Promoting ethical culture in persuance of a virtuous public service

Abstract

Various policy and institutional measures have been proposed to prevent and combat corruption in the public service. These include the introduction of codes of conduct; whistle blowing measures; improved internal control measures; improved remuneration; attempts at professionalisation of the public service; privatisation; and the introduction of competition in public service delivery. In this article the author introduces ethical culture as a signifi cant variable in the pursuance of a virtuous public service. Considering the plethora of ethics policies and practices that have been introduced for the public service, the success of these measures appear to be modest. Ethical culture provides the public manager with a diverse range of ethics measures that could be taken to promote integrity in the public service. This research project started in 2003 and this article provides the ideal opportunity to report the fi ndings.