Examine the situation and values (fLOW)

1. This is a process of exploration, not jumping into action or decision-making. Examine the facts. Gather all available
information and/or evidence. Are there disagreements about the facts?
2. Examine whether an ethical dilemma actually exists. Ask yourself: Are there Standards of Practice, policies or
legislation that direct how to proceed? Am I trying to determine what is morally right or wrong? Are values and beliefs
in conflict?
3. Examine relevant values. What are the values of the client, society and organization? What are your professional and
personal values? Ignoring values is as problematic as imposing values. College members are aware of their values, attitudes and needs and
how these impact on their professional relationships with clients. College members distinguish their needs and interests from those of their clients to ensure
that, within professional relationships, clients’ needs and interests remain paramount.

Think about the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.

Think about the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, relevant laws or workplace policies and practices that apply to this
situation.
1. How does the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice apply to this situation?
2. What is the legislation that applies to the workplace? Is there legislation that applies to this situation (e.g., Child, Youth
and Family Services Act, Health Care Consent Act, Personal Health Information Protection Act)?
3. Are there workplace polices or practices that apply to this situation?

Hypothesize all possible decisions or options. Do not place judgment or look for the best options.

Identify the consequences of each option. Reflect on the inherent risks and benefits of each option.
Consult with others. Consult with others about ethical choices. You may choose to consult colleagues, supervisors,
managers, ethicists or privacy officers; obtain a legal consult; or contact the Professional Practice Department at the College, for
example.

Select an action and document the process. Get Support.

Documentation is important throughout and there needs to be evidence of your decision-making process. Get support to
implement the selected action and to manage reactions from stakeholders. Record the selected action, implementation plan and
required supports. Document the client’s or their decision maker’s consent to the plan.

Advocate for change if required or indicated.

Use professional judgment in determining how to advocate. Such advocacy may take the form of documenting concerns and
discussing them with a supervisor, manager or other key person in the organization. 2 Principle II: Competence and Integrity, footnote 10

INTRODUCTION
An organization’s culture is expressed through its shared values, beliefs and norms. Business
culture is manifested in both formal channels such as a Code of Conduct, and a set of informal
unwritten rules that guide business practices. Together, the formal and informal systems establish
the organization’s personality and distinguish companies in a competitive marketplace.
Research shows that an ethical corporate culture contributes to reduced business misconduct and
diminished risk profiles. Companies and regulators are trying to shape ethical corporate cultures in
order to reduce ethical failures and increase team performance.

Most organizations point to culture to illustrate the positive traits that they want associated with their
brand. However, organizational cultures are complex. Methods for measuring and changing
corporate culture are evolving. This webpage will provide maps to the most efficient methods for
measuring and shaping ethical corporate cultures.  
Intentionally shaping an ethical corporate culture allows companies to gain control over the public
and private values that guide corporate behavior. Promoting ethical corporate culture requires long-
term commitment and ongoing examination. Organizational research on ethics can be used as a
powerful tool for understanding and shaping organizational ethics. Organizational research will help
businesses understand how to take advantage of key levers of systemic change within
organizations. Sculpting an ethical corporate culture can ultimately enhance the working
environments for employees while also improving the organization’s bottom line.

 What to Measure
 How to Measure

 
 

What to Measure [below are some of the constructs that have been studied in the
research literature]:
1) Perceived features of the work environment (The Place)
 Perceived ethical culture at workplace
 Workplace ethical judgment and decision-making
 Perceived unethical behaviors at workplace
 Organizational justice
 Workplace conflict
 Emotional support
 Psychological Safety
 Perceived politics
2) Traits and values of the employees (The People)
 Moral identity
 Trust
3) Reputation of the firm (in the eyes of outsiders)

How to Measure [below are some of the available methods for assessing
the constructs listed above]
1) Direct measurement techniques (assume honesty of respondents)
 Survey questionnaires (with rating scales)
 Free-response questions
 Structured Interviews
 Formal exit interviews
2) Indirect measurement techniques (may be less vulnerable to “gaming” and self-presentational biases)
 Implicit measures, such as the Implicit Association Test
 Simulations (Decision making scenarios)
 Behavioral games
3) Objective data (does not require participation by employees)
 Text analysis (e.g., of big data sets such as all internal emails)
 Earnings restatements (compared to peers in same industry)
 Ratings on GlassDoor.com and other ratings sites

Decision Matrix
With origins in the decision matrices used to choose between competing alternative designs, the Ethical
Decision Matrix is a practical way to ensure that a student will use a systematic approach in engineering
ethical situations and at least reflect on a broad range of considerations. Alternative ethical solutions are
evaluated using a subset of the professional canon of ethics from the National Society of Professional
Engineers. The columns of the decision matrix correspond to the alternative ethical solutions; the rows
correspond to the canons. The students fill in the matrix blanks with a ldquoyesrdquo, ldquonordquo or
ldquomayberdquo (with perhaps a few words of explanation) to indicate if the solution is consistent
with a particular canon. A process for introducing this method to students is described and illustrated
for the case of an engineer who feels design changes may have compromised the safety of a bridge