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Ethics and values in the public sector

The purpose of the course

• The purpose of this course is not to transform an unethical person into an ethical person.

• This is a task that no human can do. Rather, it is to help ethically well-intended government managers and employees avoid and, when the occasion calls for it, extricate( remove) themselves from a morally challenging situation.

• Another purpose of this course is to provide organizational leaders with a perspective on managing, not controlling, individuals who work in the service of community and governance.

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Service, ethics, and trust are interrelated values that inform public administration practices

Introduction

Key values in public administration:

These values constitute prime components of the social construct underpinning all government activity, including prescriptions for high standards of behavior.

Service, ethics, and trust:

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Inspiring public trust.

• The behavior of those who deliver public services is an important factor for citizens’ trust, support, and participation in government.

• Ethical, effective, and equitable public services have been shown to inspire public trust.

• This trust facilitates the collaborative partnership that must exist between public servants and citizens to achieve good governance

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Public Expectations:

• Citizens expect public servants to pursue the public interest.

• They also expect them to manage public resources for the common good.

• Failure to live up to these expectations affects public trust and support for public service.

– The relationships between ethics, service, and trust are mutually reinforcing ethical behavior establishes trust in government, which in turn establishes and strengthens support for public service.

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Living up to the public trust:

• Living up to the public trust is much more than just an act of compliance.

• It also involves perceiving, preventing, avoiding, and resolving accusations of illegal or unethical behavior, including appearances of inappropriate behavior.

• A system of public service ethics must prevail that empowers public servants with the prudence to not only do more than what is publicly required but also do less than what might be privately permissible.

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Tools that Support Public Service Ethics:

• Professional codes of ethics, ethics laws, ethics surveys, ethics seminars, and numerous other programs have been put forth to help achieve this type of behavior.

• Some programs focus on helping organizations develop ethical initiatives that are meaningful, obtainable, measurable, and sustainable.

• Other programs promote the alignment of actual behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes with stated organizational values to help achieve a culture of integrity and trust.

• Also prevalent are enforcement practices that rely on internal control systems and other instruments that create a preventive environment to obstruct or resist misconduct.

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Understanding ethics and governance

• Ethics are involved in all manner of public activities, such as protecting us from criminals, ensuring that confidential information does not get in the wrong hands, keeping us safe from man-made and environmental hazards, and much more.

• Ethical behavior , is of paramount importance.

• Ethical behavior includes:

1-respect for citizens

2- the promotion of democratic values such as citizen participation in governance

3-commitment to the rule of law.

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• We expect those who occupy elected and appointed offices in our government to be ethical in carrying out their duties. In fact, the government have gone to considerable length to ensure that the public’s business is conducted properly. How?

• They have created ethics oversight agencies and adopted laws, ordinances, rules, and ethics codes to encourage ethical behavior.

• Although these measures are useful and have a proper place, they are frequently insufficient. Following rules, regulations, and the law to stay out of trouble is important, but it is the moral minimum.

Obstacles to rising above the Moral Minimum

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leadership myopia

lack of top management awareness of misconduct

the combined punch of history

and culture ethical illiteracy

Rising above the Moral Minimum( overcoming 4 main obstacles): • There are four obstacles that must be overcome by governments at

all levels to ensure that the workforce can rise above the moral minimum.

• The first significant obstacle is leadership myopia (meaning shortsightedness)—that is, failing to recognize the importance of ethics in getting the work of government done.

• Government does not exist to produce a product called “ethics.” Rather, government is expected to provide and produce valued public goods and services, such as justice, safety, security, transportation, clean air and water, parks and recreation, safe food and drugs, emergency services, and many, many more .

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First obstacle: leadership myopia

• Thus, it is not surprising that many government leaders do not place a high priority on ethics and typically recognize its importance only after there has been a serious ethical lapse.

• When put on place of high priority, ethics is the cornerstone of effective, efficient, democratic governance.

• “Ethics may be only instrumental, it may be only a means to an end, but it is a necessary means to an end,”

• The challenge is to ensure that one understands the importance of ethics in carrying out the work of government and then act on that understanding.

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A second obstacle is lack of top management awareness of misconduct • As unimaginable as this may be, many high level officials do not know

what is happening in their organizations.

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• No government, of course, wants to encourage its workers to become vigilantes who take it upon themselves to police misconduct.

• Nonetheless, organizational leaders must find the ways and means to be informed of misconduct before a culture of ethical failure takes hold.

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A third obstacle is the combined punch of history and culture. • Organizational scholars are quick to point out the enormous influence

of the past on the present.

