Republic of the Philippines

NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE

VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

Course Code : CRIM. 104

Descriptive Title : Professional Conduct and Ethical Standards
Term and Academic Year : 2nd Semester, SY 2022-2023
Department and Year Level : BS CRIM 2
Professor : PMAJOR DOROTHY JOY J BOLIVAR

Module 3
Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct
I. Introduction

“The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know… We know truth, not only by the
reason, but also by the heart.” Blaise Pascal

Do you have a Code of Ethics or a Code of Conduct?

It is easy to see why code of conduct and code of ethics may be confused or used
interchangeably. Both have goals of setting a standard of behaviors from employees. Both code of
ethics and code of conduct are similar as they are used to attempt to encourage specific forms of
behavior by employees. Ethics guidelines attempt to provide guidance about values and regulations
asserts that some specific actions are appropriate, others inappropriate. A code of ethics and Code of
Conduct are the standards that a group must adhere to, so as to remain the member of the
organization. In both cases the organization’s desire is to obtain a narrow range of acceptable
behaviors from employees.

A code of ethics and professional conduct outlines the ethical principles that govern decisions
and behavior at a company or organization. They give general outlines of how employees should
behave, as well as specific guidance for handling issues like harassment, safety and conflicts of
interest.

Time Frame: Date of Submission: ___________________

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, you must have:
1. defined the code of ethics, code of conduct, and professional ethics;
2. differentiated the code of ethics from code of conduct;
3. explained the characteristics of ethical dilemmas;
4. identified and understand the importance of professional codes of ethics.

III. Learning Contents

Code of ethics

The code of ethics is a moral standard that the company expects employees to follow. At a minimum,
ethics guidelines are established by the laws and industry regulations. A business could exceed
minimum ethics guidelines to ensure that employees feel safe, avoid situations where they feel
harassment or discrimination. Conflicts of interest are also addressed in the code of ethics. A well –
written code of ethics that adhered to builds trust among employees and establishes credibility with
partner companies and consumers.

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

Code of ethics as such standards as are reasonably necessary to promote:

1. Honest and ethics conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of
interest between personal and professional relationship.
2. Full, fair , accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in the periodic reports required to
be filed by the issuer.
3. Compliance with applicable government rules and regulations.

Definition of code of conduct

A code of conduct applies the code of ethics to a host of relevant situations. A particular rule
in the code of ethics might state that all employees will obey the law, a code of conduct might list
several specific laws relevant to different areas of organizational operations, or industry, that
employees need to obey.

The code of conduct outlines specific behaviors that are required or prohibited as a condition
of ongoing employment. It might forbid, sexual harassment, racial intimidation or viewing
inappropriate or unauthorized content on company computers. Code along with other measures, have
helped some companies dig themselves out of scandals, and , and have helped many companies build
a healthier work climate and reputation.

Difference of Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct

They are, in fact , two unique documents. The primary difference

between the code of ethics and code of conduct is that
CODE OF ETHICS, is a set of principles which influence the judgment; which govern decision
making, and CODE OF CONDUCT, is a set of guidelines that influence employees’s action; which
govern action, represent two common ways that companies/organization/ agencies self- regulate.
These statements are formally addressed and need to be accepted by the members when they
join the organizations for the first time. They are often associated with large companies/ organization/
agencies and provide direction to employees and establish a public image of good behavior, both of
which benefits businesses of any size.

The Difference Of Code Of Ethics From Code Of Conduct

CODE OF ETHICS CODE OF CONDUCT
Ethics rules help people make decisions Conduct rules require specific behavior
A moral standard that the company expects Code of conduct states how the company
employees to follow expects employees to behave
Every code of ethics scenario would have a Code of conduct may not be ethically driven
corresponding set of rules
Ethics are higher level concepts Code of conduct gets down to specific action
expectations
Code of ethics might state that all employees A code of conduct, explains for example, the
must obey all safety protocols distance from an oxygen tank employees are
allowed to smoke
Ethical standards generally and non-specific, Conduct standards generally require little
designed to provide a set of values or decision- judgement; you obey or incur a penalty, and the
making approaches that enable employees to code provides fairly clear set of expectations
make independent judgments about the most about which actions are required, acceptable or
appropriate course of action prohibited.

