Republic of the Philippines

Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Open University System 1

Assignment No. 2

Nathanniel P. Gonzales
Master of Science in Construction Management (MSCM-2A)

CM 608 Construction Management Consultancy and Project Delivery

Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Open University System 2

The topic of the module was all about “Ethics and Best Practice.” Work ethics is very
important to us as professionals and operating in a team because it is a factor that
greatly influence every workplace to be so called effective. Good inter-relationships
between members of the organizations makes a good difference especially in the
performance of own company that we are working with as well as good partnership
between our suppliers, developers, consultants and sub-contractors is very vital for
the completion of a multi-million funded project. If any of these parties engage in any
unethical way, it can be threatening not only to the workers involved but also to the
whole organization and linked partners.

From the discussion, ethical behavior is defined as an action that is following the
rules of what is considered correct in society. I’ve learned that these are personal
and group values which provide an internal reference for what is good and beneficial
not only to the organization but also to team members. In the discussion, such good
values include integrity, moral, principles, honesty, right, fairness, responsibility,
conscience, choice, and honor which can be a standard for different organizations
that are considered worthwhile or desirable in terms of usefulness or importance.
The main influence of ethics is on human actions and behaviors which is also the
starting point for most legal systems. This can be helpful to professional engineers
like us for this provide us knowledge on the legality of the human actions and the
moral values that a worker must possess. The code of ethics which is influenced by
integrity, teamwork, objectivity, confidentiality and growth can be a tool for us to
perform well as a team for the betterment of the company that we are in.

Objectivity as defined in the discussion is the ability to maintain a realistic

perspective and minimizing personal biases. This is very significant to managers and
supervisors like us professionals since this really could affect the decision making
process of a team. Biases and personal interest must be kept away from work
related decisions for the benefit of the majority of the organization. All proceedings
should be made fair not in favor to any member or any related to a member of the
organization or a team. Through this results to the improvement of the accuracy of
the organizational processes and increases the reliability of financial statements. It
also makes it easier for stakeholders to evaluate and monitor the position of a
business. In engineering field, most of the professionals are categorized as
consultants and ethics can be so significant in the consulting industry because this
defines how a company should operate in terms of ethical principles to maintain its
integrity and sustainability. Competition in management is the way how businesses
convince their consumers to avail their services. Through this, consumers can
choose their desired products and services with a different variety of options to
choose from different business managements that are offering their desired choice.
With many competitions around consultants tend to strengthen and innovate their
services to attract consumers to avail their services, this is the main importance of
competition in business industry.

As defined from the discussion, international competencies or global competence is

a multi-dimensional construct that requires a combination of knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values successfully applied to global issues or intercultural situations.
This can be a great advantage for consumers to provide them with their desired
deliverables with a good competence of different businesses internationally. Also,

Nathanniel P. Gonzales
CM 608 Construction Management
Consultancy and Project Deliver
MSCM-2A
Republic of the Philippines
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Open University System 3
this means that more research studies must be conducted for business and
companies to innovate and improve their products to be provided for consumers. To
improve the competence of an organization, the team should identify the skills and
attributes to be improved, set organizational goals, network with other professionals,
seek mentorship, look for training opportunities, use time wisely, practice regularly
and teach others. Through this, the organization could earn the mastery in
performing their function and services to satisfy consumers. Discussed also was the
competencies of an APEC engineer and the roles, responsibilities and needed
requirements to be an affective APEC engineer. The engineering design process was
also discussed and its importance on the designing process of a model. In order for
a model to be effective, a good design plan must be determined. Also, the project life
cycle together with the career episode reports were also discussed.

From the discussion ethical norms provide guidance for all organizations for
behaving good and keeping away from bad behaviors promotes ethical behaviors in
organizations, sets the stage for coherent working environment which contains
justice, honesty, neutrality and responsibility. There are 4 ethical guidelines included
in the norms of ethics which consist of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and
justice. This serves as a representation of a framework for analyzing the best action
to take in a given situation. There are seven (7) guidelines to produce a good
decision included in ethical norms; identify the decision, gather information, identify
alternatives, weigh the evidence, choose among alternatives, take action and review
of decision. As an employee, the 7 guidelines for ethical good decision making,
increases productivity and overall employee morale. Thus, employees make good
decisions immediately when business ethics are a guiding principle.

As defined from the discussion, corporate governance is something that goes

beyond the certain rules and regulations mandated by the government. It’s the ethics
and values that drive an organization to conduct its business. As an organizational
member, good governance is the contributor towards a profitable company more
specifically it can improve the performance of the business, help it become more
stable and productive, and unlock new opportunities not only for the organization but
also to its members.

Nathanniel P. Gonzales
CM 608 Construction Management
Consultancy and Project Deliver
MSCM-2A