What are ethics, and why do they matter for public administrators?

Ethics are very dependable within a certain setting, but can differ greatly between contexts. All through the world, business organizations and different callings lead every day exercises that oblige norms of ethical conduct. To pass on an organization’s goals, standards, and objectives most organizations build up a code of ethics that defines the behavior of what others can expect (Shafritz, J., & Russell, E, 2011). Ethics is so important in business because it gives a company greater credibility. Strong work ethnics are vital.Ethnics is a very important matter for public administration. Ethnics impacts public administrators in a variety of way. Throughout the day, businesses, organizations, and administrators, do daily activities that involve standards of ethical behavior. In public administration there levels of ethnics. There are four main levels of ethnics in public administration. The first ethnic moral is personal morality which means it is the basic of what is right and what is wrong. Many factors can lead to this such as religious beliefs, cultural factors, social factors, friends and family (Shafritz, J., & Russell, E, 2011). Personal ethics are different for each person, but people want to be known as a good person not a bad. Professional ethics in public administration state that a person should act “professional” in a business or at work. Employees should have strong work ethnics to work more complete as well as being more honest. Employees who uphold strong personal ethnics will meet goals faster of a business or organization in which they work. Ethical employees can also increase a company’s reputation and the services it provides. Next organizational ethics is essential. An organization should uphold strong standards to be on top. Strong standards insures more people will look up to the organization or company. Organizational ethnics can help the organization in its programs, policies, stands, and even business making decisions. Organizational ethics gives a business a strong reputation and creates more productivity. Leaders create more organizational ethnics. Leaders create strong ethnics so employees will behave better, reward more employees who work strong with integrity, and discipline employees with poor work ethics. A good organization culture real does improve the morale among employees in a business, which can create more productivity. Also customers will want to go back to organizations and businesses who hold very high standards (Shafritz, J., & Russell, E, 2011).

Shafritz, J., & Russell, E. (2011). Introducing public administration (7th ed.). Boston: Longman.

Discuss the ways in which accountability affects public administrators. How is accountability balanced with efficiency?

Democracy stands in the way of efficiency in many instances. Since democracy is multiple people making decisions on what they believe to be the best solution sometimes isn’t. Making a popular decisions isn’t always the most efficient decision. However, with democracy many people are sublime by the decisions they make because a majority agree with the decision. The government doesn’t seek out what is best for all citizens but only does want the majority of them want. A government such as a democracy, waste a lot of money campaigning and puts and unneeded strain on the economy for funding purposes. For democracy a majority population only decides on candidates for a political office from given list, and then the politicians decide instead of the rest of population.

To be more efficient it is more important than ethics and accountability correlate. If a government is efficient they will be producing more and have a higher GDP. What people want most is for the government to create the conditions in which they can have a comfortable quality of life, and find happiness. If I had to choose a government I would choose democracy. Democracy is a word and an idea that whips up a great deal of emotion and idealism in people all over the world. While there is no perfect or universal definition of democracy, it is generally accepted that it refers to a political system in which all the citizens have a say in who governs their country, and how their country is governed. To most people, democracy is also a belief in the freedom of the individual to express his or her opinions. Democracy represents the views and notions of all the citizens of the country, whether majorities or minorities. Democracy allows various people to rule the country through the representatives and gives a dignity to the people.

What is meant by the “machinery” of government?

According to Machinery of government, guidance and information, Machinery of Government refers to the structures of government and how they work. It includes organizations within the government, their functions, and how they all work together and see how the public is working. Machinery of Government changes are terms that are commonly used to describe organizational or functional changes affecting the public. In the US, the Machinery of government, is less conventional and less likely to change compared to other countries such as Britain and Australia. Machinery of government changes generally occur in the period immediately after a general election. However, a Machinery of government change can happen a person in charge such as the president or prime minster. Undergoing a machinery of government change can be challenging. Agencies are required to consider a vast number of issues and deal with wide-ranging matters, some of which can be very complex and time-consuming.In an article about Machinery change of government it includes may examples such as abolishing a government department by transferring its functions to other government departments, creating a government department, merging two or more government departments, and moving functions in to or out of government departments. Machinery of Government is hard to put in place. One example of Machinery of Government is if a minister wanted to create a new department, then they have to move responsibilities around.

Shafritz, J., & Russell, E. (2011). Introducing public administration (7th ed.). Boston: Longman.

1. What are the differences between Scientific Management, Orthodoxy, Neoclassical Organizational Theory, and Modern Organizational Theory?

Many theories and principles come into play for public administration. First Scientific Management is a theory that can help and improve productivity of a business or organization. Scientific management techniques improve the way tasks are performed and makes it easier for workers to be trained in their particular field. Scientific management increases productivity greatly. For example, a manager could increase production over 200% and reduce workers by 75% by increasing the size of a shovel. Scientific management is made up of four principles. First, finding the best way to do a task, secondly match each worker to task they can do well, thirdly, supervise workers and use rewards or punishments when needed, and lastly management should plan and control.

