ABSTRACT
Globalization and hypcrmodernity ha ve accelerated changes in organizational arrangements, such thai ne tworks, cOlllracting, and cross-scclOr partnerships have become ubiqu itous across all sectors. These, and other ooundary blurring phenomena, have rad ically changed the context for organ iw lional eth ics. B olh publi c service ethics and business ethics evol ved largely as sector-s pecific fi e lds, while nonprofit and nongo vernmental organization (NGO) e thics, developing more slowly, borrowed from both. All three have treated ethics as focused primaril y on the ind ivid ual actor and as needing 10 be managed largely with in the organization , a lthough at least some allenti on to ind ividuals in aggregates and to the organization 's stakeholders has been included at times. Wi thi n a radical ly c hanged and evol ving context, the questions for organi zational e thics arc now more complex and problematic. Both organi zational culture and the culture at large seem centrall y important in imagining a way fo rward fo r organizational ethics. With a m yriad o f dynamics a t work-many apparentl y hostile to ethical action-and with mu lti ple confi gurations o f cross-sector r elations, networks, and partnerships in many combinations, the question can become more basic: is there any way forward for organi zational e thics in thi s contex t?
