Ethical guidelines for OD professionals

Whenever professionals offer advice or intervene in the affairs of individuals, groups, organizations or government agencies, questions arise concerning honesty, fairness and conflict of interests.

Ethics refer to issues or practices that should influence the decision making process in terms of “doing the right thing”. In other words, ethics reflect the morals- what is considered right or wrong of a society or a culture.

As an OD professional, it is critical that some ethical guidelines are committed to and followed religiously. The following are some of them: ( Source The OD Institute, 1994)

I. Responsibility to Self.A. Act with integrity; be authentic and true to self.B. Strive continually for self-knowledge and personal

growth.C. Recognize personal needs and desires and, when they conflict with other responsibilities, seek all –win resolutions of those conflicts.D. Assert own economic and financial interest in ways that are fair and equitable to self as well as to clients and their stakeholders.

II. Responsibility for Professional Development and CompetenceA. Accept responsibility for the consequences of acts and

make reasonable efforts to ensure that services are properly used; terminate services if they are not properly used and do what he/she can to see that any abuses are corrected.

B. Strive to achieve and maintain a professional level of competence for both

self and profession by developing the full range of own competence and

by establishing collegial and cooperative relations with other OD

professionals.

C. Recognize own personal needs and desires and deal with them responsibly

in the performance of professional roles.

D. Practice within the limits of my competences, culture and experience in

providing services and using techniques.

E. Practice in cultures different from own only with consultation from people

native to or knowledge about those specific cultures

III. Responsibility to Clients and significant Others

A. Serve the long term well-being, interest and development of the client system and all its stake holders, even when the work being done has a short term focus.

B. Conduct any professional activity, program or relationship in ways that re honest, responsible, and appropriately open.

C. Establish mutual agreement on a contract covering services and remuneration.

D. Deal with conflicts constructively and avoid conflicts of interest as much as possible.

E. Define and protect the confidentiality of client-professional relationship.

F. Make public statements of all kinds accurately, including promotion and advertising, and give services as advertised.

IV. Responsibility to the Profession

A. Contribute to continuing professional development for self, other practitioners and the profession.

B. Promote the sharing of OD knowledge and skill.C. Work with other OD professionals in ways that

extremely what our profession says we stand for.D. Work actively for ethical practice by individuals and

organizations engaged in OD activities and in, case of questionable practice, use appropriate channels fro dealing with it.

E. Act in ways that bring credit to the OD profession and with due regards for colleagues in other professions.

V. Social Responsibility

A. Act with sensitivity to the fact that my recommendation and actions may alter the lives and well-being of people within client systems and the larger systems of which they are subsystem.

B. Act with awareness of the cultural filters which affect my view of the world, respect cultures different from my own and be sensitive to cross-cultural and multicultural differences and their implications.

C. Promote justice and serve the well being of all life on Earth.

D. Recognize that accepting this Statement as a guide foe my behaviour involves holding myself to a standard that may be more exacting than the laws of any countries in which I practice, the guidelines of any professional

associations to which I belong, or the expectations of any clients.