Good Governance as an Ethical Issue: The Case of Finland

Transcription

1 EGPA Annual Conference Oeiras (Portugal) Good Governance as an Ethical Issue: The Case of Finland Professor Ari Salminen, Researcher Katri Lammi, Researcher Virpi Rautio, Faculty of Public Administration, University of Vaasa, P.O.Box 700, FIN VAASA, Finland.

2 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION Good Governance as an Ethical Issue Outline of the Presentation 4 2. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH ON ETHICS Introductory Notes Good Governance and the Role of Civil Servants Codes of Ethics Unethical Behaviour 8 3. ELEMENTS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN FINNISH PUBLIC 9 ADMINISTRATION 3.1. Past and Present Market Orientation Legal Framework and Codes of Conduct Ethical Bodies Core Values and Trust Avoiding Misconduct and Promoting Good Practices FINAL REMARKS 24 REFERENCES 27

3 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Good Governance as an Ethical Issue This paper deals with topics of good governance. We examine good governance as an ethical issue in the case of the Finnish public administration. In our description, good governance is broadly defined. Good governance can be promoted through laws and codes of conduct. Correspondingly, unethical behavior and misconduct are considered a threat to good governance. The United Nations (2000) has broadly stated listed the characteristics of good governance. They are as follows: Good governance is participatory; it follows the rule of law; it is consensus oriented, effective and efficient; it is transparent, responsive and accountable and, it is equitable and inclusive. As good governance and its principles concern issues of public administration, they certainly have their connection to public sector ethics as well. There has been a rather wide discussion about public sector ethics in public administration research since the 19th century. A few definitions of public sector ethics are presented in these contributions. For example, Classics of Administrative Ethics (2001) is a collection of administrative ethics articles from the journals of the American Society for Public Administration from Several topics focus on the most important themes of administrative ethics, such as administrative responsibility, ethical problem solving, corruption, codes of ethics, ethical behaviour, ethical education, professionalism, and ethics for the 21 st century. Furthermore, the Handbook of Administrative Ethics (2001) deals with prevailing research findings on administrative ethics. The handbook consists of topics that are of current interest in the field of administrative ethics. Themes cover such research fields as ethical external and internal conduct, various philosophical perspectives in administrative ethics, and administrative ethics in different cultures. For our purposes following definitions are useful. Fritz Morstein Marx (1949) deals with administrative ethics and the rule of law. Marx s main concern is the idea of a government of laws which could be understood by analysing general interest, administrative accountability, and control in the public administration domain. In his analysis of administrative reforms, Gerald Caiden (1991) lists sixteen administrative reform. One area is public ethics. It includes such values as honesty and integrity, professionalism,

4 4 humanitarianism, and the prevention of corruption, fraud and misconduct. In Lundquist s (1988) definition public sector ethics covers four main issues: legalism, loyalty to political decision makers, the requirements and needs of citizens and public interests Outline of the Presentation Why is it important to study ethics, to discuss ethical values, and to find grounds for promoting good governance in the entire public sector? In this paper, we consider ethics as a perspective for examining issues of good governance. Thus good governance covers also issues that consider no ethical topics, but merely practical questions of acting administration and its procedures. In this regard good stands also for well-designed or even functioning. As a managerial issue good governance is very tightly connected to the doctrine of New Public Management. For example, according to Lähdesmäki (2003) NPM has had a strong influence on the reforms of public sector in Finland since the end of 1980 s. Lähdesmäki analysed the administration reforms of Finnish central government and strongly emphasised principles of organisational efficiency, economy, and effectiveness, public sector entrepreneurship, performance management, and accountability. However, from another direction good governance can also be seen as a set of ethical principles in the public administration as a whole. In that case, the basic principles of good governance would appear as a broad and general ethical code in the public administration. This approach has its shortcomings; most distinctively the risk of over-emphasising all the ethical aspects in administration, that is, somewhat a loose eth-talk. By choosing not to use the term of good governance in the latter, all-inclusive sense we purposely want to emphasise the role of essential ethical codes, bodies, and traditions in public administration and good governance. There are two purposes for this analysis. In the first part of the paper, we deal with the ethical topics of public administration research. The description here is very limited. In this section, the main issues are the definitions of public ethics, good governance, the role of civil servants, codes of ethics, and unethical behaviour. These are described in the second chapter of the paper.

