ABSTRACT
A public organization is a government run organization that mainly deals with service delivery to the public. The organization is managed and sponsored by the government meaning the tax payer pays its bills and does the creation of all the policies related to the organization. Employees of such organizations face a lot ethical challenges in the quest for service delivery. The challenges can be in form the policy makers or the politicians to their bosses giving unethical orders. Sometimes it may be a conflict of interest due to friends or relatives having dealings with the organization. The challenges vary over time and the ethics to be applied are quite debatable and which ethical theory should be applied. The decisions to be taken to ensure the proper running of the organization have to be considered and the necessary steps to be taken in this ensuring lack of interference and ensuring that the proper management is put in place. Due to it a public organization the involvement of the public is important to have it from having a negative perception. This will ensure no alienation by the public that can result in the decline of the organization as the target goals include service delivery to them.
INTRODUCTION
A public organization is any institution which offers services by citizens or residents of a specific area or locale and is owned or controlled by the government. The organization in this case study is a government run facility that offers medical service and advice to the residents. This include normal consultation that is done privately and in confidential. Due to the fact that it’s a public organization, the number of clients coming in on a daily basis is quite high due to affordability of services offered in relation to the expensive private institution. Hence the needs to preserve the code of ethics in the organization and maintain fairness while serving all that come ad are in need of attendance. The order and required procedure has to be observed and the first to arrive are the first to be served and vice versa. The organization is run and sponsored by the government and by this it means they employ the staff while also providing all the other equipments and resources (Robert &Vinzant, 2009).
Ethical issues
As a public officer the choices faced daily may be tough especially due to the ethical choices that will be faced, understanding the implications of the decisions made and resolving the dilemmas that may arise poses a big task, at the some time the ability to understand the position of being in a public organization will be essential in the to your success in such a situation. Cases may arise that pushes one to the brink, these may include lying, cheating or feeling compelled to refuse an order given by the boss. In public organization one of the major things to consider includes responsibility as a professional, confidentiality and its limits and public disclosure. Others include the gender issue, institutional norms, loyalty, conflict of interest and reforms in relation to the organizations cultures as to encourage and accommodate equality irrespective of ethnicity or race. The other issues that always key in all situations s the financial allocation that normally brings about a lot debate and friction. All the above should be observed by all that run the organization irrespective of level or description from the financial officers the administrators in the organization. The need for uniformity and consistency in the system to success in a public organization, this is due to if the same is lacking then it presents a problem of cumbersome consumer service due to lack of order (Maguire, 1998).
Conflict of interest
This is always an area of ethical problems for any individual working in a public organization. Coming up with a plan to avoid the same is very crucial especially if it involves resources like finance, where even the idea of one having an expenditure not sanctioned by the organization can lead to trouble. Due to the fact that the organization is run by coffers of the public then its only that total integrity is needed to be given to the staff and it’s their duty to honor the same by performing the duties allocate dwell within the specified standards for code of conduct. Some of the standards that have been set include that no one among the organizations employees are entitled to accept gifts given especially in the place of work. The other controversial issues include misuse of the organizations property and the limits to which one is given in relation to seeking or having outside employment concurrently. The limits legally include excluding the members of the organization from being involved in any personal and financial deals that may be involving a family member or close friend as a conflict of interest may arise (Menzel, 2001).
Politics and administration
The administrators in such organizations find themselves in controversy especially if dealing with politics. The politicians with their influence may try to force some interests for public gain and due to the fact of them being opinion makers try and portray a bad image on the organization while blaming on the administrators. This leads to the begging issue of such employees needing some form of protection from such individuals either using legal means or any other possible measure that can be put in place. This protection can be based on the fact that policy making varies greatly the process of policy implementing and the individuals in politics to stick to making of policies while the administrators do the implementation (Stillman, 2006).
Citizen engagement
According to Maguire (2006), citizens who are normally served by the organization reserve a democratic right to be in giving the reforms to be carried out in the organizations they are the main target or reason for the existence of the organization. Hence there ids need to inform and educate the public on important policy issues in relation to the organization. The other issue is the need to better the governments’ supply of information from the decision down to the citizens like the change in certain policies or costs to avoid misunderstanding. The organization also needs to ensure that the voices of the citizens are heard and these are normally given through opinions which should be heard addressed and a feedback given. They should also be given the opportunity to monitor the implementations and outcomes of new policies if need be. Through this method the organization will be able to adopt amore active stance towards the citizen in service delivery and democratic rights.
Privatizations
Privatization of many public organizations has been one of the approaches taken by many governments in the hope of improving the service delivery to the citizens. This involving the sale a certain percentage to private ownership and in the process transferring the control on the organization to an individual or group, these results in changes being made that will benefit these individuals like profits instead of the main goal being service delivery. In this case all the employees in the organization are forced to implement these changes in policies although the policies may not be appropriate in terms of ethics that are relevant in a scene of public organizations or as previously stated (Morgan, 2001).
Downsizings
This normally is the effect of shareholders trying to reduce the risk or cost of the business and it may in terms of the employee number or service delivery. Either way its going to affect the service delivery as a downsize limits the service capacity of any organization and if it used to serve a lot of people then the effect maybe felt by the citizens who will have to wait longer to get the required service or put too much strain on the organizations employees resulting in the drop in terms of quality of service delivery. In the end the citizens who are the clients will be the ones who will suffer from such actions which may also b related to be the effect of privatization (Richter, 2010).
