Answer in Management for Jean Claude #167526
1) How would you define code of professional ethics?
2) State four important professional values.
3) State four importance of professional ethics.
4) distinguish between the following terminologies:
(a) Law and Ethics
(b) Morality and Ethics
(c) Etiquette and Ethics
(d) Civility and Ethics
Question 1
The code of professional ethics, also referred to as ethical code can be defined as a set of principles that have been designed to guide professionals during decision making by helping them distinguish right from wrong (Kusumaningrum et al., 2019).
Question 2
Some of the most important professional values include integrity, respect, responsibility and continuing professional development (CPD) (Markova et al., 2017). Integrity refers to doing the right thing in a way that is honest, fair and responsible. The advantage of integrity to an organization is that it cultivates a strong and credible reputation. Respect refers to treating people with dignity and accepting them as they are regardless of their opinions. In the workplace, respect leads to reduced workplace stress and improves communication leading to improved productivity. Responsibility refers to taking the initiative to complete assigned tasks on time and being ready to be accountable whenever anything goes wrong. Responsible people are punctual and dress appropriately. Continuing professional development (CPD) refers to being responsible for personal educational or skills growth. Employees with this professional value are eager to seek out training and learning opportunities.
Question 3: Importance of professional ethics
Professional ethics play an important role in preventing professionals from exploiting those they serve. As such, the interests of clients are safeguarded since professionals are obligated to act in a way that is beneficial to their clients. Professional ethics also play a role in disciplinary action of professionals that do not live up to these standards. Since there is an expected way in which professionals are required to carry themselves, it is easy to identify those who violate such standards and take action. Professional ethics represent time-tested wisdom that has been collected over a long period of time, which guides professionals on how to act in different situations. Professional ethics are beneficial to employees as it protects juniors from being forced by superiors into doing something disreputable.
Question 4
Laws are a set of rules established by a legal authority that govern a society. Violation of laws is punishable by fines, imprisonment or both. Ethics are a set of guidelines governed by legal, professional or individual norms and are aimed at helping people decide what is right from wrong. Violation of ethics does not always lead to punishment.
Both morals and ethics are standards that guide people or institutions in choosing what is right from wrong. However, while ethics are external standards developed by professionals, morals are personal principles.
While ethics describe a moral and honest way in which individuals can act, etiquette describes the proper way to behave as expected by the society. For instance saying thank you, please and excuse me is good etiquette.
Civility refers to the self-discipline that is produced via thought and practice, which enable an individual to live harmoniously with others in the community. A civil person respects other people. Therefore, civility focuses on public life while ethics are principles that guide a behavior whenever an individual is carrying out an activity.
References
Kusumaningrum, D. E., Sumarsono, R. B., & Gunawan, I. (2019). Professional ethics and teacher teaching performance: Measurement of teacher empowerment with a soft system methodology approach. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 5(4), 611-624.
Markova, S., Depsames, L., Burova, I., Tsyplakova, S., & Chigarov, E. (2017). Role of education in development of professional values of specialists. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 20(3), 1-5.
