Ethical Management for the Public Services
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679901400107 |
| Published date | 01 January 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
characterise
as
'elegant
and
readable
...
devoid
of
the
jargon
and
illiterate
gobbledegook
which
mars
much
modem
academic
writing.'
The
general
quality
of
the
book
is
very
high,
but
some
contributors
deserve
special
mention.
John
Greenaway's
chapter
locates
recent
civil
service
change
within
a
broader
historical
perspective,
focusing
particularly
on
the
determining
factors
behind,
and
beneficiaries
of,
the
Northcote-Trevelyan
reforms,
the
'national
efficiency'
reforms
of
1906-26
and
the
'new
right'
reforms
of
the
1980s
and
1990s.
Michael
Hunt
returns
to
one
of
the
themes
of
the
book
he
edited
with
Richard
Chapman
in
1987,
and
offers
an
informed
discussion
of
citizenship
and
freedom
of
information.
Barry
O'Toole's
erudite
dissection
of
the
ethic
of
public
service
applies
the
intellectual
idealism
of
TH
Green
(itself
a
guiding
influence
on
the
work
of
Richard
Chapman)
to
the
'so
called
reforms'
which
have
transformed
the
civil
service
in
recent
years.
Stimulating
and
provocative,
O'Toole's
essay
leaves
the
reader
with
no
easy
options,
and
compels
serious
thought
about
the
entire
direction
in
which
the
British
civil
service
is
moving.
John
A.
Rohr
provides
an
interesting
and
informative
analysis
of
the
constitu-
tional-administrative
relationship
using
a
comparative
approach
covering
the
United
States,
France,
the
United
Kingdom
and
Canada.
The
changing
role
of
British
civil
servants
in
the
period
since
1979
is
examined
in
typically
rigorous
style
by
Peter
Barberis.
It
is
useful
to
compare
the
respective
approaches
which
lead
O'Toole
and
Barberis
to
different
conclusions
on
some
key
issues,
with
the
latter
ultimately
coming
to
the
view
that
the
senior
civil
service
has
'taken
a
succession
of
cold
baths
which
have
chilled
the
body
but
not
frozen
the
soul.'
Edited
collections,
of
whatever
description,
have
a
tendency
towards
unevenness,
and
Reform,
Ethics
and
Leadership
in
Public
Service
does
not
entirely
escape
this
failing.
However,
the
overall
quality
of
the
work
is
remarkably
high,
the
best
essays
alone
justify
acquisition
of
this
volume,
there
are
no
fundamentally
weak
contributions,
and
the
book
succeeds
admirably
in
achieving
its
stated
objectives.
It
deserves
to
find
a
place
on
the
shelves
of
public
administration
scholars
on
its
own
merits
as
a
useful
text
structured
around
important
and
interesting
themes,
on
the
basis
of
its
most
significant
essays
(which
have
not
been
published
elsewhere)
and,
finally,
because
it
is
an
entirely
appropriate
publication
to
mark
the
career
of
a
great
public
administration
scholar.
Robert
Pyper
Glasgow
Caledonian
University
Ethical
Management
for
the
Public
Services,
Alan
Lawton,
Open
University
Press,
Buckingham,
1998,
pp.
viii
+
167,
ISBN
0335199208
f50
(hardback)
0335199194
£16.99
(paperback).
After
some
time
in
the
shadows,
the
study
of
ethics
is
now
a
la'
mode
among
students
of
politics
and
public
administration.
Traditionalists
of
various
stripes
claim
such
attention
to
have
been
necessitated
by
a
seemingly
rapacious
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
14
No.
I
Spring
1999
77
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