Personal Ethics and Public Duties Dilemma

Personal Ethics and Public Duties Dilemma

Introduction

Ethics are a set of moral principles that guide how a person lives, behaves and make decisions. Professional ethics on the other hand are a strict code of conduct laid down at the work place. Non-compliance to professional code of conduct may result to severe consequences including getting laid off. At times, professional duties at a work place conflicts with personal ethics. This places one at a dilemma because it is hard to stray from personal ethics but at the same time one needs to adhere to professional ethics. This essay will look at how personal ethics and professional responsibilities can be reconciled with the aid of Christian worldview and organization psychology.

Reconciling personal ethics with professional responsibilities

In a public office, there are a set of guidelines that are provided from high authorities such as the constitution. In line with Dennis (2018), administrators carry out orders of their superiors and the policies of the agency or the government they serve and they do not exercise moral judgement; they are not expected to act on any moral principles of their own but are to give effect to whatever principles are reflected. This implies that public servants are under the obligation to implement work policies and their personal opinion is not considered. In this situation, one should first achieve cognitive harmony. Organizational cognitive dissonance occurs when an employee holds contradictory and incompatible beliefs or attitudes. These contradictions arise from personal ethics that differ from professional duties. When one faces incompatible beliefs that are inconsistent with each other, the best thing to do is to change one of the beliefs so that it aligns with the other in order to achieve cognitive harmony. Most of the time, public servants who face such contradictions either adjust their personal ethics to align with professional duties or quit the job in order to preserve their personal ethics. They do this in order to achieve consistency in behavior and achieve cognitive harmony.

How might Christian worldview principles help you react to such a situation?

Christian worldview principles are a set of ideas and beliefs that guides a Christian in interpreting the world, interacting with people and reacting to different situations. Many employees with strong religious convictions find themselves living in two separate worlds: the private and the secular (David, David &Dan, 2012). Most religious public servants resort to leading two separate lifestyles. One private life where one upholds religious practices and beliefs and the secular one in the public domain where one upholds work ethics regardless of whether they differ with personal beliefs. However, this is not under the Christian worldview principles which indicate that numerous writings and sermons call on Christians to glorify God at home and at work yet they continue to live in two different worlds where the lessons on Sunday worship have little resemblance to the thoughts and conduct exhibited at work (David et al., 2012). As such, Christian employees should prioritize their religious beliefs at all times regardless of whether it limits career success like recognition, promotion or pay rise. This is because job achievement is never the ultimate goal of the believer’s life.

Are these types of restraints placed on public servants fair?

These restraints placed on public servants are not fair. Public servants should be given a platform to express their personal opinions on matters that conflict with their personal ethics. Public servants are people with rights to expression but the threat to lose their jobs forces them to keep quiet and adhere. Too much pressure from public duty ethics may force employees of strong moral conviction to resign and since public agencies would suffer from losing people of principle, it is only fair to take their opinions into considerations while implementing policies.

Principles of Organization Psychology that could be implemented into Justice Organizations to better support employees’ ethical standards while still maintaining the public interests

Organizational psychology seeks to improve and maintain the mental well-being of employees in order to increase workplace productivity. When employees in justice organizations are empowered to maintain their ethical standards as well as uphold public interests, they perform better. One way is by giving the employees a locus of control. Locus of control explains the degree to which people believe that they, rather than external forces determine what happens in their lives (Gretchen, 1995). When the employees feel in total control of their lives, in that their personal ethics are also taken into consideration, their productivity increases.

Another way is by keeping all employees well informed of any new developments. In line with Gretchen (1995), without information, you can be certain that people will not extend themselves to take responsibility or vent their creative energies. However, when employees are fully updated on their performance and how their input contributed to the organization, they feel good that their opinions matter and as such, they work towards achieving the goals of the organization. That way, the public servants uphold their personal ethics and at the same time maintain the interest of the publics.

Conclusion

In summation, when public servants face an ethical dilemma, it is the publics that suffer due to poor service delivery. However, if a justice organization can implement principles that support personal ethics, the public servants will achieve cognitive harmony and uphold public interests as a result.

References

Kim, D., McCalman, D., & Fisher, D. (2012). The sacred/secular divide and the Christian worldview. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(2), 203-208.

Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465.

Thompson, D. F. (2018). The possibility of administrative ethics. In Classics of Administrative Ethics (pp. 79-92). Routledge.