01 - 2 - EthicsProf - Conduct 6th - 2021PMP - 102920

CODE OF ETHICS AND
PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
PMP® Certification Training
© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

PMI, t1e PMI logo, PMP, the PMP logo, and PMBOK are registered marks of Project Management Institute. 1
OVERVIEW

Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• Vision and Applicability
• Responsibility
• Respect
• Fairness
• Honesty

Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• Not in the PMBOK Guide:
• https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics/code
• Also located in Dropbox\Additional Materials\PMI code of ethics…
• Please download and save the files to your computer:

• Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct
• Ethical Decision-Making Framework

1.0 VISION AND APPLICABILITY

Vision and Purpose
• As practitioners of project management, we:
• Are committed to doing what is right and honorable.
• Set high standards for ourselves.
• Aspire to meet the standards in all aspects of our lives.
• The purpose of the code describes the expectations that we have for our
ourselves and our fellow practitioners globally.
• It articulates the ideals to which we aspire and the behaviors that are
mandatory in our professional and volunteer roles.

Ethical Application
• The ethical application of project management requires that project
managers:
• Obtain the authority necessary to manage the project.
• Handle an unrealistic schedule problem upfront.
• Do the right thing and stand up for the right process.
• Persons to Whom the Code Applies:

• All PMI members
• Non-members who meet one or more of the following criteria:
• Hold a PMI certificate
• Apply to commence a PMI certification process
• Serve PMI in a volunteer capacity.

Regarding PMP Certification
• The applicant will not let anyone cheat on the application or the PMP
exam.
• The applicant will not let anyone copy PMP exam materials or perform
other illegal behavior.
• The applicant will not disclose questions on the PMP exam.

Structure of the Code
• The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is divided into sections
aligned with the four values identified as most important to the project
management community.
• Responsibility
• Respect
• Fairness
• Honesty

Aspirational and Mandatory Conduct
• Code of Conduct includes two types of standards:
1. Aspirational Standards not easily defined but we strive to meet them.

(not optional)
2. Mandatory Standards offer firm requirements and may limit or prohibit

certain behavior.

2.0 RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility
• Responsibility is our duty to take ownership of:
• The decisions we make or fail to make
• The actions we take or fail to take
• The consequences that result

Responsibility: Aspirational Standards
• The project management professional will make decisions based on the
best interests of the company and the team, as well as society and the
environment.
• The PM will only take assignments for which they are qualified.
• If the PM is given a project to manage that is beyond their qualifications

or experience, they will make sure the sponsor knows of any gaps in
qualifications before accepting the assignment.
• The PM acknowledges their own errors, takes ownership and make

corrections promptly.

Responsibility: Mandatory Standards
• Respect confidentiality requirements and protect proprietary

information, including obeying copyright laws.
• Uphold policies, rules, regulations and laws.
• If you witness or become aware of unethical or illegal behavior, you will

report it to management and to those affected.
• Report violations of PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct only

with factual proof of the violation.

3.0 RESPECT

Respect
• Respect is our duty to show a high regard for ourselves, for others, and
for the resources entrusted to us.

Respect: Aspirational Standards
• The project management professional will maintain an attitude of mutual
cooperation.
• The PM is informed about the customs and norms of others, avoids

disrespectful behavior, and respects cultural differences.
• The PM respects others and listens to their point of view.
• The PM is direct in dealing with individuals concerning conflict and

conducts himself or herself professionally.
• The PM does not gossip or say things that could damage another
person’s reputation and confronts those who do.

Respect: Mandatory Standards
• The project management professional engages in good faith
negotiations.
• The PM does not use power or position to influence others for personal
benefit.
• The PM does not act in an abusive manner toward others.
• The PM respects the property rights of others.

4.0 FAIRNESS

Fairness
• Fairness is our duty to make decisions and act impartially and objectively.
• Our conduct must be free from competing self interest, prejudice, and
favoritism.

Fairness: Aspirational Standards
• The project management professional demonstrates transparency in
decision making.
• The PM regularly reexamines his or her impartiality and objectivity and

takes corrective action.
• The PM provides equal access to information, when authorized.
• The PM makes opportunities equally available to qualified candidates.

Fairness: Mandatory Standards
• The project management professional proactively and fully discloses real
or potential conflicts of interest.
• If there is a real or potential conflict of interest the PM refrains from
engaging in the decision-making process or otherwise attempting to
influence outcomes.
• The PM does not hire or fire, reward or punish, award or deny contracts based on
personal considerations, including but not limited to favoritism, nepotism, bribery, or
prejudice.
• The PM does not discriminate against others, based on but not limited to, gender, race,
age, religion, disability, nationality, or sexual orientation.
• The PM applies organizational rules without favoritism or prejudice.

