The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role

by Terry L. Cooper

Those who serve the public trust must take special care to ensure they make ethical and responsible decisions. Yet the realities of bureaucracies, deadlines, budgets, and demands for quick results make the payoffs for dealing formally with ethics seem unclear. Since its original publication, The Responsible Administrator has guided professionals and students alike as they grapple with the challenges of making ethical, responsible decisions in real world situations. This new edition includes information on coping with new demands for accountability, as well as new cases and examples, an examination of current issues relevant to administrative ethics, and supplementary materials for professors. Cooper’s theoretical framework and practical applications and techniques will help you consider all of the factors involved in a decision, ensuring that you balance professional, personal, and organizational values. Case studies and examples illustrate what works and what does not. The Responsible Administrator helps both experienced and novice public administrators and students become effective decision makers, provides them with a solid understanding of the role of ethics in public service and the framework to incorporate ethical and values-based decision making in day-to-day management.

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[April Kersey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of good information in this book but it is bogged down by the boringness of the subject. So much of this book just seems like common sense. There are some great things discussed such as equity versus equality and different types of conflicts of interest but I feel like if you are going to be a public administrator you have to already know some of this information. For instance, don't take bribes. I don't need to read pages upon pages about this. I LOVED the scenarios presented in this book. They do make you think about how you would act in that situation. Again, to me the problems seemed obvious but the point is not to see the problem but to evaluate different ways that you could address the problem.

[Carmenlita Chief · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading for my graduate course in public administrative ethics - Fall 2020. I appreciated the case studies and examples. Great primer for other public administration courses. It helped me think about the various facets of responsibility on an individual and organizational level.

[Carole Lafreniere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moral reasoning for administrators of governmental agencies and programs. Insightful, good examples, readable

[Andrea Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an okay textbook but some of the writing is tough to follow. The author tries to make some of the concepts more complicated than they need to be.

[Dr. Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book [for a text book] the most resounding features are two models of administrative responsibility for arriving at solutions to ethical dilemmas. One is the ethical decision making model and the other the design approach based upon Whitbeck's original model itself. The redeveloped decision making model combined with the design approach arms the public administrator with the tools necessary to face a host of situational dilemmas. The concept of organizational ethics versus personal ethics is also well developed and for such a specialized field the book is remarkably readable. Codes of ethics and ethical legislation are treated in depth. All in all a remarkable work and a foundational book for anyone involved in ethical public administration.

[Craig Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I great discussion on a burgeoning field of study. I good compliment to this text is an article by the same author entitled "Big Questions in Administrative Ethics: A Need for Focused, Collective Effort." (Public Administrative Review, Vol 64, No. 4 July/August 2004). Although the discussion is light on traditional philosophical moral theory, it is instructive for practitioners in public service, which is obviously the intended audience. I would recommend this text as a reference for scholarly work or simply to get a better understanding of the normative cornerstones of administrative deliberation.

[Nick Klagge · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It was OK" is about right for this book. Required textbook for my January class on Ethical Issues in Public Service. In a way, I appreciate that the author tries to approach the issue from a completely analytical point of view; that is, not advocating for any particular system of values. But it's quite dry and not engaging. I think the author would have gotten me more interested if he used real historical examples rather than made-up cases.

[Melissa Lee-Tammeus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book for yet another ethics class required by my degree program. Not a bad read, but nothing I would stay up late to read because I wanted to. Some great scenarios for those in positions in which there is a lot to gain and a lot to lose. A reminder to do what's right the first time.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a textbook for a graduate school class in management skills. Ethics is a topic which should receive more attention than it does in a culture which fears discussions of morality and forcing someone to take a stand on something being right or wrong.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was for my ethics class, which unfortunately never talked about this book in lecture. It has some good material, but not written in a way so that the information is easy to digest.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was for my ethics class. It has some interesting information but the book is not all that easy to read.

[Justine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for school.