Dear Aieman: Establish clear code of ethics that should be followed (i) towards the students, (ii) towards colleagues, (iii) educational practices to be followed, and (iv) finally towards society including parents of the s students. Also include the three ethical principles, No harm, Confidentiality of data, and No deceiving.

Dear Aieman: Establish clear code of ethics that should be followed (i) towards the students, (ii) towards colleagues, (iii) educational practices to be followed, and (iv) finally towards society including parents of the s students. Also include the three ethical principles, No harm, Confidentiality of data, and No deceiving.

While there are inescapable acts of individual judgment involved in ethical decisions, nevertheless, it is desirable that conclusions should be reached in ways that result in as consistent a practice as possible. A way of achieving this in a given area of activity is to formulate a Code of Ethics, and a Code of Practices providing general guidelines within which individual decisions are to be made.

A code of ethics has a regulatory, educative and cultural integration functions. Often the main regulatory role of a code of ethics is actually played by an associated code of practices. The Code of Ethics is a basic presentation of principles and ideals; the Code of Practices is a detailed description of the actions that are to be performed and not performed, and of the sanctions that attach to non-performance. The Code of Ethics has two aspects: a) the content comprising the requirements, rules, principles, ideals, and so forth; and b) the commitment of the members of the occupation or organisation to conform to, and otherwise uphold, those rules and ideals. The commitment to that content on the part of the members of the occupation consists of an oath, or promise, or other kind of undertaking that each member has given to adhere to the code. The Codes of ethics are a good place for members of occupations to signal their commitment to the basic laws, and thus basic moral standards, of their community, including the principle of individual autonomy.

The Code of Ethics is neither a new nor an exhaustive system of ethics. Rather, it highlights acceptable ethical principles. It is important to stress the following: Ethics is not the same thing as etiquette or manners. So in general codes of ethics should not address issues of politeness or dress. Ethics is not the same thing as aesthetics. So in general codes of ethics should not address issues of style, rhetoric or self-presentation. Codes of ethics refer not only to moral principles, but also to ideals of the good. Sanctions – sanctions applied in the context of an appropriate complaints and discipline system - ought only to be deployed in relation to minimum standards (morality) but not in relation to ideals (ethics).

The view that codes of ethics are simply rules that prescribe what actions are to be performed, and what actions are not to be performed, is too narrow. Codes typically mention virtues e.g. integrity, and vices e.g. dishonesty, as well as actions. Further, codes of ethics are, or ought to be, concerned with affective attitudes e.g. sympathy, as well as actions. With the purpose to ensure the respect to the human being and the deserved dignity and autonomy, each organization should have in force an ethical policy, an Code of Ethics and a Code of Practices with the purpose to apply it to all organization activities carried out in the country. This ethical policy and related codes should be prepared on the basis of ethical principles.

The purpose of an ethical policy and related codes is to promote a culture of openness, trust and integrity for all organisation activities implemented in the country.

It is important to note that a successful implementation of an ethical policy and related codes requires the active participation and support of all personnel associated with the activities of the organisation. Effective ethical conduct is a team effort in which individual members of the team should be familiar with the Ethical Policy, the Code of Ethics and the Code of Practices in force and also with the set of ethical principles adopted by the organization. There are several elements that should be considered during the discussions of any ethical policy and related codes. Among these elements are the following:

-All staff has the right to expect and the responsibility to conduct itself all the time within high ethical standards and legal principles;

-All organisations should operate respecting all laws and regulations adopted by the national competent authorities;

-Conflicts of interest must be avoided by the personnel of the organisation;

-All personnel are encouraged to report any suspected wrong doing by any other staff of the organization during the fulfilment of their activities. It is expected that the staff do their work with integrity, honesty and diligence;

-The staff should provide the best possible services to all clients and should place the highest priority on quality, timeliness and competitiveness in providing these services.

Based on what have been said before, the following principles should be considered during the preparation of any Code of Ethics:

- Be honest and adopt an ethical conduct, including ethical handling of current or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships;

- Comply with applicable government laws, rules and regulations in force in the field of education;

-Maintain the confidentiality of information entrusted by the organisation, except when authorised or legally action obligates the organisation to disclose this information to duly designated national authorities;

-Provide information that is accurate, completely objective, relevant, timely and understandable to all competent national authorities duly authorised to request this information;

-Proactively promote ethical behavior among the staff, with the purpose to create a positive work environment within the organisation;

-Protect and ensure the proper use of the organsation assets.

