This article seeks to analyse the subjective content of the ethics narrative within the federal public service by reference to the relationship between the concepts of rationality and subjectivity of Weber (1979); corrosion of the character proposed by Sennett (2003); and the management model present in the modern working environment. The aim is not to elaborate on questions about the ethics management process, but to look at the Code of Ethics, one of the tools for promoting ethics in organisations. Thus, as an empirical point, four codes of ethics for the Federal Government were analysed in an exploratory manner using the speech analysis method. Analysis of speeches made it possible to classify the codes according to the criteria of instrumentalisation of ethics and promotion of the subjectivity of the individual. The results indicate the prevalence of the former over the latter, which could contribute to the further development of management models developed in private organisations and imported into the public service.