Professional Ethics
Professional Ethics
There are various professional associations that deal with individual and organizational development across different fields of profession. These associations normally help in improving the people’s professional and personal conduct within and outside the workplace to prevent possible conflict with their colleagues. Using the established code of conduct, professionals are able to understand the essence of positive workplace interaction in order to avoid further conflicts between the employers, professionals, and clients.
Summary of the code’s features
A professional association that oversees people, managers specifically, is the Institute of Certified Professional Managers that aims to provide the needed training for managers. This is certifying body’s goal important so that managers will be able to perform their duties as leaders of their respective organizations (Institute of Certified Professional Managers, n.d.). Thus, this association is able to enhance other professionals as they are guided by their own code of conduct. According to the ICPM’s code of ethics, managers must agree that they recognize their profession as a call to their duty, which include responsible leaders, associates, and as members of the community. It also emphasizes the significance of giving importance to their roles as managers in connection to their roles in helping other employees achieve their professional and personal fulfillment. Another important feature of the association’s code of conduct is the professional goal setting that will influence their direct reports as well as keeping the balance and interests of employees and management during times of challenges within the organization. This is an ideal feature of its code of conduct as there is a direct focus on the professional development both for managers and its subordinates.
Since the code of conduct is mainly for leaders and managers of the organizations, there must be some inclusions on the elements of respect as part of its ethical conduct. Respect can be defined in many ways and thus, it should encompass an equal treatment to all employees across the organization. My personal view of an ethical conduct includes the idea of respect and equality. Relatively, ethical conduct of leaders must be an act of exercising their moral authority. In fact, their power should not be over their people, but through their people (Seidman, 2015). Additionally, the code of conduct must feature an idea that will ensure the equality among their subordinates, regardless of their race, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity.
Elements that are not really important
Although this code of conduct features various ideas that will help guide the managers to ethical leadership, there are some features that are not really important in terms of preventing potential conflicts and professional development. For instance, the ICPM’s code of conduct states that managers must confront any reported inappropriate behavior (Institute of Certified Professional Managers, n.d.). Although it is the manager’s duty to act on any misbehaviors in the workplace, this element could have been better by encouraging an open communication between the manager and all the employees. This will encourage a positive and effective communication between the members of the organization and will prevent potential conflict. This is just a small-scale revision of their code of conduct. However, a large-scale revision of their ethical conduct is related to the association’s goal in creating a responsible and ethical leadership among managers. The authority should not be the main idea of the code of conduct, but it should be the ethical leadership and how managers can handle difficult situations in an ethical manner. In this way, the code will be improved in a way that ethical considerations will be the main idea or feature of such code.
Which of the code’s principles will be the most difficult to comply with
As a working professional, I find it difficult to comply with the code’s principle when it comes to confronting the person who misbehaved in the organization. Although this is a good way to reduce future conflict between the employees, I believe that an existing conflict cannot be solved by another. Therefore, it will be difficult for me to comply with this principle. Instead, I would create a workplace environment that will motivate the people and promote a positive working relationship with them in order to build trust and honesty with each other. In that way, conflict will be prevented and misbehavior will be reduced, if not prevented.
Conflict between personal morality and professional ethics
One of the situations that I can see my personal morality as in conflict with professional ethics is when it does not give importance to equality and diversity in the workplace. I believe that a success also comes from giving importance to others’ own value. Professional ethics must also create an environment that only benefits the organization, but also the employees themselves. One of the philosophies of professional ethics is the establishment of standards in relation to personal and professional behavior (Airaksinen, n.d.). Therefore, such behavior must encompass respect towards one another, especially in organizations that has diverse employees.
Discussing the conflicts with employers, professional colleagues, and clients
I will discuss these conflicts by highlighting the underlying reasons as to why they occur in the first place. In that way, conflict will be prevented before it happens. I will also emphasize that conflict could negatively affect the organization, which can start from unethical behavior, regardless of one’s position in the company. By doing so, I will also discuss the importance of ethical conduct, which will serve as guiding principle of every member of the organization.
Conclusion
Professional ethics is important towards achieving the organizational goal. However, there are various factors that will enable the professional ethics in every institution and one of which is the creation of code of conduct. Provided the ICPM’s code of ethics as an example, such code must aim to create a positive environment to avoid potential conflict and ensure the success of every member of the organization.
References
Airaksinen, T. (n.d.). The Philosophy of Professional Ethics. Institutional Issues Involving Ethics and Justice, 1.
The Institute of Certified Professional Managers. (n.d.). About the Institute of Certified Professional Managers. Retrieved from https://www.icpm.biz/index.php/icpm_site/about#0
Seidman, D. (2015). Six key principles for ethical leadership | World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/03/six-key-principles-for-ethical-leadership/
