Disregard for Time in Public Administration in

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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TERM PAPER ON: ETHICS IN ADMINISTRATION DISREGARD FOR TIME IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN DISREGARD FOR TIME IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF THE Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) INTRODUCTION According to (Woode, S.N. 1997), Public Administration exists to enhance and not to diminish human welfare. Yet in the real world of practice in Ghana’s public administration, the impression received through the conduct of public servants is that public organizations exist to serve the needs of public servants and officials more than those of the public. This impression holds because of the selfishly private ends to which public administration appears to be put. In managing public affairs, time is not seen by most public servants as a scarce resource. It is regarded as an abundant commodity to be measured in long-term sequences. It is this conception of time which seems to dictate the pace of life and work in public organizations OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to look at the causes of the total disregard for time in the Ghanaian Public sector organizations and their effects on serving the public interest. PROBLEM STATEMENT The lack of respect for time is usually and easily explained away as African Punctuality; leaning it is African to be late for meetings and events. The person who sticks religiously to time is referred to as Oburoni (i.e. Whiteman). LITERATURE REVIEW The performance of 34 purposively selected staff nurses (all were within the first year of practice, Part 1 or Part 12 of the UKCC Professional Register) was observed continuously for 2½ hours on three separate occasions (preferably during a morning, afternoon and evening shift) using the King’s Nurse Performance Scale. Observation was not conducted during the night shift, since the purpose of the

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