Discussion of Public Administration

Living in the social environment relies heavily on following rules and regulations. However, this also raises the question of whether those who oversee adherence to the rules should be accountable as well despite their superior position in the society. Common sense would argue that the answer to that question is affirmative, but the evidence suggests that public officials are rarely responsible for their actions since the idea of answering to the public is often seen as quite vague. As a result, this creates a lack of balance when some people what to answer for virtually every their action while others cannot be held accountable even if their fault is clear. This creates a need to investigate whether the public officials should be held accountable and if yes, what party should they answer to. Given the peculiarities of the democratic society, one might suggest that public administrators should answer to the public at large, their administrative hierarchy, the government, and also their moral code.

Public at Large

The first party that public administrators should answer to is the public at large. There are several aspects that need to be mentioned in this regard. To begin with, one of the fundamental ideas of the democratic society lies in the fact that the people are seen as the only source of power. That is why it makes sense that they should also be the ultimate authority that everyone should answer to (Nef and Reiter 132). If one continues this idea, one will be able to see that the punishment that the society applies to those who break the rules and regulations is done in the name of the people since it is their well-being that has been disturbed. With this in mind, it is clear that public administrators by definition should answer to the public.

Furthermore, it is essential to keep in mind that the kind of democracy that envisions public administrators is the one that is called representative democracy. Therefore, these administrators are nothing, but the representatives of the people and do not hold any power per se: they only enjoy the power because they are responsible for the application of it on behalf of the people. This leads to the understanding that the public administrators are inferior to the ordinary citizens by definition since the latter do not have to answer to anyone as long as they do not break the law while the former have to answer to the people because it is important of their duty. No matter how vague some people might see this idea of people responded to the public at large, theoretically speaking, this is quite logical for a society whether the power of the people is delegated to the representatives.

Administrative Hierarchy

While it may be rather people to find “the people” that a specific public administrator should answer to, it would be logical to assume that for efficiency purposes every administrator should also answer to the administrative hierarchy. As it has been mentioned before, the idea of answering to the public at large is closely related to the theory of justice, but when concrete legal action is needed, it would be fair to assume that a public administrator should answer to one’s direct superior (Kernaghan and Langford 66). Indeed, people who serve the public go it by joining a specific office or agency. That is why there must be some higher position that would control the performance of one’s duties. Even the highest office in the country, the President, must answer to the Senate and the courts as a part of the system of checks and balances.

In addition to that, if a public official has to answer to the administrative hierarchy, this leads to the application of fair punishment. Support a person is responsible for lack of proper response to a natural disaster. Since the damage has already been done and it is impossible to reverse it, the only reasonable way to punish this person would be to dismiss him or her. This is the fairest way to punish for a number of reasons. On the one hand, a person will have to look for a new job and will have to face some hardships associated with it. On the other hand, this punishment does not affect the personality and is aimed specifically at the professional area of one’s life. That is why it is clear that by making a public official answer to the administrative hierarchy, the society ensures that the punishment is fair.

The Government

The third party that a public administrator should be responsible for is the government. The line of reasoning behind this is similar to the one which was mentioned before; however, it does introduce a new aspect: a person should be prosecuted for serious crimes. It is quite obvious that not all crimes are equally dangerous to the society (Lee 18). That is why the degree of attention that the government pays for different crimes is different. If the inability to perform one’s duties properly resulted in a number of deaths, then a public administrator should be charged accordingly. The important point to note here is that only the government has the sufficient amount of power to punish for such actions. That is why the involvement of this party should be seen as necessary under specific circumstances and should not be present in virtually every case.

What is even more important, the potential to engage the government when making a public administrator answer for one’s actions shows that every citizen in the society regardless of one’s position has equal rights and enjoys the same kind of protection by the law. In other words, those who suffered from poor execution of one’s duties by a public official can make one answer for one’s actions which will bring justice. Furthermore, the rule of law is also regarded as the fundamental element of a democratic society since it shows that the law is the force that makes everyone equal. This results in the situation when the society enhances its stability by punishing those who violated the rules and regulations regardless of one’s position. Just like in the previous cases, it is essential for making sure that a public administrator as held accountable objectively and answers to those parties that have experienced damage.

Morality

Finally, there is one last aspect that needs to be investigated when it comes to examining the idea of responsibility of a public administrator – morality.  It is essential to keep in mind that every public official is a person which means that there is a personal code of Ethics that guides one’s actions (Cox 32). This code might coincide with the one that is widely accepted in the society or may not coincide. In any case, it is generally expected that if a public official does something that the society would disapprove, one should step down from one’s position in order to show one’s remorse. In spite of the fact that this is not enshrined in any professional code and is not mandatory to follow, the evidence suggests that many public administrators choose to step down when they feel that they were not able to maintain their ethical integrity.

With this in mind, it may also be essential to briefly examine the phenomenon of whistle-blowing. The latter concept is connected to the topic in question, but it makes a public administrator answer when one’s misdeeds are not known. The important point to be stressed here is that it is a personal decision whether to become a whistle-blower or not as one is likely to face a considerable number of criticism afterward. Nevertheless, just like every aspect that was mentioned above, whistle-blowing is a practice that is performed for the benefit of the people. All this leads to the understanding that even if the negative actions of a public administrator were not known to the public, then it may be useful to expose one’s deeds because everything will benefit from it. If this has been done, a person will have to answer to the public, the administrative hierarchy, the government if needed, and the moral code.

Conclusion

As one can clearly see based on the evidence which was examined in the paragraphs above, public administrators should be held accountable before the people, the administrative hierarchy, the government, and morality.   Speaking of the first parts that they should answer to, one should keep in mind that the public at large is considered to be the source of the power in the democratic society. That is why it would be logical that public administrators would answer to it. Secondly, a person must answer to one’s direct superior since that makes sense as one is expected to be punished for one’s professional actions or lack thereof. If the negative consequences were severe, then one needs to be prosecuted by the government which has the power to punish people. Finally, it is useful to keep in mind that importance of morality in this process.

Works Cited

Cox, Raymond W. Ethics and Integrity in Public Administration Concepts and Cases. Taylor and Francis, 2015.

Kernaghan, Kenneth, and John Langford. The Responsible Public Servant. BookBaby, 2014.

Kettl, Donald F. Politics of the Administrative Process. Sage CQ Press. 7th edition. 2018. Print.

Lee, Yong S. A Reasonable Public Servant: Constitutional Foundations of Administrative Conduct in the United States. Sharpe, 2016.

Nef, Jorge, and Bernd Reiter. The Democratic Challenge Rethinking Democracy and Democratization. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]
close
Haven't found the right essay?
Get an expert to write you the one you need!
print

Professional writers and researchers

quotes

Sources and citation are provided

clock

3 hour delivery

person