ABSTRACT
Public administration, as a field of practice and an academic discipline, has wrestled with the issue of ethical competence since its inception as a selfaware field in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet questions remain. What do we mean by ethical competence in the profession of public administration? What should be the focus of efforts to establish standards of ethical competence? Can we take a one-size-fits-all approach to ethical competence for professionals in public administration or tailor specific competencies to the work performed by a variety of professionals working in public and nonprofit organizations? Should our attention be only with those employed by government agencies or all those outside government engaged-in one way or another, through grants, contracts, and other arrangements-in public service activities? Once defined, how do we educate public administration professionals to be ethically competent? How do we measure competenceat the individual, group, organizational, or systemic level? Should the focus of ethical competence be on compliance with explicit standards of conduct and behavior, or should it stress public service values such as selflessness, commitment to excellence, civility, and honesty?