Restructuring
This is another profit aimed action that can be taken in any organization and result in a negative effect on service delivery. A perfect example be the inclusion of a private section in the organization which may be a profit generating venture. The creation of these will mean that the wealthy and better endowed financially will get services faster and more efficiently albeit in comparison to the other citizens, this will lead it them being put first in all considerations in terms of service where the main principal of equality in service delivery will have been broken and the wealthy favored (Morgan, 2001).
Utilitarianism
This is a theory that states that what is morally right or wrong will be judged or determined directly or indirectly using the acts consequences and not the intrinsic feature. By this If an act is committed and the consequences are grave then its morally wrong but irrespective of the act and the consequence are not that bad then it’s accepted as morally correct. Applying this theory in the case of a public organization can be quite disastrous in that the organization will not be affected too negatively but the terms of service delivery will be very unfair. The reason of the argument is that in a case of some simple issue like the delivery of service where those who have friends or family will always get attended first an although this wont affect the quality of the service because all persons will be attended to, the biased rate of attendance to these citizens will not be fair in the real sense and neither moral. In the case of politics the influence in implementation will be affected negatively as the service delivery will not be as planned due to input by the political elite so as to favor one or two of their family members of friends. This changes if effected can result in poor service delivery as they will not an expert kind of input but just a biased one and in terms of the theory in question it will be a great consequence and morally wrong hence not applicable.int he fields of down sizing and privatizations, the same theory may apply as the service delivery will still be effective just a change in the policy and approach which will not have dire consequences (Adams, 2001).
Deontological Ethics
This holds a different perspective where it states that morals are related to rules. By this it implies that rules are basis of morality so if one takes action within he rules it’s moral but if an action is taken which contradicts the rules set, it qualifies to be declares as immoral. Applying this theory in an organization can be very advantageous to as all the set rules and policies are well within the stated code of morals for them. This will result in the citizens or the people being served loosing because each time the organization especially if its private-public run will always change the set rules to favor them in this case making the financial gains. Some of the rues may include the increase in cost to be served and this will adversely affect the citizens who are to be served (Adams, 2001).
Social justice themes
The case of human rights where they are entitled to many freedoms like expression and this should not be discriminated on any basis. In this case and referring to the relevant points only, every person has the right to be heard and their grievances, no single should be discriminated due to belonging to certain cultures or communities. In the case of these issues and them being considered the violation of on individual rights are very clear as many decisions affecting the same person occur without any consultation while some policies like creation of private wing services amounts to discrimination which should not be allowed. The other supporting fact is this is unjust and no human should be treated unjustly in comparison to another (Caiden, 2001).
The equality in this case is affected seriously as the services are no longer fair or just if any of the theories are applied, this is because the treatment varies and some of the employers may be trying to favor friends or family resulting in nepotism which indicates the lack of fairness.
The liberty which is the freedom of any single person will be clearly not adhered to if the governments go ahead and privatize or form partnerships with private developers without consulting the necessary stakeholder in this case those affected and who use the facilities but then again the private developers have the right to exercise this as its in their interest which represents what they plan without being interfered with.
Justice on the other hand is relative to the situation; by this it’s unfair for the stakeholders not be consulted or treated unequally in getting services but at the same time the service providers also have the right to implement policies believed to favor their organization as they try and make it stay afloat, but if it’s a government organization, the citizens have the right to get the services required which pay through the tax and if this is considered first then it can said to be just and vice versa(Gellner, 2006).
Challenges
One of the more significant problems encountered is that of political influence. This is where the policies come from the government and with the interests of the same government changing too often results in regular changes that lead to poor implementation
The size of the organization can also play key as it can become a huge stumbling block if too big, this is due to the fact that before a decision is communicate from the top management to the intended target it will take a long time and if there is to be a feedback, then it may be distorted in the course of communication leading to poor communication that can impede proper running of the organization while implementation of policies will be impaired by the same reason (Pfeffer, 1998).
Public perception will play a key role in any public organization as a poor one will result in a bad review by the public and the same might result in forced policies by the government in an attempt to change this despite the fact that it was true or false and this changes may include management which if done too often can affect the organizations productivity due unstable management. . The same public perception may be an effect of negative media publicity or the public perception can lead to poor media coverage that will result in negative results as the poor outlook will turn away potential clients eventually leading to decline in productivity of the company (Brodie, 2007)
Recommendations
The best course of action to ensure none of these occurs is to ensure the selection of good policy makers as this will be back bone of all public organizations.
The next cause of action is the ensuring the administrative managers in place are competent enough to avoid scenarios where due to incompetence the implementation of the policies passed is done inappropriately leading to poor service delivery.
The organization to incorporate the public in their activities through he open door policy to ensure a good impression as their opinion can be bring about the organizations success putting into consideration they are the target subject which needs to be serviced and if this is not done the organization will have failed.
The organization to be well structured to ensure the communication process is done sufficiently without any glitches to ensure proper implementation. This will result in poor implementation and poor service delivery hence a poor public impression on the organization.
Some of the factors that may affect the implementation may include:-
Poor management by the administrator may have a wrong interpretation resulting in poor implementation that will be of low standards. The other reason may be lack of political support, them being the policy makers may keep changes the policies to be implemented resulting in lack of implementation. If all these factors are considered ad appropriate measures put in place, the end result will be a well run and successful public organization.
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