Project Management Ethics: Analysis Of Ethical Dilemmas In My Project

Introduction:

Ethics is a set of standards that tells us how we should behave. Ethics involves seeing the difference between right and wrong. It’s a commitment to do what is right, good and honourable. In other words, ethics is the body of principles used to decide that behaviours are right, good and proper. It provides a means of evaluating and deciding among competing options. Moreover, ethics is the set of rules, standards or principles for deciding the correct conduct sense of right and wrong. In the world of business, setting ethics represents the rules or standards which govern the conduct of employees. A profession is formed based on a generally accepted body of knowledge, a standard of achievements and code of ethics that must be strictly enforced. Besides this, codes of ethics may vary from one organization to another. Ethics plays a huge role in day-to-day interactions and behaviours in everyone’s life. Ethics enables stakeholders, employees, Salesmen, and taxpayers to sleep at night knowing project management professionals are held to strict and by keeping their standards high they will execute the project in a good manner.

Ethics plays a major role in project management in such ways;

• It raises the profession and increase future standards.
• It increases the faith and trust over the team.
• It enhances business relationships at all levels.
• It promotes fair decision making.
• It decreases project risks.
• It brings a greater chance of success.
• It reduces anxiety and stress and ultimately turnover in projects.

Why should Ethics matter to Project Managers?

Ethics should matter to project managers as it will largely determine the success of projects regardless of industry, good ethical conduct during a project will lead to less problems as workers are committed to the scope, quality and safety of the project. In addition to this, as ethics may vary region to region, a good project manager will have the ability to understand the importance of being effective in project management while adopting the ethical conduct of the region. Ethics is important to project managers as it influences the level of caution and safety workers undertake. Ethics is not a subject that immediately grabs the mind when thinking of a Project Manager’s decision-making, as a project manager, having a reputation for doing the right thing is essential for getting your job done effectively. Without trust, communication matters too. That’s one of the reasons Project management and other professional business organizations seek to define the values that support ethical work and outline standards of conduct they expect their members to live up to. The term “ethics” covers a lot of territories, but there are some main elements that tend to be included in any discussion of this topic. These include some elements like integrity, responsibility, respect and honesty.

Responsibility:

Ethical responsibility is the ability to identify, interpret and act upon multiple principles and values according to the standards within given criteria or context. Organizations explore various complexities, dynamics and issues surrounding behaviour and ethical practices to understand best ways to make decisions and resolve issues at personal, group and societal levels.

Integrity:

Management practices are the underlying foundation for organizational integrity. Whether it is the commitment to good customer service or fair employment practices, a businesses’ reputation can be tarnished by unresolved service or product issues. Moreover, employees observe how leadership resolves problems and keeps their promises firm.

Respect:

Respect is not an optional extra in social work. It is one of the foundational principles of practice, and it is promoted in professional codes of ethics in countries around the world. Many of us think about respect in terms of how we engage with clients, often wrestling with how to respond appropriately to people living with unique and/or complex disadvantage.

Honouring clients’ dignity is not the whole story, however, with social work codes of ethics also highlighting the importance of showing respect to colleagues, including those from diverse backgrounds and other disciplines.

Honesty:

Honest and ethical are two complex concepts to define. These are two similar concepts, but also different too. Let’s start by defining, honest which is a quality of human beings characterized by the sincerity of expression, tolerance, and using moral values in a good way. On the other hand, ethics can be defined as the way that a person should act using a group of rules or standards values conforming to their environment. Both can complement one another, even when they are different. Being an honest person means having morally acceptable behavior. In other words, honest is to be real, authentic and genuine. Honesty expresses respect for oneself and for others; as a result, it is a human quality that is to behave speak with consistency and sincerity according to the values of truth and justice. In its most obvious sense, honesty can be understood as the simple respect for the truth about the world, facts and persons. For example, if a person has a good reputation as an honest person, this means that people not only believe in him, but also put their full trust in them. If a person has a good reputation, it will be easier to have friends and not have to be afraid of their actions. Trust is the common thread that holds together different cultural differences, disparate work cultures spanning various time zones, team members with different behaviours and departments with unique objectives. Hence it is imperative for a project leader to develop trustworthy relationships the code of Ethics and Professional Conduct highlights ethical values such as trust, honesty, responsibility respect and fairness.

