Baking the Ethics Cake to Improve Government Efficiency

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Tanya Settles
July 18, 2025

In the face of increasing demands for both transparency and fiscal responsibility, public officials sometimes frame ethics compliance as a burden—an administrative hurdle or added cost that slows down decision-making. However, public ethics compliance is not at odds with efficiency. Rather, it is an essential condition for a just and effective government. Ethical governance, when properly implemented through public and operational policy and action, enhances legitimacy, equity and long-term cost-effectiveness. Far from being a barrier to efficiency, ethics and compliance are the foundation of responsible, sustainable public administration.

Basic Cake Recipe

There are many ways to bake a government ethics cake, and the basic ingredients are social morals, public ethics and compliance standards. When combined, the ingredients are bound together into a moral framework for ethical decision-making that emphasizes fairness, institutional legitimacy and may consider certain moral imperatives such as protecting vulnerable populations. Historically, morality is continually evolving and is generally seen as the conditions and standards that allow people to function and live together. Morality defines the circumstances of good and bad. Ethics can be considered as the broad construct of values that guide behaviors—in other words, the “why we do it” part of government. Ethical decision-making is supported by codes of conduct that describe when and how certain behavioral expectations apply. When applied to public sector entities, ethics demands that governments not only act efficiently but also transparently, ensuring that processes and outcomes are just. In effect, governments create practical solutions through a moral and ethical framework—a roadmap for decision-making and prioritizing the allocation of resources that is consistent with social norms.

Add a Sprinkle of Common Sense

In this framework, public officials act impartially, avoid conflicts of interest and uphold the public trust. These are not simply procedural niceties—they are manifestations of moral imperatives. Ethics policies create guardrails that can prevent the arbitrary use of power and promote fairness in the distribution of public goods and services. While critics sometimes equate efficiency with speed or reduced red tape, true efficiency includes ethical legitimacy. A government that functions quickly but unjustly is not efficient in any morally relevant sense. An ethics-compliant government may appear slower at times, but it builds public trust, reduces the risk of corruption and improves the fairness of outcomes—all of which are essential for achieving operational effectiveness and reducing costly risk exposure in the long run.

Risk exposure can come in many forms—scandals, litigation and lost public confidence can paralyze agencies, increase oversight burdens and drain resources. By contrast, ethical frameworks that weave elements of compliance systems together—policies on ethics, codes of conduct, disclosure rules, training, enforcement and disciplinary procedures for noncompliance—are preventive investments. They reduce the risk of mismanagement and the high costs of failure, including reputational damage, litigation and the cost of corrective action. In this sense, ethics and compliance is part of institutional design—it embeds fairness and accountability into the system itself. This systemic integrity strengthens public institutions over time.

Consider hiring practices. Ethics compliance might require additional safeguards to prevent nepotism and ensure equal opportunity. These practices may extend timelines, but they support a commitment to fair access and just distribution of public employment opportunities. They help ensure that government careers are open to all, not just the well-connected. Likewise, ethics oversight bodies such as ethics commissions or ombuds offices may seem like bureaucratic overhead. But these institutions serve as guardians of fairness. They function as an institutional arrangement that ensures justice is not left to chance or goodwill but is embedded in the very way government operates.

In democratic governance, legitimacy and efficiency go hand-in-hand. When the public trusts government decisions, resistance, litigation and costly corrective measures are minimized. Public trust reduces the friction in policy implementation, increases compliance and enables collaboration across sectors. Ethics compliance is a key driver of this trust. This confidence is not only morally valuable—it is strategically efficient.

The Cherry on Top

A reliable and well-thought-out ethical framework is not a hindrance to government efficiency. Rather, it is its moral and operational foundation. Ethics policies are not just mechanisms to prevent wrongdoing. They are institutional tools for ensuring fairness, protecting the vulnerable and sustaining legitimacy. Perhaps more importantly, governments that invest in ethical infrastructure are not wasting resources; they are strengthening their capacity to serve effectively, justly and sustainably.

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Author: Tanya Settles is the CEO of Paradigm Public Affairs, LLC. Tanya’s areas of work includes relationship building between local governments and communities, restorative justice, and policy and program evaluation.  Tanya can be reached at [email protected].  The opinions in this column and any mistakes are hers alone.

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