Premium Essay

Ethics in Project Management

In: Business and Management

Submitted By abhitheza
Words 456
Pages 2
Discuss how business and project team ethics needs to move beyond Milton Friedman’s narrow, 1970 definition of the ethical obligation of business as merely maximizing shareholder value. R. Edward Freeman and others have advanced a much more comprehensive view of business ethics as based on “stakeholder value”.
Milton Friedman’s view “there is one and only one social responsibility of business –to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits” does not suffice the requirements of the current day business environment. According to Friedman shareholder held the unrivaled primacy among many other stakeholders of a business and the organization is the profit making instrument in the hands of shareholder. But the changing economic environment and globalization have brought in a remarkable change in the way corporations operate in the present day. Every stakeholder associated with the business has a value and hold an important position in the operations. With the increase in stakeholder value and high involvement, the need for ethical conduct has been recognized across the businesses.
Project managers and project management played a very important role in promoting ethics across the organizations as projects are viewed as revenue generating zones in any business. They have high stakes, high rewards and high visibility leading to high stakeholder value and also the pressure to be unethical to generate high profit has become a tendency. Right from the senior management, suppliers, vendors, project managers and the customers played an important role in the day to day business. But trying merely to increase the profits did not help the organization’s growth. Eventually ethical business practices were implemented and ethical management has become important to business growth.
Ethical practices reduced * Reduces unethical/illegal behavior

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ethical Leadership

...Available online at www.sciencedirect.com International Journal of Project Management 27 (2009) 456–463 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman E-ethical leadership for virtual project teams Margaret R. Lee * Capella University, 225 South Sixth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402, United States Received 30 March 2008; received in revised form 21 May 2008; accepted 27 May 2008 Abstract This paper presents a review of current literature on ethical theories as they relate to ethical leadership in the virtual business environment (e-ethics) and virtual project leadership. Ethical theories are reviewed in relation to virtual project management, such as participative management, Theory Y, and its relationship to utilitarianism; Kantian ethics, motivation, and trust; communitarian ethics, ethic of care and egalitarianism; Stakeholder Theory; and the use of political tactics. Challenges to e-ethical leadership are presented and responses to these issues discussed. The conclusion presents four propositions for future research. The purpose of this paper is to identify secondary literature on e-ethics and how this new area of business ethics may affect the leaders of virtual project teams. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. Keywords: E-ethics; E-leadership; Virtual project management; Virtual teams; Project management; Ethics; Project leadership; Ethical project leadership; E-ethical project management; Sensitive material; Code of conduct; Social isolation; Virtual community;...

Words: 6774 - Pages: 28

Premium Essay

Business

...Project Management Institute Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct CHAPTER 1. 1.1 VISION AND APPLICABILITY Vision and Purpose 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. The purpose of this Code is to instill confidence in the project management profession and to help an individual become a better practitioner. We do this by establishing a profession-wide understanding of appropriate behavior. We believe that the credibility and reputation of the project management profession is shaped by the collective conduct of individual practitioners. We believe that we can advance our profession, both individually and collectively, by embracing this Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. We also believe that this Code will assist us in making wise decisions, particularly when faced with difficult situations where we may be asked to compromise our integrity or our values. Our hope that this Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct will serve as a catalyst for others...

Words: 3490 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Ethics and Social Responsibility Essay

...Ethics and Social Responsibility Essay Nampung Panpaisal Northeastern University College of Professional Study The general purpose of project management is to advance the projects toward success, which includes ensuring they are completed on time, within budgetary constraints, of high quality, and they accommodate the assigned responsibility. To accomplish projects, laborers may capitalize on various theories and principles as guidelines. Examples of this include following project management process in an orderly fashion, starting with initiation, moving to planning, advancing to execution, following with monitoring and control, and wrapping up with closure. This also is best done by adhering to project management knowledge areas, which include management of scope, risk, time, budget and additional components that are integral to the process. The successful execution of these practices helps with the efficient advancement during each step of the project. Furthermore, completing tasks with ethical and social responsibility is another vital step of the process as project team members will be more coordinated when directing tasks. Merging efforts also aids the cooperation of team members. Different projects require the involvement of laborers with assorted skills and these workers hail from varied backgrounds and cultures, possess unique knowledge bases, and have endured an array of experiences. While these combinations can prove to be successful to projects, they also...

