Chapter 3 – Public Service Values

Public service values are the core beliefs and principles that guide how organizations work to meet the needs of the people they serve.

When people think about government, they often picture laws, budgets, and agencies. But behind all of these are the values that guide how public servants make decisions and interact with the communities they serve. These values are the foundation of public service. They help explain why two officials might approach the same problem in different ways, or why difficult trade-offs are made when resources are limited.

Everyday examples bring this home. A police chief setting priorities for neighborhood patrols, a public works director deciding how to allocate limited resources, or a mayor weighing competing priorities in the city budget are all guided by values.

These values do not operate in isolation. They sometimes complement one another and sometimes conflict. A program that is efficient might not be equitable, or a policy that is transparent might take longer to implement. Public servants constantly balance these tensions in order to serve the public good.

This chapter introduces the key values that shape public service. To make them easier to follow, they are presented in four broad categories:

• Democratic Values that Provide Institutional Safeguards – Principles that uphold legitimacy and prevent abuse of power, such as the rule of law, accountability, transparency, fairness, ethics, and pluralism.
• Professional Values – The ethos of public service, including altruism, pragmatism, and recognition that all sectors—public, private, and nonprofit—can create public good.
• Administrative Values – The guiding principles that shape how governments manage resources, assess performance, and pursue just outcomes, including economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and social equity.
• Leadership and Relational Values – The values that strengthen trust and cooperation between government and communities, including vision, citizen engagement, inclusiveness, responsiveness, flexible leadership, empathy, and trust.

For each value, you will see a short definition, a description of why it matters, and a few real-world examples. Think of these as a toolkit. By the end of the chapter, you will be able to recognize how these values appear in everyday government work and understand why they matter for building stronger, more responsive institutions.