• Governments with a checkered history in ethical governance are unlikely to be transformed overnight.

• Indeed, historical norms can be deeply rooted in a culture that resists change and fosters benign neglect or, worse, permits outright unethical behavior.

• The phrase “this is how we do things around here” means just that— keep doing things the same way. The challenge is to find leaders who are able and willing to break with the culture of the past.

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A fourth obstacle is ethical illiteracy:

• Leaders and followers who are unable “to grasp fully the intricacies of complex ethical issues and to see all of the consequences of one’s actions” suffer from ethical illiteracy.

• It commonly surfaces when issues are seen from a fatally narrow and limited legal perspective.

• A large illiteracy blind spot can produce tunnel vision that severely damages county’s reputation as a fair and equitable provider of public goods and services.

• The challenge in overcoming this obstacle is to think and act outside the box of what the law requires. Sound ethical judgment calls for more than meeting the moral minimum of the law.

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• Many government managers understand that ethics and integrity are essential qualities that managers must embrace in order to be successful.

• No other public service knowledge or skill (budgeting, program evaluation, public-private partnerships, and so forth) was ranked even closely to ethics and integrity in terms of its importance for public service.

• Successful managers understand that one’s integrity is at the core of managing “without fear or favor.”

What can be done to encourage ethical behavior and prevent misconduct?

• Agencies typically adopt one of two approaches:

1-a compliance approach

2- an integrity approach

• With the former the far more dominant

• 1- A compliance approach depends heavily on rules and practices that, if followed, are designed to keep members of the organization out of trouble.

• Behavior deemed acceptable or unacceptable is defined for the employee usually in the form of rules or admonishments( warning or advices).

• Rules are typically placed in personnel manuals, codes of conduct, and new employee orientation sessions

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Approaches to encourage ethical behavior and prevent misconduct?

A compliance approach

An integrity approach

Fusion model

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A compliance approach(…..continued)

• Many governments require their employees to sign a statement that they have read and will abide by the acceptable behavior rules of the organization.

• Those who break the rules are presumed to do so out of ignorance or willful intention.

• The latter is viewed as more serious and can result in penalties ranging from a letter of reprimand to suspension with or without pay to getting fired.

• Those who commit misconduct out of ignorance are treated less harshly but are expected to reform themselves.

• Ignorance is not an excuse for misconduct as it is correctable.

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• Detection is the key to a successful compliance approach and can, if not implemented in a sensitive manner, foster an unhealthy “gotcha” culture ( a culture of uncovering faults).

• Figure 1.1 illustrates the key components of a compliance approach. As detection and punishment increase misconduct is expected to decrease

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A compliance approach is popular and widely adopted for several reasons:

1. It is straightforward. Rules and penalties can be drafted and put into place with ease in most instances.

However, implementing an effective detection system can be challenging as it can turn into a negative influence if it encourages a “tattle- tale” culture( a culture of reporting on each other for personal gain). 2. Training and education can be developed that focuses on rules, detection, and penalties. 3. This approach often appears low cost once rules and guidelines are drafted. Monitoring compliance, however, is not necessarily cheap. 4. It presumes that with enough “dos” and “don’ts” most errant(devious) behavior can be deterred. In other words, the focus is on preventing unacceptable behavior.

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2- An integrity approach:

• An integrity approach, in contrast to a compliance approach, empowers the individual to make value judgments about right and wrong.

• It is value driven rather than rule driven.

• It presumes that there are not always, maybe even seldom, bright lines to help one choose the right thing to do. One must learn how to deal with ethical challenges.

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The integrity approach continues……

• What are the values that drive an integrity approach?

• One way to answer this question is to look empirically at what several communities actually do. Figure 1.2 lists the values.

• These values do not exhaust the universe of values but they are reasonably inclusive.

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Explanations of figure 1.3

• Figure 1.3 provides a more detailed specification of the integrity model.

• As is evident from the four cornerstones—leadership, awareness, culture, and aspirations—the integrity model responds to the organization’s mission and is supported by appropriate education and training to ensure that decisions are reached in an ethical manner and achieve ethical results.

• This model is comprehensive and reflects interdependency among the key elements. In this sense, it offers a systemic approach to building and sustaining a strong ethics culture.

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Integrity vs. Compliance

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The principal weakness of the integrity approach, critics might contend, is a reliance on the reasoning ability and “goodness” of members of the organization.

By contrast, the compliance approach emphasizes the dark side of human nature— that is, given the opportunity, people will opt for behavior that is questionable and perhaps crosses over to the unethical.

