GPSC Prelims and Mains Notes, GPSC Test Series
Ethical dilemmas in government and private institutes The reputation and success of governance depends upon the conduct of public functionaries and what the public believe about their conduct. It is therefore of fundamental importance that public functionaries act justly and fairly to all, not only paying lip service to ethical conduct but also ensuring that … Read more
Ethics in public administration In the public sector, ethics addresses the fundamental premise of a public administrator’s duty as a “steward” to the public. In other words, it is the moral justification and consideration for decisions and actions made during the completion of daily duties when working to provide the general services of government and … Read more
Moral attitudes Moral attitudes are grounded in moral beliefs of “Right” and “wrong” action. Moral attitudes are stronger than moral principles. Following are the fundamental moral attitudes : Reverence Moral values are the highest among all natural values. Goodness, purity, truthfulness, humility of man rank higher than genius, brilliancy, exuberant vitality, than the beauty of … Read more
Functions of attitude Attitudes serve four major functions for the individual: The adjustments function, The ego defensive function, The value expressive function The knowledge function. Ultimately these functions serve people’s need to protect and enhance the image they hold of themselves. In more general terms, these functions are the motivational bases which shape and reinforce … Read more
Impartiality and Non-partisanship Impartiality and Non-partisanship Impartiality is a norm of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective standards, instead of on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the advantage to one person over another for unsuitable reasons. Impartiality is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally … Read more
Foundational values for civil services Values are the standards on which, we evaluate things. For every situation we don’t have time to ‘test’ the case on ethics theories such as utilitarianism. Values provide time saving short-cut in such situation. Under New public management (NPM), the concept of public services is fast changing. Bureaucrat has become … Read more
Laws, rules, regulations and conscience as source of ethical guidance High ethical standards for the provision of services and the exercise of authority are a prerequisite if the citizenry is to trust the public service. The goal of these general ethical guidelines is to ensure that all State employees are aware of this. The ethical … Read more
Ethics in private and public relationships An inadequate way of resolving the problem consists in thinking that public ethics should be an exact equivalent of personal ethics. This is the type of solution that Aristotle gives to our problem. For Aristotle, the ethical perfection of man is developed and expressed completely and thoroughly within the … Read more
Essence of Ethics Ethics comes from Greek word “ethos” means character, habit, culture, ways of behaviour etc. Ethics is also called “moral philosophy”. The word “moral” comes from Latin word “mores” which signifies customs, character, behaviour, etc. Thus ethics may be defined as the systematic study of human actions from the point of view of … Read more