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PERSONAL QUALITIES

In simple terms, we can say that the personal qualities of civil servants (like those of others) consist of personality, character and intellectual abilities. There is in recent times a growing emphasis on the ethical qualities needed in civil servants. The following reasons explain this trend:

• Strong revival of virtue ethics and their application to public administration

• Unpopularity of earlierpositivist and value-neutral approach to public administration

• Scandals in corporate and government entities such as Watergate in USA, Clinton’s dalliance with a female intern in White House, scandals in Enron and WorldCom, and 2G and coal block allocations.