Question

Our class is a team of young lawyers, project managers, engineers, and congressional aides who are all part of the process of helping get this project off the ground. In fact, according to the first letter of your last name, you are the following team: 0-S: Engineer on the GFC team

Somebody sent a secret copy of the report to you at your home address. It has no information in it at all, except for the report showing the proof of the increase in accidents and deaths. The report shows, on its face, that the CE, CLC, CPM, and your Congressional Representative have seen copies of this report. On the front there are these words typed in red: They knew — they buried this. Please save the world! Each of you feel a very loyal tie to your boss and your company/country. You all have mortgages, and families to feed. It is likely if you blow the whistle on this report, you will lose your job and your livelihood. You're not even sure who wrote the study in your envelope or who actually sent it to you. Initial Post Instructions For the initial post, address all of the following: Utilizing your profession's code of ethics, what would be your first step? Who would you talk to first? Would you go to the press? Would you go to your boss? Should you do anything at all?

Answer 1

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.

The Five main principles of ethics are usually considered to be as below:

- Truthfulness and Confidentiality.

- Autonomy and informed consent.

- Beneficence.

- Nonmaleficence.

- Justice.

In order to develop an effective code of ethics in the workplace we must first identify potential ethical issues to be covered by such a code. Hence is a list mentioned to top ten ethical issues from the perspective of top management and employees in their respective organization.

- Misreporting the amount or number of hours worked.

- Taking credit for the work of another person.

- Stealing resources (cash, inventory) or falsifying financial statements.

- Treating others unfairly including employees, customers and suppliers.

- Accepting gifts or other forms of payment that might cloud one's objectivity in decision making.

- Getting too personal with any colleagues or superior in a professional setup. Sexual harassment occurs when such actions create a "hostile work environment."

- Violating one's confidentiality obligation too the organization by divulging sensitive information.

- Using sensitive company information for personal gain including insider trading.

- Misrepresentation of data, knowingly or unknowingly. It also involves failing to report such misrepresentation by other employees of the organization.

- Failing to disclose all the information the public has a right to know. This would include product safety and financial information.

Six important pillars in developing a code of Professional Ethics are as below:

1. Honesty:

- Do not lie/hide or deceive stakeholders in conducting project operations.

- Fully disclose all the information that clients have a right to know.

2. Trustworthiness:

- Act in a reliable manner by exercising diligence in business decision making.

- Be consistent and dependable in word and deed.

3. Fairness:

- Judge performance in the workplace in an unbiased manner.

- Act in accordance with established standards of behavior(i.e. code of conduct)

4. Integrity:

- Keep promises and carry through decisions with ethical action.

- Act to prevent improper behavior or to stop it once it has been detected.

5. Responsibility:

- Meet obligations to Clients.

- Accept the consequences of decisions and act to improve corporate behavior.

6. Civic virtue:

- Follow the laws and customs of society

- Act in a socially responsible manner.

Keeping all the above principles/code of professional code of Ethics in mind it is therefore important to conclude that in the above Case study what I strongly feel is one should go to his/her boss and report/narrate the entire sequence as part of the basic code of professional Ethics of being honest and loyal to your organization and to maintain the transparency. It is very important to know and understand which employee/person in the team in the class has violated the norms/code of professional Ethics.