Words: 998 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethics in Construction Industry

...COVER SHEET Vee, C. and Skitmore, R.M. (2003) Professional ethics in the construction industry. Engineering Construction and Architectural Management 10(2):pp. 117-127. Copyright 2003 Emerald. Accessed from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00004119 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Charles Vee and Martin Skitmore School of Construction Management and Property Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point Brisbane Q4001 Australia For Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management Corresponding Author: Professor Martin Skitmore School of Construction Management and Property Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point Brisbane Q4001 Australia 14 June 2002 (version 2) PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ABSTRACT The results are provided of a small, but reprersentative, questionnaire survey of typical project managers, architects and building contractors concerning their views and experiences on a range of ethical issues surrounding construction industry activities. Most (90%) subscribed to a professional Code of Ethics and many (45%) had an Ethical Code of Conduct in their employing organisations, with the majority (84%) considering good ethical practice to be an important organisational goal. 93% of the respondents agreed that “Business Ethics” should be driven or governed by “Personal Ethics”, with 84% of respondents stating that a balance of both the requirements of the client and the impact on the public should...

Words: 6630 - Pages: 27

Premium Essay

The Importance Of Engineering Management

...Engineering Management of the organizational of which it includes organizational structure, operational management ethics management, leadership, teaming and management system thinking. As an engineering manager, leadership is one of the skill that you must possess so that you can be influential to your employees rather than dictating, as a manager you must be able to lead by example. Employees wants to led by manager than are influential rather than dictation approach. As a manager, you must develop an operational management strategy so that you can align your vision with that of an organisation. As a manager, you abide by ethics management so that you know what is right or wrong within the organization....

Words: 1716 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Wgu Jjt2 Task 1

...JJT2 Social Responsibility Western Governors University Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, and Public Policy (Lawrence & Weber, 2011) defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the way a company acts that enhances society and its inhabitants and is held accountable for its actions that affect people, their communities and their environment. Many companies now track their CSR score through the use of rating organizations and customer surveys, and publish the results in their annual reports. They recognize their investors and customers want to understand how companies are taking environmentally responsible actions. Sunfun Company Sunfun (name has been changed) is a global provider of renewable energy solutions. It has two distinct lines of business. One is as a manufacturer of solar panels. The other is as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company to build utility scale, ground mounted solar power generating plants. From its website (sunfun.com), its mission statement “is to create enduring value by enabling a world powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.” Its value proposition is to “offer an eco-efficient energy solution that provides more solar electricity, at a lower cost, and with the smallest environment impacts per kWh.” Environmental Considerations and Recommendations As a renewable energy company Sunfun has an obligation and financial incentive to operate in an environmentally...

Words: 2586 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Change Management

...QUESTION #1 PART A ANSWER A Introduction Positive organizational change is necessary for an organization and it is considered as need in order to be competitive in the market (Pavletic and Sokovic, 2002). The case discussed in this part also related to a positive change. The desired results against this change is the reduction in manufacturing time, betterment of quality, increasing efficiency of manufacturing and also reduction in personnel cost. This part will include complete process plan that is going to be followed in order to achieve desired and mentioned results. Lean Six Sigma as Proposed Methodology Lean Six Sigma Methodology is a very effective way to have a significant reduction in the lead time in manufacturing units in a company. Lean basically refers to a methodology that improves a company's process, resulting in faster delivery of services and products, and at the same time keeping the costs lower. Six Sigma refers is a methodology that is again related to process improvement, but is predominantly data driven. Making use of the methodologies offered by Six Sigma such as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), process variations are reduced, and incapable processes are taken care of (Pavletic and Sokovic, 2002). Post this achievement, Lean methods need to be used which reduce costs of waste using appropriate tools (Laureani, 2012). Reduction in Manufacturing Time Cycle time is reduced using the Lean Six Sigma process, primarily by reducing...

