Despite our profession might refer to a very technical working approach to projects design and implementation it overall implies also untouchable matters (I would say close to philosophical) which we cannot avoid considering. We are talking about the ethical aspects of our efforts.
Trying to define it, we might state that ethics comprises a branch of knowledge which deals with moral values, principles that we learned from childhood onwards by observing our parents, grandparents, teachers, relatives, etc. and informed as on what is good or bad, what is right or wrong, and to use judgement to govern our behaviour. Ethical is what is accepted in our family environment, in our culture, as a result of our education.
In business, ethics is not about the policies or rules and regulations, but about the best possible and valuable decision you need to take concerning the environment, resources, and society, i.e., the people involved and affected by these decisions. Ethics therefore becomes fundamental data of feelings and emotions, not concepts. Similarly, ethics in an organization sets standards to identify what is bad or good in conduct and decision making.
Whenever there is an ethical issue, the actions of the person or an organization come to form and to decide which decision will harm or benefit the organization, and eventually the people affected by it.
Here are some examples of ethical issues in managing matters (even while working in projects) that everyone of us might face:
● Being asked to share confidential information
● Being asked to give more favourable consideration to someone in exchange for gifts or kickbacks
● Making hiring/subcontracting choices that are not purely influenced by who would be the best candidate for the job
● Being asked (or required) to give bribes in order to expedite work.
Managers and leaders work to minimize ethical conflicts because of cultural differences and, as we may agree upon, an organization with an established code of ethics and conduct functions better.
In project management more specifically, ethics points out the responsibility and ability of the person to come to his/her conclusions through analysing, and to determine which principles would be appropriate in that particular case. You need to figure out what the right thing is before you can do the right thing. Managers and leaders therefore work to minimize ethical conflicts because of cultural differences and, as a result, an organization with an established code of ethics and conduct functions better.
According to the PMI (Project Management Institute), project management ethics is an essential ingredient while managing projects to come over any conclusion. Michel Ombrophyte (PMP and chair of PMI Ethics Member Advisory Group) adds that “Ethics lead to trust, which leads to leadership, which in turn leads to project success.”
Once the foundation of trust is built, the road ahead is not easy for a project manager. There will be many difficult situations where his or her moral compass will be tested.
Once there is a lapse of ethics and the trust shattered, it is extremely difficult to regain trust and make things right.
Short-cuts and underhand behaviour sometimes pay in the short term but cause a lot of damage in the long term.
In general, every profession should refer to a “decalogue” of principles which all professionals follow for coherence and respect (to the profession and to the beneficiaries of the work delivered by it). This list, which we can name as code, must serve as a guideline, a beacon for professional behaviour. EU funded project managers did not codify a specific list of ethical choices, but we can derive some of the principles from the PMI Code of ethics.
The PMI Code of Ethics states:
● Be responsible — take ownership of decisions including their consequences. This includes knowing and meeting all legal requirements, reporting unethical or illegal conduct to appropriate management.
● Fulfilling commitments and protecting proprietary and confidential information.
● Be Respectful of yourself, listen to others and protect resources entrusted to us.
● Fair and transparent in decisions, including disclosing conflicts of interest to appropriate stakeholders.
● Honest in communications and conduct. i.e. transparency.
● Trustworthy, reliable, dependable
The above might not be exhaustive list of ethical values, but indeed they cover what in our professional activities we often face. Just to come up with general examples, here a small inventory of ethical issues and dilemmas we might face (or have already faced):
● Favouritism between partners within a consortium.
● Admission of wrongdoing and how to handle it
● The partners or colleagues asking the project manager and his/her team to do something unethical.
● Put the blame to other which are not responsible of wrong doing.
● Acquire and use inappropriately sensitive information or material of people (co-workers, stakeholders, beneficiaries of the project).
● Hard choices regarding contracts between parties.
● Hiding information about the project management from partners to cover misbehaviour, lack of liquidity, missed respect of deadlines
Though we cannot clearly define reasons why we might be tempted by ethical issues, some of the causes might refer to:
● Misinterpretation of data
● Personal value conflicts i.e., individual values clash with the environmental ones (consortium, work placement, society)
● Disrespect of co-workers
● Social or team pressure over matters
* Unprofessional behaviour resulting from incompetence and superficiality
We shall come back with more specific examples referring to ethical challenges while preparing bids and during the implementation of funded proposals by the EU. It is a matter which does not just concern project leaders and coordinators, but equally partners in charge of the implementation of projects and delivery of tasks. Stay tuned!