Reforms to the ACT public service have created a flatter organisation. This has seen the removal of the unhelpful, heavy bureaucracy that existed a few years ago.
Moving to a more outward looking, customer focused approach has required specific training to equip staff with the necessary skills. A key to this has been to ensure that all staff work within an established professional and ethical framework.
To assist staff in having a clear understanding of their ethical responsibilities, the ACT public service has been involved in developing a CD Rom series, titled ‘Public Sector Ethics Resource’.
These multi media training tools present video scenarios covering a number of case studies. They are designed to assist staff working in all spheres of government – Federal, State and Local.
Covering specific public sector values, they look at what is professionalism, and are particularly helpful about what to do if staff encounter difficulties.
As well as emphasising core values of public officials, they cover how to deal with conflicting interests of elected representatives.
Different layers of information and separate scenarios for handling problems enable the CDs to be used for group training sessions or as a ready reference for individual staff via an Intranet set up.
The ACT public service, Queensland State Government and a number of other public sector organisations have contributed resources to the development of this CD Rom series.
Their input in developing the case material ensures the final product is relevant to specific issues which may confront staff.
