Ethics Essentials: Two Day Conference Managing Ethical Responsibility and Accountability In Government, Crown Agencies and Civil Society
Description: This two day course, part of EthicScan’s Ethics Essentials series– is about the practice of ethics in public institutions. It focuses on the real life, strategies, thoughts and deeds of public integrity officers, both elected and appointed. Its purposeful structure and content allows practitioners to assess, debate and discuss ideas with one another in order to enhance management of the ethical dimensions and value dilemmas of public service decision-making. It provides practical debates, thoughts and opinions to assist practitioners in fostering an organizational climate that encourages and enhances ethical behaviour in the public sector.
This course is an update of the popular, well-received two day courses of the same title given six times previously in the 1990s and 2000s—both in Toronto and Ottawa.
As we head into the year 2014, public and professional interest in ethics is at an historic high. The public, the media and corporations everywhere are critically re-examining basic themes such as rights, rules, responsibilities and organizations. Within the public sector, here have been a considerable investment in oversight functions— offices and programs dealing with privacy, conflict of interest, complaint resolution, accountability, expense account auditing, and employee ethics training.
Stakeholders of all kinds – taxpayers, managers, employees, customers and clients, partners, regulators, voters, service recipients, and communities — demand higher levels of accountability and integrity. They are searching for and demanding greater transparency, accountability and value for money in government and civil society organizations—often in contradictory or conflicting ways. Within this context, executives and senior managers In Government, Crown Agencies and Civil Society as well as elected officials must make decisions relying on their own judgment to settle contentious and debatable issues, ultimately recognizing that their task is to explain, foster and enhance the philosophy and values that guide their organizations.
Objective:
A number of highly regarded ethics officers and integrity specialists in Canada are speakers, case study presenters, or panellists at this intensive and interactive program. At this time of writing, the confirmed list includes Yolanda Banks, Len Brooks, Suzanne Craig, Fiona Crean, Mario Dion, Ann Fraser, Sidney Linden, Robert Marleau, and Lynn Morrison.
Individual Speakers’ Topics:
1. Practical suggestions about how and when to move from a current or basic level one to a more sophisticated Values and Ethics program
2. What is or should be the ethics-driven agenda about how to improve public governance by enhancing efficiency and effectiveness for public servants and/or elected or appointed officials
3. Practical lessons learned on delivering an optimal values and ethics program, a complaint resolution function, or both within a public organization
4. Practical recommendations on how to reduce reputation risk, strengthen accountability, minimize threats, and enhance financial and lobbyist oversight, including strategies to overcome obstacles
5. How to get to the next level of sophistication in protection of privacy and FOI awareness, how would that happen, and who would benefit in what ways
6. What would it take by whom and where to take whistle-blowing from its current pariah status to a passionate and positive place, and could this happen in our generation
7. Advice based on experience for conducting organizational ethics program assessments, or reviews, and the prospects cross-departments/ministries/government for sharing best practices
8. Practical lessons on how to investigate complaints so as to ensure the best possible organizational and stakeholder outcomes
Practitioner Panel Topics
1. How best to creatively enhance workplace morale in government, Crown Corporations, or civil society organizations: case study references welcome
2. What is the single best or most promising tool or framework to minimize a public organization’s integrity and reputation risk threats
Who This Course Is For:
It is intended for Privacy and Integrity Commissioners, Accountability and Transparency Officers , Senior Human Resources Management Specialists, Senior Transparency and Integrity Program Project Leaders, Access to Information Officers, Values and Ethics Program Senior Managers, Risk Management Professionals; Audit Management Professionals, Conflict of Interest Commissioners, and Human Resources Specialists.
Benefits in Your Participation
- Listen to highly respected, experienced practitioners over the course of eight modules, six guest speakers, and two panel discussions.
- Examine ways practitioners use to harmonize the three spheres of ethical situations facing public servants: ethics of public policy, personal ethical standards and organizational role demands
- Apply an analysis of the characteristics of ethically-tuned organizations to enhance current day-to-day management decision-making in order to accurately recognize the ethical dimension within dilemmas and to think through the consequences of appropriate or alternative resolutions
- Learn and apply a risk and reputation management framework for ethical analysis and value-based decision-making in areas such as human resources management, whistleblowing, accountability, political neutrality, freedom of information and conflict of interest
- Assess personal complaint investigation, accountability and decision-making styles by reflecting on how behaviour is justified in the context of competing values
- Explore the choices made and not made in explaining, modelling and nurturing the philosophy and values that guide public sector and civil society organizations
- Review “leading edge” changes in other sectors of Canadian society in order to anticipate and manage ethics oversight programs
- Apply the lessons learned by others to develop you action plans for enhancing integrity in management decision-making within your organization
- Test new accounting, auditing and reporting measures and techniques you can use to report your performance.
This course is a challenging one, both in breadth and depth of content. Our two days together should be both full and we hope enriching. We’ve organized the materials in flexible modular form, in order to nurture dialogue as well as for ease of learning. The agenda includes presentations, lecturettes, case studies, panel discussions, quizzes, videos, readings and special guests. Expect to be in small working groups at a number of opportunities over these two days. Not all course materials will necessarily be given in the order in which they appear here.
Special Requirements:
We encourage you to pre-prepare and bring – as a pre-course assignment — a one page vignette or personal story that you’ve seen or experienced while in the public service. The case or story should involve some element of ethical considerations. If it involves some trouble-some, tricky or difficult aspects for you, your office and/or organization, so much the better. It should be a dilemma that you could share with others at the course. A number of these true stories gathered and used from previous offerings of this course will form the basis for analysis and discussions in small and large groups over our two days together.
Please don’t make prior alternative plans for lunch on either day of the course. The group as a whole will be adjourning to an on-site dining room for shared lunches.
This course is offered in two different locations, on different dates:
8:30 AM EST; March 24 and 25th, 2014, Toronto Register Now >>
8:30 AM EST; March 27 and 28th, 2014, Ottawa Register Now >>
Pricing: $1499 per registrant; $1299 per person if three or more persons are registered from one organization. Registration fee, includes pre-course reading material, Course Binder, access to PowerPoint slides and/or transcript afterwards, as well as a sumptuous buffet lunch and two health breaks—one AM, the other PM on each of the two days. Note that there is a pre-course assignment
Register today for eligibility for an early bird discount rate which applies to registrants before December 31st, 2013
Lead Moderator:
David is a rare breed in North America: a full-time organizational ethicist. He does original writing, teaching, consulting and research on ethical decision making, enhancing corporate social accountability, auditing, and reporting, and developing ethics assurance programs, including transparency, risk management, ethical management and “safe” partnering
