Especificación de los ambientes

We are in a time of following the lead of the business world and importing business culture into the public service. This includes importing values-based management. The Australian Public Service (APS) has values written into the Public Service Act 1999. It has some 15 values, including the ‘value’ that the APS has the highest ethical standards and the ‘value’ that the APS values communication. The Australian Public Service may have adopted these values because it is happening in business and so it is worthy of emulation, or it may provide an opportunity to use a management orthodoxy to advantage since the public sector does exist for purposes other than making profit. After the public sector values had been enshrined in law, another document was required to assist departments with putting the values into practice. Clearly, just naming the values was not enough. In 2003 the APS produced a booklet called Embedding the APS Values, which ‘provides a simple way of explaining the Values in terms of relationships and behaviours, sets out how the Values can be promoted, managed and assured….’.

Value statements have gained in popularity in the public sector generally and in local government in recent years. They have appeal as a means of advertising the difference between themselves and business and perhaps as a corrective to the harsh emphasis on efficiency during the Kennett years. Yet the meaning behind these statements is hard to define. These days in business and the public sector, value is either reduced to general terms

with unclear meaning as used in company value statements and printed in annual reports, or is part of a large ‘shopping list’ of values covering every conceivable good (as is the case in the APS), or it is wholly encompassed by the simple term ‘shareholder value’. In this latter sense value equates with monetary return on investment by shareholders and nothing more.

Wolfe (1989) argues that the greater freedom (economic and democratic) on offer in the west now means greater choice in terms of how we behave. However, guidelines for moral behaviour are also less clear. But for all our freedoms there is a sense that something is missing. Where do we look for moral codes of behaviour?

Wolfe describes market theories as all choice and no values. The authority for moral obligation to one another is lost. In a secular, modern world the rules of moral obligation come from civil society. The public service – renamed public sector – was entered by people who wanted to serve the public. Costello (1996) says it has become the same as the private sector, not an alternative to it. In his view since the days of the Kennett reforms to local government, we have also come to believe that there are no absolutes in this modern world and that values are personal and relative. None of us has a right to impose her values on others. Costello maintains however, that there are absolutes but that since they are part of the dominant theme we do not notice that we are subscribing to them. (i.e. the primacy of the marketplace).

In terms of value how does local government differ from the private sector? A sample of private companies’ value statements shows that both sectors believe (or say they do) that they are about integrity and honesty. There is little discussion about making a profit by selling a product.

Philip Morris

…for us economic performance is not the only measure of our success. Honesty, integrity and social responsibility are just as important to the way we measure ourselves. Philip Morris (2004)

Coca-Cola

Our Code of Business Conduct serves to guide the actions of our employees, officers and directors in ways that are consistent with our core values: honesty; integrity;

diversity; quality; respect; responsibility; and, accountability. The Code helps our people play by the rules wherever we operate around the world. And, we have well- defined procedures for times when concerns arise, in The Code of Business Conduct Procedural Guidelines (Coca-Cola 2004).

Ford Motor Car Company

Our business is driven by our consumer focus, creativity, resourcefulness, and entrepreneurial spirit. We are an inspired, diverse team. We respect and value everyone’s contribution. The health and safety of our people are paramount. We are a leader in environmental responsibility. Our integrity is never compromised and we make a positive contribution to society. We constantly strive to improve in everything we do. Guided by these values, we provide superior returns to our shareholders (Ford 2004)

Wolfe concludes that we need an approach whereby our sense of moral obligation can be found in common sense, emotions and everyday life, where we learn from the past and think of future generations and what we leave them. Markets do operate on moral codes of trust (I will not bring my goods to you, unless I feel certain you will pay me for them), and this cannot be denied. A profit making enterprise centres on the making of a product and the profitable return to shareholders of their investment in the product. The values that underpin this enterprise are competition, individual freedom and choice. But these are not the values of local government.