Daniel J. Caron

Civil servant identity at the crossroads: new challenges for public administrations

Purpose – To compare and contrast the changes introduced in Canada and Switzerland as a result of public management reforms and explore the ethical challenges they entail.Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study of two countries based in part on secondary sources but also on observations made by the authors.Findings – The strategies used in each country are different reflecting their distinct political institutions. But there is a commonality, namely the emergence of new ethical problems related to the changes under way. Each country has tackled these new ethical challenges in similar ways. Individual and group behaviour of both Canadian and Swiss civil servants is regulated through “external controls” (codes of ethics, rules of conduct), but also by means of the socialization of new professional values (quality of customer service, flexibility, innovation, creativity, efficiency and effectiveness). These external controls and new values are insufficient, however, to allow civil servants to deve...

Structuring the Transparency Deficits of ICT-enabled Production and Use of Governmental Information

This paper investigates and tries to structure endogenous causes of the inappropriate creation, storage and management of public records (upstream dynamics of transparency). The research is a still on-going exploratory analysis of so-far under-researched upstream transparency deficiencies. Recent transparency scandals in the US and Canada demonstrate access provisions need to be complemented with rules, regulations and cultures linked to the entire documentary process; from creation to access. The cases selected reveal challenges linked to digital communication and information, thus pointing to a lack of culture, regulation or simply uncertainty in light of public administrations increased use of ICT tools.