PHL404 Ethics and the Public Sector (8)

CSU Discipline Area: Ethics and Philosophy (ETHPH)

Duration: One session

Abstract:

This subject examines the ethical character of public service as the means to a critical discussion of the moral dimensions of institutional design and individual behaviour in public sector work.

+ Subject Availability Modes and Locations

Session 2
Distance	Wagga Wagga

Continuing students should consult the SAL for current offering details: PHL404

Where differences exist between the Handbook and the SAL, the SAL should be taken as containing the correct subject offering details.

Enrolment restrictions:

Not available to students who have completed PHL204 Ethics and the Public Sector.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should:

- be able to identify and describe the characteristics of the public sector and of public service;
- be able to identify and describe the normative dimensions of the public sector and public service;
- be able to apply techniques and theories of critical thinking and ethical theory to discussions of recurrent ethical problems in the public sector, and
- be able to act in morally informed ways in their dealings with the public sector.

Syllabus:

The subject will cover the following topics:

-Conceptualisations of the public sector; public sector institutions. -Institutional Designs -Bureaucracy and bureaucratic rationality. -Institutional independence/subordination to political direction. -Authority structures: originary and delegated responsibility. -Institutionalising ethics: codes and organisational transparency/secrecy. -Individual Behaviour -Role morality vs individual morality. -The demands and limit of loyalty. C-onflicts of interest. -Privacy and confidentiality. -Corruption. -Whistleblowing.

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