Administrative Ethics and Public Trust: The Case of Cambodian Public Administration
Im Sothearith, Ohio University
imthegreat@gmail.com
This paper has been published at http://www.kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh/society/sothearith21_02.htm
imthegreat@gmail.com
This paper has been published at http://www.kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh/society/sothearith21_02.htm
The trust a man has earned can be compared to a new blank sheet of paper he holds in his hand. When it is crumpled, it is difficult to make it back into its original shape. In the same way, it is almost impossible to rebuild trust once it is lost. Trust plays a crucial role in humans’ everyday life. It also greatly contributes to all kinds of business transactions in either public or private sectors. In the realm of civil society and democracy, trust can convince citizens that their preferred outcomes can be delivered by the political system, even if they are not involved in the production of outcomes (Garcia-Rivero, et al., 2002). Federickson (1984) also stresses the importance of public trust in public administration. He says in a climate of public trust and cooperation, administrators can work most effectively. Moreover, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) emphasize that political competition between organized groups is needed in a democratic society. The democratic bargaining process will collapse if trust and real representation do not exist. Thus, each group tries to convince citizens that it represents and deserves their trust.
Paluszek (1989) defines ethics as “the study of human conduct in light of moral principles” (p. 747). Ethics also play a very important role in every human society because they make us act effectively in relationship and live peacefully with one another. Ethics help us consider whether our actions are right or wrong. “It also asks us how those character traits that help us flourish (such as integrity, honesty, faithfulness, and compassion) play out in every living [being]” (Shanks, 2003, p. 2). In everyday life, ethics help us get along with one another. Therefore, ethics play an even more important role in public administration because proper ethical behavior can bring positive contact between public servants and citizens. Duncan (1991) also suggests that employees usually expect their leaders to be full of integrity, trustworthiness, forthrighteousness, and honesty. In general, good administrators demonstrate values and ethical behavior because these carry messages of shared purposes, conceptions, and shared standards. Furthermore, in a broader term, Hwang (2001) pointed out that the leaders themselves should have the qualities of sympathy, duty, and righteousness in their work and behavior so that they can encourage others to emulate their example. This paper, therefore, aims to illustrate the importance of ethics and public trust in a democratic government, to examine facts to prove that ethical public administration engenders public trust, and to what extent and how public trust can be rebuilt if it is lost. To examine these, a literature review is completed based on a number of articles from major academic journals regarding public administration.
To begin with, because the votes of people in a democratic society make a democratic government exist, a good democratic government should theoretically be one that works for the public good, serves the interests of its people, and is trusted by its people. Gamson (1968) argues that public trust allows political leaders to make decisions and allocate public resources to attain societal goals (As cited in Chanley, et al. 2000). As Clark and Lee (2001), suggest once this trust is attained, a good government is perpetrated because the trust awarded to the government attract people and resources needed for effective performance. How much the public trusts the government can be measured by the government performance. On the other hand, Clark and Lee (2001) warn that “poor performance fuels an ideology of skepticism toward government while good performance fuels an ideology of trust” (p. 32). Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) also emphasizes the significance of public trust in government because without trust in government institutions, citizens will not perceive their rights as being protected. As a result, the citizens will not be interested in being involved in politics, and consequently, civil society will not properly develop.
In addition, every individual government employee plays important an role in promoting the government’s reputation. A government is generally made up of all levels of employees, who are also known as servants of government, servants of the law, and servants of the public (Kakabadse, et al. 2003). On Saturday October 30, 2004 for the first time as Cambodia's new monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni addressed his nation pledging to be a "faithful servant" of the people and promising that “a king is not the master of the country or of the people, [but] a king is a servant of the motherland and the people…. To all the beloved people, through all my life, I will be a faithful servant to all the people, I will always be with the people to share the happiness and suffering” (As cited in Cambodia's king 'faithful servant' 2004, p.1). Through this message, the King hopes to build public trust in his new leadership.