5 5 In the case of Finland, the aspects to be studied represent the issues of good governance. In this second part of the analysis, the premises of good governance in the Finnish case are examined. By selecting these particular dimensions, it is assumed that an overall picture of good governance in Finland can be described. Chapter three starts with brief historical background notes on the country. Market orientation as a special phenomenon in Finland is given a more specific examination. The topics of ethical infrastructure are the legal framework and codes of conducts. Values, misconduct, and practices to promote good governance in Finland are also under investigation. The last chapter is reserved for a summary and concluding remarks on the subject of good governance. 2. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH ON ETHICS 2.1. Introductory Notes This presentation also deals with issues of public sector ethics. In theory, we want to investigate what is meant by public sector ethics. Ethics is a field of science and refers to the moral principles of tradition, group or individual. Public sector ethics belongs to the field of applied ethics. Ethical ideas and theories are applied to particular circumstances and problems of professions or occupations. Issues of applied ethics are also dealt with by practitioners and scholars. According to philosophy handbooks, the historical division of normative ethics is two main traditions: consequentialism and deontology. One of the most dominant forms of consequentalism is utilitarianism. As a moral theory, utilitarianism stresses that an action is morally right if and only if it produces as much good for all people affected by the action as any alternative action the person could take. On the contrary, in deontological reasoning the only actions that have moral worth are those done through duty. For example, according to Kant s categorical imperative, we should always treat the rational humanity in ourselves and in others as an end in itself and never merely as a means (see, for example, The Cambridge Dictionary 1995 and Ethical Theory 2000). As McIntyre (1967) states, good will s only motive is to do its duty for the sake of doing its duty.

6 6 Moral and ethical concepts change as social life changes. Different classical social science theories have their own ethical dimensions. Mill, Bentham and others represent utilitarian ethics the notion of the greatest happiness for the greatest number was formulated by the utilitarians. Social ethics and ethics of justice are known through the works of John Rawls. Values and ethics are connected to rationality and the economic ethics of world religions to the works of Max Weber. As far as it concerns public sector behaviour, legalism, equality, and democracy have been emphasised as the main principles in the public sector of a single country. However, the practices of public administration ethics always meet new challenges. Changes have brought new and complicated situations to the work of civil servants. For example, public work has become less regulated and more entrepreneurial. Due to these and many other changes, the duties and responsibilities of public servants will have to be redefined to some degree in the future. In the following, a few comments are reserved for defining good governance, ethical codes, and unethical behaviour Role of Civil Servants Good governance is an ideal which should be a goal in every society. How do we see the role of civil servants in this framework? Some aspects of this theoretical discussion are referred to in the following section. If the legislature specifies a criterion for good governance, civil servants have the technical expertise. If the legislation is vague, the civil servants have the authority to work out the rules of action and also to propose goals for the activity. If the legislation is sharply divided, the civil servants are not experts or planners, but only facilitators and negotiators between pressure groups. (Leys 1943: 46.) In addition to these situations, procedural fairness is one of the central components of good governance. Procedural rights like the right to a trial and hearing, are built into administration. First of all, good governance is connected to the mission of civil servants.

7 7 One of the main topics in the administrative responsibility of civil servants has been the distinction between normative institutional arrangements and the personal responsibilities of civil servants. Civil servants are responsible to the elected representatives of the public who determine a course of action. Civil servants merely put these actions in motion technically. They have a duty to the public and they are obligated to look beyond their own particular personal interests in search of the larger common interest. (Cooper 1984: 345.) The moral duty of a civil servant is to pursue public interests. Civil service demands public trust. Citizens expect civil servants to serve public interest with fairness and to manage public resources properly on a daily basis. (OECD 2000.) Thompson (1985: 81) suggests that civil servants are ethically neutral in the sense that they do not exercise independent moral judgement. They are expected to act without moral principles of their own. He also continues to say that they cannot be held morally responsible for most of the decisions and policies of the government. Legislation usually embodies basic obligations and provides sanctions for their violation. The law also includes many other requirements; there is a moral obligation to comform. Comformity to the law is especially necessary for civil servants. Trust in the government has to be maintained. (Willbern 1984: 116.) Generally there are laws against the more obvious conflicts of interest. Public acknowledgement of outside interests and arrangements are made for civil servants. These safeguards are far from sufficient to remove the moral responsibility of individual civil servants Codes of Ethics The second question concerns the essence of ethical codes. We agree with Caiden (1983: 161), who stresses that because civil servants have to constantly exercise ethical judgements, there is a demand to codify public service ethics so that they know what is expected of them. According to Plant (2001: ), codes of ethics may be seen as a result of the public s demand for formal accountability in the public sector and the need to apply basic values to

