Over 80 public sector leaders learned about a new approach to values and ethics at a UQ Business School seminar featuring renowned management education specialist, Professor Mary Gentile of Babson College Boston USA.
The event – Public sector values, ethics and integrity – revealed how to develop ethics codes and values systems and empower staff to act on them, and how to deal with conflicting values. When an employee is faced with an ethical dilemma and a values conflict this innovative approach provides strategies, tactics, and tools to voice those values and take practical steps to resolve the issues.
The seminar was based on the approach pioneered by Professor Gentile and outlined in her book, Giving Voice to Values.
The event was hosted by Professor Ken Wiltshire, AO of UQ Business School with other speakers including Dr David Solomon AM, Queensland Integrity Commissioner; Lynelle Briggs, former Public Service Commissioner with the Australian Public Service; Donna Andrews, Director of the Ethical Standards Branch of Queensland Public Service Commission; and Peter Forster, Director of The Consultancy Bureau. Ken Wiltshire, who is Professor of Public Administration at UQ Business School said: “The seminar has proved extremely popular with our public sector audience and outlined a new approach to governance. It explained not only how to develop an ethics system but, importantly, how to defend values when under pressure. We all face conflicts of interest at some point in our career and the seminar provided some very practical advice on how to speak up for what we believe is right and help prevent ethical transgressions.”