According to Kernaghan and Langford (1990), “public servants have traditionally been advised to act in the public interest; be politically neutral; guard confidential information; protect the privacy of citizens and employees; provide efficient, effective and fearless advice; avoid conflicts of interest; and be accountable” (As cited in Kakabadse, et al. 2003, p. 480). Moreover, lives and interests of the people are affected by the decisions and actions of the public servants, who handle private and confidential information, provide assistance, and manage public funds (Kakabadse, et al. 2003). Therefore, because public servants play such an important role, they must have ethical values so that they can elicit the trust of citizens. The more the public trusts government officials, the more the government as a whole tends to be trusted by the public.
Feldheim and Wang (2004) point out that a primary strategy in creating ethical institutions is through moral leadership. Oftentimes, it is necessary for government institutions to establish ethical standards for its employees. For instance, the U.S. government believed that public trust in the government had been declining. Therefore, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics issued booklets in August 1992 to federal employees. The booklets contain principles and rules of ethical conduct for government employees. The ethics dilemma in public service has been addressed by the guidelines, which is an attempt by the U.S. government to regulate the ethical conduct of its employees (Mitchell, 1999).
However, some scholars have warned that too much trust in government leads to a lot of pitfalls. According to Clark and Lee (2001), too much trust can increase a government’s power, which may result in reducing its accountability. Thus, it is not clear whether worry over eroding trust in government is reasonable because that erosion may be preferable. Joseph Nye, dean of the faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School, says, “In the long term, the quality of life in a democracy is hindered by too much trust—and by too little trust. If people believe everything they are told, that isn’t healthy. But if they believe nothing, that isn’t healthy either” (As cited in Lambert, 1998, p. 39).
In order to build public trust, or to rebuild public trust once it is lost, the real causes need to be clearly identified and addressed. There are multiple potential causes of the declining public trust in government. The first of which, according to Citrin and Green, 1986; Citrin and Luks 1998; Feldman 1983; Hetherington 1998; Miller and Borreli 1991; and cf. Lawrence 1997, is caused by the performance of the national economy and citizens’ evaluations of it. Greater distrust can be caused by negative perceptions of the national economy (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). In this sense, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) also suggest that “variations in the levels of income may have also affected the trust in government” (p. 173). Thus, the economy is one of the factors influencing people’s attitude towards government. In the case of Cambodia, one of the world’s self-insufficient nations, whose government’s day-to-day expenditures depend heavily on foreign aid, the government does not have the ability to serve the common good and its people’s interests. Government employees cannot even live on their salary of 20 to 30 U.S. dollars per month. Due to the inadequate resources, the government does not have the ability to meet the basic needs of its people and its employees. This promotes greater public distrust in the government.
The second potential cause, according to Mansbridge (1997) and Pew Research center (1998), are the social-cultural factors such as crime and social security (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). Empirical results of research conducted by Chanley, et al. (2000) illustrate that crime is the most important factor influencing public trust in government. Likewise, social security is in the hands of government and therefore directly responsible for its shortcomings. All citizens in the society heavily depend on government to protect them and to create a healthy and secure social environment in which all citizens can live peacefully. In Cambodia, the government fails to create a secure environment for its people. Crime and violence, human rights abuses, sexual harassment, and political threats often occurr, especially during the election period, when all political parties are busy with their political campaigns and negotiations. All these problems are ignored by the government authority.
The third potential cause, according to Citrin and Green 1986; Citrin and Luks 1998; Craig 1993, 1996; Erber and Lau 1990; Feldman 1983; Hetherington 1998; Miller and Borrelli 1991; Williams 1985; Garment 1991; and Orren 1997, has been attributed to political factors, such as citizens’ evaluations of incumbents and institutions, to political scandals, and to increased media coverage of political corruption and scandals (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). Likewise, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) believes that declining trust in government is caused by the perception that the government fails to deliver political goods properly. In the case of the United States, these scholars have noted that since the Watergate scandal, political scandals and media attention of corruption have remarkably increased (Chanley, et al., 2000). Therefore, U.S. citizens’ trust in their government tends to be eroded by the increased exposure to allegations of political corruption. Worse than this, corruption in Cambodian public sector is obvious. Money politics take precedent over formal fair legal and political institutions, government and business contracts, and campaign promises. Generally, when money talks, biased or wrong decisions are usually made.
