1. LAWS, REGULATIONS, CODES CLARIFY, SIMPLIFY, REDUCE NUMBERS, AND ‘MAINSTREAM’ AS PART OF THE JOB TO WIN COMPLIANCE Slides for a session with Denis Osborne, 2007

2. Ethics and Good Governance 2 WHY HAVE LAWS?  TO PROTECT  NOT to protect the Rulers from the People (we have called that RULE BY LAW)  But to protect People from each other and from their rulers by limiting the Rulers’ powers (we called that the RULE OF LAW)  TO SET STANDARDS?  Ideal patterns for behaviour? (Future aim) or minimum standards that ‘all’ accept? (Past)  Should laws set patterns from past, or Visions for future?

3. Ethics and Good Governance 3 LAWS MULTIPLY  Changing circumstances and technologies make it necessary to change the rules.  Lawyers aim laws cover every possibility  Result – too many laws, confuse, delay, cost  De Soto reports 27,000 new laws or regulations a year in Peru for 40 years – about 100 every working day

4. Ethics and Good Governance 4 DEREGULATION? A thought experiment: imagine Regulanda – a country where there were no laws or rules …  Chaos: no protection for people or property  One law would be better than none  Add another, then another (choose the best each time), things get better and better, but law  1,001 might bring less benefit than no 11  Seek ‘not too many, not too few’, but  Seek better laws. How make laws better?

5. Ethics and Good Governance 5 BRIGHTLINE LAWS & RULES  AIM to keep laws and regulations simple so that we find it easy to know what we should do  Whether we comply is better assessed by aiming to judge only clearly discernible facts  British law says a bribe is a gift that is ‘intended to corrupt’: difficult to know!  Very few convictions in courts  A ‘Brightline Law ’ may forbid gifts above a chosen limit – if well known, that’s fair  Think of other examples…

6. Ethics and Good Governance 6 PUBLIC SERVANTS OBEY …  Does ‘obeying the rules’ ensure good service?  That must depend partly on the rules  but even perfect rules, charters, performance standards and targets don’t guarantee good service  How well do we obey the rules?  If rules are ‘wrong’, how do we get them changed? Or  ‘waived’? (Don’t ask ‘may I do…?’ ask ‘how?’)  We will need to motivate officers  To want to win and hold public’s trust in our competence, commitment and integrity

7. Ethics and Good Governance 7 PUBLIC SERVICE PATTERNS  On work placement in England public servants from central Europe were horrified. They found:  UK civil servants seemed never to consider the laws and regulations that should guide their work, but…  ‘Knew what to do’ based on past experience of others  One UK writer compared this with a genetic code of behaviour, codes were not needed, but  ‘reforms’ have made codes necessary  and Britain has now a civil service code

8. Ethics and Good Governance 8 CODES  CODES OF CONDUCT  Usually a list of bad things; precise, detailed  Voluntary / whitewash; or Mandatory / enforce  CODES OF ETHICS  Descriptions of good things we should do  Sometimes vague, often voluntary, eg ‘be client friendly’  But sometimes with quantified targets  CORE VALUES: ‘RICE’ Respect, Integrity, Communication, Excellence  Those were core values for ENRON staff  Reinforced by assessment rules!

9. Ethics and Good Governance 9 CODES AS OPPORTUNITIES New or revised Codes give opportunities to:  raise awareness of standards among those to whom the code applies and among their clients  ask where we face the greatest risks of failure and how service and products can be improved  provide faster disciplinary procedures that are management-focused and cost less but remain fair to staff, and are easy to apply  For that it helps if breaches of codes are matters of fact not difficult ‘judgement’

10. Ethics and Good Governance 10 CODES AND DISCIPLINE  If a Code sets standards for discipline, it helps if:  Copies are given to all the staff involved, and  staff are asked to sign a slip confirming that ‘I have received, read and understood’, and  copies are given to clients with whom they deal explaining that these show the standards of service to expect  and to contractors / suppliers requiring their staff to match this behaviour

11. Ethics and Good Governance 11 STAFF REACTIONS  INTRODUCING NEW / REVISED CODES  Reactions in N America found age-dependent  Oldest:Yes, we need it (to get young into line?)  Middle:Cynical; seen before; no difference  Young:What’s in it for me?  Seen by author of study as generation shift: response of young as part of obsession with usefulness (eg computers), she thinks attitudes will not change with age and parenting or management experience

12. Ethics and Good Governance 12 STUDY REACTIONS  We may challenge the conclusions of the North American study  But there could be value in many places from finding how staff react to codes  How would you react?  How might your staff react?  Often resented as ‘extra burden’ and implying poor performance

13. Ethics and Good Governance 13 CODES, CORE VALUES CENTRAL  Observing code seen by staff as an extra  Even a distraction from ‘the real work’  Managers can make codes part of the job  Include in job description, objectives, targets  Include in job appraisal or review, for example asking, ‘How have you told your clients where they should make any complaints?’ and ‘How quickly do they get a response or remedy?’

14. Ethics and Good Governance 14 CIVIL SERVICE DISCIPLINE Often quasi-judicial, decided by committee  Suspicion or allegation  Succession of ‘warnings’  Suspension (on part or full pay?)  Investigation, charges, hearing, appeal …  Why? Fair. Saves public funds if sued for ‘wrongful dismissal’  But what value do we place on work lost and unfair load on other staff?

15. Ethics and Good Governance 15 CIVIL SERVICE MANAGEMENT Could more discipline be a matter for managers – an administrative matter, as in private sector?  Suspicion or allegation? Warn for small offences  Let managers decide dismissal or other penalties  With no long periods of suspension for investigation  Any staff member dismissed can appeal  But pay expenses for appeal if judged ‘frivolous’  Saves other staff extra unfair loads  All staff have less uncertainty, ‘suspense’  Introduce with pay-rise ‘package’?

16. Ethics and Good Governance 16 COMPLIANCE  Citizens are required to obey the law  Staff have to obey regulations, rules, orders  Need to check compliance  Managers reward compliance, punish if disobey  Do staff comply only because they expect their behaviour to be known?  AIM to internalise values  As appears to happen among threatened minorities who benefit from trustin each other

17. Ethics and Good Governance 17 COMMITMENT  RATHER THAN STRUGGLE TO ENFORCE RULES WOULD IT BE BETTER  to convince staff the rules are good, that they enable us to do the job well, and help us to give good service … ?  AND AIM AT  ‘Compliance through Commitment’  Commitment to service, to people, giving value-driven, ethical good governance

18. Ethics and Good Governance 18 THANK YOU For listening if you have been and for joining in discussion if I gave you the time to do so