8 8 the work of professions and public organisations. He notes that these codes seldom examine basic values in any analytical way: in fact their main function is to interpret basic societal standards of right and wrong for the work in the public sector. Plant also finds that the one lasting significance of all codes of ethics is how they can lift individual civil servants above the ordinary do s and don t s to give meaning and reality to the highest values of a democratic society. Bowman (2001: ) stresses two diverging traditions within the development of ethical standards in public administration. He separates bureaucratic ethos (including efficiency, efficacy, expertise, loyalty, and accountability) from democratic ethos (based on regime values, citizenship, the public interest, and social equity). According to Bowman (ibid.) bureaucratic ethos focuses on the mechanisms of external control (e.g. laws, rules, and regulatory codes of conduct) and is grounded in Weber s model of bureaucracy, Wilson s politics-administration dichotomy, and Taylor s scientific management. In contrast, democratic ethos (the civil servant is seen as a moral agent; leaning on virtues, integrity, and character) is based on the constitutional values of Rohr, the responsible administrator of Cooper, the public interest of Lippman, and the social equity of Rawls. For civil servants, when deciding on the best way of defining their ethos, both the bureaucratic and democratic ethos seems to lie too far from reality. The answer offered by Bowman is so-called professional ethos: individuals, each representing a certain profession with its own professional codes, work in a professional organisation with a collective moral duty independent of its individual members Unethical Behaviour How is the above statement related to problems of unethical behaviour? Codes of ethics contain standards and guidelines for situations which are in the gray area between clearly ethical behaviour and outright unethical behaviour. Government codes of ethics have three major objectives. Firstly, maintaining high ethical standards in government service; secondly, increasing public confidence in the integrity of civil servants; and thirdly, assisting civil servants in determining the proper way to act when they are uncertain. A good code of ethics can help to achieve these goals, but it needs to be supplemented by

9 9 actions to remove or reduce the opportunity or temptation for unethical conduct. Adopting adequate control mechanisms can help maintain the high moral standards of the government. (Zimmerman 1982: ) As a solution to administrative misconduct, codes of ethics are often proposed. Once a code is created, it becomes common property. Everyone knows its provisions; it has the blessing of legitimacy. Individual civil servants do not have to doubt their own understanding of the situation. Code may be easier to follow as it is accepted by the individual. The sanctions that are bound to a code of ethics must be flexible and a matter of subtle judgement, rather than a formal rule. Sanctions are also imposed by the conscience of civil servants. (Moneypenny 1953: 217.) Codes are more likely to treat surface behaviours than the deeper matter of conscience. Codes of ethics should be formulated in relation to the business to which it applies. Generalities must have rather a specific meaning to those applications. Ethical codes seem to be an important device for administrative control. A brief code is more preferable than a highly detailed and rigid code. Ethical codes in the public sector stress that holding an agency is a public trust and the standards of political morality are higher than those of the marketplace. (Moneypenny 1953: 218, 222.) 3. ELEMENTS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN FINNISH PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION The ideas of good governance are in some respect universal, but how they are understood and practiced depends very much on the country in question. Ethical dimensions of good governance seem to be particularly difficult issues to compare. Even so, and as stressed earlier, good governance does include less complex and more measurable features too; such as lawfulness and effectiveness. As the literature of public administration ethics indicates, public sector ethics covers several issues. As mentioned earlier, one of the important observations was made by Bowman, who stresses professional ethos as a realistic ethical standard in public administration. In addition to this, ethical codes can be seen as tools for administrative control. Broadly speaking, the general status of administrative ethics in a certain country is bound up with values and valuations of the

10 10 current social system. Inevitably, the values have been changed and still change due to the social development, and so do the aims of well-designed governance as well. Progress may also be delayed: Certain time periods, such as wartime, periods of depression, and alike, can often be seen as epochs of ethical decline. Different countries do not reach features of good, ethical governance with equal ease; indeed, in most cases it takes place with no ease at all, and the forms of manifestation on good governance are numerous. This is why examining different countries and their ways of carrying out the ideas of good, ethical governance is such a fascinating and important field of study within administrative ethics. However, as the length of this paper does not allow comparisons, we focus on a single country, Finland. What are the elements of good governance in Finland, and how can these findings be applied to the ethical dimensions of good governance? In order to understand the ethical situation and ethical challenges in the Finnish public sector, a few comments on the historical background of the country are necessary. Also market orientation is worth considering in the case of Finland. We will also discuss ethical infrastructure, especially legal framework, codes of conducts, and ethical bodies. Values (with special attention paid to trust), misconduct, and practices to promote good governance are described as elements of good governance Past and Present We will begin with a few remarks is about the history of the country. Finnish governmental culture has unique characteristics which determine the current administrative system and ethical principles excercised within it. These distinctive features have their early roots in the Swedish and Russian periods of ascendancy. A lot of research evidence is to be found on these periods. For example, Tiihonen and Ylikangas (1992) emphasise three major developments in the Finnish governmental system. Firstly, during the 17 th century, the first central governmental agencies were founded in Finland. After seven hundred years under the Swedish regime, Finland was incorporated into the Russian empire.

