Ethics: It Starts With You

By Gloria J. Durham, PMP

This is the first of a two-part series on ethics and ethical decisions.

Consider the following situation... Jennifer, a project manager, sat in the project meeting listening intently to the project sponsor Rob discuss the solution to a problem. The objective of the project was to move existing clients from an old computer system to a newly designed Internet-facing platform.

The problem facing the team was what to do with clients who did not respond to the notification to move to the new platform. “We’ll just keep billing them for the old system,” said Rob.

Jennifer was outraged and pointed out that the old system was being removed. “It would be unethical to continue to charge clients for a system that had been removed,” she said.

What would you do?

Success at All Costs

In the corporate business sector, many people are driven by determination to succeed. This factor can often result in unethical decisions. Corporate failures such as Enron and WorldCom have brought ethics to the forefront as one of the most discussed topics in the world.

Ethics can have a large-scale impact on corporations, leading to legal ramifications and lawsuits. Alternately, ethics violations can be as seemingly minimal as falsifying reports to the customer.

The size of the ethical matter does not relate to its “rightness” or importance; however the factor of unethical behavior at any level and the wrong constituted is significant.

The act does not have to be profound enough to attract legal or media attention. Unethical acts occur more often at smaller levels within business, go unnoticed and usually are not reprimanded. In many cases, there is no action taken against individuals who perform these unethical acts, and the behavior can penetrate throughout the organization.

Bringing Harmony

Ethical behavior by the project manager is vital in any organization because it helps to build business relationships with customers, suppliers and contract vendors.

With competition and the need for organizations to sustain increasing profits, situations in which unethical behavior is possible seem to be commonplace. But ethics are critically important for customers and other stakeholders to achieve a level of trust in how companies are managed. Organizations have a social responsibility for the actions they take to enforce ethics and make decisions for the greater good of society.

The project manager has the capacity through his or her leadership to practice and exercise virtue. Virtue requires strength and courage for those to overcome the potential of negative reinforcements impacted by doing what is right. Once virtuous corporate character is achieved and the focus is placed on internal resources in the organization, the corporation is capable of achieving excellence.

The vision and purpose of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is as follows:

“As practitioners of project management, we are committed to doing what is right and honorable. We set high standards for ourselves and we aspire to meet these standards in all aspects of our lives—at work, at home, and in service to our profession.

This Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct describes the expectations that we have of ourselves and our fellow practitioners in the global project management community. It articulates the ideals to which we aspire as well as the behaviors that are mandatory in our professional and volunteer roles.”

PMI members and PMI credential holders are obligated to this code. The PMI Ethics Review Committee reviews unethical complaints submitted by organizations, businesses and other members in an effort to achieve adherence to these codes.

As leaders, project managers have the capacity to influence the behavior of others. Leadership is not founded on title or position and is often awarded, appointed or assigned as when a project manager is assigned to lead the project. When a project manager acts in an ethical manner it is possible that others will follow the behavior and this can make all the difference.

PMI has resources on ethics, including a video on "Ethics and You." Learn more.

Gloria J. Durham, PMP, holds a masters in project management from Keller Graduate and masters in education (literacy) from Rockhurst University. She is a doctoral student at Capella University, and has over 25 years of IT and project management experience. Ms. Durham is a faculty manager for DeVry’s Online College of Business and Management and instructor for project management courses.