Words: 2347 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Mt 435 Operations Management Unit 6

...Human Resource Management and Project Management Throughout this paper I will be discussing Human Resource Management principles compared to Operations Management principles, Project Management principles compared to Operations Management principles, and the importance of professional service organizations in standardizing a profession. Human resources management evolved from the task-oriented nature of personnel administration in the 1980s and 1990s to a strategy-focused extension of the organization in the 2000s (About SHRM, n.d.). HR management is driven by several business principles, particularly the "Ten C" collection of HR management principles developed by HR management expert Alan Price, author of "Human Resource Management in a Business Context." Price's 10 principles are "comprehensiveness, credibility, communication, cost effectiveness, creativity, coherence, competence, control, change and commitment (About SHRM, n.d.)." Based on these principles, they seem to tie directly in to the same principles as Operations Management. In Operations Management you have to have credibility to be effective in your role, communication is a must to make the business run smoothly and properly, you would need to be cost effective so that your business is being profitable, many times you need to be creative in completing tasks to get to your final objective, you need to be competent in what you do, have control over all complications that may arise, be open to change, and be...

Words: 944 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Bus517

...The conference is over and the boss wants the project wrapped up with an accession on best practices that can be shared with the rest of the organization. Strong leadership practices will need to be put into place to ensure managers receive the best accession. Project managers will need to adhere to the highest level ethics while measuring the progress of this project from the beginning to the closure. Steps will need to be taken to determine the effectiveness of the project. Describe the leadership practices you would incorporate into this project. A leader should lead by example. “Often, when faced with uncertainty, people look to others for cues as to how to respond and demonstrate a propensity to mimic the behavior of superiors.” (Gray & Larson, 2006, p. 325) How a project manager deals with tasking is often viewed by employees and the act is copied. Project managers have an influence on how others respond to different issues related to assignments. Six aspects of leading by example are priorities, urgency, problem solving, cooperation, standards of performance and ethics. “Unfortunately, it is estimated that about 90 percent of all projects are not seriously reviewed or audit.” (Gray & Larson, 2006, p. 461) Project managers should lead by example and treat the audit of the end of a project as a priority. Issue deadlines for each step as a symbol urgency of project completion. Situations needing problem solving should be embraced and welcome to encourage...

Words: 1111 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Proj 587 Week 6 Quiz Set

...PROJ 587 WEEK 6 QUIZ SET Purchase here http://devrycourse.com/proj-587-week-6-quiz Product Description Version 1 1. Questions: (TCO D) As a project manager, dealing with conflict is part of the job. There are many sources of conflict; one source that is often overlooked is the manager. Based on the Week 4 reading and lecture, what major ways do people deal with conflict? Share a personal experience of conflict and how you dealt with the situation. 2. Questions: (TCO E) In order to have a high-performance team you must first recognize the qualities of a high-performance team. Describe at least five qualities of a high-performance team and then what can be done to develop those qualities in a team. 3. 3. Questions: (TCO F) The PMI® Code of Ethics is made up of four areas: responsibility, honesty, respect, and fairness. Discuss the area of responsibility and what it means for you, the project manager. 4. Questions: (TCO F) When developing a stakeholder matrix, the portfolio manager must look at the portfolio governance in order to complete the stakeholder analysis. In your own words, what is the role, interest and expectations of the governance? Version 2 1. Question: (TCO D) As a project manager, dealing with conflict is part of the job. There are many sources of conflict; one source that is often overlooked is the manager. Based on the Week 4 reading and lecture, what major ways do people deal with conflict? Share a personal experience of...

Words: 2346 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Organizational Culture and Behavior

...Organizational culture and behavior Organizational Culture and Behavior name MGT344 Instructor University of Phoenix Introduction This paper will discuss a few of the key components of an organization. The components include; organizational culture and behavior, diversity, communication, business code of ethics and an efficient and the importance of effective change management. This paper will provide and example of each of these components from an organization I have been employed by or am currently employed with. Organizational culture and behavior Shared values and beliefs influence each organizational member’s behavior and build the organization’s culture. These shared values and beliefs build relationships within an organization. Key concepts of organizational behavior include diversity, communication, and business ethics and planned change management. These concepts vary from organization to organization and each organization has a different culture. The development company I was employed with a last year encouraged each employee to communicate with other employees and departments. An open communication setting allowed employees to voice his or her opinions and present ideas that would be beneficial to the company and the employees Diversity According to Bateman and Snell, diversity can be defined as a characteristic of a group of people suggesting differences among those people on any relevant dimension...

