Personal Ethics Versus Professional Ethics

Every civil servant follows two sets of values. One set belongs to the person. The other belongs to the job. This section defines both and shows where they differ.

1.1 What is personal ethics?

Personal ethics means the values you hold as an individual. They guide how you act in private life. One professional body describes your values, interests and experiences as the filter through which you view any situation.

Take a promise to a friend. Nobody orders you to keep it. You keep it because you think it is right.

1.2 What is professional ethics?

Professional ethics means the standards of conduct that come with a role. For central government employees in India, the main code is the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964. The Government notified these rules as the code of conduct for its employees.

The OECD gives the general idea. Laws and rules are the basis for telling every public servant the minimum standards of behaviour. So the code is written down and known in advance.

1.3 How do the two differ?

The main difference is the source. Personal ethics comes from the individual. Professional ethics comes from the role.

The second difference is enforcement. The OECD says public-service rules should give a basis for guidance, investigation, disciplinary action and prosecution. No rulebook punishes a broken private promise. Conscience and relationships judge that.

1.4 Do some values belong to both?

Yes. Honesty is a good example. A private citizen is expected to be honest. The Conduct Rules ask the same of an officer. Rule 3 says every Government servant shall at all times maintain absolute integrity.

So some values travel with you from home to office. The next section covers duties that do not.

2.1 What is the basic duty?

Rule 3(1) sets three duties. An officer must maintain absolute integrity. She must maintain devotion to duty. She must do nothing unbecoming of a Government servant.

These apply at all times. They do not switch off at the end of office hours.

2.2 Which duties exist only because of the job?

Some duties have no private-life version. A private citizen may do these things freely. An officer may not, or needs permission first.

• Politics (Rule 5): no Government servant shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with, any political party.
• Official information (Rule 11): an officer must not share official documents or information without authority, except under a general or special order of the Government.
• Private business (Rule 15): an officer needs the previous sanction of the Government to engage in any trade or business, or to take other employment.
• Gifts (Rule 13): an officer shall not accept gifts, or let family members accept them, except as the rules allow.

Each rule exists because of the office held. The act is not wrong for an ordinary citizen.

2.3 Why have such rules?

A private interest can sway an official decision. People then lose trust in the decision, even when it was fair. The rules keep the office clear of such pulls.

The OECD says the aim is to keep official policy and administrative decisions sound. It does not say an official may have no private interests at all.

3.1 What is a conflict of interest?

A conflict of interest is a clash between a public duty and a private interest. The OECD defines it as a conflict between the public duty and private interests of a public official. The private interest could improperly influence how the official does the job.

Say an officer must pick a supplier. One bidder is her brother’s firm. Her duty is to choose fairly. Her private interest is to help her brother.

3.2 What should the officer do?

Rule 3(1)(xiii) tells her to declare any private interest that relates to her public duties. She must also take steps to resolve the conflict in a way that protects the public interest.

The rule does not list the exact step. In the bidder case, a common step is to tell her seniors and let another officer decide. The OECD adds that the task is to identify such conflicts and manage them.

3.3 What if a superior gives an order?

An officer follows her superior’s direction. Rule 3(2) says the direction of the official superior shall ordinarily be in writing. Oral directions should be avoided as far as possible.

If an oral direction is given, the officer must seek written confirmation as early as possible. The superior must then confirm it. A written order protects both sides.

3.4 Is “I only followed orders” a defence?

Not always. After the Second World War, the Nuremberg trials faced this plea. In 1950 the UN’s International Law Commission wrote down the principles from those trials.

Principle IV says that acting on a government’s or a superior’s order does not relieve a person of responsibility under international law. The one condition is that a moral choice was in fact possible to him. It deals with the gravest crimes. It shows that duty has a floor.

4.1 What is role morality?

Role morality is the idea that a role creates its own duties. Philosophers call these special obligations. They are owed to some people and not to everyone.

Doctors owe duties to their patients. Police officers owe duties to the citizens of their area. A civil servant owes duties to the public and to the Constitution she serves.

4.2 Does a role duty always have moral weight?

Not automatically. Philosophers ask whether such duties are mere obligations of role without moral implications. This is the same worry behind Nuremberg. A job duty alone does not make an act right.

So a good officer does two things. She follows the rules of her role. She also keeps a personal check on whether an act is right.

4.3 What are the exam traps?

• Origin: personal ethics is self-made. Professional ethics is handed to you with the post.
• Form: professional ethics is written down. Personal ethics is mostly unwritten.
• Portable values: honesty applies in both spheres. Political neutrality applies only in office.
• Conflict of interest: declare the interest and resolve it in the public interest.
• Orders: ask for oral directions in writing. Orders do not excuse the gravest wrongs.

A crisis of conscience is the inner struggle when a duty and your sense of right pull apart. Define it in a line.

Show how it appears in public life: an order you think is wrong, a pressure to bend a rule, or a duty that harms someone. Use one short example. Name ways out, such as seeking written orders, raising it with seniors, and refusing a clearly illegal act.

This case sets a private interest against a public duty. List who is affected: the officer, the Minister, the villagers and the public.

Weigh each option against the public interest. Declare the interest, record your advice in writing, and ask for a lawful route. Do not let the Minister’s wish alone decide the plan.

Define the three duties in a line each: official duty, public interest and personal interest.

Then show how to resolve a clash. Declare the interest, step back from the decision, follow the rules, and let the public interest decide. Add one example, such as an officer whose relative bids for a contract.