Skip to main content

Professional Ethics and Codes of Ethics

Image
By itsRashad

Why do we need Professional Codes in the first place? Isn’t it a given that anyone with specialized training will, by definition, behave ethically on the job?


Actually, it isn’t that simple. No one starts out trying to be unethical—it’s more a question of juggling several responsibilities at once.


One way to look at Professional Codes is to see them as a systematized approach to mediating the conflicts that can occur when one person wears several hats. Another view is that formal Codes of Conduct are a reflection of the relationship between society and trained experts.


The topic of professional responsibility is about more than right or wrong conduct however. What of the goals, ideals and desires that bring one to a profession in the first place? The ideal of scientific training as a form of public service is what drives many scientists for whom research is more a way of life than a time clock to punch.


Professional ethics concerns one’s conduct of behavior and practice when carrying out professional work. Such work may include consulting, researching, teaching and writing. The institutionalization of Codes of Conduct and Codes of Practice is common with many professional bodies for their members to observe.


Any code may be considered to be a formalization of experience into a set of rules. A code is adopted by a community because its members accept the adherence to these rules, including the restrictions that apply.


Apart from codes of ethics, professional ethics also concerns matters such as professional indemnity. Furthermore, as will readily be appreciated, no two code of ethics and identical. They vary by cultural group, by profession and by discipline. The former of these three variations is one of the most interesting, as well as controversial, since it challenges the assumption that universal ethical principles exist.


In some cultures, certain behaviors are certainly frowned upon, but in other cultures the opposite may be true. Software piracy is a good case in point, in that attitudes towards software piracy vary from strong opposition to strong support – attitudes that are supportable within a particular culture. At the end of these pages is a section called Cultural Perspectives, where we hope to point you to alternative perspectives of ethical standards, attitudes and behaviors.


Issues: -

Codes of Ethics are concerned with a range of issues, including:

  • Academic honesty
  • Adherence to confidentiality agreements
  • Data privacy
  • Handling of human subjects
  • Impartiality in data analysis and professional consulting
  • Professional accountability
  • Resolution of conflicts of interest
  • Software piracy

The Advantage and Disadvantage of a Code of Ethics

A Code of Ethics enables us to:

  • Set out the ideals and responsibilities of the profession
  • Exert a de facto regulatory effect, protecting both clients and professionals
  • Improve the profile of the profession
  • Motivate and inspire practitioners, by attempting to define their raison deter
  • Provide guidance on acceptable conduct
  • Raise awareness and consciousness of issues
  • Improve quality and consistency


On the other hand, we must also consider:

  • Whether the so-called standards are obligatory or are merely an aspiration
  • Whether such a code is desirable or feasible
  • Whether ethical values are universal or culturally relativistic
  • The difficulty of providing universal guidance given the heterogeneous nature of the profession
What the point is of specifying responsibilities, given the limited regularly function of a code.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Branches of Ethics

By itsRashad
Ethics: - Ethics is a branch of philosophy that attempts to help us understand which ways of life are worth following and which actions are right or wrong. Ethics addresses questions of right and wrong using reason rather than faith or tradition. The discipline of ethics has three branches: normative ethics, meta-ethics and applied ethics. Normative Ethics: - Normative ethics is the branch of ethics that asks general questions about the morality of behavior; it attempts to provide general moral norms of behavior. Normative: - A normative statement, or question, or theory, concerns how things should be, how they ought to be, rather than how they actually are. [The opposite of “normative” is descriptive: A descriptive statement, or question, or theory, concerns how things actually are, not how they ought to be.] So normative ethics is the branch of ethics that tries to answer general questions about how we should behave, how we ought to act. In other w
Post a Comment
Read more

The Function and Value of a Code of Ethics

By itsRashad
A code of (professional) ethics generally appears when an occupation organizes itself into a profession. Usually, the code is put in writing and formally adopted. Even when formalization is put off, however, the code may still be a subject of frequent reference, whether explicitly, as in “Our code of ethics,” or implicitly, as in, “That would not be proper for one of us.” Why this connection between codes of ethics and organized professions? Several explanations have been offered over the years. But, for our purposes, the most helpful is that a code of ethics is primarily a convention between professionals. According to this explanation, a profession is a group of persons who want to cooperate in serving the same ideal better than they could if they did not cooperate. Engineers, for example, might be thought to serve the ideal of efficient design, construction, and maintenance of safe and useful objects. A code of ethics would then prescribe how professionals are to pursue the
Post a Comment
Read more

The Role of the Engineer in Society

By itsRashad
Introduction: Engineers help to shape and impact our society. In this process, they are guided by professional codes of conduct. Professional engineers should internalize these codes. Viewing the ethical codes as static statements made by other people limits an engineer’s investment in the codes. For in reality, codes of conduct are dynamic and the ability to understand and apply the codes should be an integral part of the engineering process. Engineering is a scientific discipline in that it requires the study of scientific principles and methodology. However, science in and of itself is generally done to develop knowledge and understanding of the physical universe. Thus the pursuit of science is not driven by societal needs. Scientific study is somewhat of a “curiosity-driven process” and societal values do not necessarily direct the scope or limit the bounds of scientific curiosity. We can envision the base of scientific knowledge as an amoebae-like structure that
1 comment
Read more

Glossary of Ethical Terms

By itsRashad
Applied Ethics is the branch of ethics that asks relatively concrete questions about the morality of specific actions and policies. The following branches focus on various issues of applied ethics: · Medical Ethics (euthanasia, abortion, human cloning, genetic engineering etc.) · Business Ethics (corporate responsibility; rights and obligations of employees etc.) · Legal Ethics (responsibilities of individuals working in the criminal justice system) Common Good Approach: The ethical action is the one that contributes most to the achievement of a quality common life together. In this approach, we focus on ensuring that the social policies, social systems, institutions and environments on which we depend are beneficial to all. Examples of goods common to all include affordable health care, effective public safety, and peace among nations, a just legal system and an unpolluted environment. The common good is a notion that originated more than 2
Post a Comment
Read more