The conventional theory and practice of administrative ethics holds that administrators should carry out the orders of their superiors and the policies of the agency and the govern ment they serve on this view, administrators are ethically neutral in the sense that they do independent moral judgment. They are not expected to acton any moral prin ciples of their own, but are to give effect to whatever principles are reflected in the orders and policies they are charged with implement ing. They serve the organization so that the organization may serve society. Officials are morally obliged to serve the organization in this way because their acceptance ofoffice is volun- tary: it signifies consent. Officials know in advance what the duties of office will be, and if the duties (or their minds) dange, officials can usually leave office. The ethic of neutrality does not deny that administrators often must use their own judg ment in the formulation of policy. But their aim should always be to discover what policy other people (usually elected officials) intend or would intend; or in the case of conflicting directives to interpret legally orconstitutionally who has the authority to determine policy. The use discretion on this view can never be the occa of sion for applying any moral principles other than those implicit in the orders and policies of the superiors to whom one is responsible in the organization. The ethic of neutrality portrays the ideal administrator as a completely reliable instrument of the goals of the organization, never injecting personal values into the process of furthering these goals. The ethics thus re inforces the great virtue of organization-its capacity to serve any social end irrespective of the ends that individuals within it favor. A variation of the ethic of neutrality gives somescopeforindividual moral judgment until the decision or policy is "final On this view, administrators may put forward theirownviews, argue with their superiors, and contest propos- als in the process of formulating policy. But once the decision or policy is final, all adminis- trators fall into line, and faithfully carry out the policy. Furthermore, the disagreement take place within the agency and according to the agency's rules of procedure. This variation puts neutrality in abeyance, but "suspended neutrality" is still neutrality, and the choice for the administrator remains to "obey or resign.