11 11 The second major leap in Finnish governmental development was the so-called Autonomian Era ( ) a period when Finland shaped and strengthened its own administrative values, procedures, and forms of bureaucracy. And thirdly, the most recent and undoubtedly the most important change in Finnish governmental culture has been the latter half of the 20 th century, the period of the welfare state. The contemporary Finnish welfare state has aspects that depart from most other welfare systems. In Finland, the position and influence of civil servants and state administration in total have had, and still have, exceptional significance. Due to the weak tradition of Finnish regional governing, the position of the state has been very strong and of great importance. Above all, the Finnish governmental system and its traditional modes of action have been formed on the strength of the lawyers dominion. A law degree has been keenly attached to the requirements of most public sector offices. Throughout the ages, the oldest and most abiding values in Finnish public administration have certainly been legalism and its auxiliary value, incorruptibility. Current Finnish core values such as equality, effectiveness, and openness have developed more recently, mainly during the latter half of the 1900 s. When it comes to administrative ethics and civil servants traditions, Finland undeniably has a somewhat short history. However, an administrative atmosphere that may seem to have suffered from a lack of tradition, can also be seen as an excellent ground for the rapid development of modern welfare state ethics. The changes that have taken place during the post-war era have been more creative than re-shaping in nature, and Finland s transformation from an agricultural to a welfare society has been rapid. Today, Finland is a country with large welfare sectors, a democratic political system and a market economy. As already stated, ethics in public administration is connected to changes in society. In Finland ethics and values in public sector are based on political and administrative traditions. The culture also defines what values are considered important. Ethics and good governance in the public sector are essential because civil servants use discretionary power which citizens ultimately give them. High public sector ethics in Finland and openness in administration are no doubt interrelated. Public sector ethics are normative and political, but the demands of citizens

12 12 and commonwealth also reform ethics and procedures in public administration. It is all about public trust and openness. The Government Program is an action plan agreed on by the political parties represented in the government. The current Government Program gives quite vague statements, if any at all, about the promotion and enhancement of public sector ethics. In the most recent Program of Government (2003) there is a note about civil participation. It declares: Citizens' possibilities and means to participate will be developed with the aim of reinforcing civil participation and improving the functioning of democracy. Particular consideration will also be given, in line with the policy program on civil participation, to ways of improving citizens' activity to vote Market Orientation Public management in Finland was radically reformed in the 1990 s in a way that has influenced public service ethics. For example, new approaches to political and administrative control have been adopted in the process of national budgets. Ministries and agencies have been changed to management by results and result-based budgeting. Marketisation is also one major reform. These reforms mean that civil servants are governed far less by rules, regulations, and instructions. Control is based on predeterminated frameworks, the financial resources to achieve them, and result targets. (Äijälä & Hyvönen 1996.) Therefore, our second remark concern the modernisation process of the country. As mentioned above, in the 1990 s, market-orientation was a part of the modernisation process of Finnish public administration, like in many other OECD countries. What is the background for this phenomenon as an ethical challenge? The modernisation process is related to New Public Managemet or managerial reforms in the entire public sector. In addition to marketisation, modernisation includes development of cicil cervants managerial capacities, quality of services etc. Methods from the private sector are applied to the public sector. As a result of these major reforms (privatisation, marketisation), civil servants are confronted with new challenges

13 13 and new problems to which classical administrative ethics cannot produce answers. That is one good reason for updating the ethical systems. This is also the reality in Finland. Public sector reform in Finland has increased the contact between the public and private sectors. At the end of the 1980 s, there was a broad consensus and a reform-friendly atmosphere for re-shaping and modernising the Finnish welfare state. (Salminen 2001). In order to downsize and rationalise the large public sector, some radical changes have taken place during the last two decades. New private sector models, full privatisation within several state-owned organisations, and other structural changes have been widely introduced in the public economy and administration. Increasing privatisation and market orientation in Finland create situations that no longer fit in the frames of traditional public sector ethics. Van Wart and Denhardt (2001: ) emphasise that changes in organisational structure necessarily involve value changes (and, conversely, value changes cannot occur without accompanying structural changes). Today, there is much discussion of the new global economy and the scope of government in general. When the public sector is facing new challenges such as privatisation, downsizing, comparative performance measurement systems, and increased use of market mechanisms in government, it can hardly do so by turning to its prevailing values. Public sector change is often also poorly planned: In order to be more responsive to more constituencies, sometimes the public sector fails to please anybody (Peck 1930: 373). Van Wart and Denhardt also discuss whether at some point the new flexibility, market orientation, and entrepreuneurialism weaken the traditional democratic chain of command from voters to the elected officials and civil servants too much. And furthermore, how can civil servants know what to do when values clash? In fact, the motives of the public and private economies have a long time been quite different. The private producers aim at profits, whereas the end of the public economy is maximum social utility. The state or the government has taxation powers, and if it wishes to conduct a commercial enterprise, it does not incur the financial risk that is incident to a private operator. Publicly operated industry also tends more often to take the form of a monopoly. The defenders of private initiative assert that the government is less efficient in economics. (See Peck 1930: ). Private owners can also afford to run risks. They