In addition to citizens’ perceptions of political activities, the Cambodian coalition government, in some respects, does not function properly. This is due to the fact that the two parties in the coalition government do not intend to work together. Furthermore, during the election, some parties refused to accept the results of the election and responded with violence. Once in the government, elected officials tend to follow party lines instead of serving the interest of the people. This engenders distrust from Cambodians as well as from foreign donors. It is interesting to note that foreign donors distrust the Cambodian government because of low paying government jobs, which undermine motivation and encourage corruption; the government’s lack of confidence and its lack of ability to articulate and implement policies; poor management of budget and cash within the government; and weak leadership (Hubbard, 2002). These are widely mentioned as the main sources of low levels of trust in the Cambodian government.
Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) argues that deferring degrees of trust is directly related to education, occupation, or income. Those who benefit the most from a system usually like the way the system works and are least likely to want to change it, while Marlowe (2004) points out that it is possible that those who are financially unsatisfied are likely to lack trust in all public institutions. Furthermore, those who have better education and who have better understanding of government affairs are more likely to distrust the government. For instance, the Cambodian People Party (CPP), the party in power for the last three decades, did not win the majority in the capital city Phnom Penh, home to most of the country’s intellectuals, but the CPP won the majority in almost all rural areas where the literacy rate is relatively low.
Although there is increased public attention to government, Mitchell (1999) notices that whatever the reasons, unethical behavior of elected officials, senior public servants, and their subordinates continues to increase. This unethical behavior may be fostered by the fixed culture of the organizations, and powerful people such as chief executives setting the norms and their subordinates following the cultural norms and values of the leaders. In Cambodia, the lack of ethically correct behavior of public senior officers has been unabated. It is apparent that Cambodian government officials accept bribes and engage in sex scandals. This undoubtedly promotes distrust in the government.
When the roots of the problems are clearly identified and addressed, appropriate solutions can be reached. Individual public administrators play a crucial role in building public trust. According to Marlowe (2004), public servants are a part of the solution to the declining trust because a high-performing government can play a vital role in building trust and fighting skepticism. In Cambodia, the causes of the declining public trust in government are the national economy; social-cultural factors, including crime and violence; political factors, including political scandal and corruption; relatively low levels of education; unethical behavior of elected officials and senior civil servants, and the disagreement between the two parties in the coalition government.
According to Chanley, et al. (2000), public trust in government is influenced by political scandals and public perceptions of the economy and crimes. In order to solve the problems, the government needs to be skillful in handling the national economy. Alleviation of public concern about crime might help rebuild public confidence in government. Many factors significantly contribute to national economic development. Usually, tax is one of the main public revenue sources, but the Cambodian government does not have a very good tax system. Furthermore, tax administration is inefficient due to the corruption among tax collectors. Instead of going to the national treasury, a huge amount of collected tax money goes to tax officers’ pockets. This fact does not encourage people to pay taxes because they do not really trust those tax officers. Furthermore, social security is another concern. Social security officers, known as law enforcement officers, should be trained and better paid. The justice system also should be improved. The public and even police officers complain about the courts releasing criminals because of corruption within the justice system. In this term, it is noticed that the Cambodian government has tried to improve the justice system because senior elected officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, volunteer to be members of the Cambodian Club of Lawyers. This shows the intention of the government to improve the judiciary system.
