"To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."

In modern society, in majority of the cases, the government is of an elected nature. The people of the state elect representatives, who in turn elect the leaders of the nation. The progress or development of a nation depends heavily on the capabilities and qualities of its leaders, working at all the levels in the system. Public officials are the ones who are in direct contact with the common masses. Hence, it is in the best interest that these officials carry out their duties at the best of their capacity, and maintain high ethical and moral standards.

Having said this, at times reality is quite different. Right from the time of nomination of candidates and voting by people, to the election of chosen officials, there are elements in society which indulge in malpractices. Even for appointment to government posts, it is not totally uncommon for people to seek illegal influences or dealings. If such people manage to get appointed to public posts, their ethical and moral standards would be really doubtful.

Just as there is corruption at the grass root level, corruption is present at all rungs of the government ladder. This is not out of public eye, since it is the public, which is responsible to a great extent, for corruption to take roots and grow in a system. By indulging in corruption, a public official compromises the standard of work, or at times gives undue advantage to the person offering bribe. This totally defeats the purpose of an unbiased constitution and its functioning. In short, the official is no longer effective in upholding the law of the state.

Ethical and moral standards, however, go beyond just refraining from corruption. To be an effective leader, a public official must voluntarily strive to perform better, and motivate others under him to do so. He must take full responsibility of the work alloted to him by his superiors. Moreover, based on his personal discretion, he should discharge duties to his subordinates, and at times the general public, which forgets that along with rights, come duties.

After all, an effective leader is one, who has complete overview of a situation, and guides the people based on this. Hence, unless his or her conscience is clear of any guilt, the sheer existence of an organised administrative system is jeopardized.