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

Professional Ethics
Professional ethics encompass the personal, and corporate standards of behavior expected by
professionals.
Professional ethics are principles that govern the behavior of a person or group in a business
environment. Like values, professional ethics provide rules on how a person should act towards other
people and institutions in such an environment.

Unlike values, professional ethics are often codified as a set of rules, which a particular group of
people use.

This means that all those in a particular group will use the same professional ethics, even though their
values may be unique to each person.

As the saying goes, "Professionalism is not the job you do, it's how you do the job."

Professionalism involves consistently achieving high standards, both visibly and "behind the scenes"
– whatever your role or profession.

The word professionalism originally applied to vows of a religious order. By at least the year 1675,
the term had seen secular application and was applied to the three learned professions:
1. Divinity
2. Law
3. Medicine
The term professionalism was also used for the military profession around this same time.
Professionals and those working in acknowledged professions exercise specialist knowledge and
skill. How the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the public can
be considered a moral issue and is termed professional ethics.

Ethics in law enforcement and policing it’s often said that no other profession demands a higher
ethical standard than that of law enforcement. Regardless of whether or not there are other careers
that require a similar dedication of doing the right thing, it is undeniable that there is an
understandably tremendous degree of expectations placed upon police officers.

Professional Code Of Ethics

A professional code of ethics is a set of principles designed to help an organization govern its
decision-making and distinguish right from wrong. Often referred to as an ethical code, these
principles outline the mission and values of an organization, how the professionals within the
organization are supposed to approach problems and the standards to which employees are held.

General rule is to ethically act in accordance with approved standards of conduct and
responsibility or according to the respective ethical code of behavior.

Examples of a professional code of ethics

Here are some examples of a professional code of ethics in different professions:

Lawyers - are bound to a professional code of ethics that exists independently of their employment.

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

For example, Rule 1.1 in the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct reads,
“A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the
legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.”

Physicians
Like lawyers, physicians are held to a universal code of conduct because of their chosen profession.
The American Medical Association addresses everything from patient care to relationships with other
staff members. For example:
1. A physician shall provide competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human
dignity and rights.
2. A physician shall uphold the standards of professionalism, be honest in all professional
interactions and strive to report physicians deficient in character or competence, or engaging
in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.
3. A physician shall respect the law and recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those
requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient.

Financial advisers
Financial advisers are legally bound to a code of ethics known as a fiduciary duty. This code requires
them to act in the best interest of their clients. Certified public accountants (CPAs) are expected to
follow similar ethical standards of truthfulness, objectivity and integrity.

Teachers
Professional educators are typically held to a universal code of ethics that is designed to protect the
rights of all students. The code of ethics can vary from school to school or differ slightly in each
state, but the basic principles always remain the same: Teachers are required to show impartiality,
integrity and ethical behavior in the classroom and in their conduct with parents and colleagues.
Businesses
Businesses often establish a professional code of ethics to help employees decide if certain behaviors
are acceptable. Some examples of this are:
● Confidentiality and privacy policies: Companies may require employees to maintain
confidentiality when handling clients’ private information or when dealing with the
company’s own proprietary data.
● Obeying the law: Companies may specify guidelines that require employees to abide by the
law. For example, they may discuss profiting from—or enabling others to profit from—inside
information regarding a company’s financial stability, performance or internal problems.
● Caring and consideration policies: Companies may establish policies requiring employees to
behave in a caring and considerate manner. For example, if you provide home healthcare
services to senior citizens, treating the patient and their family with care and consideration
can impact your ability to obtain new clients. Employers could also include these policies
about how employees treat one another. This can ensure everyone understands that behaving
with consideration and compassion is a baseline expectation and that other behavior will not
be tolerated.

Importance of professional codes of ethics

A professional code of ethics is designed to ensure employees are behaving in a manner that is
socially acceptable and respectful of one another. It establishes the rules for behavior and sends a

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

message to every employee that universal compliance is expected. It also provides the groundwork
for a preemptive warning if employees break the code. A code of ethics can be valuable not just
internally as a professional guide but also externally as a statement of a company’s values and
commitments.

