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The essential values needed to be an effective public servant are:
- Integrity: Consistency in value system, thoughts and conduct.
- Objectivity: Impartial decision making.
- Leadership: Ability to lead subordinate towards desired goal
- Openness: Being transparent and open to scrutiny.
- Responsiveness: Addressing the demands of public.
- Empathy: Feeling and acting towards elevating pain of public.
- Selflessness: Action should not be self-oriented rather other oriented.
- Honesty: Being Fair, trustworthy and sincere.
- Accountability: Assuming responsibility and answerability for actions.
- Courage: Ability to do what is required even if the odds are against.
Ways and means to prevent non-ethical behaviour in public servants are as follows:
- Effective laws, rules and regulations that unambiguously define do’s and don’ts along with a mechanism for quick action for unethical conduct.
- Cutting down on discretionary power and minimizing direct contact between citizen customer and service provider to reduce rent seeking opportunities.
- Effective use of transparency and accountability tools like RTI, social audits, e-governance etc. Providing adequate protection to whistle-blowers is also necessary.
- Better personnel management: Selection of candidates with high ethical competence and awakened conscience, promotions based on performance and Periodic training.
- Proper rewards and punishment mechanism in terms of performance-based bonus that encourage hard work and discourage non-ethical conduct.
The union of these essential values and these reforms can make public servants more effective and public oriented.
