The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role

by Terry L. Cooper

Overview

Praise for the Fifth Edition of The Responsible Administrator

"Cooper's fifth edition is the definitive text for students and practitioners who want to have a successful administrative career. Moral reasoning, as Cooper so adeptly points out, is essential in today's rapidly changing and complex global environment."—Donald C. Menzel, president, American Society for Public Administration, and professor emeritus, public administration, Northern Illinois University

"The Responsible Administrator is at once the most sophisticated and the most practical book available on public sector ethics. It is conceptually clear and jargon-free, which is extraordinary among books on administrative ethics."—H. George Frederickson, Stone Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, University of Kansas

"Remarkably effective in linking the science of what should be done with a prescriptive for how to actually do it, the fifth edition of Cooper's book keeps pace with the dynamic changes in the field, both for those who study it and those who practice it. The information presented in these pages can be found nowhere else, and it is information we cannot ethically afford to ignore."—Carole L. Jurkiewicz, John W. Dupuy Endowed Professor, and Woman's Hospital Distinguished Professor of Healthcare Management, Louisiana State University, E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration, Public Administration Institute

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118180549
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	01/31/2012
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Terry L. Cooper is the Maria B. Crutcher Professor in Citizenship and Democratic Values at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. He was also a Fulbright professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Cooper has served as the chair of the Section on Ethics of the American Society for Public Administration, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. His articles have appeared in Public Administration Review, Administration and Society, and the American Review of Public Administration.

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Table of Contents

Preface to the Sixth Edition vii

Acknowledgments xi

The Author xv

1 Introduction 1

2 Understanding Ethical Decision Making 13

PART ONE: ETHICS FOR INDIVIDUAL ADMINISTRATORS 41

3 Public Administration in Modern and Postmodern Society: The Context of Administrative Ethics 43

4 Administrative Responsibility: The Key to Administrative Ethics 71

5 Conflicts of Responsibility: The Ethical Dilemma 93

PART TWO: ETHICS IN THE ORGANIZATION 125

6 Maintaining Responsible Conduct in Public Organizations: Two Approaches 127

7 Integrating Ethics with Organizational Norms and Structures 161

8 Safeguarding Ethical Autonomy in Organizations: Dealing with Unethical Superiors and Organizations 197

PART THREE: THE DESIGN APPROACH 241

9 Applying the Design Approach to Public Administration Ethics 243

10 Conclusion: Responsible Administration 255

References 271

Index 283

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Cooper's fifth edition is the definitive text for students and practitioners who want to have a successful administrative career. Moral reasoning, as Cooper so adeptly points out, is essential in today's rapidly changing and complex global environment."
—Donald C. Menzel, Ph.D., president, American Society for Public Administration; professor emeritus, public administration, Northern Illinois University

"The Responsible Administrator is at once the most sophisticated and the most practical book available on public sector ethics. It is conceptually clear and jargon-free, which is extraordinary among books on administrative ethics."
—H. George Frederickson, Stone Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, University of Kansas

"Remarkably effective in linking the science of what should be done with a prescriptive for how to actually do it, the fifth edition of Cooper's book keeps pace with the dynamic changes in the field, both for those who study it and those who practice it. The information presented in these pages can be found nowhere else, and it is information we cannot ethically afford to ignore."
—Carole L. Jurkiewicz, Ph.D., John W. Dupuy Endowed Professor, Woman's Hospital Distinguished Professor of Healthcare Management, Louisiana State University, E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration, Public Administration Institute

"After a quarter of a century in print and five editions, it is time to name Terry Cooper's The Responsible Administrator a classic, not only in the field of public service ethics, but in the broader domain of public policy and administration as well. As useful and enlightening as it was when first published in the Reagan era, this new edition works well for a post 9/11 public service with its strong emphasis on the design approach to ethics."
—Guy B. Adams, professor and associate director, Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri–Columbia

Editorial Reviews

Using the real-life experiences of public administrators, Cooper provides strategies that individual administrators can use to analyze the ethical dilemmas they confront on the job--and outlines ways organizations can foster responsible administration. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"The Responsible Administrator helps outline some of the facets of this process to bring greater understanding to the grey area of ethical administration. I would recommend this book to all leaders in the public arena…" (www.charitychannel.com, October 2008)

From the Publisher