Also, the importance of professional codes of ethics because of the :

• Many ethical dilemmas in criminal justice
• Complicated relationships in the field
• Requirement of professionalism

Areas of ethical concern for decision making

There are three areas below are not “static” they at all times overlap, at times are mutually
exclusive, and numerous varieties in between.
1. Making ethical decisions : process
Ethical decision- making refers to the process of evaluating and choosing among
alternatives in a manner consistent with ethical principles. In making ethical decisions, it is
necessary to perceive and eliminate unethical options and select the best ethical alternatives.

The process of making ethical decisions requires:

Commitment- the desire to do the right thing regardless of the cost.
1.
Consciousness- the awareness to act consistently and apply moral convictions to daily
2.
behavior
3. Competency- the ability to collect and evaluate information, developed alternatives, and
foresee potential consequences and risks.
2. Good decisions are both ethical and effective

Ethical decisions generate and sustain trust; demonstrate respect, responsibility, fairness and
caring and are consistent with good citizenship. These behaviors provide foundation for
making better decisions by setting the ground rules for our behavior.

Effective decisions are effective if they accomplish what we want accomplished and if they
advance our purposes. A Choice that produces unintended and undesirable results is
ineffective. Decisions is to think about choices in terms of their ability to accomplish our
most important goals. This means we have to understand the difference between immediate
and short- term goals and longer-range goals.
3. Making ethical decisions: model
The character based decision- making model “model by developed by the Josephson Institute
Of Ethics, can be applied to many common problems and can also be used by most
individuals facing ethical dilemmas.
It involves three steps:
1. All decisions must take into account and reflect a concern for the interest and wellbeing of
all affected individuals ( “stakeholders”).
The underlying principle here is the GOLDEN RULE- help when you can, avoid harm
when you can.
2. Ethical values and principles always take precedence over non-ethical ones.
Ethical values are morally superior to non-ethical ones. When faced with a clear choices
between such values, the ethical person should always choose to follow ethical principles.
3. Perceiving the difference between ethical and non- ethical values can be difficult. This
situation often occurs when people perceive a clash between what they want or “need’’
and ethical principles that might deny these desires. If some rationalization begins to
occur, this situation is probably present.

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

Ethical Dilemmas

Also known as a Moral Dilemmas , are situations in which there is a choice to be made
between two options, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. A
moral dilemma is a conflict in which you have to choose between two or more actions and have
moral reasons for choosing each action.

Characteristics:

1. You are presented with two or more actions, all of which you have the ability to perform.
2. There are moral reasons for you to choose each of the actions.
3. You cannot perform all of the actions and have to choose which action, or actions when there are
three or more choices, to perform.

Since there are moral reasons for you to choose each action, and you cannot choose them all, it
follows that no matter what choice you make, you will be failing to follow your morals. In other
words, someone or something will suffer no matter what choice you make.

A moral dilemma is a conflict in which a person must choose between two or more actions,
all of which they have the ability to do. There are moral reasons for each choice. No matter which
choice you make, someone will suffer or something bad will happen.
In order to help you understand exactly what is meant by “moral dilemma” we have provided some
examples, some of which are classic moral dilemmas.

How do we decide what to do in such cases?

Should parents monitor teens’ social media activities?
An ethical dilemma for parents is whether to monitor their teens’ social media activities. Teens spend
a large part of their day online engaging in behaviors that have implications for their health and well-
being.

Reporting an accident
Many of us have been involved in situations where we scratch another car on the way out of a tight
spot in a parking area. The ethical question is whether to inform the owner of the car and, if so, how
to do it.

Ghosting in the workplace

Ghosting occurs when someone you believe cares about you, such as a person you have been dating,
disappears from contact without any explanation at all—no phone call, email, or text. They just seem
to disappear.

Sarcastic Friend
Your friend has a great sense of humour. However, sometimes his jokes involve making fun of others
in inappropriate ways. He will point out a physical flaw or look for something odd or different about
a person and make an unkind comment. You feel uncomfortable when your friend does this. Do you
say something or just laugh along with him?

Hit and Run

Late one night you are driving home in a bad rainstorm. A drunk reels out in front of your car and
you try to stop, but hit him. Nobody sees you. The guy looks and smells as if he is homeless. You

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

check to see how badly he is hurt and realize he is dead. You have never even had a speeding ticket
and are an upright, professional, with a family and are well-known and respected in your community.
Do you make a report anonymously, confess your crime, or drive on home and forget about it,
knowing no one is going to pursue the death of a homeless drunk?

