Introduction
A code of conduct is a document that sets out a collection of rules, social norms, and responsibilities that an individual or any party should follow as a part of an existing organization. In some cases, they may also refer to and cover areas such as the principles, values, and standards that an individual should use as a guide when making actions and decisions when working within an organization. Following an organization’s code of conduct often has two main goals. The first one is to keep the stakeholders satisfied by ensuring that all actions and decisions that are made by the people working inside the organization contribute to the betterment of their welfare. The second one is to promote an environment where all of the constituents’ rights are respected. The objective of this paper is to compare three types of Code of Conduct (COC) (named Code A, Code B, and Code C), with Code A serving as the code of conduct of the author’s workplace company, Code B the COC of a very different type of engineering company, and Code C the Engineers Australia guidelines on professional conduct.
Who influences the development of the code?
When the question on who influences the development of codes of conduct gets asked, it also usually covers who actually develops the COCs. Basically, the persons who are in charge of coming up with a list of social norms, rules, policies, and responsibilities within an organization are the ones who have the highest level of influence on how a COC would be developed. In most cases, that would be the heads of an organization, or in a typical employer to employee relationship, the employer. The employer has the moral and legal obligation to make sure that the workplace would be organized and well-managed for the employees. Moreover, there is a correlation between the level of organization of a workplace and how productive and efficient it is. Employers typically want workplaces (i.e. the organization) to operate in the most productive and efficient way possible, so as to eliminate wastage and in general, to meet the expectations of and satisfy the stakeholders (e.g. customers, investors, managers, and government regulators, among others). Depending on the type of leadership within an organization, the employees may or may not enjoy a certain level of influence on the development of the code of conduct. In an organization that has an autocratic form of leadership, for example, the employees would normally have little to no say as to how the code of conduct would be developed. This may not be the case for the employees of an organization that has a democratic or a laissez faire type of leadership—in which case the employees tend to have a high level of influence on the development of the code of conduct. This, in general, applies to Codes A, B, and C. For Code A, it focused on the New South Wales Government Premier and Cabinet Division of Local Government and its staff members ; For Code B, it focused on the Institution of Structural Engineers in the United Kingdom and Code C focused on The Engineers Australia .
Whose interests are served by the code?
In general, COCs are developed to serve the interests of an organization’s stakeholders. It would be important in the process of analyzing the impact of existing COCs to identify who these stakeholders would be and how their interests are served by the aforementioned document because there is often a significant level of variation how organizations identify the stakeholders whom they are going to serve.
For Codes of Conduct in general, what things influence their formation?
There is indeed a long list of variables that can influence the formation of COCs in general. The most common ones would be the organization itself, its customers, its employees, the government, and the law. For for-profit organizations such as multinational corporations, they main goal is to satisfy the demands and expectations of their customers. There are a lot of ways to do so and one of the most proven is the use of a COC to develop a unique organizational culture, one that would make the development of a positive attitude and perception towards the company among its customers possible. Employees also have a significant level of influence in the formation of COCs, especially if the organization is being managed by a democratic or laissez faire-inclined leader where the opinions and inputs of all members of the organization matter. The government and the law often work in tandem in that the government is the one that creates the regulations (i.e. laws) that the organizations have to follow. The requirement to abide by these regulations are often highlighted in a COC. Lastly, the organization itself has a direct influence on the development of COCs. This would of course depend on how committed a certain organization is in upholding its values, norms, regulations, and policies, and in ensuring that all of its members have the same level of commitment. In which case, it would be safe to suggest that COCs can be used as a tool to equalize the level of commitment of an organization’s management team and that of its employees. It is important to note that some organizations may be in a unique situation where the factors that influence the development of their COC may be unusual. The only real way to determine the exact factors that influence an organization’s COC development is to study that particular organization closely, including the processes and operations that it undertakes.
Some of the similarities that the author of this paper was able to see between Codes A, B, and C include their overall goals. Based on how the statements in the three COCs were constructed, it would be safe to suggest that their respective goal was to uphold a certain standard of quality and product or service delivery characteristic to their customers. For Code A, for example, its COC was developed to maintain the quality of service that the members of the staff of the NSW government provide to the public; for Code B, the goal was to maintain the quality of international structural engineering practices and outputs; and for Code C, the goal was to deliver transparent and quality service to engineering practitioners’ clients and or customers.
Another similarity between Codes A, B, and C is that the organizations behind them all use the COC to achieve the following: impose a type of organizational culture on their employees, maintain a certain standard when it comes to quality, and uphold ethical standards of practice. Codes of conduct such as Codes A, B, and C, in this paper are effective when it comes to achieving these goals in that they serve as an objective reference that both the employers and employees can use to discuss the potential strengths and weaknesses of the organization.
As for the differences, Code A was the most detailed because it contained areas of discussion that were meant to rationalize and justify the actual COC. Code B was more succinct and simple because it just summarized the expectations that the ISE has when it comes to the standards of practice of its members. Code C was more like a Code of Ethics, which is basically a more specific form of COC that often highlights the importance of ethical practice, something which Code C exhibited as evidenced by how values like transparency, diversity, and sustainability were emphasized.
Briefly explain your understanding of the relationship between workplace and professional behavior.
The workplace refers to the area where people gather to work together towards the accomplishment of a common goal. This is the fundamental reason why organizations exist. The workplace is also where people exchange ideas, opinions, and insights; where plans and strategies are created and executed. Professional behavior, on the other hand, refers to how an individual or a group of individuals act often when they are in areas that can be technically considered as the workplace. For example, employees of a corporation are not only expected but also required to be in their best professional behavior when inside the company’s premises. The reality is that there is no universally accepted definition of the term professional behavior because one company’s definition of it may be different from that of other companies. However, most reputable companies define professional behavior as any conduct that shows discipline, professionalism, and ethics in practice, regardless of the organization or industry in question.
An individual’s behavior in the workplace can either be professional or unprofessional. This is where the purpose of Codes of Conduct would normally come in; that is, the moderate the employees’ behaviors so that they would fit into what can be classified as professional behavior. The idea is that by requiring the employees and the members of an organization to exhibit a professional behavior, the workplace becomes much more efficient and productive, among other potential improvements. In some cases, professional behavior may also help keep a high level of employee morale and job satisfaction in an organization. Then again, whether these advantages can be realized depends on how well an organization’s policies when it comes to the maintenance of a professional working environment are implemented.
Bibliography
Engineers Australia. 2010. Our Code of Ethics. 1-3.
NSW Government. 2013. Your obligations as a member of staff. Premier and Cabinet Division of Local Government, 1-18.
The Institution of Structural Engineers. 2014. Code of Conduct. https://www.istructe.org/about-us/governance/code-of-conduct.