14 14 may lose everything, but on the other hand they may gain: the entrepreneurs are willing to undertake the risk. Changes from traditional bureaucratic values to modern market values and, correspondingly, from controlling bureaucrats to entrepreneurial public managers cannot take place overnight. According to Salminen and Viinamäki (2001: 9), the whole idea of the welfare state is the opposite of markets in principle. The welfare state meets its purpose in restricting the effects of the markets on public services and welfare structures. Additionally, the new market orientation demands business values which rarely seem to include openness, transparency or risk avoidance, for example. It is apparent that the traditional virtues of civil servants do not especially emphasise competition, strategic risk taking, or value maximisation. However, business-like thinking is inexorably taking place in the Finnish public sector, and some new values are likely to be adapted as well. At some point, in the future ethical principles in the public sector may have to be severely reevaluated. However, as van Wart and Denhardt (2001: 239) state, the public sector is ultimately a public treasure and civil servants must be careful with their changing values: public officials who fall into doubtful experiments may either lose much or gain little. If the experiment is a failure, they may lose their position. If it is a success, the general public enjoys the reward. They may receive a slight advance in salary, or even a promotion, but in many cases, no personal recognition. Nonetheless, private profit is traditionally seen to be the driving force of economical progress. It is often stressed, though also critisised, that public officials inevitably lack the incentive of self-interest. In spite of weak rewards, today s civil servants in Finland as well as other western welfare states are facing an increasing amount of demands: they are to be effective, goal oriented, and well aware of the costs of their actions Legal Framework and Codes of Conduct Culture and history have formed and changed the infrastructure to its current state. In Finland, the ultimate basis of the infrastructure is legislation. The Finnish ethical infrastructure is discussed more closely here.

15 15 In general, ethical infrastructure has dimensions such as control, guidance, and steering. These dimensions have a number of contributing factors, some of which are under investigation below. By codes of conduct is meant the rules that translate ideals and values into everyday practice. Codes of conduct can be either legal documents or purely administrative statements. A code of conduct may contain a combination of the following: a statement of its values, a description of its role, the responsibilities of and to its employees, and so on. (OECD 1996.) The general trend is that civil servants are governed far less by rules, regulations, and instructions. However, this does not apply to the provisions of civil service ethics. A legal framework enables investigations and prosecutions, usually after the fact. Legal procedures can be viewed as an external element of good governance. There are many laws that regulate good governance and ethics in Finland: - The Finnish Constitution Act, - the Administrative Procedure Act, - the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, - the Public Procurement Act, - the Penal Code, - the State Civil Servants Act and - the law of equality between men and women. The Finnish Constitution Act defines everyone s equality before the law, the equality of the sexes, the right to personal liberty and integrity, and the principle of legality in criminal cases. Protection under the law by constitution means that everyone has the right to have his or her case dealt with appropriately and without undue delay by a legally competent court of law or other authority. Although ethics in public administration is based on legislation and formal procedures, civil servants themselves play an essential role in promoting good governance and ethics. Legislation gives a minimum criteria for good governance and indicates what the sanctions are in case of violation. In Finland, legislation and other procedures do not indicate what is and is not allowed the issue is to understand values and to act ethically. It is said that the most important moral duties of civil servants are to pursue public interests and to do work.