Other elements that can be considered during the preparation of a Code of Ethics are the following:

-Maintains the highest standards of professional conduct;

-Assumes responsibility and accountability for individual judgments and actions;

-Gains and maintains proficiency of practice;

-Participates in efforts to establish, implement and improve standards of practice;

-Contributes to the growth of professional knowledge;

-Respects individual privacy and holds confidential all information obtained in the course of practice;

-Maintains a cooperative, respectful relationship with other professionals;

Finally, it is important to remember the basic distinction that exists between legal norms and ethical norms. While the former are founded on the latter, there is no necessary one-to-one correspondence between each legal and ethical norm. A law may be regarded as unethical by some people (e.g., a law prescribing the death penalty for certain crimes) and likewise, an ethical norm may be regarded as unlawful in a country (e.g., one involving female genital mutilation). Thus it cannot be expected that ethical guidelines, which translate ethical principles into the form of recommendations (rather than of strict norms), will always coincide with legal prescriptions. This applies all the more to international guidelines which are issued in the context of legal dispositions varying from one country to another.

Finally, it is important to establish an ethic committee to ensure that the institutions carry out their activities respecting a group of ethical principles that should be adopted by the competent national authorities, bearing in mind a group of international and regional ethical principles.

The Ethics Committee should be an independent reporting body whose main responsibility should be to ensure the protection of the rights, safety and well- being of all persons involved in the activities of the organisation. The Ethics Committee should provide public assurance of that protection by reviewing and approving standards and underwriting a code of practices suitable to the activities carried out by the institution.

@Jorge: Most universities have an Institutional Review Board that takes care of all aspects related to ethics during the research studies. Here is the link of our university.

http://www.uni.edu/rsp/research-compliance

Nageswara. It is true that many universities have this kind of ethics institutions. For this reason, I reinforced this idea by adding it to my comments

In particular, I think there are ethical standards that I write. Then respect and control them. It is likely that errors are discussed in the process, but worse is to have standards of ethical behavior.

@Jorge: That is correct. In our university the IRB conducts regular courses on ethics and other requirements of research compliance. It is mandatory for all students to attend them as part of their program. Also the research proposal if it involves any form of human interaction will have to be vetted by the board before the student can embark on his/her research.

1. Management must reduce frustrations in their organization by streamlining processes and making resources available to all employees.

2. Efforts shall be made to establish cordial relations between employees of same and different levels.

3. Job rotation(subjects taught and other academic responsibilities) is another way of reducing the frustrations among the employees and to make their job more interesting.

4. Perceived injustice and perceived unfair treatment should be rectified immediately by the authorities as soon as they are realized.

5. Counselors shall be appointed for the employees that are not happy or deviant, in order to understand and eradicating their real reasons for non-punctuality.

6. Promoters/Management of the organization should take the responsibility to promote an ethical climate for the organization as it helps in decreasing the intention of unethical behavior in employee.

Ethics are a group of moral principles or set of values that define or direct us to the right choice. Code of conduct and code of ethics should be established and followed for the better integrity.

@Lijo. as usual, your posts are great.

Thank you dear Aieman for your kind words!

Dear Aieman,

This is a rather timely question for one of my local community colleges has been having some ethical problems as of late, to the point where they may lose their accreditation. Pima Community College (PCC) is currently on probabation for numerous ethical violations. The ethical violations include corrupt contracting practices where executives broke rules to approve expensive and unbid contracts. The board also mishandled sexual harassment complaints against the former Chancellor. Not only that, but the former Chancellor and other executives formed a culture of fear and retribution.

The first step in fixing this problem was firing the Chancellor, yet other problems remain. The president of the faculty senate said that the environment will not change until everyone who supported the former chancellor are removed (Alaimo, 2013).

The sad thing about this whole scenario is that the students are the innocent victims. Those who pay good money to get an education are held hostage in the middle of their degree as they wait until the ethical violations are addressed and PCC is taken off probation, and that is assuming that they will be off probation. For now, they will keep their accreditation while on probation and other state schools have already expressed that they will still take credits from PCC if the student transfers (Alaimo, 2013). At least for now the students have not lost out, but if the new chancellor cannot turn things around and change the organizational climate of PCC, the students will be the ones who suffer.

Alaimo, C. (2013, April 18). Pima Community College slapped with 2 years of probation. Retrieved from http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/pima-community-college-slapped-with-years-of-probation/article_c632881d-944b-53cc-9734-4e1937422c5c.html

This issue, namely, ethical behavior in the university, is timely, but not for the usual reasons. There is no indication of rampant corruption, of relationship violence, per se. However, let us consider what happens when an institution fires an employee because she/he follows the law which permits same-sex marriage. Often, the excuse is that the "behavior" i.e., the public proclamation of same-sex marriage is opposed to certain "religious values" which are considered sacred property of such an institution. 

Media coverage is everywhere and it would be naive to think that the couple should have to live "in the closet" in order to maintain professional standing, or even that they would be able to do so. Differentiating between the law and preferences is a mighty topic, but now is the time to consider the danger of hypocrisy in the academic setting.