Professionalism and Codes of ethics-Importance of Codes, Abuse of Codes, Limitations

of Codes, Ethical Relativism, Justification of Codes

Ethics and Professionalism

The term "moral behavior" is applied in evaluating the personal conduct of a citizen and is
judged in comparison to society's norms. The term "ethical behavior" is applied to that citizen's
conduct in professional matters and is judged in comparison to the standards of the profession,
which are formally expressed in statements called codes of ethics .

Distinguishing between moral and ethical behavior is necessary because people have a wider
array of value obligations when functioning as professionals than when resolving value
dilemmas in their personal lives. A professional has specialized knowledge that must be applied
to serve four entities: the employer, the client of the employer, the profession, and, most
importantly, society. A professional also has legitimate moral obligations. In addition to the
application of technical knowledge and the proper consideration of economic factors, the
professional must properly balance the value obligations to each of the four entities. For
example, the employee should be loyal to the employer, honest with the client, respectful of
the profession, and sensitive to the health and safety of the public. Values such as loyalty,
honesty, respect, and sensitivity to public safety are emphasized in professional codes of ethics.

Professionalism and Codes of ethics

• One of the trade marks of contemporary professions is code of ethics. Codes of ethics
are propagated by various professional society. These codes of ethics are guidelines for
specific group of professionalism to help them perform their roles; to know how to
conduct themselves; and to know how to resolve around various ethical issues. These
codes convey the rights, duties, and obligation of the members of the profession.
• Codes of ethics are the value guidelines that a professional must follow in order to
remain registered as a member of the profession. Codes are not a list of do's and don'ts.
Therefore, to a young professional, they may appear to be vague statements. For
example, a code might state that the professional should hold paramount the safety,
health, and welfare of the public, or that they should act as faithful agents in
professional matters for each employer or client. The emphasis on values is evident
through the terms "public safety" and "faithful."

What is code of ethics?

• The primary aspects of codes of ethics are to provide the basic framework for ethical
judgment for a professional.
• The codes of ethics are also referred to as the codes of conduct, express the commitment
to ethical conduct shared by members of a profession.
• It expresses the ethical principles and standards in a coherent, comprehensive and
accessible manner.
• It also defines the role and responsibility of profession.
 • It helps the professionals to apply moral and ethical principles to the specific situations
encountered in professional practice.
• These codes are based on five canons i.e., principle of ethics-integrity, competence,
individual responsibility, professional responsibility, and human concerns.
• It also be noted that ethical codes do not establish new ethical principles. They use only
those principles that are already well established and widely accepted in society.
• Thus the code of ethics creates an environment within a profession where ethical
behavior is norm.

The main purpose of a code of ethics is to guide all managerial decisions, creating a common
framework upon which all decisions are founded. This can aid to create a unified understanding
of the boundaries within an organization and the standards set for interacting with external
stakeholders. A formal, well-communicated code of ethics can also assist to shield a company's
status and legal standing in case of a breach of ethics by an individual worker. A code of ethics
can help company to show customers that it values integrity, define the terms of ethical
behaviour at work and guide decision-making in difficult situations.

Principles of code of ethics:

The five fundamental principles of code of ethics are as under:

1. Integrity: A professional should be straightforward and honest in all professional and

business dealings.
2. Objectivity: An expert should not allow bias, conflict of interest or unnecessary
influence of others to supersede professional or business judgments.
3. Professional competence and due care is another principle of code of ethics. A
professional has a responsibility to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the
level required to guarantee that a customer or employer receives competent professional
services based on current developments in practice, legislation and techniques. A
professional should act assiduously and in accordance with applicable technical and
professional standards.
4. Confidentiality: An expert should respect the confidentiality of information acquired as
a result of professional and business relationships and should not reveal any such
information to third parties without proper and specific authority unless there is a legal
or professional right or duty to disclose. Confidential information acquired as a result
of professional and business relationships should not be used for the personal benefit
of the professional accountant or third parties.
5. Professional behaviour: A professional should obey with pertinent laws and regulations
and should avoid any action that discredits the job.
There are two main types of codes of ethics. The short code of ethics and the longer code of
ethics.
The shorter codes are meant to be a general framework that guides the professional of the
society towards certain moral goals and responsibilities. These code have strength in the fact
that they are concise and therefore more likely to be read by the members of the society. They
are also more open to personal interpretation and application which may allow the flexibility
to apply the ethics in a large assortment of situations. The drawbacks of the shorter codes are
that they do not provide a specific course of action. A member must decide the suitable course
by interpreting the codes themselves.
The longer codes of ethics are more precise. Benefit of these codes are that they can give
specific solutions to some ethical dilemmas that may be encountered by their members. A
shortcoming of the longer codes is that many of the members will not have the patience and
motivation to read through all of the details of the codes, and are more likely to not use them
because of the intimidation of the length and complexity.
Steps of writing code of ethics:
When writing a code of ethics for organization:

1. It is important to first consider organization’s mission, values, and goals, including its
position on sustainability.
2. Secondly, use clear language to make the code user friendly.
3. Include expectations for general conduct at work, as well as examples of unprincipled
behaviour.
Positive Roles of Code of Ethics
The code of ethics propagated by professional societies play a vital role.
They are,
1. Offering Inspiration
2. Providing Guidance
3. Support for responsible conduct
4. Deterring and disciplining unethical professional conduct
5. Educational and promotion of mutual understanding
6. Contributing to positive public image of profession
7. Protecting the status quo suppressing dissent within the profession and
8. Promoting business interest through restraint of trade.
Abuse of Codes
• When codes are not taken seriously within a profession, they amount to a kind of
window dressing that ultimately increases public cynicism about the profession. Worse,
codes occasionally.
• Preoccupation with keeping a shiny public image may silence healthy dialogue and
criticism.
• The best way to increase trust is by encouraging and helping engineers to speak freely
and responsibly about public safety and well-being