The Unfaithful Friend

You go out with your husband for dinner at a new restaurant you have not frequented before. It is in a
part of town you rarely visit. You are shocked to see your friend’s spouse having dinner with a very
young, attractive person. From the way they are behaving, it is obvious they are more than friends.
The couple finish their meal and leave without seeing you. They behave very affectionately on the
way out the door. Do you:
● Tell your friend, knowing you probably will not be believed and that it may ruin your
friendship?
● Say nothing about seeing the couple as it is none of your business; they may even have an
open relationship?

A Difficult Choice

You and your family love the beach and decide to spend a weekend at an isolated beach cabin. Your
teenage daughter often gets bored on your getaways, so you make plans to take your niece along. As
soon as you arrive, a storm is looming on the horizon and the water looks rough. You tell the girls
they can get ready to swim, but to come back and help unload the car. They are so excited, they do
not pay attention to the last part of what you say and run down to the beach to swim. You do not
realize they have done so until you hear your daughter scream. You realize they are both caught in a
strong current and might be swept out to sea. You are a good swimmer and know you can save one of
them. You have a difficult choice to make. Do you:
● Save your niece first as she is a poor swimmer and will not be able to last as long as your
daughter?
● Save your daughter first, because, although she is a strong swimmer and may be able to last
long enough for you to come back after saving your niece, you cannot stand the idea of losing
her?
An Office Theft
You are in charge of the petty cash at the office. However, a co-worker is responsible for making a
weekly trip to the bank to make the business deposit and obtain petty cash for the following week. In
a conversation with your mutual supervisor, you are asked if the increase in the petty cash amount
was enough. You, however, have not seen any additional money. You realize your co-worker has
been pocketing the additional money. Do you:
● Tell your supervisor you have neither asked for nor received any additional petty cash and
that you suspect your co-worker is pocketing the money?
● Tell your co-worker your suspicions and give them a chance to pay the money back?

● Say nothing and just wait to see what happens?

Telling a Secret

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

Your friend tells you that they committed a crime. They explain that they are having trouble sleeping
at night and feel you are the only one they can trust with their confession. A few days later, you read
in the paper that someone has been arrested for your friend’s crime. Do you:

● Go to the police and tell them what you know?

● Encourage your friend to confess and warn him if he does not do so, you will tell?

● Say nothing because you will not betray a friend’s confidence?

Codes of conduct

A professional code of conduct is a document that explains to employees how they are
expected to act on behalf of their company. A code of conduct can include elements like the values of
the business, disciplinary steps, and responsibilities.

A code of conduct is a written collection of the rules , principles, values and employee
expectations, behavior, and relationships that an organization consider significant and believes are
fundamental to their successful operation.
Professional code of conduct draw on these professional ethical principles as the basis for
prescribing required standards of behavior for members of a profession. Also seek to set out the
expectations that the profession and society have its members.
Codes of conduct are becoming more a staple in the academic lives of students while some of these
rules are based solely on academics others are more in depth than previous years.

Why code of conduct is important?

Code of conduct is a central guide and reference for employees in supporting day to day
decision making. A well written code clarifies organization’s mission ,values and principles, linking
them with standards of professional conduct.

A code of professional conduct is necessary component to any profession to maintain

standards for the individuals within the profession to adhere. It brings about accountability,
responsibility and trust to the individuals that the profession serves.

IV. Learning Assessment

Answer the following exercises:
1. Discuss the difference of code of ethics from Code of Conduct?
2. Discuss the importance of professional code of ethics and codes of conduct?
3. Explain the Ethical Dilemmas and give your personal experience.

Scoring Guide:
Each answer shall be evaluated using these criteria:
Content 10 pts.
Organization of ideas 10 pts.
Mechanics/Grammar/Spelling 10 pts.
Total score: 30

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 Republic of the Philippines
NORTHERN ILOILO POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
VICTORINO SALCEDO CAMPUS
Sara, Iloilo

V. References
Florendo, A. And Florendo, M. (2020): Professional Conduct and Ethical Standards. Quezon City:
Wiseman’s Books Trading Inc.
https://upjourney.com/real-life-examples-of-ethical-dilemmas
https://icebreakerideas.com/moral-dilemma-questions/

----End of Module 3---

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