Codes Of Ethics Critical Thinking Sample

Employees’ code of ethics sets the standards and guidelines on how the staffs of an organization are supposed to conduct themselves while at the work place. Every company should have a clearly spelt code of ethics that informs all stakeholders on the dos and don’ts of the organization. This helps in preventing work place conflicts among the staffs and other stakeholders. The standard set ensures that the required services are rendered as stipulated and helps in achieving customers’ satisfaction. A clear code of conduct should consider all ethical issues at the work place that guides informed decision that are aimed at achieving the company’s objectives. To ensure success in designing the code of ethics that employees are supposed to follow the management team should involve the staff from all levels in the organization. This prevents cases of objection from the staff as well as bias in formulating the guidelines. This paper is an analysis of the international city management Association (ICMA) code of ethics.
The code of ethics for the international city management Association (ICMA) is clearly spelt out to ensure that any person holding an office at the association clearly understands their obligations and what is expected of them. This prevents issues of negligence that normally arise as a result of people not knowing their jurisdiction and terms of service. What makes the code of ethics strong is the fact that it is written in simple terms and they are not ambiguous. The code starts with issues of personal development and expectation. They clearly explain the responsibilities of an office holder at the association and gives guiding principles on the same. They are aligned to the sole responsibility of the association as well as the international city manager. The holder of the office is reminded that their action plan should be aimed at serving the interest of the public which is the main aim that is stressed by the association. This adds weight to the strength of the code of ethics because they do not drift from the sole responsibility of the office holder which is to act as a representative of the residents of the area.
Despite the weight of the office held, the person in charge is guided by the rules and regulations and is frequently reminded to set the required standards by conducting themselves in a manner that pleases the larger public that is supposed to be the beneficially of the services rendered by the office. This is another aspect that adds to the strength of the association’s code of conduct. The issue of bias in developing the code of conduct does not appear in the case of the international city management association (ICMA) because their code is more inclined to service delivery as opposed to the aspects of the office. The summary of this code of ethics guides what is supposed to be done by the office holder and what they are barred from doing while representing the office in the interest of the larger public.
Despite the code of ethics for the association designed in a way that covers all aspects of public representation and leadership, the consequences of the actions of office holders are not clearly spelt as required. All the code does is to give the guideline on the expected conduct of the office holder. This can make the association not achieve the success that is desired because the code is somehow open and vague. The best codes of ethic like any other laws and regulations should have both the requirement and the consequence for the actions of the office holder. This acts as a motivating or pushing factor for the people guided by the codes to follow them to the letter in order to avoid the consequences. Although the code touches on the recalling of an elected or appointed officer by virtue of vote of no confidence by other officers and stakeholders, it does not clearly set and explain the events or actions that could lead to such consequences. It is therefore important to include both the action and reaction part of the code of ethics that clearly shows the office holders what to expect as a result of their own actions.
In order to achieve success in service delivery the international city management association have included a clause in its code of conduct for the office bearers that states that there should be regular assessment on the performance of the people who are duly elected or appointed at work in association. This proposes that all employees should conduct self assessment on their service delivery to the people as stipulated in their terms of service. However, this poses a challenge because when people are given the mandate to assess themselves, the process may not achieve the success required. This is because a person may think that they are acting according to the required standards but in real sense their services happen to be below standard. There should therefore be a body or committee charged with the assessment of the employee work out put.
The international city management association code of conduct is designed well to cover all the key areas namely governance, association, conflict of interest, elections, public confidence and personal development. This makes the code very comprehensive and effective. However the association should have considered adding clauses which clearly spells the consequences of the actions of those holding offices. This could have worked well as reminder of what is to befall the association’s officers who act contrary to the set code of conduct.
The issue of calling back officers who do not act in accordance with the standards for the office they hold should have been elaborated further to give a guideline on how to conduct the process. This would have made the code to be more effective because again those holding offices would clearly understand their mandate and act in accordance with the terms of service to avoid facing the consequences. Lastly, there is the issue of standards of services delivered by the association’s staff members. Where the code states that the workers should conduct regular review of their work should be changed an independent body given the authority of assessing the performance of the workers. This way the association will achieve success in governance and service delivery to the people.
This particular code of conduct by for the international city management association is an example of an effective set of guidelines and regulations that helps in service delivery and governance. It covers all the sensitive areas that could hinder growth and organization’s success if not addressed. The code of ethics that was adopted by both the members and the board have been amended and revised twice to cover the changing aspects of life as well as the rising expectations from all stakeholders especially the larger public that needs to be governed well.