In
simple term, the values of a person or group are their moral principles and beliefs.
To Mcshane and Glinow (2003) values…are stable long-lasting beliefs about what
is important in a variety of situations. There are evaluative standards that
help us define what is right or wrong, or good or bad, in the world. Indeed,
values are at the heart of what influences employees, drives motivation and behavior.
Thus, values not only represent what we want, they also state what we ought to
do in socially desirable ways to achieve those needs (Mcshane and Glinow, 2003).
It is
worthy of not often formed by public officers, most frequently these are
invented by political class and public administration is only the mechanism for
their implementation. In some cases values are not explicitly given, and public
officers find it tasking to recognize and enforce them. Some values are unethical,
and the duty of the administrative ethics is to make clear the differences
between right and wrong standards and values.
Furthermore,
Montgomery (1998) is of the view that there are different shapes and forms of
values. According to him, there are five value sources employed in
decision-making in public service. They are as follows:
1.
Individual
Values: It is apt to state that this nothing else but integrity,
that is, honesty, consistency, coherence and reciprocity. These values to Montgomery
and aimed to propel public officers to show or exhibit the highest standards in
all activities to inspire public confidence and trust in public service.
2.
Professional
Values: These are values held within a professional or occupational
group. They are used to strengthen individual capacities and encourage the professional
development of others.
3.
Organizational
Values: They encourage public officers to strengthen
organizational capabilities to apply ethics, efficiency, and effectiveness in
serving the public. According to Mishane and Glinow (2003) organizational values
are ta the heart of organizational culture, which is the basic pattern of
shared assumptions; values and beliefs considered the correct way of thinking
about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization.
4. Legal Values: Legal
Values encompass the constitution, the federal, state and local laws; the rules
and regulations that articulate the laws, judicial rulings interpreting laws;
and the ethics that celebrates the state as a Reich Der Zwecke and holds due process
as a basic human, as well as process value.
5. Public Interest Values: It is
the demand of this value that public officials serve the public and not
oneself.
Having
noted the above types of values as enunciated by Montgomery, there are other
values identified by scholars of the field: terminal values and instrumental
values (Rokeach, 1979, Meglino and Ravlin, 1998). In another perspective,
terminal values, to Mcshane and Glinow (2003) are desired state of existence that
we endavour to achieve. They include equality, wisdom, and world of beauty and
a comfortable life. Conversely, instrumental values indicate desirable modes of
behavior that assist us to achieve terminal values. Examples abound and include
being polite courageous logical, self-controlled and ambitious. Instrumental
values shape individual’s behaviors are most closely connected to
organizational objectives.
This
treatise cannot be concluded without reference to another type of value known
as cultural value,” which has to do with the dominant belief held by members of
a particular society, cultural values differ from society to society.
As submitted
by Mcshane and Glinow (2003) that different societies have different valued
about how their citizens should and should not act, Scandina vains, for
instance, value group decision making, whereas Americans think that the leader
should take charge.
Ethics on the other hand, is described and
defined by writers in different ways. Ethics is synonymous with “moral”
portraying customs, habits and accepted code of behavior of an individual or
community (Lacey, 1976). According to him, ethics as an inquiry into how men
ought to act in general, not as a means to a given end, but as an end itself.
To Macham (1977) ethics is the study of whether there are any values each and
every person should pursue, whether there is set of virtues as a code of
principles of conduct for everyone and what these are if they do exist.
Walkings (1956) saw ethics as a system of moral principles. According to.........................................................................
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