Ethics in Public Service
Spring 2008 (Monday, May 5, 11:00 AM - 12:50 PM)
Review Sheet for Final Exam
The final exam is comprehensive. It will include about fifty multiple choice questions, a few short answer questions, and a few essay questions of which you may at times have some choice in which to respond. The test will cover both assigned books, Unmasking Administrative Evil and The Responsible Administrator, the assigned articles, class video presentations, as well as your notes on class lectures and discussions. After reading the assigned textbooks/articles and reviewing your notes, answer the questions below to test how prepared you are to take the examination.
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List and explain the key arguments used by Adams and Balfour to describe their concept of administrative evil.
What inspired Hannah Arendt to coin the phrase, "the banality of evil"?
Why is administrative evil different than evil traditionally understood?
What role can hubris play in administrative evil?
Know and thoroughly understand Terry Cooper's models for ethical decision-making and responsible conduct.
What do the terms teleological and deontological mean within the framework of ethical study?
What strategies are available to the individual administrator for helping to make ethical decisions?
Know and understand the levels of ethical reflection as outlined by Henry David Aiken.
Describe the psychological experiments that links the ethical responses of individuals to authority figures.
Describe Kohlberg's theory concerning the development of moral reasoning.
What were some of the major criticisms of Kohlberg's approach to moral development?
How does Kohlberg's theory contrast with learning theory?
Be able to offer several definitions of ethics.
Describe various ethical systems and approaches to the study of ethics.
What are the differences between the modern and the postmodern world?
Know the pros and cons of codes of ethics and ethics legislation.
Understand the relationship between political transactions and ethical concerns.
What is meant by modernity and what is its implications for ethics?
Why does Terry Cooper see responsibility as the key to administrative ethics?
Know and understand the components of ethical conduct.
What generally happens to whistleblowers?
Be able to list and describe various kinds of ethical conflicts and dilemmas.
Know the difference between internal and external controls.
Be familiar with the different codes of ethics as offered by various public administration organizations.
What is principal agent theory?
What is the agentic shift?
Know the essential mental attitudes and moral qualities for a public administrator.
What are virtue ethics?
Define utilitarianism.
Be able to discuss the Challenger and Columbia tragedies from various ethical perspectives such as administrative evil, the knowledge analytic, systems failure, whistleblowing, and groupthink.
Be able to analyze The Fog of War from various ethical frameworks. Be able to list the eleven lessons from Robert McNamara's life.
NOTE: In preparing for this exam, there is no good substitute for reading and studying the assigned textbooks and articles thoroughly!
