Planning is a process, which exists to serve and satisfy the public and organizational interests. As any other issue, which deals with people and the relationship between them, such as between organizational leaders, subordinates, and employer-employee relationships, it may refer to a continuous debate and deals with the ethical values. To my mind, for successful running and development of any organization, planning is rather important.
Planners face a lot of challengers and inevitable limits, thus, oftentimes they are incompetent to make a decision because of uncertainties and ambiguities about preferences, interests and values. This happens because values in the world are plural, and there is no a unique ethical rule, method or technique for all individuals. As there is no one rule planners try to be moral improvisers in different complex circumstances. Planners are not free to address and act only according to standard ethical norms and principles. They have to learn how to be good moral improvisers in order to achieve both ethical norms and overlapping obligations. There are many practice stories, which can be evidence of planners` hypocrisy, which is mainly occurred because of the necessity of moral improvisation and adaptation according to certain circumstances and actors. It is often very complicated for planners to coordinate their work according to ethical norms and conflicting obligations, what may lead to frustration.
In reality, obligations and duties leave very little room for improvisation. Actual practice requires more practice decisions and calculations than ethical judgment, which, in fact, are considered to be ideal. Planners live in the real world with well-established rules, where goals, interests and values are multiple, conflicting and ambiguous. Actually, ambiguity and the power of money make ethical values inescapable. The research asserts that the rules, which govern practice, leave little discretion to planners while acting according to the ethical norms. The more that practical rules control, the less discretion remains. In fact, it would be more reasonable to address to ethical judgment and deliberation in complex, conflicting and diverse situations in order to find a proper solution. Facing problems and complexities, planners have to figure out the facts that matter, which are really essential. The complexity of their work is that they suppose not only to gather information, but only relevant information, which may show them methods how to solve the problem. In their practice, planners must learn about resident`s fears and hopes, interests and self-esteem, and not just about their demands and expectations. They also must be good listeners in order to be able to do action research and mediated negotiations in order to build strong relationship and common actions.
Moral improvisation in planning cannot be just a simple rule to follow or an exclusive opportunism. Recognizing the past with its traditional claims and the future, planners have to search for new opportunities, recognizing that there should be not only the power of money, corruption and manipulation, but moral values. Listening and learning may help interpret and reconstruct personal values.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that there is no one rule, which suits all circumstances. In order to be moral improvisers, practicing planners cannot do everything what they want. They have to realize the complexities of the world and try to find compromise and learn how to be moral improvisers. They have no moral right to be blind to those who are in need or are powerless. In ideal, they are supposed to be attentive and passionate to those who need recognition, understanding and compassion. They could not be just those who are here to demonstrate their power and ambitions, but they must respect and recognize the difference between people in order to accept their identities and make proper decisions.