This research examines the validity of the statement: there is more ethical accountability in local government than at the federal level.ö This issue will be addressed first by describing the movement toward developing ethical codes for governmental officials, followed by an analysis of the ôreinventing governmentö movement that has heightened the accountability of local governments.
Talking about ôethical issuesö is easier than defining ôethicsö to everyone's satisfaction. As subjective judgments of competing values are involved, individual interpretations are characterized by continuing disagreement, ambiguity, and uncertainty. However within societies there tends to be acceptance that ethical issues are linked to a code of conduct. In the case of business associations and government bodies, this code may be formalized in a written document, although the population at large follows an informal code of ethical conduct.
How do governments define what is ethics and ethical behavior in office? The answer that each of us ultimately crafts for ourself must somehow distinguish between private and public worlds and must illuminate what we mean by the practice of management. Undergirding any understanding of public management is an ethical foundation. These different ethical obligations, as compared with those of a private citizen, are often the only useful distinctions between public and private administration. In this era of reinvention public managers who ignore their ethical compass can destroy their careers, undermine programs or endanger the survival of entire agencies. The practice of public management is radically dependent on ethical frameworks and cues (Cooper, 1990, pp. 59-62).
Though once relatively uncommon, public management today is almost always subject to strict laws and regulations that dictate proper behavior. These codes are passed by federal, state, or local governments and impose a series of obliga...