UNIT -3

HUMAN VALUE AND ETHICS

Areas that ethical codes include:

• Honesty • Objectivity • Integrity • Carefulness • Openness • Respect for intellectual property • Confidentiality • Responsible publication • Responsible mentoring

• Respect for colleagues • Social responsibility • Non-discrimination • Competence • Legality • Human subjects protection

Characteristics of an Ethical person 1. Giving of one’s best•Excellence is the state or quality of excelling. Achieving a little more than what is strictly expected. Particularly in the field of business and organizations, excellence is considered to be an important value, and a goal to be pursued.

•Sensitivity is the quality of sensing intensely, instinctively and instantly the feelings, emotions and reactions of other human beings, and avoiding anything that will alienate people, and going out of the way to anticipate and help.

•Integrity is consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome. As a holistic concept, it judges the quality of a system in terms of its ability to achieve its own goals.

•Responsiveness is being receptive to ideas, suggestions and requests in a positive way and with “will do”spirit.

•Vigour is being energetic, tireless and dynamic in performance;

•Commitment is being passionately dedicated to cause or task and total identification with it.

•Empathy is the capability to share and understand another’s emotions and feelings. It is often characterized as the ability to “put oneself into another’s shoes”.

•Loyalty to team members

•Loyalty to customers

•Social responsibility

Codes of Practice

Things to Not Do

•Do not tell the client, customer, or boss that you can do something when you cannot.

•When you accept an assignment. Do not use words like me, mine, you and yours.

•Do not steal from your employer.

•Do not underestimate your capabilities.

Things to Do•Do return value to your customer (internal and external) in all business decisions.

•Do return value to your community locally and globally.

•Do deliver quality in a timely fashion.

•Do be honest in your work by telling the client, customer, or boss that the task or project you are working on will not meet the target data (if it does not)

•Do ask for help in order to meet the project or task deadline. A professional will not feel slighted if he or she acknowledges that he or she needs help.

•When you accept an assignment, Do start using words like we, us and ours. A professional never works at cross-purpose with the employer.

•If the employer wants respect from employees, he/she should treat all employees as professionals in their own right. Remember, if you treat someone as a professional, they will (hopefully) treat you like one too. Promote your profession.

Do things for the good of yourself, the customer and the profession. You are not a true professional if you don’t deliver outcomes that satisfy all three of these areas.

•Do provide respect to other. This means truly thinking of their beliefs and desires, and the contribution they make to the organization, however small.

ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

•Ethical behaviour in society

•Ethical behaviour within the work place

•Employee’s unethical behaviour

•Employer’s unethical behaviour

• Ethical behaviour in academic institutions

Good corporate governance is characterized by:

•It is important to focus on not just earnings but on the sustainability of business models.

• Focus on not just “How much?”, but on “How?”, “At what cost?” and “At whose expense?”

•Rating agencies need to develop criteria that focus on substance rather than the form of governance.

•Compensation of executive directors should flow from an objective performance evaluation process conducted by the board.

•Greater transparency and disclosure of executive performance criteria are required which should include financial and non-financial measures.

•Regulators should send clear signals that they shall be proactive in imposing substantial penalties for non-compliance, so that compliance is strictly adhered to.

Impact of Ethical behaviour and violations on society at large •Anti-corruption interventions so far made are seen to be ineffectual and there is wide spread public cynicism about them. This cynicism is spreading so fast that it bodes ill for our democratic system itself.

• Corruption has been aggravated by three factors: propensity to exercise power arbitrarily, enormous asymmetry of power in society, and policies that unintentionally put the citizen at the mercy of the state.

• Quality of politics is such that honesty is considered incompatible with survival. If public life attracts undesirable and corrupt elements seeking private gain, the abuse of authority and corruption become the norm.

• In a vast majority of cases of bribery, the citizen is a victim of extortion and is compelled to pay a bribe in order to get a service to which he/she is entitled.

Ethics in Engineering This is an example from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): “Fundamental Canons’

• Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties.

• Engineers shall perform services only in areas of their competence.

• Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

•Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest.

• Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit of theirservices and shall not compete unfairly with others.

• Engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and enhance thehonor, integrity, and dignity of the engineering profession and shall actwith zero-tolerance for bribery, fraud, and corruption.

• Engineers shall continue their professional development throughouttheir careers, and shall provide opportunities for the professionaldevelopment of those engineers under their supervision."

Ethical Issues

• Relationships with clients, consultants, competitors, and contractors.

•Ensuring legal compliance by clients, client's contractors, and others.

•Conflict of interest.

•Bribery and kickbacks, which also may include: Gifts, meals, services, and entertainment.

•Treatment of confidential or proprietary information.

•Consideration of the employer's assets.

•Outside employment/activities (Moonlighting).

To be successful, most ethicists would suggest that an ethics policy should be:

1.Given the unequivocal support of top management, by both word and example.

2. Explained in writing and orally, with periodic reinforcement.

3. Doable…something employees can both understand and perform.

4. Monitored by top management, with routine inspections for compliance and improvement.

5. Backed up by clearly stated consequences in the case of disobedience.

Working with Ethics

• A company and its employees should always believe that managing ethics is a continuous process and it is inherent like any other management function in the organization.

• The ground of ethics management is relationship and behaviour is the root, thus without fair and just behaviour an organization cannot make their employees follow ethical practices.

• As the McGregor’s Red hot stove rule says, the administration of discipline should be more like touching a hot stove i.e., immediate, impersonal, consistent, and foreseeable; in the same way the act of breaking ethical norms/ code must be rooted out in its very initial stage. The codes must be applicable to each and every employee without discrepancy.

• Value forgiveness. It’s better to try operating ethically and committing few mistakes than not trying at all.

• Participation of employees in such programme must be sought out. Employee must feel that working with ethics is as much necessary for the good health for the organization as fresh air is for human being.