5.0 HONESTY

Honesty
• Honestyis our duty to understand the truth and act in a truthful manner,
both in our communications and in our conduct.

Honesty: Aspirational Standards
• The project management professional always seeks to understand the
truth.
• The PM is truthful in all communications and conduct.

• The PM provides accurate and timely information.
• The PM makes commitments and promises in good faith.
• The PM creates an environment that encourages honesty.

Honesty: Mandatory Standards
• The project management professional does not engage in or condone
behavior that is designed to deceive others.
• Including but not limited to; making misleading or false statements, stating
half-truths, providing information out of context or withholding information
that, if known, would render our statements as misleading or incomplete.
• The PM does not act dishonestly for personal gain or advantage.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

How to read Practice Questions
• Read last sentence first, then read the entire paragraph.
• Read the answers, starting with D and go through A.
• Choose 50/50 – eliminate two choices
• Then choose the answer

• You recently joined a new company as a project manager. While
reviewing the procurement plans for a project you will be taking
over, you see that the company is considering using one of the most
expensive manufacturers to provide equipment required for the
project. At your previous employer, you used a different supplier for
the same equipment and paid significantly less. Without telling your
boss, you now call that supplier for a quote. Have you violated the
rule of keeping proprietary information confidential?
A. Maybe. You need to talk to your boss first

B. No. There is no harm in sharing the information with your current
employer, because you are no longer working for your old employer
C. Yes. The supply source is proprietary information and you should not
contact the supplier
D. You have not violated any rule
Answer: D
A vendor that was not selected for a contract awarded by your
company has asked why their bid was not selected. What should you
do?
A. Share only the winning bid with the vendor

B. Provide information to the vendor about the areas where their bid did
not meet the defined vendor selection criteria
C. Share all the bids with the vendor
D. Decline the request citing confidentiality
Answer: B

During a project meeting, the engineering lead tells you he never
makes formal change requests to implement changes on the
development environment servers. He simply asks one of the IT
system administrators to load new code when it is ready; what do you
do?
A. Rollback all the changes

B. Rebuild the development environment
C. Notify the project stakeholders
D. Create a change request for each change the engineering lead
implemented
Answer: C

The project you are managing has had many customer-
requested requirements changes. Communication and control
of the main supplier was a challenge as well; nearly all of this
supplier’s deliverables were late, resulting in cost increases of
32% and delays of 2.5 months. No deliverables from any other
supplier were late. While preparing closeout documentation,
you discover that the unreliable supplier is a company owned
by the senior director's brother, what do you do?
A. Freeze the requirements for the remainder of the project

B. Notify the appropriate management immediately of a potential conflict of
interest
C. Call the supplier and complain about their performance
D. Begin the process to fire the supplier
Answer: B

As a project manager based at the customer location for a
performing organization, you build rapport with a customer
manager. As the project progresses, the manager asks you to
make certain changes to the project scope and wants this to be
handled on an informal basis. You should:
A. Contact your manager in your organization and ask for this work to
be done without payment, as a goodwill gesture
B. Comply with the manager's request because it is important to
continue to maintain a good relationship with the manager
C. Refuse to take up any changes since the manager has asked you to
do it informally
D. Explain to the manager that you would need to formally document
these as part of project scope change and put it through the
change management process
Answer: D
You have recently taken over a project from a PMP-certified project
manager who has been removed from the project due to
incompetence and lack of skills. When you happen to meet him
outside your building, he starts loudly criticizing you for taking his
project. He even goes so far as to suggest that your religion played a
part in your selection by the management, what should you do first?
A. Report to Project Management Institute (PMI)

B. Report to the customer
C. Report to your management
D. Report to the Police
Answer: A

Discussion, Questions and Answers

Homework Assignment

EXTRA ETHICS QUESTIONS

• Your project sponsor has just handed you a project schedule that
has been developed by your executive management team and tells
you that these are the dates you must hit. However, the project
scope and requirements have not been finalized. What should you
do?
A. Fast Track the project

B. Inform sponsor that you cannot commit to those dates until
appropriate estimating has been done
C. Refuse the project
D. Crash the Project
Answer: B

You are the project manager of a project executing work
under a contract signed with a buyer organization. Just
after the project has started, you notice that the buyer
organization had made a mistake in the financial terms,
and your organization stands to benefit considerably from
this oversight. What should your stance be?
A. Do not take any action, a contract is a binding and legal document

B. Discuss with your management on how you could gain a bonus due to
the increased revenue your company stands to gain
C. Informally check with your counterpart in the buyer organization to
see if they have noticed this error
D. Bring the error to the notice of the buyer organization and have an
amendment made to the contract since this was in good faith
Answer: D

What should you do as a senior project manager if the PMP
certification claimed by a recently recruited project manager does not
appear in the PMI website?
A. Advise your new recruit to complete his certification

