Recent events in Northampton regarding best practices and possible open meeting law violations have caused some members of the community to question local government ethics. This issue is not confined to Northampton, but is widespread and common. Today’s edition of the Washington Post is reporting on a survey released Tuesday by the Ethics Resource Center. The report is available for downloading at http://www.ethics.org. I’ve included some article excerpts, edited for clarity, with the titles also serving as links to the articles. Below is the report’s foreword written by the president of the Ethics Resource Center, Patricia J. Harned, Ph.D.
Government Ethics an Issue at all Levels
by Pete Yost
The Associated Press
Overall, three out of five government workers acknowledge witnessing violations of ethical standards, policy or law over the past year. At the local level, 63 percent of government employees observed at least one type of misconduct, ranging from abusive behavior by superiors to bribery. At the state level, the comparable figure was 57 percent; at the federal level, 52 percent.
The trend lines in government point toward more misconduct in the future, not less, said Patricia Harned, the center’s president. The center says 30 percent of the incidents go unreported and there are too few systems in place for combating misconduct when it is exposed.
One reason for the low reporting figure is that 17 percent of employees who did report misconduct said they experienced retaliation. One in four government workers believe that leaders tolerate retaliation.
The center says the proven solution to the problem is what experts in the field refer to as a strong ethical culture.
When employee believe that leaders can be trusted and when supervisors set a good example of ethical behavior, misconduct is reduced by 52 percent and retaliation is as much as 89 percent lower, the survey found.
The problem, however, is that less than one in five government workplaces have comprehensive, well-implemented ethics and compliance programs.
The center’s findings were based on polling 774 government employees, 1,929 business employees and 558 nonprofit employees.
Study finds Government Ethics Lapses
by Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Observed misconduct was lowest at the federal level, with 52 percent of federal workers surveyed saying they had witnessed problems such as conflicts of interest, abusive behavior, alterations of documents and financial records and lying to employees, vendors or the public within the last year.
"Since Enron, policymakers have given a great deal of attention and emphasis to the need for the business sector to address their ethics issues," said Patricia J. Harned, president of the group. "But in reality, government has their own issues to address, as well."
What is at stake is government’s ability to keep the public trust, Harned said.
The group analyzed data taken from a telephone survey conducted last summer that included 3,452 employees in the business, government and nonprofit sectors. Analysts culled responses from 774 government employees but did not identify participants by agency. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percent.
Among the findings:
Only 14 percent of state and local government workers believe their organizations have well-implemented ethics and compliance programs.
Fifty-eight percent of all government workers who saw misconduct did not report it because they did not believe managers would take action, and 30 percent of all workers feared they would face retaliation if they reported what they saw. One percent used anonymous hotlines.
The group found that, compared with a previous survey in 2000, there were declines in several overtly illegal types of misconduct, including stealing, bribes, sexual harassment and discrimination. Moreover, the survey found that in government organizations with well-implemented ethics programs and strong ethical culture, misconduct fell by 60 percent, and the reporting of bad behavior increased by 40 percent.
But the data showed that fraud occurred as frequently in government as in the private sector, with comparable rates of alteration of documents, misreporting of hours worked and lying to customers, the public and workers.
National Government Ethics Survey Foreword
The most important asset of government is public trust. When present, citizens believe
that elected officials, political appointees, and career public servants are acting in their
best interest. When public trust erodes, government effectiveness is hindered.
Public trust is shaken when misconduct takes place in governmental organizations. Every
headline in the news detailing misdeeds by government employees calls into question
the interests of our public servants. Every ethics-related decision by a government leader
has the potential to further build or break down the trust that is so essential to public
service.
In this 2007 National Government Ethics Survey (2007 NGES), the first report dedicated
wholly to our longstanding research on government ethics, we are mindful of the profound
influence that government ethics has on public trust. We are also aware of the
complexity with which the government operates, and the variations between government
at the federal, state, and local levels. Our goal in this research has been to gauge the views
of employees across the country about ethics in their workplace. Our research is guided
by the belief that a dedicated focus on ethics at all levels within the government will enhance
public trust. It is our hope that the 2007 NGES will empower and challenge leaders at all
levels of government to do a better job in guiding their agencies to operate with integrity.
The data in this report proves that it can be done; there is a way to achieve meaningful
results.
The 2007 National Government Ethics Survey is the fourth in a benchmark series, going
back to 2000, offering perspectives of public sector ethics by those who are closest to it:
government employees. Based on employee responses, we have created a new tool for
government leaders to juxtapose incidence of various types of misconduct with employee
reporting. Misconduct that is most prevalent and least reported poses the greatest risk
to public trust. We look forward to sharing this tool, ERC’s Ethics Risk IndexSM, with
agencies and organizations so they can benchmark their risk against relevant peers, and
identify the specific areas that present the greatest vulnerability.
This year, the NGES offers both bad and good news, and quantifies the findings in a way
that makes them applicable to government at all levels.
The bad news:
Misconduct across government as a whole is very high — nearly six in ten government
employees saw at least one form of misconduct in the past twelve months. The level
of misconduct observed is alarmingly high at the state and local levels (57 and 63
percent respectively). While lower, it is still of concern that more than half of federal
government employees observe violations.
One in four government employees works in an environment conducive to misconduct.
In these volatile situations, 90 percent of employees are likely to observe misconduct
in the future.
The strength of ethical culture in government workplaces is declining, while pressure
to commit misconduct is growing. Absent effective interventions, misconduct is likely
to rise more in the future.
The good news:
More than 8 in 10 employees say that they feel prepared to handle situations inviting
misconduct.
A sizeable majority (70 percent) of government workers who observe misconduct
report it to management. Furthermore, this number has been increasing in recent
years.
When both a well-implemented ethics and compliance program and a strong ethical
culture are in place within a government organization, misconduct drops by 60
percent, and reporting rises by 40 percent. Governments’ risk of losing public trust
can be mitigated.
By many indications in this research, what seems to matter most is the extent to which
ethics is woven into the fabric of everyday work life and decision-making in government.
A commitment to ethics that engages all government employees at all levels and incorporates
ethical considerations into operational decisions is critical to reducing misconduct
and protecting public trust in government.
The 2007 NGES would not be possible without the generous support of our benefactors.
We wish to thank the public and private institutions who made the NGES possible through
their financial contribution to ERC. We invite other organizations and individuals to join
the effort to promote high ethical standards and conduct in public and private institutions
by supporting our research. We also would like to thank the 2007 NGES Advisory
Group (p. 43) for their insights and advice.
The Ethics Resource Center’s 2007 National Government Ethics Survey provides much
food for thought. It also offers a great deal of information and many insights that can
be used by all who are interested in increasing integrity in government and safeguarding
public trust. We look forward to continued exploration and quantification of these issues,
to hearing from more employees in years to come, and to sharing the insights we gain
along the way.
Patricia J. Harned, Ph.D.
President, Ethics Resource Center
