Better Information Retention

 

 Professional Ethics

In order to be a professional, it is essential that you have a moral code of conduct. Without one, your performance would be wholly unreliable and your competency in doubt. Your employer expects you to have a certain standard of conduct and will act accordingly if your behavior deviates from what is expected. Professional ethics are the guidelines that you should follow in order to create an honest and reliable professional life. Without them, that would be impossible. 

This blog post provides information on the six universal professional ethics, the difference between ethical motives and unethical motives, as well as strategies for avoiding unethical behavior in your professional life.

The Six Universal Professional Ethics

Professional ethics are the rules of conduct for all members of a profession. In the past, there was an attempt to create a universal list of professional ethics. However, since there are so many professions in existence and they vary so much between fields and cultures, this has proven to be difficult to do. The following six rules should cover the fundamental beliefs that all professionals should follow: 

A profession must possess its own credibility. This is an important principle of professional ethics because it means that a profession cannot enforce its standards outside of its own membership nor can it derive its ethical commitment from an external source such as society or religion.

A profession must be able to govern itself. This means that the professional body must have a clear, transparent and democratic system of governance. Through this system, any member who has been found to have violated any principles or rules of conduct can be dealt with appropriately.

A profession must have a self-discipline code. A code to govern a profession is called a "code of ethics". When one has such a code, all members of the profession know what is expected from them and what kind of actions are unethical and punishable.

A profession must protect its members from exploitation and harm . This means that a profession must protect its members from all kinds of harm, including physical and emotional abuse, sexual harassment, and exploitative conditions. For example, if a doctor demands sex in exchange for her services then she has violated this principle.

A profession must create equality among all its members. This means that a profession should not discriminate against any member or any group within the profession. The professional body should not treat one person differently to another simply because of their race, sex or ethnicity.

A profession must accept members who do not fully share its values and principles . All people have different beliefs and morals; however, they must be allowed to enter into professions providing they accept the fundamental principles of the profession. For example, if a professional is not a Catholic and then refuses to perform an abortion on a patient, she has violated this principle even though it might be legal in her country.

Ethical Motives and Unethical Motives

Each member of a profession must have the same ethics in order for it to be honest. In other words, all members must follow the same ethical code of conduct. Otherwise, some people are going to do things that are unethical while others do things that are ethical.

In order to do this, one has to understand the difference between a person's ethical motives and their unethical ones. For example, let's say that a teacher is engaged in an extramarital affair with her colleague. The whole staff follows her around and they are all aware of the relationship. The truth is that the teacher believes she is carrying on an affair on a professional level because she treats her colleagues like colleagues and not as friends or lovers.

However, if we look at the situation from another perspective then it becomes clear that she does not care about her colleagues. The reason she doesn't is that she sees them as a way to fulfill her personal needs. In other words, this teacher has an unethical motive of satisfying her own needs rather than taking care of her colleagues or carrying on a professional relationship.

So how can we tell if someone's motives are ethical or unethical? A person's behavior can be ethical if it follows the three levels of ethics: the individual level, the institutional level and the societal level.

Professional Ethics & Codes of Conduct

While professional ethics are voluntary, codes of conduct are mandatory and they are enforced by a profession's institutions.

Criminal Justice Code of Ethics

A code of conduct is a type of ethics that upholds the moral principles and standards for each profession. For example, a criminal justice code of ethics will state that it is unethical for anyone in the police force to steal from a citizen or break into their homes. There are certain things that apply to all members of this profession and breaking these rules will result in some kind of disciplinary action such as being fired. 

The above mentioned criminal justice example is found in the code of ethics established by Law Enforcement Officers. There are similar codes for all professions in existence. 

A professional code of conduct is usually established by a professional body like the American Medical Association. For example, this code is based on the AMA's fundamental beliefs and ethical principles.

Professional Ethics & Codes of Conduct Examples & Examples

The following are examples of codes of conduct for different professions:

Professional Ethics & Codes of Conduct Examples - Resources for Learning More about Professional Ethics & Codes of Conduct

Other Sources: 

For a list of resources on professional ethics and codes of conduct refer to the Resources section below. This section provides general information on how to develop your ethics as well as providing useful links where you can find more information.

Conclusion

So what do you think about the above discussion? At first glance, one might believe that there is not much difference between professional ethics and codes of conduct. However, it is important to realize that codes of conduct are different from professional ethics because they result in disciplinary action such as dismissal from a profession if someone violates their code.

This means that when people are spoken to professionally then the purpose must be to ensure ethical behavior. This means that the conversation must remain objective and unbiased with no personal motives being involved. In other words, if we treat each other as human beings with rights and freedoms then we are automatically treating them as equals by deriving our ethical motivation from equality instead of inequality.