Personal Ethics Statement
Introduction:
This paper will establish the professional codes of ethics central to the profession and service I am pursuing. Further, it will serve be the tool I use to reconcile my own personal beliefs and understanding of the profession with these codes of ethics to in turn, codify my own personal ethics statement. I will be making use of the ICMA[1] and ASPA[2] codes of ethics as these are the most directly applicable to my aspirational role in administration.
Analysis:
The ICMA code of ethics focuses on effectiveness; advising; encouraging participation; remaining disinterested; not seeking or promoting candidates, platforms, or policies at any level of government. The ASPA code of ethics focuses on effectiveness; maintenance of the law; advising; encouraging democratic participation; and remaining disinterested. While both emphasize the importance of personal and organizational integrity, role as an advisor, and pursuit of effective governance and management as key public service values, they differed in that ICMA emphasizes the political neutrality of administrators with ASPA emphasizing lawfulness. This reflects the idea that Public Administration can be largely seen as being derived from three major frameworks: Managerial; Political; Legalistic/Constitutional (Rosenbloom 2015).
As a solutions-oriented profession, both codes of ethics can guide the decision-making process they differ in a major way: the ICMA Code of Ethics seems to be setting a minimum bar that must be met while the ASPA Code of Ethics seems aspirational. It assigns more responsibility to individuals and their ability to justly adjudicate and appropriately navigate complex ethical issues. In line with this difference, the ICMA Code of Ethics pushes members to report violations of its code while ASPA’s is more aspirational. As McCandless and Ronquillo (2019) emphasized, professional codes of ethics in Public Administration do not set a bar to achieve but instead establish a shared ideal to aspire to; however, it is important that codes of ethics still be actionable. I find the ICMA Code of Ethics is overly prescriptive. The ASPA Code of Ethics is sufficiently prescriptive via its guidelines to be actionable while remaining aspirational enough to not play to the lowest common denominator.
Adopted Code and Personal Interpretations:
While both establish norms of ideal behavior the ASPA Code of Ethics is likely to provide me with better guidance in times of uncertainty and as such will guide my personal code. I think the emphasis of political neutrality in the ICMA Code of Ethics is an approach to public administration which has been tried and has failed. While political corruption and interests are a major risk to effective professional management, these issues are not dismissed merely because one does not actively and openly support state or federal politicians. To some, pretend neutrality will (properly) communicate that public administrators are trying to hide their honestly held beliefs. Secondly, it is itself fundamentally an act of distrust on the part of administrators towards the public which naturally elicits a similar response from the public. What is truly sought by political neutrality is a perception of professional responsibility. Public administrators should engage in performative action. Performative acts are prescriptive and normative statements made true by their performance. In this case, the performative act of professional responsibility will demonstrate the professionals trust in the public and cultivate the reverse.
The other major difference between the ASPA and ICMA Codes of Ethics, ASPA’s emphasis of the law and constitution, is I believe particularly important as well. Many municipalities are highly resource constrained and as such must place a high value on efficiency; however, this often comes at the cost of individual and group liberties. Insufficient time given to data collection and analysis leads to substantive bias, emphasis on policing and force multiplication regularly overrides concerns over securitization and privacy, and so on. Constitutional and legal emphasis in turn emphasizes individual and group rights and liberties as well as high quality representative-democratic institutions.
My Personal Ethics Statement:
I have a personal responsibility to: Advance the public interest; advance professional excellence; uphold the Constitution and the law; promote democratic participation and communication; strengthen social equity and pursue equitable service provision; fully inform, advise, and enact; demonstrate personal integrity and disinterest; promote ethical organizations, institutions, and norms. This statement represents my responsibility to any community I enter service to. It emphasizes by duty to reflect the plurality inherent to any representative-democratic body and population. It establishes the aspirational goal of any policy I enact in the direction of the legislative body. It also guides my responsibilities as a servant of the public as a citizen of a representative democracy. Particularly important to me as a new student of Public Administration is the commitment to the pursuit of professional excellence via my education, practice, and proliferation of novel policy formulations and implementations.
Conclusion:
This has allowed me the opportunity to identify and come to understand the professional codes of ethics which guide the profession I am seeking. Further, it has allowed me to identify the core differences and similarities between the ICMA and ASPA Codes of Ethics. In so doing, it has prompted the deep consideration of my earnest beliefs and conception of the responsibilities of public administrators. This in turn has let me codify my own personal code of ethics based off the ASPA Code of Ethics. This personal code reflects both my beliefs and aspirations regarding my responsibilities to any public body I enter service for.
[1] https://icma.org/page/icma-code-ethics
[2] https://www.aspanet.org/Common/Uploaded%20files/ASPADocs/ASPA%20Code%20of%20Ethics-2013%20with%20Practices.pdf