Teaching Ethics in Public Administration.

PUBLIC administration; ETHICS; GRADUATE education; HIGHER education; DECISION making

This article investigates the state of ethics education in graduate programs of public administration and policy. A survey conducted in November 1986 examines three curricular issues: (1) the goals of ethics education; (2) the ethical standards to which students are exposed; and (3) approaches to ethical decision making within a public management context. Findings indicate that the primary goal of ethics education is to improve the moral judgment of students. Ethics educators expose their students to ethical standards of both the Bureaucratic and Democratic Ethos. However, while ethics instructors believe the Bureaucratic Ethos characterizes the field, they tend to stress the Democratic standards more. Instructors emphasize a consideration of both moral principles and a weighing of the probable consequences in their approaches to ethical decision making. Questions concerning the status of ethics education within the field and implications for future research are also posed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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