16 16 Behaviour standards in the public sector are influenced by changing social norms. There are many kinds of informal procedures and also codes of conduct for civil servants. The general principles of administrative law concentrate on decision making: the principles of equality, objectivity, proportionality, and appropriateness. These principles are part of a forthcoming law. This Administrative Act steers government officials, state enterprises and public agencies, municipal actors, other public organisations, and also private organisations that have public duties. Through legislation and other procedures, the purpose is to prevent any threats to civil service impartiality before they emerge. These provisions also play an important role as a code of conduct Ethical Bodies The best mechanism to deal with unethical behavior is an official or a board of charge with responsibility for rendering advisory opinions, investigating charges of unethical behavior, and reporting on findings to appropriate officials. (See Zimmerman 1982: 224.) Although an official body can be seen to be the most adequate way to handle ethical issues, due to the unique historical processes these bodies have been formed in various ways in different countries. In the following, a few comments are given from the arrangements and practices in Finland. There is no special unit in charge of ethics in Finland. Instead, the actions of civil servants are monitored by the Chancellor of Justice at the Council of State and by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. These bodies watch over the legality of officials functioning both on their own initiative and as a result of petitions by members of the public. The Chancellor of Justice supervises the lawfulness of the official acts of the Government and the President of the Republic and provides the President, the Government and the Ministries with information and opinions on legal issues. He or she also supervises that the courts of law, other authorities and civil servants, public employees and other persons, when the latter are performing a public task, obey the law and fulfill their obligations. The Chancellor of Justice monitors the implementation of basic rights and liberties and human rights. (Office of the Chancellor of the Justice 2003.)

17 17 The Ombudsman shall ensure that public authorities, civil servants and also others when they perform public tasks obey the law, fulfill their obligations and respect constitutional and human rights. He or she observes the administration of justice and public affairs, as well as watch for shortcomings in legislation and also monitors the lawfulness of the official actions of the Government, Ministers and the President of the Republic. The Ombudsman investigates complaints lodged by people. (The Parliament of Finland 2003.) For example, in 2002 The Chancellor of Justice received almost 1500 complaints. In most cases the complaints concerned actions of courts of justice, police, branches of central government, social work authorities and local authorities. In 2002 The Ombudsman received over 2500 complaints which concerned such issues as social security, social and health care services and quality of health care. The actions of some profession are also monitored by co-ordinating bodies and advisory boards which promote ethics, and give advice when needed. These are, for example, - the National Advisory Board on Education Ethics, - the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics, - the National Advisory Board on Biotechnics - the National Advisory Board on Health Care Ethics, - the Cooperation Group for Laboratory Animal Sciences, - the National Advisory Board of Biotechnology, and - the Board for Gene Technology. For example, the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics was founded in 1991 to address ethical questions relating to research and the advancement of research ethics in Finland. The Board makes proposals and issues statements to governmental authorities on legislative and other matters concerning research ethics and acts as an expert body working towards the resolution of ethical issues relating to research. It can take initiative in advancing research ethics and promote discussion concerning research ethics, monitor international developments in the area and actively take part in international co-operation, and inform the public about research ethics. (National Advisory Board on Research Ethics 2002.)

18 18 The recent survey of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics investigates the violations of research ethics, their amount and quality. Results weren t surprising: misbehavior occurs but the situation in is not alarming. Within professional codes, the ethics of a particular profession is stated and enhanced. Professional codes are statements of principles, ethical policy statements, and professional standards, as well as codes. They come in a variety of forms. Professions in Finland that have listed their ethical values and codes of conduct are, for example, doctors, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, doctors, professors, academic researchers, teachers, police, firemen, priests, engineers, journalists, soldiers, lawyers, and accountant auditors. One of the oldest codes of ethics is from the 16 th century, the Codes of Conduct for judges by the Swedish priest Olaus Petri ( ). Even today these instructions apply in particular matters. For example, the formal ethical codes for university professors emphasise values like integrity, responsibility, and reasonability. It is worth mentioning here that there is in Finland a recently founded ethical body, or to say more specific, an ethical forum. The Finnish Ethical Forum was established in June Private companies, public and private organisations, trade unions, and officials, together with the church, have formed a forum to discuss questions of business ethics and corporate social responsibility. The Forum assembles several times each year to discuss a chosen topic. The formal objective of the Forum is to promote interaction between business, consumers and organisations, and to offer a place to discuss corporate social responsibility. The mission of the Forum is to bring together different points of view, exchange thoughts, and, via cooperation, find new ways to develop corporate social responsibility. Since the establishment of the Ethical Forum there has been 6 general meetings, concerning such matters as: - ethics in business - social responsibility - ethics of investments - work ethics - internationalisation - globalisation (Eettinen foorumi 2003.)