Moreover, political scandals, corruption, relatively low levels of education, and unethical behavior of elected officials and senior civil servants are linked and promote public distrust in government. Corruption can be minimized by providing adequate salary to government officials including law enforcement officers. The government should take strict measures on corruption. Although Cambodia is known as one of the most corrupt nations on earth, and although Prime Minister Hun Sen recently has announced a war against corruption, no corrupt individual has yet been brought to justice. Furthermore, because individual public officials play an important role in helping to build and to maintain public trust in government, Cambodian government officials should have proper ethical training so that they become officials with ethical values. According to Thomas (1998), to build and to maintain trust, government officials must make sure that they combine mutual trust with individual citizens and fiduciary trust based on the moral obligation of the government officials performing in accordance with the best interest of the citizens (As cited in Feldheim and Wang, 2004).
Disagreement between the two parties in the coalition government also encourages distrust in government. Recently, Cambodian politicians have filed complaints against one another in court while many people live under the poverty line and in an insecure environment. It is unclear how they can be accountable, responsible, dependable, and trusted by the people while they are busy fighting for their own interest. These elected senior officers are seen to be untrustworthy individuals. Butler (1991) and McAllister (1995) point out that the behaviors of trusted public individuals are judged based on the demonstration of competence, reliability, responsibility, and dependability in their performance of role obligations (As cited in Feldheim, and Wang, 2004). Feldheim, and Wang (2004) also say, “Public trust is influenced by behaviors that display integrity, openness, loyalty, competency, and consistency in administration” (p. 66), and “organizational and individual loyalties, defined as an organization’s ability to meet public demands, have a strong influence on citizen trust. Elected officials’ trust is largely associated with individual workers’ honesty and organizational loyalty” (p. 71).
According to Lambert (1998) “Obviously, the key to rebuilding trust between the press and the public lies in the hands of individual journalists” (p. 42). Likewise, government employees should behave in a way that people see them as honest, open, and loyal individuals because honesty, openness, and loyalty also engender public trust. Feldheim and Wang (2004) also emphasize that:
An effective strategy to improve public trust should emphasize honest behavior by workers, encourage individual workers to be open, and promote organizational and individual loyalty to the public interest. This strategy should begin with moral leadership that builds organizational processes to provide employees with ethical training, develops codes of ethics, provides opportunities for citizen involvement in decision-making, provides service consistency, and rewards employees who demonstrate honesty and integrity (p. 72-73).
To begin with, because the votes of people in a democratic society make a democratic government exist, a good democratic government should theoretically be one that works for the public good, serves the interests of its people, and is trusted by its people. Gamson (1968) argues that public trust allows political leaders to make decisions and allocate public resources to attain societal goals (As cited in Chanley, et al. 2000). As Clark and Lee (2001), suggest once this trust is attained, a good government is perpetrated because the trust awarded to the government attract people and resources needed for effective performance. How much the public trusts the government can be measured by the government performance. On the other hand, Clark and Lee (2001) warn that “poor performance fuels an ideology of skepticism toward government while good performance fuels an ideology of trust” (p. 32). Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) also emphasizes the significance of public trust in government because without trust in government institutions, citizens will not perceive their rights as being protected. As a result, the citizens will not be interested in being involved in politics, and consequently, civil society will not properly develop.
In addition, every individual government employee plays important an role in promoting the government’s reputation. A government is generally made up of all levels of employees, who are also known as servants of government, servants of the law, and servants of the public (Kakabadse, et al. 2003). On Saturday October 30, 2004 for the first time as Cambodia's new monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni addressed his nation pledging to be a "faithful servant" of the people and promising that “a king is not the master of the country or of the people, [but] a king is a servant of the motherland and the people…. To all the beloved people, through all my life, I will be a faithful servant to all the people, I will always be with the people to share the happiness and suffering” (As cited in Cambodia's king 'faithful servant' 2004, p.1). Through this message, the King hopes to build public trust in his new leadership.
