ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the efforts made by scholars and practitioners to wrestle with the complex and difficult question of defining ethics in public administration. It deals with the issue of coverage: What are the boundaries of the field and profession of public administration, and what roles should be included in the discussion of ethical competence. The chapter examines the ways in which ethical competence can be conveyed and measured in actual administrative performance. Ethical competence in public administration was first defined as professional responsibility. Most discussion of ethical competence in the literature of public administration has been based on examples drawn from administrative practice in the United States. The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has a long history of concern with ethical conduct and ethical competence, dating back to its first Code of Ethics in 1924. Utilizing the concept of public service values follows the continuing line of development of literature on public values.
