Manfred F. Meine

The Search for Ethical Competency: Do Ethics Codes Matter?

Ethical competency is a matter of great importance in the public sector. The search for and promotion of ethical competence has most recently focused on professional organizations and their constituencies. Efforts to ascertain techniques for building and maintaining ethical competence are of particular interest. Not surprisingly, formal codes of ethics have become the centerpiece of discussion, but there is no consensus as to their effectiveness. Codes that include both aspirational goals and operational guidelines seem to better support the search for ethical competency, especially when they provide enforcement mechanisms.

Distance Learning and Ethics Education and Training: A New Role for the American Society for Public Administration?

Since its inception, ASPAs Ethics Section has been a strong supporter of an expanded focus on ethics in the public sector. Discussions over the years have dealt with the need for and value of ethics education and training; however, there are currently no ASPA programs that provide such instruction. This article suggests that the society become a provider of ethics instruction via the Internet and proposes an ambitious three-phased plan for achieving that goal. The fact that the nations military has demonstrated the successful utilization of the Internet to deliver asynchronous instruction on a global scale demonstrates the potential of the medium.

Ethics Training in Local Police Agencies: The Virginia Example

Abstract The all too frequent occurrence of highly publicized ethical lapses among police forces suggests that ethics training should be a topic of concern and interest for public administrators. This field report represents the results of a statewide survey of Virginia police departments to determine the nature, frequency, and duration of ethics training. Following the discussion of the survey and results, the article suggests implications for the future and the need for additional research.

Military Ethics: A Future-Oriented Retrospective

Societal concern regarding military ethics predates modern history, with writings on the topic dating at least as far back as the Peloponnesian War. Although the origins of concerns involving ethic...

MPA Programs and Internet Education: Validation of Quality and Acceptance Despite Challenges Surrounding Online Delivery

Abstract Following tenuous beginnings in the 1990s, online education expanded dramatically as students “voted with a mouse,” resulting in even the most prestigious American universities adopting online courses. The often overlooked but extensive financial involvement of the U. S. military helped drive rapid growth in enrollment nationwide. This growth has declined significantly since 2009 and as of 2012 appeared to be stagnating. This article reviews the online education journey in detail, examines the U. S. military’s impact on the field’s growth, and discusses the potential crossroads facing online education. We discuss the ongoing speculation about why the growth in online enrollment may be declining and examine the perhaps pivotal implications of professional accreditation in general and Master of Public Administration programs in particular.

On the Need for Improving Ethics Education for a Frequently Overlooked Public Employee: The Street-Level Bureaucrat

“. . . a decision or action justified as moral because it is judged to be in the interest of the public may be immoral from the standpoint of . . . individuals . . . . Those who decide and act on behalf of the public will from time to time of necessity as I see it, be lying, stealing, cheating, killing. What must be faced is that all decisions and action in the public interest is inevitably morally complex, and the price of any good characteristically entails some bad.” — Dwight Waldo