B. Report to the PMI
C. Report to the sponsor
D. Request more information from the new recruit
Answer: D

Your manufacturing project is contractually required to complete on a
specific date. No additional funding or work is permitted beyond that
date. You have just discovered a quality problem that affects less than
one percent of the product produced by this project. Identifying the
cause and implementing corrective action will cause the project to
complete after the contract deadline. What do you do?
A. Compress the schedule

B. Fast track the project
C. Notify the stakeholders
D. Do nothing
Answer: C

You are a certified PMP and you have been contacted by PMI as part
of an investigation they are conducting into allegations of improper
conduct by your manager, who is also a PMP. A complaint has been
filed stating that your manager has received bribes related to a large
procurement contract on another project. PMI has asked if you would
be able to provide information regarding this situation. What should
you do?
A. Confront your manager

B. Send PMI project documentation and emails related to the allegations
to assist with their investigation
C. Notify the appropriate management immediately
D. Do nothing, citing a conflict of interest
Answer: C

You are just about to present your project's status to your company's
executive team. Just as you are leaving your desk for the meeting,
one of your resources hands you an updated report on the progress
of a critical deliverable. As you are walking to the conference room,
you review the report and notice that there is an error in it. What do
you do?
A. Do not report on that part of the project

B. Disclose that you have just discovered that there is an error in some of
the information that you had intended to present, and only present
the information that you know to be true
C. Cancel the meeting
D. Present the information as-it-is and revise it in the meeting minutes,
which will be sent after 2 days
Answer: B

You are in the 10th month of a yearlong project and are about to
deliver the main product. You have already received 75% of the total
payment from the client, You just received a fax from the client saying
that they are wrapping up their operations in the region due to a
change in the government which decided to close them due to fraud
allegations. You are shocked and call your boss to get confirmation.
He also received the same news from other sources, and he asks you
to terminate the project and release the team. What must you do?
A. Update lessons learned, release payments of your suppliers, pay all the
employees and relieve them from their duties
B. Release payments, check the termination clause in contract, and relieve
employees from their duties
C. Release payments of your suppliers, pay all the employees and relieve them
from their duties
D. Close all project documents, release payments of your suppliers, pay all the
employees and relieve them from their duties
Answer: B

• Your project team is having a dispute with a vendor about whether a
specific task is within the scope of the project. The scope statement
does not provide implementation-level details that could resolve this
dispute. There is no WBS because the project sponsor insisted that
the project be started right away without pausing to create standard
project planning documentation, who is at fault?
A. The Project Manager

B. The Project Sponsor
C. The Project Stakeholders
D. The Project Vendor
Answer: A

• You are a project manager, contracted by an investment bank to run a large
IT project, which is expected to last 15 months. While developing the charter,
you discover several regulatory requirements have not been addressed in
the business case. Failure to meet these requirements could result in legal
action against the company. Implementing the technology to comply with
the regulations could exceed the budget and scope of the project, which
could lead to the cancellation of the project, what should you do?
A. Disclose the discovery to the project sponsor and stakeholders

immediately
B. Track this as a risk
C. Wait until project is 25% complete, when you have a better idea of what
resources and funding could be allocated to addressing these
requirements
D. Write up a Scope change request for the work
Answer: A


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CODE OF ETHICS AND

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• Also located in Dropbox\Additional Materials\PMI code of ethics…

• Please download and save the files to your computer:

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• Persons to Whom the Code Applies:

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• The applicant will not disclose questions on the PMP exam.

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

1. Aspirational Standards not easily defined but we strive to meet them.

2. Mandatory Standards offer firm requirements and may limit or prohibit

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• If the PM is given a project to manage that is beyond their qualifications

• The PM acknowledges their own errors, takes ownership and make

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• Respect confidentiality requirements and protect proprietary

• Uphold policies, rules, regulations and laws.

• If you witness or become aware of unethical or illegal behavior, you will

• Report violations of PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct only

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• The PM is informed about the customs and norms of others, avoids

• The PM respects others and listens to their point of view.

• The PM is direct in dealing with individuals concerning conflict and

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• The PM does not act in an abusive manner toward others.

• The PM respects the property rights of others.

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• The PM regularly reexamines his or her impartiality and objectivity and

• The PM provides equal access to information, when authorized.

• The PM makes opportunities equally available to qualified candidates.

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• The PM is truthful in all communications and conduct.

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• The PM does not act dishonestly for personal gain or advantage.

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

• Read the answers, starting with D and go through A.

• Choose 50/50 – eliminate two choices

• Then choose the answer

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

A. Maybe. You need to talk to your boss first

A. Share only the winning bid with the vendor

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

A. Rollback all the changes

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

A. Freeze the requirements for the remainder of the project

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved

A. Report to Project Management Institute (PMI)

© 2022, PM Training. All rights reserved