Words: 962 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Finance

...Science in Project Management UNIT: Project Management Information Systems NAME: Peter John Mwangi. LECTURER: Jubilee Kakwezi DATE: 14/08/2015 PROJECT TITLE: Creating a database for Registration of Project Management Professionals in Rwanda. LOCATION: Kigali, Rwanda. BENEFICIARIES: All Project Managers. PROJECT DURATION: 13 Months. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: In the recent past, there have been increased cases of professional malpractice. There have been increased cases of scandals in the business world. The scandals of WorldCom, Enron, Tyco, Merck, Bristol, Kenya Airways, Haco Industries and many others across the world have shaken the public confidence. A study by an American accounting firm revealed that large American corporations each lost on average $1.3 million from fraud in 2012. Similar studies in the Canada have revealed that white-collar crime may cost the private sector as much as $100 billion (US) each year. These developments have stimulated a growing realization that ethics and business are closely connected to each other. This has led to developing better and more robust understanding of the role of ethics in leadership and corporate culture. The result is that the issue of ethics in organizations is getting lot of attention from public to senior management and government. NEED FOR ETHICS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Is ethical conduct especially important in the management of projects...

Words: 1382 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Risk Assessment Matrix

...|Project Title: | |Proposer(s): |PI and collaborator/RA names |Date: |…of completion of risk assessment form | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Reference No.: | | | | | | |Potential Risk Factors |Probability of Risk Arising (H/M/L) |Impact (H/M/L) |Risk Indicators |Control Mechanisms |Named Risk Lead | |Financial |Funder/commissioner problems: Funders’ insolvency? Failure to deliver promised funds? Last minute budget changes – under-funding? Matched funding not available? No infrastructural support? Funding delays in monies...

Words: 1000 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

New Product Development and Ethics

...in-dividuals in order to make them more crea-tive which are: New Product Development and Ethics From New Product Development (NDP) to Sustain-able New Product development (SNPD) The present review aims at being a summary of the main academic articles about project in-novation and the ethical considerations behind them. In 2007 Melissa S Baucus expressed her concern for the fact that creativity researchers rarely discuss ethics. Although the num-ber of companies with ethical considerations is increasing and many are considering words such as sustainability and respect to human rights to their values and mission statements, still they are rarely consider in day to day of business planning and Innovation, Creativity, Stage Gate Controls are words which remain with a weak connection to ethics. The lack of ethical considerations has led to the creation of scenarios such as Colombia where multinational companies are developing new systems in order to extract the gold and other minerals hidden under the Colombian soil. Engineering Mining techniques are achieving the immediate goal, extract the material but they are doing it ignoring the more basic ethical considerations and to the cost of destroying both communities and environment. My hypothesis is that we need to include ethical and humanistic criteria in the stagegate control for companies and governments involved in any kind of project and in particular on those that have a potentially high impact on vulnerable communities...

Words: 4549 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Proj 587 Week 6 Quiz Set

...PROJ 587 WEEK 6 QUIZ SET Purchase here http://www.proprofs.com/training/course/?title=proj-587-week-6-quiz Product Description Version 1 1. Questions: (TCO D) As a project manager, dealing with conflict is part of the job. There are many sources of conflict; one source that is often overlooked is the manager. Based on the Week 4 reading and lecture, what major ways do people deal with conflict? Share a personal experience of conflict and how you dealt with the situation. 2. Questions: (TCO E) In order to have a high-performance team you must first recognize the qualities of a high-performance team. Describe at least five qualities of a high-performance team and then what can be done to develop those qualities in a team. 3. 3. Questions: (TCO F) The PMI® Code of Ethics is made up of four areas: responsibility, honesty, respect, and fairness. Discuss the area of responsibility and what it means for you, the project manager. 4. Questions: (TCO F) When developing a stakeholder matrix, the portfolio manager must look at the portfolio governance in order to complete the stakeholder analysis. In your own words, what is the role, interest and expectations of the governance? Version 2 1. Question: (TCO D) As a project manager, dealing with conflict is part of the job. There are many sources of conflict; one source that is often overlooked is the manager. Based on the Week 4 reading and lecture, what major ways do people deal with conflict? Share...

Words: 1580 - Pages: 7