Free «Article Week» Essay

Three key points in Cooper’s reading chapter seven include: components of responsible conduct, conflict between internal and external controls and key relationships among elements of responsible conduct. Congruence between the internal and external controls of an organization is a significant factor in ensuring effective public office administration. It is unethical for a manager to ignore either of controls. An organization is not an island and hence a manager should consider incorporating controls from within and without their area of jurisdiction (Cooper, 2012).

There are four key elements of responsible public administration conduct. These elements according to Cooper’s reading include individual attributes, organizational structure, organizational culture, and societal expectations. Individual attributes include personal ability, perception and conducts. Decision making skills, mental capacity, virtues and professional values are key elements in this case. Organizational culture includes norms for conduct and symbols which are adopted by an organization. Organizational structure establishes clear accountability, dissent channels, procedures and collaborative arrangements. Lastly, societal expectation includes application of laws and policies, as well as public participation in decision making process (Cooper, 2012).

The four elements are essential and should be observed at all times. According to Cooper, their combination enhances responsible public administration responsibility. They reinforce others, hence lack of one of them implies in one way or the other that the expected level of public responsibility will not be realized (Cooper, 2012). Democratic values and the needs of citizens are highly observed when the four elements are put into consideration and upheld in public administration. Eventually, members of the public are involved in the public policy development and governance.

From the article “Report on Governance Structure for Values and Ethics: Integrating values and ethics in the organization culture” there are several issues to learn. The article presents a clear overview of the importance of organizational structure and external relations in facilitating ethical values in governance. According to this article, values and ethics within an organization should be integrated. As values and ethics evolve from time to time; there is the need to ensure that ethical structures should be reviewed from time to time. To ensure achievement of this requirement, public administrators should establish mechanisms to enhance ethical dialogue, involving all stakeholders in decision making and enhancing consensus between internal factors and external perspectives. Policies and procedures are also some of key issues which must be observed to ensure effective observation of ethical values and virtues are observed (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 2011).