(a) The Rules and Regulations provided to all the civil servants are same, yet there is difference in the performance. Positive…

(a) Same rules, different results: the officer's mindset

Rules set the outer limits of action; within them lies discretion, and how an officer uses it depends on attitude. A positive-minded officer reads rules purposively — asking what the rule was made to achieve. A negative-minded officer reads them literally and defensively, looking for the clause that forbids, so that nothing can be blamed on him.

Illustrations:

• T.N. Seshan used the existing powers of the Election Commission under Article 324 to enforce the Model Code of Conduct, without any new law.
• During COVID-19, district collectors used the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to requisition buildings for care centres within days.
• By contrast, a widow's pension rejected for a minor spelling mismatch, when the rules allow correction on an affidavit, shows rules turned against their purpose.

The difference is not the rule book but the willingness to own a decision for the public good.

(b) What ethics promotes, and how values resolve everyday conflicts

Ethics seeks to promote the good life for the individual and the community: trust, fairness, cooperation, respect for others' dignity, and a character that does the right thing without supervision. In organisations it lowers the cost of monitoring and builds long-term credibility.

In day-to-day conflicts, values give a stable reference point:

• Duty versus pressure: integrity and courage of conviction help an officer refuse an illegal order from a superior and record dissent in writing.
• Self-interest versus public interest: honesty and the rule against conflicts of interest settle whether to accept a gift or recuse from a decision.
• Competing claims on scarce resources: fairness and equity favour transparent criteria over influence.
• Interpersonal friction: empathy and respect turn disputes between colleagues into dialogue.

Values thus convert dilemmas into reasoned choices rather than reactions.