Dealing With Ethical Dilemmas in Public Administration: The Lens of Enhanced Decision-Making Model
Joan Nkansaa Nkansah, EdD and Bright Da-Costa Aboagye, EdD

Abstract
Public administrators sometimes find it challenging to make ethical decisions when faced with an ethical situation due to the inability to recognize and assess ethical dilemmas. The daily confrontations with ethical dilemmas and the neglect of moral issues in an organization can feed into the moral stress of public administrators. For this reason, research has established ethical dilemmas as a profound source of moral stress for organizational leaders involved in administrative decision-making. With decision-making being the fundamental responsibility of administrators, the literature proposes several decision-making models, including rational, satisficing, and enhanced unified ethic, to guide administrators in making ethical decisions. This study explored public administration, external and internal controls, administrative ethics, decision-making, and ethical dilemmas and identified decision-making models that administrators can adopt to deal with ethical dilemmas in decision-making. The literature exploration revealed enhanced unified ethics as the most appropriate decision-making model to assist administrators in making ethical decisions. The enhanced unified ethic as a philosophical model gives administrative ethics a practical meaning with an understanding of organizational and behavioral perspectives. Administrators who work in organizations lacking a unified ethic are usually confronted with ethical dilemmas and the inability to make ethical decisions. The study concludes that when administrators acknowledge the value of the unified ethic, they develop the foundation for ethical choices and excellence.

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