Administrative ethics in postmodern society and diverse bureaucracies

Ethics

Cooper, Terry L. (2006). The responsible administrator. Jossey-Bass.

Public administration in modern and postmodern society: The context of administrative ethics

According to Chapter 3 of the responsible administrator by Terry L. Cooper, contemporary society has shifted from a modernist ideal of a melting pot to a more postmodern ethos. In postmodernity, the ways in which we structure administrative life are not viewed as absolute. Instead, bureaucracies must be responsive to ever-shifting social needs and an increasingly diverse society. Ethics are contextual, and are based upon the interplay of personal, cultural, and political influences.

The reader may at first be taken aback by a reference to 'postmodernity' in a book on administrative ethics. This term is often associated with critical theory, literature and culture, rather than 'real world' decision-making. However, the idea that ethics cannot be set in stone is essential to the thesis of the book. Administrators must adhere to protocols, but often these protocols may be in conflict, depending on the role of the agency and the different interest groups affected by the decision. The internal ethical scale of the administrator must weigh the pros and cons of different courses of action.

Postmodern ethics does not mean that 'everything is relative' and alleviate the ethical responsibilities of administrators. Rather, it means that bureaucrats must engage in soul-searching questions about what is meaningful and ethical about their actions. Postmodern ethics means that it is all the more incumbent upon individuals to engage in philosophical introspection, because no system of values is heaven-sent.

Creating a unique set of ethics for postmodern life is especially difficult because we all inhabit an increasingly diverse array of social spheres -- work and private life are often divided, and the culture of our birthplace may harbor a system of values quite distinct from that of our workplace. For example, someone may come from a culture where personal feelings and family are the predominant values, but work in an administrative agency where facts and data are given priority in decision-making, including decisions that affect family and educational policy. The administrator must strive to cognitively balance these two worlds: postmodernism stresses using these different personal roles in an integrative and positive fashion, while modernism denies such a bifurcation of consciousness, and posits that work and personal life must exist in separate spheres.

Bureaucratization and systematization of rules, during the modern era, was seen as the 'solution' to the problems of modern life. Progressivism advocated that everyone should be treated the 'same' regardless of race, creed, class, or ideology. But while this democratic ethos was certainly an improvement upon past conceptions of class-based privilege, sometimes treating everyone the same is not necessarily equitable. A good example of this is affirmative action -- failing to recognize the additional obstacles some individuals have overcome to achieve the same qualifications as others who have not come from historically-discriminated against groups would itself be an injustice.

Postmodernism is also a more open acknowledgment of the subjective biases of administrators. To come to terms with bias, it must be aired in the open, rather than concealed through a veneer of objective bureaucratization. Thus, the Weber model of the impersonal bureaucrat is, if not dead, than consigned to the past. An administrator is still a citizen, as conceived of by postmodernism, and still a human being. Taking into consideration one's humanity as well as reason and predetermined policies are required for effective government functioning. Ultimately, the obligation of the administrator should be to serve the wider public good, not serve an agency's advancement within existing political structures. If administrators ignore their roles, a sense of powerlessness in the hearts of common citizens is the result and all of society suffers.

Postmodern models have an additional value, even beyond analyzing personal conflicts: they help bring hidden administrative tensions to light, such as the jockeying for power between different agencies. The State Department, Defense Department, FBI, and CIA are all federal examples of how agencies can uncomfortably share similar responsibilities, and circumvent one another's purposes by failing to share information. Undue influence by interest groups such as labor organizations can also divert an agency's purposes. However, such citizen's interest groups, even 'special interests' such as the NAACP and the AFL-CIO cannot be done away with, given that they can play an important role as advocates of minority rights.

Chapter 5: Conflicts of responsibility: The ethical dilemma

Ethical administrators may protest that ethics are 'easy' when their responsibilities are clear-cut, and they have a coherent sense of internal values. But what about when values and responsibilities are in conflict? For example, someone involved in the field of public health may feel torn between his or her cost-cutting responsibilities and the greater value of preserving human health. What about when conflicts among various sources of authority tear the administrative decision-maker in several directions, and different superiors are giving different instructions?

As bureaucracies grow increasingly complex and interconnected, such value conflicts are likely to increase. This is why it is essential that administrators have a personal as well as an objective sense of values, to broker such internal and external conflicts. Often subjective evaluations are the only way to weigh different potential decisions and prioritize specific outcomes. Personal decisions should not be self-interested: emotional reactions and a desire to merely further one's career or agency are different than a reasoned and compassionate evaluation of one's responsibilities. And reducing conflicts of interest are a final, but important aspect of decision-making, such as knowing when to excuse one's self from a decision, and to minimize personal and financial ties to the entities one deals with as an administrator.