Ethics and Professionalism

2. Pick One
1. Ethics cannot be taught. You are
able to sense what is right, good
and just, and are motivated to act
– or you are not.
2. While people differ in their abilities,
most people can improve their
ethical decision-making through
education and practice.

3. Professional Ethics
 What is a “profession”?
 What is “ethics”?
 What is “professional ethics”?
 Thinking about professional ethics
 Professional values
 Codes of Ethics

4. Do you agree?
 It is always wrong to intentionally
take an innocent life?

5. Do you agree?
 The right course of action is to
weigh the consequences of action
and choose the action that leads to
the greatest good for the greatest
number?

6. Two Valid Moral Positions
 The first is “Kantianism”
 Kant: Right or wrong regardless of
consequences
 The second is “Utilitarianism”
 Utilitarianism: Right or wrong
depending on consequences
 Most people agree with both
positions

7. Dilemma
 The hijacked plane with 200 people
is approaching a building with
50,000 people
 Vote! Will you shoot down the
plane?

8. Dilemma
 You cannot subscribe to both
principles in the case.
 A true moral dilemma
 Which position has the greatest
weight in the circumstances?

9. “Profession”
“Ethics”
“Professional
Ethics”

10. Profession
 All professions are occupations, but not
all occupations are professions
 Can take a broad or narrow view of what
is a “profession”
 A “self-regulated occupational group
capable of legally prohibiting others
(including incompetent or unethical
members) from practising” is a narrow
view

11. Based Primarily on :
“Morality and the
Professional Life”
Cynthia A. Brincat
Victoria S. Wike
Prentice Hall, 2000
ISBN 0-13-915729-8

12. Profession
1. Group identity
2. Shared education, training --
requirements for admission
3. Special uncommon knowledge
4. Knowledge used in the service of
others… positive social need
5. Involves individual judgment, (some)
autonomy in decisions
6. Adherence to certain values
7. Penalties for substandard performance

13. Profession
 Matter of degree … there are many
“emerging professions”.
 Obstacle in the way of the OHS
professional is the diverse nature of
practice with competing co-
professionals.

14. Profession
You are not a professional until you
are a member of a group of
colleagues who have articulated a
set of standards and values and can
enforce them, at the very least, by
exclusion from the group.

15. “Professionalism”
1. Skill, competency in work
2. Relational element – work will be
beneficial to others
 Work itself doesn’t have moral
status
 Execution of work has moral status

16. Recognizing when We’re in
the Realm of Ethics
Watch the language:
 Right and wrong -- Actions
 Good and bad -- Motives, methods,
goals

17. Professional Ethics
 Purpose… Helps professional decide when
faced with a problem that raises a moral
issue
 Complexity … Can be many people, with
many issues involved … may be involved
history to the issues … may be an issue
WHO decides, not just WHAT decided.

18. Ethics and Morality
 Morality – making choices with
reasons
 Ethics – the study of HOW the
choices are made, ie “ethics is the
study of morality”
 Often use “ethics” and “morality”
interchangeably

19. General vs Professional
 General Ethics – individual as member of
community, broader range of issues, “top
down” principles
 Professional Ethics – moral expectations
specific to the occupational group, tend to
focus on concrete “bottom up” cases

20. Morality and Ethics
 Professional Morality – what we do
in our occupational lives
 Professional Ethics – the study of
what we do in our professional lives

21. Ethics and Law
 Law – the authority is external
 Ethics – the authority is internal
 Much of law, but not all, is based in
morality
 Sometimes law is unethical
 Much of what is ethical is
unaddressed by legal rules

22. Professional Ethics and Law
 There is a moral duty to obey the
law (with some caveats)
 Professional ethics covers more
issues than the law
 One can be unethical without
behaving illegally
 Rare – ethically must resist the law

23. Professional Ethics and Law
Be very careful not to embark in an
exercise in ethical analysis when
there is a clear legal rule in the
situation that trumps the entire
process of ethical analysis.

24. Professional Ethics and Law
Be very careful not to assume that
there is a legal rule for every
situation. Often the gaps between
legal rules require one to switch to
an ethical analysis.

25. Moral Reasoning

26. Objectivity
“Thinking reasonably is thinking
morally.”
Samuel Johnson

27. Reasonable Person -- Peer
What would the reasonable peer do in
the circumstances?
Reasonable person: mature, sane,
sober, well-informed, well-
intentioned, open-minded, calm,
detached but empathetic …
Reasonable peer – add expertise.

28. Non-Moral Dilemma
1. I should work late and finish the work I
promised I’d finish.
2. I should leave and go to a party because I like
parties and want to enjoy myself.
1. = universalizable, non-selfish, moral value
(integrity, responsibility, promises…)
2. = non-moral reasons and decision.

29. Resolution of Dilemmas
 Some dilemmas are resolved because
they are not moral dilemmas.
 Some MORAL dilemmas can be resolved
through a creative third alternative that
satisfies both moral outcomes.
 Or, possible to sequentially act on each
one.
 Or, evaluation will show which is
strongest moral explanation and decision.

30. How We Come by Moral
Theories
 Family
 Religion
 Culture
 Experience and reflection
 Education

31. Moral Action Theories --
“Doing”
 consequences for community
 rights of individuals
 duties of individuals
 What correct course of action should
I take?

32. Moral Status Theories -
“Being”
 Virtue, character
 Care, relationships
 Narrative, history and plans
 What kind of person should I be?

33. Human Goods
 Life, health
 Knowledge
 Play
 Art
 Friendship
 “Self-evidently good”

34. Human Goods
 Human life considered to be
fundamental good, pre-conditional
good
 Human life is not measurable, “life is
priceless”
 Leads to dilemmas in the workplace

35. Moral Reasoning
Part 2

36. Using Moral Theories
 Not what is decided, but HOW it is
decided
 Theories identify values and
interpret values
 A person’s moral theory explains
why they hold the values they do

37. Professional Ethics
 Professional’s work involves decision-
making
 One’s own decisions, decisions of others
 Relational component to professional
work
 Must understand reasons and decisions of
others
 Must make own decisions in context of
others’ decisions

38. Moral Framework
Provide a Moral Explanation by:
 Appeal to a Rule (rightness,
wrongness)
 Using a Theory (perspective)
 Applying a Value
 …in order to make a Decision

39. Moral Framework
Analysis … decision is already made
Decision-making … decision still to
come
Analysis 
 DecisionRuleTheoryValue
Decision-making 

40. Professional
Values and Virtues

41. Common Professional
Values
 Integrity
 Honesty
 Promise keeping
 Loyalty
 Competence