Public Stewardship
Abstract
Public stewardship is office, duties, and obligations
along with the careful and responsible management of monies. This paper focuses
on the needs and methods for training public stewards in ethical budgeting
preparation and maintenance strategies. The reader will understand the
importance of public stewardship in budgeting and the ethical requirements for
leaders to consider for proper public stewardship. The paper will outline the
consequences of unethical or poor public stewardship.
Ethical stewardship is the idea that nurtures fair-minded,
just, and equal treatment of employees and investors with a supervision style
centered on policies that work for the good of the organization. When one
thinks about stewardship, the first thing that comes to mind is openness,
trust, and confidence. Civil employees and public officials are projected to
uphold and support the public’s trust and assurance in governance, signifying
the maximum ethics of professional confidence, proficiency, and success,
safeguarding the Constitution and the laws, pursuing to improve the public good
always (Baker, 2019).
Training Public Stewards
Public administrators and staff members are held to a high
standard. Afterall, they are role models for the rest of society and are looked
up to with confidence to deal with matters such as bribery, governmental
corruption, judicial ethics, supervisory ethics, conflicts of interest,
indiscretions, and legal ethics (O’Leary, 2019). Individuals are trained for
civil service in ethics; ethics plays a critical role in shaping an
individual’s behaviors within a society. Ethical conduct and social
accountability can bring significant benefits to an agency.
Ethics deals with an individual’s principled beliefs about
right and wrong, good and evil. Public stewards in agencies creating fiscal
reports, bookkeeping procedures, and budget preparation make knowledgeable
decisions within an organization and are motivated by the cultural norms of a
company. Ethics are the rules that distinguish good conduct according to the
values and norms of a group of people in society. Ethics in public
administration are vital for business conduct based on the needs of a city,
municipality, region, or local agency. Ethics gives public stewards standards
for truthfulness in the operations and administration of his or her work. O’Leary
(2019) argues that public service personnel work for the public, not
self-interest.
Importance of Public Stewardship in
Budgeting
Public stewards are often placed
in conflicting situations, especially in budget crunches and cutbacks. They are
faced with continually servicing the public amid administration cutbacks,
overtime cuts, and benefit cuts. The Metro Nashville Fire Department faces a
budget crisis. Joseph Pleasant, Public Information Officer for the fire
department states that the fire department is committed to adhering closely to
the budget and firefighters are focused on being good stewards, but with budget
cuts looming, public safety is a major concern and at risk. The Metro fire
department needs 67 more firefighters, yet, these positions were denied by
administrators, citing the fire department needs to cut an additional $586,000
as part of a savings program implemented during the budget preparation phase.
Metro is cracking down on overtime and is forcing the fire department to change
directions relating to how it conducts business. With 35 firefighters retiring
every year, the toll on staffing is significant in and of itself (Hall, 2018).
Budgeting frameworks function
better if chief characters have been trusted with authority to impact the
strategic plans and financial decision making, actively participating,
accountable and committed to the goals and aims of an organization (Villegas,
2015).
Ethical Requirements
for Leaders in Public Stewardship
According to Miriam Webster, stewardship is the performing,
overseeing, or handling of financial monies, especially the prudent and
accountable management of something trusted to one’s care. Nonprofits
requesting funds further their operation on the shoulders of significant
people; benefactors and volunteers. Public stewardship in budgeting is
important. Public service workers guarantee that taxpayers are receiving the
best quality service at a reasonable cost, and it endorses accountability in
government.
Public service entails a trust; an asset as valuable as any
data on a balance sheet. Finance officers contribute to stewardship over
citizens’ financial resources. Public services, through faith, endeavor to show
citizens via integrity and honesty the foundations on which reliability is erected
(Government Finance, 2018).
Consequences
of Unethical or Poor Public Stewardship
Russell (2014) states that sales become unethical when
administrative bosses or public workers “grease the skids” for businesses for
which they have an intimate or specialized association, or for instance, when
competitive bidding is bypassed. In January 2014, Miami-Dade County public
works supervisors were convicted of taking $13,000 worth of household
appliances in exchange for influencing the department in purchasing the
suppliers’ lighting fixtures. A prior supervisor had been charged with taking
bribes from the same lighting company (Russell, 2014).
Unethical behavior has serious consequences. Not only can
one lose employment, but one’s reputation is marred. Trustworthiness, morale,
and production are lost. Unethical consequences of poor behavior results in
penalties, court costs, and monetary loss. Worse yet, businesses and
governments are incapable of forging and maintaining long-standing
relationships (Bowes, 2017).
Conclusion
Ethics involves honesty, integrity, reliability, and so much
more in business finance as well as everyday life decisions. Public stewards
are put in place with a trust that decision making, and budgeting processes are
handled in an ethical manner. If bad behaviors are in place, budgeting in the
public sector is at risk for monetary loss, impaired reputation, and an end to
relationships previously established. There are serious consequences for
unethical behavior.
References
Baker, A. (2019). What is ethical stewardship? Career
Trend. Retrieved from https://careertrend.com/info-8429452-ethical-stewardship.html
Bowes, B.
(2017). Unethical actions have serious consequences. Legacy Bowes Group. Retrieved
from https://www.legacybowes.com/tools/articles/unethical-actions-have-serious-consequences
Government
Finance. (2018). Code of professional ethics. Government Finance Officers
Association. Retrieved from https://www.gfoa.org/membership/code-professional-ethics
Hall, B. (2018). Budget shortfall forces change of
direction for Metro fire department. News Channel 5 Investigates: News
Channel 5 Nashville. Retrieved from https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/budget-shortfall-forces-change-of-direction-for-metro-fire-department
O'Leary, C. (2019).
Public service motivation: A rationalistic critiqe. Public Personnel Management. 48(1). p. 82-96. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=ef488677-2d6c-4e72-bb8c-a37ec90da4c2%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=134629614&db=ccm
Russell, J.
(2014). The need for better stewardship over the money government spends. Voices
of the Governing Institute. Retrieved from https://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-official-oversight-government-procurement-contracting-procurement.html
Villegas, B.S.
(2015). Factors influencing administrators’ empowerment and financial
management effectiveness. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 176,
p. 466-477. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815005352?via%3Dihub
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