Ethics for the Senior Executive Service

Abstract

The Senior Executive Service (SES), the showcase of the Civil Service Reform Act, has been caught up in controversies on the degree to which it will "politicize" the higher reaches of the career civil service. This article argues that the creation of the SES represents a formal recognition of the higher civil service as an institution of government with significant normative consequences for those who hold these positions. Chief among these consequences is the extent to which SES personnel should welcome or resist political pressures. A method of integrating the ethical aspects of this question into management training programs is developed in this article.