PA579-V05 Final Report. Ethics and Professional Concerns Influencing Education.

Course Information PA 579 Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Public and Nonprofit Organizations is concerned with the normative discourse on public and nonprofit organizations: ethics and responsibility. In this course we will consider the major classical and contemporary contributions to the literature on these subjects in order to discern their relevance to the conduct of public servants generally, but more especially to your own conduct and personal struggles to act ethically and responsibly. This course does not presume to offer a single moral truth or preferred point of view about what constitutes ethical and responsible conduct. Ethics and responsibility, while they are related ideas, are by no means synonymous and may often conflict with one another. Conflict and disagreement are central characteristics of both subjects, both as they bear on one another as well as within the discourse on each subject. One reason for this is that ethics and responsibility may each be considered in terms of their individual and collective aspects, as well as in terms of their organizational as opposed to their public policy implications. One of the hallmarks of this course is its emphasis on conflict and disagreement; thus, students will be expected to consider these thoughtfully and undogmatically. Class member(s) will also be asked to take this course personally, rather than simply as an intellectual exercise. Specifically, you will be afforded the opportunity to reflect, both individually and with one another, on personal and professional dilemmas that involve questions of ethics and responsibility. 
Courses Objectives PA 579 builds on and applies the analytical methodology taught in PA 580 (Policy Evaluation) and PA 581 (Policy Design). To complete PA 579 each student will complete assignments that will demonstrate his or her ability to, among other skills, exhibit the ability to write: • Problem or opportunity definition: Identify and document a client-oriented public policy or management problem or opportunity that has an ethical dilemma. Conduct a thorough, original assessment of the problem, goals, sub-goals, objectives, and specific ethical problem. The goal of this exercise is to determine whether the extent to which the way you would “resolve” the ethical dilemma. Goals should be outlined at the level of consideration of the government or organization that will implement them and should be within the capacity of the implementing government or organization to achieve. • Identify and develop several (usually 3-5 as a rough guide) ethical policy alternative as solutions or options to remedy the problem. These alternatives and your projections across various goal criteria should be charted in a summary Goals/Alternatives matrix (sometimes called a Consequences Matrix). • Analyze Alternatives: Analyze several possible solutions, addressing the programmatic, fiscal, human, legal, ethical, organizational, and implementation aspects of each alternative. • Analyze & Plan Implementation: Analyze the implementation challenges and solutions that each major alternative would face to realize the policy goal. • Communicate: Present the analysis and recommendations developed in the study in an extensive written and brief oral report to the class, faculty, and invited “clients.” • Recommend: Recommend one alternative (or several if they are not mutually exclusive).