A Theoretical Guideline to define Transparency and Accountability in Public Organizations

Jean-Claude Garcia-Zamor

Department of Public Administration, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199.

E-mail: garciazamor@hotmail.com; Tel: 1-305-348-5890

Accepted 10 December, 2012

Abstract

Over the past decade many schools of public administration in the United States have introduced courses on professionalism and ethics in their curricula. This initiative is motivated in part by two factors.  The first one is that increasingly the press has been reporting cases of improper conduct by public servants in all three levels of government, federal, state and local.  The second factor is the realization by all the schools that even the best training in the different areas of administration may not be enough to ensure the long-range success of their alumni.  Even those former students who have received the best education have not been able to use advantageously their professional skills when they got involved in situations of improper behavior that tarnished their reputation.   It is becoming obvious that a strong ethical awareness is necessary for effective organizational performance. In order to make this awareness easier, the paper examines the similarities and differences in the concepts or in the usage of the terms “integrity”, “moral” and “ethics”.  It reviews the original interpretations of these terms by the classic philosophers whose works are fundamental for a greater appreciation of contemporary ethics.  Finally, the paper discusses why a clear understanding of the terms integrity, moral and ethics is very important for practitioners in the field of public administration.

Keywords: Integrity, moral, duty theories, duty ethics, consequentialist ethics.