Limitation of codes:
The four major limitations of codes of ethics are as follows:
1. Codes of ethics are broad guidelines, restricted to general and vague wordings/phrases. The
codes cannot be applied directly to all situations. Also it is impossible to predict all aspects of
moral problems that can arise in a complex, dynamic engineering profession.
2. Engineering codes often have internal conflicts, which may result in moral dilemmas. That
is, several entries in codes overlap with each other, so there are internal conflicts. But the code
doesn‘t provide a method for resolving these conflicts.
3. The codes cannot serve as the final moral authority for professional conduct.
4. The proliferation of codes of ethics for different of engineering gives a feeling that ethical
code is relative.
Notes on Ethical Relativism

Cultural Diversity thesis—Moral beliefs and practices vary from culture to culture.

Dependency thesis—“Morality depends on (1) human nature (for example, facts about
human reason, motivation, emotions, and capacity for pleasure and pain); (2) the
human condition (facts about the way human life is constrained by the natural order,
such as that all humans are mortal); (3) specific social and cultural circumstances
(for example, facts about local traditions and customs); or all three of these.”

Ethical Relativism—“What is morally right or wrong (as opposed to what is merely

thought to be right or wrong) may vary fundamentally from person to person or
culture to culture.”

Moral Skepticism—doubt about whether right and wrong exist

Moral Nihilism—the view that right and wrong do not exist

Two Forms of Ethical Relativism:

1. cultural (social) relativism—What is right or wrong may vary fundamentally
from one society/culture to another but is the same for people of the same
society/culture
2. extreme (individual) relativism—What is right or wrong may vary
fundamentally from one person to another even within the same society/culture.

Ethical Universalism—The fundamental rules of morality are the same for all people
in all situations.

Ethical Absolutism—The fundamental law(s) of morality exist independently of the

physical world and do not depend on human nature, the human condition, or any
specific social or cultural circumstances.
 Ethical Absolutism combines Ethical Universalism with the denial of the
Dependency thesis.
 According to Ethical Absolutism, the fundamental rules of morality are the same
for all rational beings at all times and places.
Important Points About Ethical Relativism
 According to both forms of Ethical Relativism, different, apparently
contradictory moral judgments about the same kinds of actions may both be
correct—e.g., “Abortion is right” (said by a member of society A) and
“Abortion is wrong” (said by a member of society B).
 According to Cultural Relativism, but not according to Extreme Relativism,
there may be objective, rational ways to resolve moral disagreements within a
society.

Argument for Cultural Relativism—based on Cultural Diversity

1. Different societies sometimes have fundamentally different moral beliefs and
practices.
2. If different societies sometimes have fundamentally different moral beliefs and
practices, then what is right or wrong may vary fundamentally from one
society/culture to another.
3. Therefore, cultural relativism is true.

Argument Against Ethical Relativism—based on Moral Disagreement

1. If Ethical Relativism is correct, then there can be no genuine moral
disagreements.
2. There are genuine moral disagreements.
3. Therefore, Ethical Relativism is not correct.

More Arguments Defending Ethical Relativism

Argument for Ethical Relativism—based on the Dependency Thesis [pp. 160-161]

1. Morality depends on (1) human nature, (2) the human condition, or (3) specific
social and cultural circumstances—or some combination of (1), (2), and (3).
[Dependency thesis]
2. If morality depends on (1) human nature, (2) the human condition, or (3)
specific social and cultural circumstance, then ethical relativism is true.
3. Therefore, Ethical Relativism is true.

Argument Defending Ethical Relativism—based on the claim that logic and

truth themselves are relative [p. 161]
1. The criteria of valid and invalid reasoning and of truth and falsity grow out of
the practices of communities and cannot be extended beyond them.
2. To claim that Ethical Relativism cannot be validly inferred from differences
among the ethical beliefs and practices of various societies and cultures is, in
 effect, to impose our (Western, masculine) conceptions of logic and truth on
other cultures.
3. Therefore, the criticism of the argument for ethical relativism based on
differences among the ethical beliefs and practices of various societies and
cultures is flawed.
Argument Supporting Ethical Relativism—based on moral tolerance [p. 162]
1. If people think that Ethical Relativism is true, then they will be more tolerant of
moral differences among different societies and individuals.
2. Tolerance of moral differences is a good thing.
3. Therefore, we should promote Ethical Relativism.

Another Argument Opposing Ethical Relativism

Argument against the Claim that the Relativity of Logic and Truth Supports
Ethical Relativism [p. 162]
1. If Ethical Relativism is important, then it is a general statement about the nature of
morality.
2. If logic and truth are relative, then it is impossible to make sense of the possible
truth of any general statement about the nature of morality.
3. Therefore, if logic and truth are relative, then either Ethical Relativism is not
important or it is impossible to make sense of the possible truth of Ethical
Relativism.

Justification of Codes
• When these values are specified as responsibilities, they constitute role responsibilities
- that is, obligations connected with a particular social role as a professional.
• These responsibilities are not self-certifying, any more than other customs are.
• The moral obligations of our profession can be understood as duties which are
necessary given the role of engineers in society.

When we say something is ethically “obligatory” we mean that it is not only right to do it, but
that it is wrong not to do it. In other words, we have a ethical obligation to perform the
action. Sometimes the easiest way to see if an action is ethically obligatory is to look at what it
would mean NOT to perform the action. For example, we might say it is ethically obligatory
for parents to care for their children, not only because it is right for them to do it, but also
because it is wrong for them not to do it. The children would suffer and die if parents did not
care for them. The parents are thus ethically “obligated” to care for their children.