Values in Perspective

Abstract

In 1997, the results of an administrative ethics survey of senior Hong Kong public servants were reported in this journal. Using the same questionnaire in 2011, we assessed the ways in which values have changed in the intervening period. Despite major systemic reforms in the civil service, which has evolved from a classic Weberian to a neo-Weberian bureaucracy, organizational, rather than individual, values generally appear to have strengthened. The explanation seems to be that enhanced classical Weberian organizational values are not perceived to be incompatible with high standards of personal morality. Adherence to familiar Weberian bureaucratic principles also affords civil servants some protection in an environment in which their performance is increasingly subject to critical scrutiny by local politicians, the society, an ever-watchful media, and the Chinese government.