Monitoring ethics of public administrators now a global effort, says K-State professor, co-editor of 'Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics'

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Source: William L. Richter, 785-532-6362, wrichter@k-state.edu
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/wrichterbio.html
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

MONITORING ETHICS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS NOW A GLOBAL EFFORT, SAYS
K-STATE PROFESSOR, CO-EDITOR OF 'COMBATING CORRUPTION, ENCOURAGING ETHICS'

MANHATTAN -- When the first edition of "Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics" was published in 1990, co-editor William L. Richter, Kansas State University professor of political science, said management ethics was mostly an American preoccupation.

An emphasis on ethics that was spurred in the 1970s by the Watergate scandal and continually picked up steam in the United States now is reaching across national borders, Richter said.

"What in 1990 was largely an American dialogue is now global," he said.

In 1990, Richter was part of a United States Agency for International Development program to make recommendations for American assistance to Pakistan's democratic development. While Richter met with American and Pakistani employees of an American agency in Islamabad, he said the mention of ethics in management elicited laughter.

"The whole notion that you'd ever talk about management ethics in a place like Pakistan at that time was absurd," Richter said. "Now the discussion is being taken seriously."

The second edition of "Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics" was released this year. It is co-edited by Richter and Frances Burke and is co-published by Rowman & Littlefield and the American Society for Public Administration. The book explores the ethical issues affecting administrators in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Richter said public administrators have to be wary of the pitfalls of corruption, deception, abuse of authority and evasion of accountability.

"A lot of people simply stumble into ethical problems," Richter said. "It is important to help administrators be aware of problems that might arise and to strengthen organizations to provide a better environment for ethical management."

The new edition of "Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics" contains some of the classic writings by Aristotle, Niccolo Machiavelli, Immanuel Kant and others included in the first edition, which Richter co-edited with Burke and Jameson W. Doig. A majority of the content of the new edition focuses on contemporary, 21st-century cases and issues. The new edition covers privacy, the USA Patriot Act, abuse of power, lying and deception, Abu Ghraib and the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Richter said contemporary administrators face a variety of new ethical challenges, including the changing nature of government, technological change and globalization. The book discusses issues as diverse as large projects like Boston's "Big Dig" and the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters.

"The Iraq war is an example of a large project with a lot of opportunities for corruption," Richter said. "But it's important to recognize that ethical challenges to effective management can occur at any level of government and in any type of nonprofit organization."

More information about "Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics," is available at http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/