Deck 3: Ethics and Public Administration

Question 1

Which of the following statements about the importance of ethics in public service are FALSE?

A) Values inhabit every corner of government.
B) Ethics are central to democracy and public administration.
C) Without attention to ethical matters administrations will lose the confidence of the citizens they serve.
D) All of the above statements are false.
E) None of the above statements are false.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Regime values are the core values

A) of the governing administration.
B) of a people.
C) derived from the ASPA code of ethics.
D) of a profession.
E) as expressed in moral standards.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The two approaches to ethics that have had a profound and lasting effect on pubic administration include

A) classical liberalism and self-interest maximization.
B) Protestantism and capitalism.
C) deontology and utilitarianism.
D) Rawlsianism and utilitarianism.
E) None of the above.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following elements of successful codes of ethics is lacking in the American Society for Public Administration's (ASPA) Code of Ethics?

A) provision of guidelines for, at a minimum, a modest level of ethical behavior
B) coverage of a wide range of different occupations within the same profession
C) provision for effective compliance or enforcement mechanism
D) All of the above elements are lacking in the ASPA Code of Ethics.
E) None of the above elements are lacking in the ASPA Code of Ethics.

Question 5

Which of the following statements are TRUE about ethics laws?

A) Governments have found ethics laws to be of exceptional usefulness in ensuring the good behavior of their employees.
B) The media and public opinion are chiefly responsible for putting ethics on the politicians' agenda.
C) At the federal level, ethics legislation emerged from the period of heightened public attention surrounding the National Performance Review.
D) With the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Congress designed a system that is centralized.
E) All of the above statements about ethics laws are true.

Question 6

Administrative accountability is

A) the assignment of organizational responsibility in a hierarchical or legal manner, which is objective in quality.
B) a moral obligation that is unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
C) the principal of making administrators subordinate to and accountable to elected officials; it also consists of management values such as a belief in efficiency, hierarchy, etc.
D) political and regime values; it serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
E) None of the above.

Question 7

Which of the following is TRUE of Kohlberg's model of moral development?

A) In stages 5 and 6, the postconventional level, people are self-centered and primarily concerned with avoiding punishment and receiving rewards.
B) In stages 1 and 2, the preconventional level, people make ethical choices based on social norms, rules, and laws.
C) The model consists of four stages of moral development.
D) Public administrators tend to be stage 4 moral thinkers; the stage that emphasizes law and duty in making decisions.
E) All of the above are true of Kohlberg's model of moral development.

Question 8

Which of the following is a disadvantage of making ethics the exclusive domain of top levels of the organization?

A) It fails to recognize the importance of promoting ethical behavior at all levels of the organization.
B) It produces a tendency to lower expectations for the moral responsibility of lower level employers.
C) Low-status workers who are mostly concerned with economic survival are unlikely to bring ethical matters to the attention of their supervisors.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 9

Which of the following is TRUE of whistleblowers?

A) Many whistleblowers lose their jobs as result of their actions.
B) Most whistleblowers are valued by their organizations and obtain promotions for their service.
C) They are typically in low-wage and low-status positions so they have little to lose if retribution is taken against them for going public with their accusations.
D) Compared to their non-whistleblowing peers, government whistleblowers tend to work in small, tightly knit work groups.
E) None of the above are true of whistleblowers.

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT true of Adams and Balfour's notion of administrative evil?

A) Adams and Balfour believe that evil is inherent in the human condition.
B) Evil occurs when humans knowingly and deliberately inflict pain and suffering on other human beings.
C) Administrative evil is particularly pernicious since it is effectively masked or hidden from plain sight.
D) With administrative evil public administrators may commit heinous acts without being aware that they are, in fact, doing anything wrong.
E) The ultimate source of administrative evil is a lack of emphasis on technical rationality.

Question 11

Administrative evil consists of acts committed by public servants in the course of fulfilling their official duties, often without being aware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 12

The two major approaches to ethics which have had a significant impact on public administration ethics are teleology and utilitarianism.

Question 13

The American Society of Public Administration Code of Ethics has helped shape the behavior of public administrators, but it is purely instructional in nature since the society lacks the capacity to enforce the code.

Question 14

Whistleblowing should be discouraged in public organizations to the fullest extent possible due to retribution taken against those who report fraud waste and abuse.

Question 15

The popular demand for government reform might arise more as a result of ethics lapses on the part of public officials rather than as a consequence of management failure or inefficiency.

Question 16

Both workplace culture and public administration graduate education tend to reinforce a careful, rule-based approach to ethical behavior.

Question 17

Democratic ethos is associated with five core concepts: efficiency, efficacy, expertise, loyalty, and accountability.

Question 18

Responsibility for collective decisions must be shared, whereas accountability can never be shared because it involves the formal relationships between and within the branches of government.

Question 19

The ethical demands of public administrators are different and higher than their private sector counterparts.

Question 20

Utilitarianism holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.

Question 21

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Rawlsianism

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 22

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Deontology

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 23

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Utilitarianism

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 24

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Responsibility

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.

Question 25

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Democratic ethos

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 26

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Low-road approach

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 27

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Moral reasoning

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 28

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-High-road approach.

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 29

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Whistleblowing

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.

Question 30

Matching Exercise
Match the concepts in the left-hand column to their counterparts in the right-hand column.
-Administrative evil

A) Moral obligations unrelated to an individual's formal role, status, or power within an organization.
B) Consists of political and regime values; serves as the moral foundation of public ethics.
C) An approach to ethics that asserts an absolute or ultimate standard for morals that can be arrived at through reason.
D) The theory that the welfare of society is enhanced if the poorest individual is materially improved even if this reduces the well-being of everyone else.
E) The philosophy which holds that the results of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.
F) A minimalist approach to ethics which holds that adherence to the law is sufficient for ethical behavior.
G) The capacity to engage in ethical analysis and decision making.
H) Reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within an organization; often entails considerable cost through employment termination, demotion, or social exclusion.
I) An approach to administrative ethics emphasizing moral reasoning and ethical analysis.
J) Harmful acts committed by public officials who are often unaware that they are doing anything wrong.