The fusion model

• These approaches are not necessarily polar opposites.

• Rather, it is possible to blend the best of both in a “fusion” (combined model).

• Carol W. Lewis and Stuart C. Gilman describe the fusion model as “a two-pronged (two- part), systematic approach that ‘incorporates both compliance with formal standards and the promotion of individual ethical responsibility’.”

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Ethics Defined

• There are endless ethics moments throughout life, those occasions when we just don’t know what to do in a “right” and “wrong” situation and sometimes, in a “right” and “right” situation.

• They occur in our private lives and our professional work. And, it is much easier to stumble(accidentally fall )into an ethics moment than it is to find a way out.

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Common ethical questions?

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Why should I care?

I’m an ethical person. Are you?

Have you never told a lie? Bent the truth a tad(little)?

Doctored(manipulate) an expense voucher? Turned your head when you witnessed an unethical act by a friend or coworker?

Enhanced a resume?

Inflated a performance evaluation?

Fudged( cheating) on an exam?

Made unpleasant remarks about someone because of their sexual orientation, race, religion, or ethnic belief?

Treated another person disrespectfully?

Following your ethical compass

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Following your ethical compass

Chances are you have done some of these things. • Does that make you a “bad” person? Not necessarily. But it may mean that

your ethical compass is a bit not firm and unreliable. • As a human being, it is an unending challenge to keep your ethical compass

pointed true north. • Humans err—sometimes with maliciousness ( with evil intension) in mind

but most of the time we make misjudgments out of ignorance, intolerance, plain stupidity, or the inability to reason through a complicated ethical situation.

• The vast majority of government employees try to do the right thing most of the time.

• Still, a small number of unethical employees can wreak havoc (cause damage/ disrupt) government agency.

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Why is ethical behavior difficult?

• If most of us are ethically well intended, what is the problem?

• It’s not always easy to figure out what the right thing is, especially in complex organizations that have come to dominate modern governance.

• Rules and regulations, even laws, are helpful, but doing the right thing often means doing more than just following the rules.

• “If men were angels, no government would be necessary,”

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Defining Ethics

• If men and women were angels, there would be no reason to concern ourselves with ethics. But … humans roam(travel) the earth, not the heavens, so ethics are indispensable.

• Ethics is a term invoked( call upon it) with considerable frequency in the professions, government, and the corporate world.

• But how might we define ethics? There are many definitions. Some define ethics as “morality in action”; others assert ethics involves “a consensus of moral principles.”

• James Norden offers this definition: “Ethics are the internal rules that drive one to follow or not to follow external rules. Of course, this definition works best when morals are the external rules”.

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Elements of Ethics

• The definition used in this course is: “Ethics are values and principles that guide right and wrong behavior.”

• The key elements of this definition are :

(1) values and principles

(2) behavior

(3) right and wrong 37

1-Values and Principles

• A value can be an idea, object, practice, or almost anything else that we attach worth to.

• Ethics do not encompass all values. Consider money or status as a value. Most of us attach worth to money and status but we don’t call them values that are essential to a definition of ethics.

• A value that is translated into an ethic can be thrift (spending carefully), cleanliness, piety (taqwa), work, justice, prudence (being cautious), compassion, charity, courage, benevolence, and so on.

• A principle is a prescription for action. Consider the Golden Rule or treat people with dignity or tell the truth or treat others with fairness.

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• Values and principles are also defined by the professions—medicine, law, clergy, accounting, engineering, and others.

• These values and principles can be classified broadly as public service values and principles.

• All call for their members to respect the law, promote the public interest, and serve with integrity. At the same time, more specific behaviors can be proscribed (prohibited).

• Example: Government employees should not endorse commercial products or services by agreeing to use their photograph, endorsement, or quotation in paid or other commercial advertisements, whether or not for compensation.

2-Behavior

• Ethics is not a spectator sport; it is a contact sport. Ethics is about behavior and consequences.

• Thinking unethical thoughts is possible, but until those thoughts become translated into behavior, there are no consequences to define “right” or “wrong.”

• Ethics shares with law the notion that it is behavior that matters foremost.

• Ethics is sometimes equated with morality, as the above definitions suggest. However, the act of thinking immoral thoughts can be defined as immoral itself

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3-Right and wrong • The vast majority of government employees and public officials are

conscientious, dedicated, ethical persons who carry out their day-to- day work competently and with pride.

