Tuesday 22 February 2011

Professional Ethics

Today's campus session was based around Professional ethics.
I will give a brief overview of what we discussed and my developing thoughts in this area.

'Ethics'.. Derived from the Greek word Ethos meaning character.
After looking at the definition of ethics, we began to look at our personal virtues/ values and then those that relate to our profession.

Theory behind Ethics
We looked at 3 main theories...

Consequentialism
- acting for the greater good. The example given in the reader is that to kill one person in order to save nine would justified with consequentialism. (WBS3835, Reader 5, pg.7). The action is justified by the result.

Deontology- with this there is no grey area. As in lying or stealing is always wrong.

Virtue ethics- where the emphasis on being rather than doing, which is traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Moral behaviour and character is as important as the action.

Conflict in personal and professional ethics
This is something that has gotten me thinking in all aspects of my life. If ethos means character then should it be a consistent part of who you are? To say i'm a generous person and display that in my close friendships but then refuse to give 50p to someone collecting money for homeless children, am I really being generous or is my generosity circumstantial?
Although my professional and personal ethics may vary for different situations, I'd like to think that if they were built upon my character there would be a thread running throughout?

The conflict might come when you are asked to comply with the rules or the ethos of a company which you work for that compromises your personal values or beliefs.

I think I can most relate to the theory of Virtue Ethics, where decisions are based on character. For example, as a teacher we are told not to hug children but if a child is terribly upset and clearly in need to affection then a hug might be appropriate. Likewise, if a child is in danger of hurting themselves or another child we, as teachers have a responsibility to restrain or remove that child from that situation. In these cases i feel that Virtue Ethics would apply, ones personal ethos to care (built into character), is as important as the action.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Joanna, Nice to see you again on monday!!
    You obviously have a good understanding of Ethics and Virtue.
    I too had the thought when I was writing my reflection on the campus session, are all my virtues consistent through my personal and professional practice...
    For example a virtue that came up in both criterias was 'confidence' but the deeper I look into it I find, yes I do have confidence on a everyday basis but am I 100 percent confident when walking into and audition?not always.. Or sometimes in the position where I know the person I've been introduced could benefit me and take me further in my career but my self esteem is low and is projected through my conversation!?
    I agree with you on the high percentage of Virtue Ethics that come in my practice over the other ethics.

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  2. Thanks Joanna! Can't believe I couldn't make it to the session but it was impossible. Thank you for the summary of the session...much appreciated!

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  3. Well I guess I admitted that my virtues aren't always consistent between my personal and professional life. Like with the honesty on the CV thing. Although I guess at least I was honest about that :)

    I think that I judge each situation as it comes and just have to trust that my own morality will guide me. I guess that is the premise of Virtue Ethics. I suppose the problem with this in an organisation is that it allows people to act how they see fit. Can we always trust that people will do the 'right' thing?

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  4. I agree with Marks comment about the consistentcy with my ethics in my professional and personal life. Ive never reeally thought about it like that before. I have always liked to think that i use many of the same virtues within both aspects of my life, but looking at a blog post that Jess Hunt made about induries and are we always honest about them when it comes to a job i said that i have lied in the past about an injury to get a job which shows i dont always use honesty. I guess it depends on the situation that your in as to what specific virues you apply. Dont you agree?

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