19 Core Values and Trust An ethical infrastructure is needed to support core values and an ethical standard for civil servants, in order to provide clearer guidance and advice to help solve ethical dilemmas which occur. Values are implemented within a legal framework. In the next section, we deal with values and some issues about trust in public administration. Values express to citizens what is considered to be important. Good governance can also be promoted with values. Trust can be seen as a cornerstone of a civic society. Trust in public institutions can be promoted by defining a clear mission for the public service, empowering people to report misconduct, integrating integrity measures, and shifting emphasis from enforcement to prevention. (OECD 2000.) Because public ethics is applied ethics, it touches values which are culturally specific. Differences among countries can be seen in cultural, political and administrative systems. Despite this, values in the public sector are quite universal. For example, in the OECD s survey (Building Public Trust 2000), which is based on the experience of 29 OECD countries, the core values in public service are impartiality, legality, integrity, transparency, efficiency, equality, responsibility, and justice. The emphasis can vary from one country to another, and inside the country in different organisations. Most of these values also appear among the core values of the Finnish government. At the Finnish government level, values are formally based on the idea of the democratic and constitutional state (a state governed by law). The model of the Nordic welfare state and the on-going internationalisation process have also affected values and what is considered to be proper. These values are complemented with values of management, which will be specified by every agency based on the business it runs. According to the governmental resolution, the stated core values at the government level are: - productivity - quality and expertise - service orientation - transparency, openness - trust - equality

20 20 - neutrality - integrity and independency - responsibility. (Resolution of Government 2001.) The Ministry of Finance (2000) has made a survey 1 which supports the assumption that the values and ethics of civil servants have changed. Over the half of the respondents (70% returned the questionnaire) think that the most important values are legality, service orientation, expertise, impartiality, and justice. Although the values have changed, the old values still remain. The new values have not replaced the old ones. At the municipal level, the publication Good municipal governance (1996) emphasises the acceptability of actions, improving confidence, openness, independence, and integrity. The publication lists the practical implications of ethical behavior. Among other legal codes, the Local Government Act also steers civil servants. As noted, different professions and organisations have publicly expressed their values. Many large public organisations have also listed their core values, such as the City of Helsinki, the National Railroads, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, and Finnair Airlines. These values often include environmental and personnel policy issues; advertising and safety of products are also frequently mentioned. The main values of the National Railroad are safety, satisfied customers, responsibility, and successful operation. Codes of conduct at the business level are quite rare. Salminen (2003) has studied the ethics of good governance, by focusing mainly on management and ethics. Salminen has interviewed high level professionals and managers in hospitals, courts of appeal, and universities. The empirical data is based on structured interviews. The results of the study indicate shared values: clientele and service orientation, management skills, and leadership promote good ethical behavior. The need and ability to change is one of the values of management. Expertise and quality are the main values of these high level professional organisations. According to Salminen, the 1 Questionnaires were sent to 170 middle-level agencies in the government covering almost 700 respondents.

21 21 main values of hospitals are service orientation and clientele and in universities expertise and quality. The court of appeal emphasise legality and legal protection. As indicated above, trust is one of the most central factors in an ethical climate. Citizens expect civil servants to serve public interests with fairness. In Finland, the Ministry of Finance (2001) has published a report about citizens trust in ministries 2. The report sees trust as a cornerstone of a civic society. The research shows that citizens do not trust in ministries or to other political institutions very strongly. Of the ministries the Ministry of Defense has 45% of trust from citizens. Of other public institutions, the military forces (64%) and the police (75%) are the most trusted organisations. Over 1000 Finns were interviewed in the survey 3 that measured the trust in the courts of justice. Citizens trust is one quality measure in the actions of the courts of justice. The survey shows that almost two thirds of respondents trust in the courts of justice these results are satisfactory. Trust in courts of justice have remained quite stable from the early 1980 s. (Lappi-Seppälä et al. 1999: 81.) It is worth mentioning here that Finns have strong confidence in science and research. According to the Finnish Science Barometer 2001, Finns trust scientific institutions more than the legal system or the church. A large majority of Finns (80%) give the standard of the sciences and research good overall marks, and most (59%) think that the research community operates responsibly and knows its social responsibilities. This trust is confirmed by the statistics compiled by the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics. From the Board received 54 cases altogether, which concerned issues like plagiarism, stealing original research ideas, or the fabrication and distortion of research findings. Although the number of cases of suspected misconduct in science varies, there have been very few confirmed cases to this point. (National Advisory Board on Research Ethics 2002.) 2 Questionnaire was sent to 2000 Finns, 39 % returned the questionnaire. Research was made in the year Survey was made in 1998.