According to Kernaghan and Langford (1990), “public servants have traditionally been advised to act in the public interest; be politically neutral; guard confidential information; protect the privacy of citizens and employees; provide efficient, effective and fearless advice; avoid conflicts of interest; and be accountable” (As cited in Kakabadse, et al. 2003, p. 480). Moreover, lives and interests of the people are affected by the decisions and actions of the public servants, who handle private and confidential information, provide assistance, and manage public funds (Kakabadse, et al. 2003). Therefore, because public servants play such an important role, they must have ethical values so that they can elicit the trust of citizens. The more the public trusts government officials, the more the government as a whole tends to be trusted by the public.
Feldheim and Wang (2004) point out that a primary strategy in creating ethical institutions is through moral leadership. Oftentimes, it is necessary for government institutions to establish ethical standards for its employees. For instance, the U.S. government believed that public trust in the government had been declining. Therefore, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics issued booklets in August 1992 to federal employees. The booklets contain principles and rules of ethical conduct for government employees. The ethics dilemma in public service has been addressed by the guidelines, which is an attempt by the U.S. government to regulate the ethical conduct of its employees (Mitchell, 1999).
However, some scholars have warned that too much trust in government leads to a lot of pitfalls. According to Clark and Lee (2001), too much trust can increase a government’s power, which may result in reducing its accountability. Thus, it is not clear whether worry over eroding trust in government is reasonable because that erosion may be preferable. Joseph Nye, dean of the faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School, says, “In the long term, the quality of life in a democracy is hindered by too much trust—and by too little trust. If people believe everything they are told, that isn’t healthy. But if they believe nothing, that isn’t healthy either” (As cited in Lambert, 1998, p. 39).
In order to build public trust, or to rebuild public trust once it is lost, the real causes need to be clearly identified and addressed. There are multiple potential causes of the declining public trust in government. The first of which, according to Citrin and Green, 1986; Citrin and Luks 1998; Feldman 1983; Hetherington 1998; Miller and Borreli 1991; and cf. Lawrence 1997, is caused by the performance of the national economy and citizens’ evaluations of it. Greater distrust can be caused by negative perceptions of the national economy (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). In this sense, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) also suggest that “variations in the levels of income may have also affected the trust in government” (p. 173). Thus, the economy is one of the factors influencing people’s attitude towards government. In the case of Cambodia, one of the world’s self-insufficient nations, whose government’s day-to-day expenditures depend heavily on foreign aid, the government does not have the ability to serve the common good and its people’s interests. Government employees cannot even live on their salary of 20 to 30 U.S. dollars per month. Due to the inadequate resources, the government does not have the ability to meet the basic needs of its people and its employees. This promotes greater public distrust in the government.
The second potential cause, according to Mansbridge (1997) and Pew Research center (1998), are the social-cultural factors such as crime and social security (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). Empirical results of research conducted by Chanley, et al. (2000) illustrate that crime is the most important factor influencing public trust in government. Likewise, social security is in the hands of government and therefore directly responsible for its shortcomings. All citizens in the society heavily depend on government to protect them and to create a healthy and secure social environment in which all citizens can live peacefully. In Cambodia, the government fails to create a secure environment for its people. Crime and violence, human rights abuses, sexual harassment, and political threats often occurr, especially during the election period, when all political parties are busy with their political campaigns and negotiations. All these problems are ignored by the government authority.
The third potential cause, according to Citrin and Green 1986; Citrin and Luks 1998; Craig 1993, 1996; Erber and Lau 1990; Feldman 1983; Hetherington 1998; Miller and Borrelli 1991; Williams 1985; Garment 1991; and Orren 1997, has been attributed to political factors, such as citizens’ evaluations of incumbents and institutions, to political scandals, and to increased media coverage of political corruption and scandals (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). Likewise, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) believes that declining trust in government is caused by the perception that the government fails to deliver political goods properly. In the case of the United States, these scholars have noted that since the Watergate scandal, political scandals and media attention of corruption have remarkably increased (Chanley, et al., 2000). Therefore, U.S. citizens’ trust in their government tends to be eroded by the increased exposure to allegations of political corruption. Worse than this, corruption in Cambodian public sector is obvious. Money politics take precedent over formal fair legal and political institutions, government and business contracts, and campaign promises. Generally, when money talks, biased or wrong decisions are usually made.
