Traditionally, one of the major characteristics of established professions such as medicine and law has been the possession of a Code of Ethics. The last three decades have seen the formulation of Codes of Ethics by many new professions and semi-professions as well as by many of the service occupations. In view of the intense concern of these professions, semi-professions and service occupations with the formation of codes of ethics, we set out to examine the codes of three professions to ascertain their functional significance both to the professions themselves and to the public. The rationale for the choice of the three professions of Medicine, Social Work, and Librarianship lay in their being professions whose codes of ethics were in different stages of development. A theoretical framework formulated in the first chapter was used in the following three chapters to examine the judicial viability of the codes of ethics of these professions. As main features of this analysis, we considered the formulation, promulgation, administration, review and revision procedures, jurisdiction, and implications for social policy of the codes. On the basis of the analysis and discussion of the codes of ethics studied we drew the conclusion that many of the existing codes are, to a great extent, deplorably non-specific and even rhetorical. It would therefore seem to be desirable that some measures should be taken to improve the judicial viability of these Codes; and we have made a number of recommendations calculated to achieve this end. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Hoffmann, Walter Paul Fritz; Humphrey, Patricia McLean; Thompson, Douglas Terrence / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this Master degree thesis is to introduce reader the professional ethics issues of judges in the Czech Republic. The thesis is composed of four chapters. The inner system of thesis was designed in a way that guarantees that level of abstraction falls as the thesis progress continues. In chapter one, there are explained the most abstract terms connected with professional ethics in general as a morality, ethics and law. There is also recognizable attempt to find relationship between mentioned terms. Second chapter, as a whole, is devoted to idea of profession and professional ethics. Text is focused on possible modification of relationship between ethics and professional ethics and it also refers about differences between profession and occupation. Last but not least there are as examples of professional ethics mentioned two "non-judges" professional ethics. In chapter three is described a fact the most regulation of judges conduct in Czech Republic is set down in positive law mainly. In addition of that, in chapter three there is mentioned attempt of judges self regulation in issues of professional ethics, which was realized by independent Czech judge's organization Judges Union of Czech Republic. Scope of the last chapter is used for utilization of knowledge contained in antecedent chapters....

M.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / Orientation: Professional industrial-organisational (I-O) psychology practitioners function and register under one title with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) yet in practice the work is done under various other titles and in various fields and industries. I-O psychology professionals identify with the broader title, yet also identify with the subfield in which they work (e.g. Coach, Consultant [internal or external], Generalist, Talent Manager, Recruiter etc.). For many young aspiring I-O professionals the question lingers, “what is an I-O psychologist?”. This is the question of professional identity and shared mental models, “who are we?”. A professional identity is a social identity, yet there no obvious shared overarching identities across the profession, besides the title. The extent to which the professional identity is shared and whether there is a strong sense of it is what I am questioning. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the mental models held by professional I-O psychologists to gain richer insight into the possible shared mental models within the profession and thus facilitate a better understanding of the professional identity. Motivation for the study: I am personally attached to the topic of the study in that I am an I-O psychology master’s student, and therefore the study looks into my own future profession. The world of practice for the registered I-O psychologist is wide and varied. For young students in the field the exact meaning, and purpose of I-O psychology is not always clear neither is the profession's contribution. The study not only feeds my curiosity, but also assists those who are interested in mental models that make up the profession. As a student I believe it is important to have an understanding of the profession to which one is committing oneself, as you will soon no longer be representing yourself only but also the profession. For a profession to be considered a legitimate community of practice, standards, governance and guiding principles are essential. Thus the idea of understanding the underlying mental models within the I-O psychology profession is both interesting and useful to the individual and also the larger professional body. Research design: Applying a qualitative case-study design I conducted interviews with eleven locally practicing I-O psychologists from varying backgrounds. They were registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) for at least five years. Main findings: From the data gained from the I-O psychologists I derived fourteen different mental models. I categorised the models into the following five themes, namely: philosophies, events, social/relational, personal and regulation. I classified the themes further as either internal or external experiences. External experiences refer to mental models that aid the individual in linking with the broader community, while internal experiences entail mental models which individual professionals manage within themselves in ways particularly unique to themselves, aiding the maintenance of their personal identity. These two classifications, the internal and external experiences, help the professional balance the need for the sense of self with the need of belonging to the social community of practice. In applying theory when I analysed the research findings it became clear that individuals carry both shared and individual senses of their identity. Persons' perceptions were greatly dependent on their work experiences, and regardless of these being positive or negative they were incorporated into the manner in which the individual made sense of the profession identity and their personal identity. Accomplished professionals often possessed mental models which strengthened a sense of a collective professional identity (such as the mental models themed under philosophies) rather than a personal individual identity (such as the mental models themed under personal). Mental models which apply to the whole profession are associated with guiding principles such as ethics, collaboration and being people centred. While the others which are less shared, such as personal validation, point to a deep internal and personal experience of the profession. I-O psychologists carry both the unique and the shared sense of the profession, various mental models are used to aid in the balancing of the two. Contribution: The study’s theoretical contribution lies in (i) providing a better understanding of the level at which I-O psychologists' mental models are shared vs. individual, and (ii) demonstrating how common themes influence the identity work of I-O psychologists, and that identity work entails an ongoing process found throughout the professional lives of the I-O psychologist...