• Yet, as the cases and controversies in this course illustrate, there are many paths and pitfalls that can ensnare (trap) even the most ethically well-intentioned person.

• A collection of rules, regulations, and laws certainly help individuals stay on an ethical path, but no matter how complex an organizational situation might be, it is up to the individual to exercise his moral agency (moral personal initiative).

• That is why ethical reasoning is so important.

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Individual vs. organizational moral agency

• Without the ability to reason through a situation, one is largely left to the moral agency of the organization to determine “right” from “wrong.”

• If the individual is taken to the dark side of organizational life, his moral agency might be stripped away entirely.

• “What’s good for the organization is good for me” might be the common opinion—a dangerous supposition (assumption) for sure.

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Ethics in action: Practices that ensure an individual’s moral agency • Progressive leaders and managers understand the dangers that hide in the

“shadow of organization” and have instituted practices that ensure an individual’s moral agency is not sacrificed for the sake of organizational self-interest.

• What are those practices? • First and foremost is exemplary leadership: • Those who pronounce that their supervisors and street-level workers must

adhere to the highest ethical standards in the conduct of their work must themselves adhere to those same standards.

• Leaders must be exemplars in their personal and professional lives. Easier said than done? Certainly, but it is essential.

• Much the same can be said about peer leadership. Middle managers or even the cop on the beat must demonstrate day-in and day-out his commitment to ethical behavior. Failure to do so can result in organizations without integrity.

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Mini case of ethics in action:

• Elected officeholders can also serve as exemplars( mini case on exemplary leadership):

• Bader ran successfully for office on a platform of bringing ethical government to his community, yet was soon embarrassingly sitting before the city “Ethics Board” accused of violating the city’s ethics code. What happened?

• He found himself in a situation in which he needed to get his daughter to summer camp and, at the same time, negotiate an agreement for a local option sales tax.

• His assistant volunteered to help and drove his daughter to camp—on city time! The city manager advised the mayor that he may have committed an ethics violation.

• Forty-five minutes later, Bader realized that the city manager could be correct, so, embarrassed by this ethical lapse, he took out his pen and filed an ethics complaint against himself.

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• After subsequent deliberation by the Ethics Board, it was determined that no formal reprimand was necessary, but that Bader should reimburse the city for the assistant’s time away from the office.

• Mayor Bader readily complied and reimbursed the city $8.94.

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Second, ethics training is becoming more common than uncommon. • Management consultants and university faculty are often recruited to provide

training workshops. This training is not limited to laws, rules, and regulations.

• Training programs usually emphasize what the law says about:

(1) a conflict of interest

(2) what “having financial interests” means in a day-to-day, practical sense

(3) the meaning of personal honesty

(4) how to address ethics complaints

(5) the balance of law and individual rights process.

Knowledge of ethics laws is necessary but, as noted before, is not sufficient

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• Ethics training sessions include:

1.normative ethics theories such as utilitarianism, principle or duty- based ethics, and virtue theory

2.The concept of ethical reasoning knowledge and skills

3.The topic of transparency in government affairs

*Ethics training sessions conducted through cases and group discussion

Third: code of ethics.

• Many governments have chosen to adopt a high standard that is expressed in their own code of ethics .

• Elected and appointed public managers hold very positive attitudes toward codes of ethics.

• The conventional wisdom is that codes have a positive influence in governance, especially in deterring unethical acts by ethically motivated public servants.

• That is, unethical officials are likely to be unethical regardless of whether a code exists, but those who want to be ethical find a code helpful in guiding their behavior

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Fourth: Ethics Audits

• The motivation for adopting a code is often a series of unethical behaviors or a scandal.

• Fourth, governments are increasingly conducting ethics audits, which can be described as an “appraisal activity, the purpose being to determine if changes need to be made in the climate, environment, codes, and the enforcement of ethics policies.”

• An ethics audit is not an accounting or financial management audit. Rather, it is a tool for benchmarking the strength of the organization’s ethical culture and putting in place organizational initiatives to build an organization of integrity. Case 1.1 (to be discussed), “Escape from an Ethics Swamp,” provides a detailed example of how a public manager rebuilt an organization that had fallen into an unethical situation.

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• An ethics audit might also include an assessment of occupational risk or vulnerability. That is, some organizational work is inherently vulnerable to unethical abuse if not criminal wrongdoing.

• For example, occupational work that involves the handling and processing of financial matters, purchasing and contracting, conducting inspections, and enforcing rules and regulations are high risk, especially for workers whose ethical compass is not right in the first place.