Dishonesty:

A lack of integrity, incomplete disclosure, or an unwillingness to tell the truth

Ethical considerations in my project:

• Likelihood or probability of occurrence
• Impact
• Potential preventive, detective, and corrective controls
• Risk ownership

Working conditions – it is not uncommon that during electrical installation, that workers having to work in cramped and dirty conditions such as roof spaces, trenches and other confined spaces. Not only is this a health risk but also to a degree unethical depending on the conditions. Electrical workers are required to obtain a confined workspace license which teaches the risks about confined spaces. Managers are generally responsible for this.

Quality of project – if the project is to poor quality or not as specified by an engineer could be very damaging to the client who use it. For example, they may receive electrocution from improperly installed appliances or sockets which could result in injury or death. This is unlikely in Australia as there is strict compliances and licensing. Everyone involved in the project is responsible for quality but site engineers who must check quality may be more responsible if anything goes wrong.

Safety on the workplace – All workers should feel safe on site. If workers feel unsafe, it may make them apathetic to work there and could potentially cause them to quit. This is obviously going to cost the company. Activities like doing a Site Induction may be annoying for workers but will ensure their safety. With the high standard of safety in Australia, workers generally feel safe. Everyone is responsible for safety, but OH&S managers are generally most responsible. Besides this, some countries have protected the employees by setting health, safety and environmental standards but most of the project manager ignore these standards.

Payments – when and how employees, stakeholders or suppliers get paid generally differs for every company. Generally, wages are paid on a regular basis, but this is not always the case. Companies need to consider the ethics of when they pay their staff as they often must pay for bills to keep themselves and family financially happy. Management is generally responsible for this.

Three ethical dilemmas of my project:

Communication:

Accidents are more likely to occur when workers are unsure what to expect. Direct discussion of the day’s goals and activities will cut down on surprises that could cause bodily harm. Construction firms would be wise to equip workers with devices, like smartphones, walkie-talkies, or headsets, which allow fast and efficient communication among team members. Without proper communication between everyone on the construction site, workers won’t know what to expect. Clear and concise communication with everyone not only makes the project go by faster but also helps keep each person informed. Informing the staff and making sure everyone is doing their job is a proper way to communicate and make sure they understand construction site safety.

Awareness

Before any work no matter his or her role or experience level can set foot on a construction site, he or she must be fully aware of the possible hazards. Ignorant workers are perhaps the biggest dangers in any industry especially in my case where electric spread everywhere if any small mistake occurs in the panel board, as their unknowing mistakes put everyone else at risk. Understanding of perils at hand and sustaining a perpetual state of alertness is perhaps the number-one best way to prevent accidents. To become aware of such risks and how to avoid them, see OSHA Safety Check Lists at sign in area prior of commencing work. Every single person that steps foot onto a construction site should be aware of the risks linked with the job and how to eliminate them with their knowledge of construction site safety.

Outstanding task by employees:

In a typical project, a project manager must deal with teams and individuals whose task is finished or overdue, where there is a lot haggling in the contract due to commitments for instance; on handover the project we couldn’t finish few task on time which means the client will not be impressed and we came up with mis commitment just because of financial gain, so the customer will not be referring to our business to their friends and he’s more likely to compensate us depends on the task, which may bring huge loss the company just because of laziness of supervisor he was not aware what was happening during the project and he couldn’t communicate with the labour.

Conclusion:

Overall, it has been observed that ethics play a major role in project management and it matters a lot, being nice to workers showing respect and being committed will end up on achievements and success. Moreover, benefitting all stakeholders equally is considered as good ethical behaviour. Proving this to stakeholders will build good report with them and will benefit project managers or the company in getting many jobs. In addition to this, communicating with clients and discussing progress of the project is considered good which is professional conduct. Furthermore, being honest with customers is expected from all project managers and is generally good, lying to clients especially for financial gain is very poor ethical conduct and will almost guarantee the end of the business with the customer if caught out.