PAD 4604-001: Administrative Process and Ethics
CRN: 12636, 3 Credit Hours
Fall 2019
*Distance Learning (DL) Course
Instructor contact information
:
Dr. Peter Cruise, LeRoy Collins Public Ethics Academy, FAU School of Public
Administration, Boca Raton, FL 33431
E-mail:
[email protected]
Phone and text: (561) 797-6509
Online office hours in the Canvas course meeting area, Tuesdays- 6:00-7:00pm
(in synchronous or real time), or by appointment.
Catalog Course Description
Surveys the principles of administrative procedure, procedural due process, and
regulatory procedures and considers administrative ethics in process. Focus on ethics in
public administration including government, politics and nonprofit agencies.
Supplemental Course Description
Government and public employees are continually confronted with “decision dilemmas”
and “wicked problems” which often do not have a facile or clear solution. Often, these
dilemmas are the result of differing or conflicting ethical and moral ethos’ not simply
because there is “one right way” (aside from legality, which too is based upon ethical
precepts). Further, decisions to problems are also often guided by a particular ethical and
moral approach, or framework. Thus, to better understand decision making and problem
solving in the public sector it requires that we better understand the law, ethics, and
administrative processes that influence and/or complicate said decisions.
As such, this course provides an introduction to the law and ethics (and dilemmas!) faced
by public administrators and public organizations on a nearly daily basis as they attempt
to navigate a complex public milieu. The course is a theoretical and problem-based
interdisciplinary class that addresses the major issues stemming from acting ethically in
democratic regimes which a special focus on the organizational setting. It also deals with
how the law, which governs how public administrators act, can pose ethical dilemmas,
and in some cases ethical pitfalls for individuals and organizations alike. Therefore, while
the course emphasizes the philosophical and theoretical foundations of ethics it is
important that we situate them in the context of the practice of public
administration/management and public organizations.
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Course Objectives
This course will emphasize the connection between the legal environment of public
administration and the ethical environment that public administrators must work in. The
course materials will introduce students to the theories and practices associated with a
constitutional democracy and identify the ethical issues arising from public
administration in democratic governance. The course provides a foundation for
understanding the principles and general concepts of the law, and how ethical issues often
arise because of legal issues. Attention will be paid to federalism and the structure of the
legal system in the U.S.
- Fall '19