In addition to citizens’ perceptions of political activities, the Cambodian coalition government, in some respects, does not function properly. This is due to the fact that the two parties in the coalition government do not intend to work together. Furthermore, during the election, some parties refused to accept the results of the election and responded with violence. Once in the government, elected officials tend to follow party lines instead of serving the interest of the people. This engenders distrust from Cambodians as well as from foreign donors. It is interesting to note that foreign donors distrust the Cambodian government because of low paying government jobs, which undermine motivation and encourage corruption; the government’s lack of confidence and its lack of ability to articulate and implement policies; poor management of budget and cash within the government; and weak leadership (Hubbard, 2002). These are widely mentioned as the main sources of low levels of trust in the Cambodian government.
Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) argues that deferring degrees of trust is directly related to education, occupation, or income. Those who benefit the most from a system usually like the way the system works and are least likely to want to change it, while Marlowe (2004) points out that it is possible that those who are financially unsatisfied are likely to lack trust in all public institutions. Furthermore, those who have better education and who have better understanding of government affairs are more likely to distrust the government. For instance, the Cambodian People Party (CPP), the party in power for the last three decades, did not win the majority in the capital city Phnom Penh, home to most of the country’s intellectuals, but the CPP won the majority in almost all rural areas where the literacy rate is relatively low.
Although there is increased public attention to government, Mitchell (1999) notices that whatever the reasons, unethical behavior of elected officials, senior public servants, and their subordinates continues to increase. This unethical behavior may be fostered by the fixed culture of the organizations, and powerful people such as chief executives setting the norms and their subordinates following the cultural norms and values of the leaders. In Cambodia, the lack of ethically correct behavior of public senior officers has been unabated. It is apparent that Cambodian government officials accept bribes and engage in sex scandals. This undoubtedly promotes distrust in the government.
When the roots of the problems are clearly identified and addressed, appropriate solutions can be reached. Individual public administrators play a crucial role in building public trust. According to Marlowe (2004), public servants are a part of the solution to the declining trust because a high-performing government can play a vital role in building trust and fighting skepticism. In Cambodia, the causes of the declining public trust in government are the national economy; social-cultural factors, including crime and violence; political factors, including political scandal and corruption; relatively low levels of education; unethical behavior of elected officials and senior civil servants, and the disagreement between the two parties in the coalition government.
According to Chanley, et al. (2000), public trust in government is influenced by political scandals and public perceptions of the economy and crimes. In order to solve the problems, the government needs to be skillful in handling the national economy. Alleviation of public concern about crime might help rebuild public confidence in government. Many factors significantly contribute to national economic development. Usually, tax is one of the main public revenue sources, but the Cambodian government does not have a very good tax system. Furthermore, tax administration is inefficient due to the corruption among tax collectors. Instead of going to the national treasury, a huge amount of collected tax money goes to tax officers’ pockets. This fact does not encourage people to pay taxes because they do not really trust those tax officers. Furthermore, social security is another concern. Social security officers, known as law enforcement officers, should be trained and better paid. The justice system also should be improved. The public and even police officers complain about the courts releasing criminals because of corruption within the justice system. In this term, it is noticed that the Cambodian government has tried to improve the justice system because senior elected officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, volunteer to be members of the Cambodian Club of Lawyers. This shows the intention of the government to improve the judiciary system.
