the social ramifications of their actions as well as what those actions will achieve for the organization in the short run.Shortly after the Minnowbrook conreference concluded, H. George
Frederickson and David K. Hart emerged as the most visible leaders of the new school of thought. They contended that the field of public administration had come a long way since the late nineteenth century when Woodrow
Wilson argued that politics and administration could and should be
separated. Public administrators and OD theorists no longer needed to adhere to that obsolete perspective. Because public managers exercise a large measure
of discretion, which in tum makes them part of the political process in a
democratic society, the role of public administrators and ODers is transformed by this new responsibility. Ethical behavior in this altered landscape requires
managers at all levels of organizations, public as well as private, at least to
consider questions of social justice and equity in their decision-making
processes.
OD Culture in the Twenty-First Century
Building on the work of theorists who stormed the gates of Orthodoxy,
ODers at the dawn of the twenty-first century often focus on organizational dynamics and change. Thus, the context of ethics shifts from mechanistic questions about how an organizations is structured to a question of how organizations can use human resources as effectively as possible. For orthodox
theorists, an ethical manager was required to discern the"public will"(perhaps as it was expressed through a legislative mandate) and Implement programs that allowed that will to be fulfilled. For new public administrators, the ethical manager must do more thai merely act as an automaton. A manager must exercise a large measure of discretion and consider political issues that result from the behavior of the organization.
In light of this change in thinking about public administration and
organizational theory and behavior, leadership studies have emerged from the field as an integral component of OD. Textbooks devote chapters to the methods by which effective leaders promote an ethical climate and oppose
unethical practices. Common prescription for effective leadership include suggestions for managers to set an example of ethical behavior, facilitate the development of codes of ethics, intervene into conflicts in an effort to encourage ethical outcomes, and recognize and reward ethical behavior in subordinates. According to this view, an ethical leader sets the tone for the