by Kan Hee Anthony Tyen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-394). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Electronic reproduction.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This study explored a sample of clinical psychologists' preferred resolutions to a series of hypothetical ethical dilemmas and their primary reasons for these choices. The relationship of various professional characteristics to choices and reasons was assessed. Ethical dilemmas volunteered by respondents were analyzed. Results indicated a general lack of consistency in decision making among psychologists in both actions taken to resolve dilemmas and reasons chosen to justify these actions. On the whole, psychologists with different characteristics did not differ in their choice of response to ethical dilemmas or their reasons for these choices. It is argued that diversity in professional decision making, and the ethical dilemmas volunteered by the profession, may serve as useful indices of those ethical issues that pose difficulties for professionals. These results are discussed in the light of similar findings and in the context of current ethical regulations. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

This thesis explores the subjects of professionalism and ethics as they relate to archivists and seeks to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of the ethical codes adopted by two national archival associations in North America. The archival profession in North America is in its infancy compared to its status in Europe. Having been identified with serving scholarship and other "non-essential" pursuits, archivists have begun to involve themselves in more vital records management tasks involving access to information and privacy issues. As the archival profession strives to achieve greater public recognition and trust to better carry out these and other sensitive tasks, the need for a code of ethics has become more acute. Both the Society of American Archivists and the Association of Canadian Archivists have developed codes in the last few years in an attempt to set standards of conduct in the face of rising responsibilities. However, many of the elements have been borrowed from other codes and with the need to ensure that such codes will be observed by members and enforceable by sanction, it seems timely that some means be established for analyzing their effectiveness. This thesis attempts to establish the tools for analysis of archival codes of ethics. To this end, it examines professionalism and ethics and the relationship between them. It draws upon the literature on emergent professions, establishing some of the characteristics of recognized professions. It also draws upon the literature on professional ethics to determine how one might look at existing codes from an ethical perspective. It examines the nature of archives and archival work to identify ethical principles regarding archival material and its treatment. Ultimately, the elements of these foregoing discussions form the basis for analyzing archival codes of ethics. The thesis generally concludes that ethical codes must be placed in an ethical infrastructure which reinforces the values and principles embodied in a code of ethics. Moreover, a better understanding and consensus about the purpose or goals of the profession needs to be achieved and stated in the codes themselves. Greater attention needs to be paid to formulating basic principles which can be applied in unpredictable situations. Greater use of logical relationships between code components is also needed. Finally, to become truly useful, the North American codes need to be made more comprehensive and to this end, it is suggested that professional archival groups abandon their attempt to provide ethical guidance solely in encapsulated form.

Although auditors engage in considerable social interaction (Gibbins & Mason, 1988; Solomon, 1987), little is known about how social interaction influences an auditor's moral reasoning process. In order to address this gap, this study used an experiment to examine the effect of social influence on 288 auditors' moral reasoning on realistic moral dilemmas. The results of this study indicate that social interaction influences the moral reasoning of auditors. Auditors' level of prescriptive reasoning appears to increase after engaging in discussion of a realistic moral dilemma, particularly for those which discuss dilemmas with others at high levels of moral development, while auditors' level of deliberative reasoning appears to decrease after engaging in discussion of a realistic moral dilemma. At a practical level, these findings suggest that auditors should be encouraged to prescriptively discuss moral dilemmas with others of high levels of moral development as this tends to result in the use of more principled moral reasoning. In contrast, auditors should avoid deliberative discussion of moral dilemmas, as this tends to result in the use of less principled moral reasoning than would be used in the absence of discussion.