Codes of Practice
Many professions have established codes. Most, regardless of what they are called, appear to be codes of ethics.
A 2002 Aspen Institute study revealed that while students entering some MBA programs viewed “customer satisfaction” as the goals of business, those about to graduate were more likely to see “maximization of shareholder wealth” as the preferred outcome (1). A concern of business school educators was, “What are we teaching them to cause this shift in values?” A follow up study in early 2003 revealed a growing interest in social responsibility among MBA students in top ranked business schools (2). Business leaders and business schools have responded to this need by encouraging business schools to include strong ethics component in their programs (3).
Is more ethical behavior all that we need in our corporate leaders? In view of the recently publicized scandalous behavior of some organizations, it would seem so. But we also need to ask, “to what extent do ethics address the environment, social responsibility, or sustainability?” “How far does it go in getting us to where we want to be?”
The common view of ethics appears to be that it is all about how to do things the right way. It tends to be much less about how to do the right things. Codes of practice, by contrast could be (and, perhaps, should be) more focused on standards of performance that lead to achieving the goals of the profession (and, of course, include how to do so ethically).
The questions we want to ask here are:
- Do we need codes of practice or standards of practice for environmental managers?
- What would we want such codes or standards to ensure?
- How do we create codes that are inextricably linked to our overall goals and outcomes objectives?
(1) Schneider, Mica, “Learning to Put Ethics Last,” Business Week Online, March 11, 2002 (http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/mar2002/bs2002038_0311.htm) accessed 2/2/08.
(2) Browning, Lynnley, “Ethics Lacking in Business School Curriculum, Students Say in Survey,” NY Times, May 20, 2003.
(3) “Shaping Tomorrow’s Business Leaders: Principles and Practices for a Model Business Ethics Program,” Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, (http://www.darden.virginia.edu/corporate-ethics/pdf/mbep.pdf) accessed 2/2/08.
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December 19, 2007 by
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Brian Butler | Filed under: Codes of Practice,Literature Review | No Comments »
The Board of Environmental, Health & Safety Auditor Certifications (BEAC) is an independent, nonprofit corporation established in 1997 to issue professional certifications relating to environmental, health, and safety auditing and other scientific fields. BEAC is a member of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB), a third-party accreditation board. The CESB has granted full accreditation to the BEAC Certified Professional Environmental Auditor (CPEA) certification. The aim of the BEAC is to enhance the professional practice of EH&S auditing and reliability of audit results through an accredited auditor certification program and professional EH&S auditing standards. The BEAC code of ethics includes ideas such as exercising honesty, objectivity, and diligence in the performance of duties and responsibilities; undertaking only those services that can be completed with professional competence; adopting suitable means to comply with professional audit standards; cooperating fully with an inquiry in the event of any alleged breach of these code of ethics standards. The BEAC goal is to provide certification for EH & S professionals, and to promote ethical practice.