Moreover, political scandals, corruption, relatively low levels of education, and unethical behavior of elected officials and senior civil servants are linked and promote public distrust in government. Corruption can be minimized by providing adequate salary to government officials including law enforcement officers. The government should take strict measures on corruption. Although Cambodia is known as one of the most corrupt nations on earth, and although Prime Minister Hun Sen recently has announced a war against corruption, no corrupt individual has yet been brought to justice. Furthermore, because individual public officials play an important role in helping to build and to maintain public trust in government, Cambodian government officials should have proper ethical training so that they become officials with ethical values. According to Thomas (1998), to build and to maintain trust, government officials must make sure that they combine mutual trust with individual citizens and fiduciary trust based on the moral obligation of the government officials performing in accordance with the best interest of the citizens (As cited in Feldheim and Wang, 2004).
Disagreement between the two parties in the coalition government also encourages distrust in government. Recently, Cambodian politicians have filed complaints against one another in court while many people live under the poverty line and in an insecure environment. It is unclear how they can be accountable, responsible, dependable, and trusted by the people while they are busy fighting for their own interest. These elected senior officers are seen to be untrustworthy individuals. Butler (1991) and McAllister (1995) point out that the behaviors of trusted public individuals are judged based on the demonstration of competence, reliability, responsibility, and dependability in their performance of role obligations (As cited in Feldheim, and Wang, 2004). Feldheim, and Wang (2004) also say, “Public trust is influenced by behaviors that display integrity, openness, loyalty, competency, and consistency in administration” (p. 66), and “organizational and individual loyalties, defined as an organization’s ability to meet public demands, have a strong influence on citizen trust. Elected officials’ trust is largely associated with individual workers’ honesty and organizational loyalty” (p. 71).
According to Lambert (1998) “Obviously, the key to rebuilding trust between the press and the public lies in the hands of individual journalists” (p. 42). Likewise, government employees should behave in a way that people see them as honest, open, and loyal individuals because honesty, openness, and loyalty also engender public trust. Feldheim and Wang (2004) also emphasize that:
An effective strategy to improve public trust should emphasize honest behavior by workers, encourage individual workers to be open, and promote organizational and individual loyalty to the public interest. This strategy should begin with moral leadership that builds organizational processes to provide employees with ethical training, develops codes of ethics, provides opportunities for citizen involvement in decision-making, provides service consistency, and rewards employees who demonstrate honesty and integrity (p. 72-73).
In this sense, Feldheim and Wang (2004) also suggest several effective public trust enhancement strategies for managers. First, a management should promote public servants’ integrity through ethics training and ethical codes development. In this sense, managers should act as role models. Second, the management should protect employee openness, which may increase public trust in the organizations. Third, the management should identify public needs and develop tools to meet them to show management loyalty to the common interest. And fourth, the management should make individual public employees aware of what the public needs so that public-service delivery can be improved and the public trust can be built or maintained.
Although the Cambodian government has tried to restore its image, it is still far from acceptable by its people and the international community. The three-decade civil war made Cambodia one of the world’s poorest nations. Although, the Cambodian government has been trying to promote the country internationally, and although Cambodia is gradually moving towards being self-sufficient, it is so obvious that there are so many things left to be done; to mention a few: public personnel management, professionalism, administration reform, judiciary system reform, strengthening law enforcement, and minimizing corruption within the public sector, etc. Fulfilling this task is a long proposition. Furthermore, to solve these problems successfully, the natures of the problems have to be clearly identified and appropriate solutions should be found.
Although the Cambodian government has tried to restore its image, it is still far from acceptable by its people and the international community. The three-decade civil war made Cambodia one of the world’s poorest nations. Although, the Cambodian government has been trying to promote the country internationally, and although Cambodia is gradually moving towards being self-sufficient, it is so obvious that there are so many things left to be done; to mention a few: public personnel management, professionalism, administration reform, judiciary system reform, strengthening law enforcement, and minimizing corruption within the public sector, etc. Fulfilling this task is a long proposition. Furthermore, to solve these problems successfully, the natures of the problems have to be clearly identified and appropriate solutions should be found.
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