 African nationalism
    • 3.3.5 Black consciousness
  • 3.4 ETHICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CULTURE FOR TRADITION
  • 3.5 ETHICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CULTURE FOR COMMUNITY
  • 3.6 THE INFLUENCE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS IN THE LIMPOPO PROVINCE ON ETHICAL CONDUCT
  • 3.7 THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ON ETHICAL SYSTEMS
    • 3.7.1 African traditional religion and ethical systems
    • 3.7.2 Christianity and ethical systems
    • 3.7.3 Islam and ethical systems
    • 3.7.4 Hinduism and ethical systems
  • 3.8 THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE ON ETHICAL SYSTEMS
• CHAPTER FOUR: MECHANISMS THAT ENHANCE ETHICAL CONDUCT IN SOUTH AFRICA
  • 4.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 4.2 STATUTORY AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK THAT DIRECTS PUBLIC OFFICIALS’ AND POLITICIANS’ ETHICAL CONDUCT IN SOUTH AFRICA
    • 4.2.1 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,
    • 4.2.2 The Public Service Act 103 of
    • 4.2.3 The Public Audit Act 25 of
    • 4.2.4 Public Finance Management Act 1 of
• CHAPTER FIVE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • 5.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 5.2 UNDERSTANDING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS AND METHODOLOGY
    • 5.2.1 Research approach
    • 5.2.2 Qualitative research
    • 5.2.3 Exploratory study
    • 5.2.4 Grounded theory
    • 5.2.5 Literature review
  • 5.3 INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES AS DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
• CHAPTER SIX: RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS OF THE STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE
• CHAPTER SEVEN: FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDICES

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RECEPTION OF A CODE OF CONDUCT AT THE CAPRICORN DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY IN THE LIMPOPO PROVINCE