Virtue ethics and cultural competence: Improving service one administrator at a time

ABSTRACT

As the United States continues to become more diverse, companies and government agencies face the challenge of ensuring that their workforce is able to serve and to produce products for this diverse population. Public affairs programs also face the challenge of preparing a future public service workforce that is both culturally competent and ethical. This article explores cultural competence in the context of public administration education through a review of why cultural competence and virtue ethics call for similar skill sets and competencies. It concludes with a proposal to integrate cultural competency training and virtue ethics competencies in public affairs programs’ curricula.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural competence
• curriculum
• diversity
• virtue ethics

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bridgette Cram

Bridgette Cram is a higher education administrator at Florida International University. Her research focuses on cultural competence and social equity.

Mohamad Alkadry

Mohamad G. Alkadry serves as a professor and Head of the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut. He received his PhD from Florida Atlantic University (2000) and his Master of Public Policy and Public Administration from Concordia University in Quebec (1996). Alkadry has over 40 peer-reviewed publications. More recently, he coauthored (with Leslie E. Tower) Women and Public Service: Barriers, Challenges, and Opportunities (M.E. Sharpe, 2013).