22 Avoiding Misconducts and Promoting Good Practices What other issues are to be connected with good governance? One of the questions here is: how to avoid misconduct and unethical behavior, as well as promote practices of good governance and high ethics. Despite the existence of value statements and codes of conduct, misconduct does happen and the ongoing promotion of good governance is needed. This is true also in Finland, although in the corruption perceptions index 2002 of Transparency International, Finland was ranked the highest of the 102 countries investigated. The higher the score means the more free of corruption. Perceptions of the degree of corruption were measured by business people, academics, and risk analysts. Also surveys that assessed a country s performance were used. (Transparency International 2002.) However, corruption and misconduct are somewhat a problem in the Finnish public sector. Problems of ethics most often involve the acceptance of a gift or favour, favoured treatment for a business firm or a friend, the use of public equipment for private purposes, the use of confidential information, and so on. Although Finland is one of the least corrupted nations in the world, we have some ethical issues and problems to consider. (See Ministry of Finance 2000.) So far the number of ethical studies on misconducts or promoting good practices in Finnish public administration is limited. However, in the following some interesting research findings are examined in a summary fashion. During the 1980 s, a significant research project related to civil servants attitudes and background was completed in Finland 4. Several research papers and research productions were based on the vast data collected. Two Finnish researchers, Vartola and af Ursin (1987), for example, examined the data in order to get a general picture of the public sector working environment. Over 60% of the examined public sector employees replied they had encountered some misconduct in their work. However, no severe corruption or distinctively illegal features were mentioned. Though corruption seemed to be a very 4 The examined group was as large as 2253 civil servants, of which 1402 returned the questionnaire.

23 23 uncommon phenomenon, civil servants were discontented with many minor defects. Civil servants complained about such matters as the whole system s unwillingness to innovate, the use of hieroglyphicly abrasive official language, and political favourtism. According to Virtanen s research based on the same research data (1991), nearly 75% of Finnish civil servants consider their ethical education and guidance inadequate. Despite that, most of them were quite satisfied with the work ethic in their offices. Isaksson (1997) has studied corruption in Finland. He has defined corruption widely: it includes bribery, interest conflicts, corporate finance to political parties, political discrimination, etc. Isaksson s arguments are based on versatile data. If corruption is this widely understood, it is part of the Finnish political system. Some of these features of corruption are not exactly illegal, but highly inappropriate. For example a bribe can be trips, discounts, and expensive gifts to a civil servant. Solutions to these problems are the creation of ethical codes and increasingly transparent public administration. The Ministry of Finance (2000) has also studied the perceptions of civil servants on the most harmful unethical actions. Nearly 80% mentioned bribery, and 43% mentioned playing with offices; political discrimination was mentioned by nearly 42%, favourtism of a friend by 34%, sex discrimination by 32,5%, and nearly 32% mentioned conflicts of interest. To diminish and prevent unethical behaviour in Finland, senior public servants have to disclose financial and other interests, for example. This increases transparency and public confidence in the government. In Finland, there are no special programs against corruption. The definition of economic crime also covers corruption. (See The Task Force on Organizational Crime in the Baltic Sea Region 2000). Promoting ethical behavior with codes of conduct, laws and other devices, also demands supplementary means. The reforms and development of administration and society as a whole, brings new values and ways to promote ethics. A rapidly changing environment requires that the means and infrastructure are to be reviewed and adjusted to ensure a high standard of conduct. Ongoing attention to civil service ethics is required.

24 24 According to the survey done by Moilanen (1999), traditional values are complemented by new values that emphasise efficiency and economy. These new values reflect an increasingly result-based public service culture (see OECD 2000 for example.) Ethics of civil servants depends on the steering system and also on personnel policy. If the conditions for ethical behavior are good, misconduct is more likely to be avoided. In the resolution of the government document "Good Governance, High Quality Services and a Responsible Civic Society" (1998), the main areas of reform are to continue with central government reforms, to improve the quality of public services, information management and information society issues. The report of the Ministry of Finance (2000) suggests further actions to promote high level ethics. Development challenges, according to the report are to start and promote a discussion of values and ethics, to make norms more clear, to develop codes of conduct, the role of managers as a good example, and the selection of civil servants, etc. To promote ethics and good governance in public administration, the example set by managers and a discussion of ethics and values are important. Announcements, education and creating concrete values also promote ethics. (See Salminen 2003.) It is a challenge to make values part of everyday work. There are a few pilot programs searching for concrete models that can be adopted to other governmental agencies. A paper that gives examples of civil servants values and duties will also be created by the government. Through the research of ethics in different fields, new approaches and suggestions can be made. Typical to Finland, the applied study of welfare and health ethics is quite extensive. For example, the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (Stakes) conducted several studies in the 1990 s. The main topics are the ethics and values of social work and nursing; priorisation of health care; discretional power (over client); clientele; professionalism; human rights and social and health services; and social justice. 4. FINAL REMARKS Now to conclude the above discussion on how to understand good governance in Finnish public administration: we started our analysis by shortly describing topics of public