• A systematic assessment of the ethical risk factor of work is a necessary first step in putting into place appropriate accountability and transparency mechanisms. It is also a valuable step in identifying training priorities.

Fifth, recruiting and promoting employees

• Recruiting and promoting employees based in part on their adherence to ethical standards is growing. Personnel decisions—hiring, evaluating, promoting, firing—are essential features of all organizations.

• There are strong advocates of raising the ethical awareness of employees through hiring, evaluation, and promotion.

• For example, one manager advocates installing an ethical consciousness in the organization through the use of codes, audits, committees, and weekly staff meetings.

• “It is advantageous,” the advocate claims, “to use weekly staff meetings to review all discussions and decisions for ethical implications. When a potential problem is identified, a staff member can be assigned to clarify the issue and develop a strategy for resolving it at the next meeting.”

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A comprehensive approach toward strengthening the ethics

culture in public governance is represented by the following:

1-exemplary leadership

2- ethics training

3- codes

4-audits

5- personnel selection processes that incorporate a standard of conduct

• This is not wishful thinking; this is happening around the world

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“What happens when ethics is relegated to the sidelines?”

• The consequences for individuals and the organization can range from a loss of self-respect, to heightened organizational tensions, to embarrassment, and, in a worse case scenario , a scandal that grinds the organization to the ground.

• Cases 1.2 and 1.3 .

• No one is found guilty of breaking the law In either of these cases but did they cross over an ethical line? Read the cases and decide for yourself.

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• Ethical awareness is the essential starting point for keeping yourself and your organization out of harm’s way.

• The next step, which is often quite difficult, is to take action when a colleague or superior’s behavior becomes ethically problematic.

• Moral muteness or turning one’s head when an ethical violation happens is a common type of inaction and could be a sign of ethical insensitivity and poor ethical awareness.

• But this lack of action has a price for the individual and the organization. Sometimes the failure to act corrupts the individual’s integrity and the integrity of coworkers.

• And the resultant drift toward an amoral (being neither moral nor immoral) organizational culture endangers the organization’s mission.

Excercise An ethics test for government employees • 1. An inspector is asked to approve construction work that does not comply with the

city’s building codes. In exchange, the contractor offers tickets to an upcoming concert. Should you accept the tickets? Yes/No

• 2. Your relative wants to set up a snow removal business and in addition to other contracts, they want to have a contract with the city. You work for the department that issues this type of contract, but not in the contract section. Should you declare a conflict of interest? Yes/No

• 3. You have a business in addition to your job with the city. You spend time on the telephone arranging business deals, contacting suppliers and potential clients. Your work for the city suffers because of the amount of time spent on your private business. Is this ethical? Yes/No

• 4. You have learned several specialized skills working for the city. Another local government learns of your talent and wants you to work for them, “moonlighting” on the weekends, if you are not called in by your employer to work on an emergency problem. Should you “moonlight”—that is, work part-time for the other city? Yes/No

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• 5. A department head or city council member contacts you for information about how a city service is handled. You provide the information to the department head or the city council member who made the request. You then send additional information directly to the citizen who had contacted the director or city council member. Should you have sent the additional information? Yes/No

• 6. You spend several hours during the week using the city supplied computer to download information on a relative’s medical condition. Is this ethical? Yes/No

• 7. A health inspector arrives at a restaurant during the start of the lunch hour. Several violations are noted during the inspection. The manager offers the employee lunch in exchange for waiting to write up the inspection, asking for time to make the needed corrections after the lunch hour. Should the employee accept the free lunch? Yes/No

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• 8. You have inspected a building and find items that do not meet the city’s building codes. You write up your inspection and then leave. The contractor contacts you, does not like your answer, and asks to speak to your supervisor. They discuss the situation and find another option that will meet the building codes and not cost the contractor a whole lot of money. Is the supervisor’s action ethical? Yes/No

• 9. You inspect a restaurant just after they have had a spill of grease in the kitchen. It has contaminated surfaces and food. The kitchen staff is busy throwing out food and sanitizing surfaces. You tell the manager you will wait until the kitchen order is restored before conducting your inspection. Is this ethical? Yes/No

• 10. You are asked to provide a special service to someone, for example, to just let him or her ride with you, in your city vehicle, for a private (not city related) purpose. Is this ethical? Yes/No

• 11. A manager in another department comes to you and asks that you handle a matter outside of the normal process and it is a service that not everyone in the city would get. The manager states that the person needing help is a very important person and the normal rules and procedures don’t apply to their request. Should you handle the matter as requested? Yes/No

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