Implementation of ethical culture in the team
After completing high school, I joined a local youth club. The club was established to provide youths with information and knowledge concerning post-school alternatives. After six months at the club, I was nominated as an official. When the elections were conducted, I was voted in as one of the officials.
A few months after assuming the position, I noted that there were numerous irregularities among the club’s top leaders. I realized that the club was marred with issues of false advertisements and wrongful termination of members. To my surprise, my fellow officials were not ready to talk about the issues or solve it. After noting that the club behaved in an unethical manner, I informed the other leaders that I was going to expose their misbehavior to the club members.
Following this, the leaders promised to terminate my leadership and membership if I dared expose them. Thereafter, I had to make wise decisions on whether to let the leaders misbehave or report their deeds and lose my position. After careful consideration, I reported the case to the concerned authorities. Thereafter, a committee was formed to investigate the matter. The committee found the leaders guilty and banned the club.
To prevent such incidences, clubs must formulate and implement appropriate ethical cultures. As such, all clubs should have a code of ethics. The code of ethics should articulate the accepted standards. Similarly, ethical culture should be enhanced within the executive branch.
Understanding professionalism
The class textbook provides a comprehensive understanding of the professional. About this, a professional can be identified as an individual who has been officially certified by a qualified institution, which belongs to a particular career, after going through a mandatory course (Harris, Michael & Rabins 12). Also, professional skills and knowledge is evaluated against a standardized set of values. Based on this definition, four features define a profession. These features are associates share a body of knowledge, expert distinctiveness is for life, experts are held responsible for their dealings, and qualified entities confine access and put into effect codes of practice.
About the above requirements, I believe that college professors are deemed, professionals. As such, professors share a body of knowledge. Professors are highly proficient and renowned academicians. Usually, their designations are rewarded following years of intellectual work in higher academics. Like other professionals, college professors complete a mandatory course in areas of their interests. Usually, they are required to have at least a master’s degree. Persons join the professoriate with particular specialized knowledge and skills. These skills make up the foundation of the profession of higher education faculty.
Equally, in most countries, college professors are engaged with their teaching and researches until retirement age (Coleman 23). However, they can be dismissed from their work if they act against their code of ethics. Similarly, the works done by college professors are measured against a set of values. Based on this, it is apparent that college professors are professionals. In general, college professors are professionals because they satisfy the above conditions.
Relationship between law and code of ethics
The law and the code of ethics are more often than not very much related. However, it should be noted that the code of ethics on average the law. For instance, a time the law authorizes unethical behavior. As such, professionals should strive to amend laws they believe to be unfair. Similarly, under extraordinary conditions of unjust laws, the code of ethics should be prioritized over the law. On the other hand, if a medic is indicted for unlawful conduct is set free in the court of law does not necessarily imply that he or she acted morally.
Primarily, the law governs every person in the community, state, or nation. Laws safeguard us in several ways. They outlaw unfavorable deeds discouraging the public from engaging in these deeds through punishment. Therefore, whenever a citizen disobeys the laws he or she is liable to be prosecuted before a civil court. On the other hand, the code of ethics governs specific professionals. For instance, pilots and physicians have a different code of ethics. When professionals disobey the code of ethics, they are more answerable to their professional bodies.
Equally, the laws and the code of ethics have several noteworthy differences. Primarily, the code of ethics promotes behavior, whereas the laws necessitate behavior. The code of ethics is intrinsically domestic putting in force and persuading acceptable behavior on a personal basis. On the other hand, laws are intrinsically external putting into force and requiring conformity to communal principles of acceptable behavior by the public upon an entity. Lastly, a community, state, or a nation establishes the law, whereas an institution that oversees a specific type of profession establishes the code of ethics.
The corporation as a social agent
For years, the question of whether organizations should be held liable for their acts has been crucial (Vagelos & Louis 3). I strongly believe that a corporation should be a moral agent rather than a social agent. For the past decades, corporations have acted as social agents. Through this, they have helped society in several ways. However, it should be noted that these same organizations have contributed to several environmental issues, health issues, and other societal issues.
These organizations cannot be held liable for the issues in the court of law because it is very difficult to pin down accountability to a specific organization. To end this, organizations should be perceived as moral agents.
Similar to a moral being, a corporation can do right or wrong. Thus, organizations as moral agents must be held responsible for their doings. The advantage of considering organizations as moral gents over social agents is that they will be held liable for their acts. Similarly, through this approach, it would be easy to pinpoint responsibility to a specific organization. The disadvantage with this notion is that if a corporation is established in a region with no moral rights it will behave unethically because it will be unable to come up with choices concerning other rights. Currently, several companies have been trying to be moral agents (Vagelos & Louis 27).
One of the organizations trying to be a moral agent is Unilever. The company recently launched an initiative named Project Sunlight. Through this project, the company wants to help human beings to have an improved and sustainable future. To achieve this, humans are encouraged to watch a show online. This show encourages them to implement simple acts in society. When these individual acts are summed up, they lead to improved humanity and the environment.
Works Cited
Coleman, Les. The professors. London: In House Publishing, 2002. Print.
Harris, Charles , Michael S. Pritchard, and Michael J. Rabins. Engineering ethics: concepts and cases. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1995. Print.
Vagelos, P. Roy, and Louis Galambos. The moral corporation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print.