Commentary: Promoting Public Service Ethics: Tools in the Toolbox

• Author: JoAnne Speers
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12677
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016

Promoting Public Service Ethics: Tools in the Toolbox 909

JoAnne Speers , currently teaching

at the University of San Francisco, was

chief executive of the Institute for Local

Government from 1998 to 2014 and

general counsel to the League of California

Cities from 1989 to 2006.

E-mail: jspeers@usfca.edu

Commentary

I n their piece on leadership and ethics, “What

Determines Ethical Behavior in Public

Organizations: Is It Rules or Leadership?,” scholars

James Downe, Richard Cowell, and Karen Morgan

make an important contribution to practitioner

knowledge.

The scholars examine how leaders’ activities intersect

with the more formal, codified provisions of ethics

regulation in promoting good conduct. To do this,

they studied six local governments in England, all of

which adopted ethics codes required under English

law. Their research focus is influencers of elected

official conduct.

Their findings are a helpful reminder that ethics does

not just happen; it takes sustained and purposeful

action.

What Kinds of Action?

Here is a distillation of leadership strategies from the

case study exemplars:

JoAnne Speers

University of San Francisco

Promoting Public Service Ethics: Tools in the Toolbox

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 6, pp. 909–911. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12677.