Next orthodoxyis now often used with position to Public Administration in the 1920s and 1930s to show an excellence of general agreement and confidence. In the period of orthodoxy in public administration, work of government could be divided between decision-making and execution. Orthodoxy had many ideas such as true democracy is efficient, work of the government could be divided by decision makers and execution. Also administration was a science with many discoverable principles and theories.

Next, the Neoclassical Organizational Theory emphasized on employee welfare and a company’s organization structure. This theory played an important role in human needs. The neoclassical hypothesis was an endeavor at joining the behavioral sciences into administration thought to tackle the issues brought on by traditional hypothesis rehearses. The reason of this was on the idea that the part of administration is to utilize representatives to accomplish things in associations. Instead of spotlight on creation, structures, or innovation, the neoclassical hypothesis concentrated with the representative. Neoclassical scholars focused on noting inquiries identified with the most ideal approach to rouse, structure, and help workers inside the association. Studies in this time, including the Hawthorne Studies, uncovered that social components, for example, representative connections were an important element for managers to consider. It was thought that any manager who neglected to record for the social needs of his or her worker could hope to manage safety and lower execution. Representatives expected to discover some inherent esteem in their employments, which they surely were not landing from the position that was much institutionalized. As opposed to putting representatives into occupation parts, where they finished one particular undertaking throughout the day with practically no collaboration with associates, workers could be organized in such a path, to the point that they would regularly impart errands, data, and information with each other. The belief was that once workers were set into alternative structure, their requirements for socialization would be satisfied, and subsequently they would be more productive

Lastly, the Modern Organizational Theory gives one an insight on the study and processes of organizations. The organization theory makes it easy to explain the relationship og the organization and its surroundings. The goal of this theory is to clarify why an organization has structure such as power, control and coordination. This theory aims to understand why certain organizations used different structures and organizational processes.

Shafritz, J., & Russell, E. (2011). Introducing public administration (7th ed.). Boston: Longman.

http://pubad-ias.blogspot.com/2011/08/frederick-taylor-and-scientific.html

2. What is “Personnel”? Why and how does it matter for governments?

Personnel is very important in the government. It gives organization and federal agencies the best possible and most qualified employees.

The Pendleton Act of 1883 and Hatch Act of 1939 has greatly shaped personnel in various organizations. First the Pendleton Act gave federal government jobs be awarded on the basis of quality. The act stated that government employees should be picked through strategic assessments. The Pendleton Act has transformed the nature of public services. Many people now find jobs in federal agencies. The act greatly improved the civil service of the US. It also interrupted the spoils system, which was custom to presidential administrations. In today’s society many parts of the 1833 Pendleton Act come to place. In today’s time, one can now fire or demote a government employee which they did in 1833 also. Also in today’s world personnel has to take examinations to get into certain jobs. A lot of personnel also have adopted the Hatch Act of 1939 in today’s society. This act prevents federal government members who don’t have clear political roles, such as the president, from intervening in political activity. For example a mailman can’t run for state senate. They don’t really have any political background. The hatch act makes it difficult for government personnel to use authority that can interfere with elections which is still in effect today. Both of these acts have played a big role in government personnel right now, and the US has mirrored these acts in today’s society as well.

The Pendleton Act of 1883 emerged when the assassination of President James A Garfield occurred. An office seeker of a government official is sought to have ordered the attack. The U.S. legislation recognized a law, which presented employment based on value rather than on political party relationship that leads to bribery in the government system. Widespread public requests for reform in the government was motivated after the Civil War by allegations of incompetence, corruption, and theft in a lot of federal departments. This act improved civil services of the US. This act is still used in the US today. Providing sfor the open selection of government employees and guaranteeing the right of citizens to compete for federal jobs without regard to politics, religion, race, or national origin. The new law covered only about 10 percent of the positions in the federal government, but nearly every president after Chester A. Arthur, who signed the bill into law, broadened its scope. By 1980 more than 90 percent of federal employees were protected by the act of Hatch. Both of these acts have greatly shaped government personnel and in other organizations as well.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was huge for system principles. The Act also gave reform to personnel practices that we even use today. The act was passed under President Carter. He made the bureaucracy more manageable. This act lets federal employees join a collective bargaining. Protection Board was created to provide recourse for angry employees. The Civil Service Act also provided the employees of US with a real, and productive workforce to improve public services. Federal employees should be made consistent with merit system principles. So it rejuvenated wreaked systems and replaced them with a quality system for choosing government workers. It also made the US Civil Service Commission divide into 2 agencies. First, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Merit Systems. Also the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). So all in all the Civil Service Reform Act covered a wide diversity of management reforms, including creation of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). These new agencies replaced the former U.S. Civil Service Commission which didn’t work well and were very corrupt.