DR. SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD
JABATAN PEMBANGUNAN MANUSIA DAN PENGAJIAN
KELUARGA, FEM

INTRODUCTION
 What is Values?
 What is Morals?
 What is Ethics?
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

REFLECTION...
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

INTRODUCTION
 All professional organizations, representing licensed and unlicensed staff, have established ethics codes.
 They are public statements that set clear expectations. They guide practice and uphold the key values of that profession or discipline.
(Mohr & Nunno, 2007)
 They are broad and general… for responsible behavior.
not “cookbooks”
(Corey, Corey, & Callahan, 2003)
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

ETHICS
 A set of moral principles or values; principles of conduct governing an individual or a group
(as in ‘professional ethics’), and a guiding philosophy.
(Merriam-Webster, 1993)
 Ethical principles form moral choices as persons act as moral agents.
 Ethical standards are based on a foundational value system designed to tell us the difference between good and bad behavior.
– Another more basic way of putting it is that ethical standards and principles tell us what we ought to do in any given situation.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

MORALS/MORALITY
Morals encompasses the individual’s evaluation of what is right and wrong.
Morality implies a sense of obligation toward standards share by a social collective.
Morality includes a concern for the welfare of others.
Morality includes a sense of responsibility for acting on one’s concern for others.
Morality includes a concern for the rights of others.
Morality includes a commitment to honesty as norm.
Breach of morality provokes perturbing judgmental and emotional responses.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Absolutism vs. Relativism
 Consider context when evaluating
“rightness” and “wrongness” of behavior:
 Culture
 Generation (i.e., age)
 Personal value system
 Consider effect of emotional desires on ethical and moral behavior.
 What happens when there is a tug-of-war between ethical standards and emotional desires or feelings?
 Competing values.
 What do we do when our values collide?
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (1976)
 Based on Piaget’s Cognitive Development
Theory.
 Cognitive-developmental approaches to moral development.
 People go through stages in development of their ability to reason morally.
 6 stages of moral development – associated with changes in the individual’s intellectual development - morality is considered to change through personal development.
 Moral reasoning is significantly linked with age, IQ, education and SES (Colby et al, 1983).
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 The stages of moral reasoning are similar for all persons regardless culture.
 Progress from one stage to another.
 Changing from stage to stage is gradual.
 Some individuals move more rapidly than others through the sequence of stages.
 Although the particular stage of moral reasoning is not the only factor affecting people’s moral conduct, the way they reason does influence how they actually behave in a moral situation.
 Experience that provide opportunities for role taking foster progress through the stages.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
 Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards.
 Codes are meant to assist the staff person in making decisions, in other words to guide
“professional judgments” regarding their practice.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Ethical Standards of Human Service
Professionals includes all staff who work in human service settings, including those who are unlicensed.
 Unlicensed/non-certified staff generally include Bachelor level prepared staff who work in social work or rehab positions, case managers, and mental health technicians.
 However, all staff practices are important.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Ethical codes are not legal documents but they are a component of the expected standard of care.
 They are often used to assisting legal decisions related to human service worker behavior.
 They help guide treatment decision making and protect against future harm or difficulty.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

PURPOSE OF ETHICS CODES
 To safeguard the welfare of clients by providing what is in their best interests.
1. To educate professionals about sound ethical conduct.
2. To provide a way to assure professional accountability.
3. To serve to improve practices.
(Corey, Corey, & Callahan, 2003)
 Meant to protect vulnerable individuals from incompetent or dangerous people who are in powerful positions and who can cause harm.
(Mohr & Nunno, 2007)
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Responsibilities to clients.
 Responsibilities to society.
 Responsibilities to colleagues.
 Responsibilities to the Profession.
 Responsibilities to employer and self.
(Codes of Ethics, 2004)
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Integrity
 Objectivity
 Professional Confidence
 Confidentiality
 Professional Behavior
 Technical Standards
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

1.
CORE VALUE: Service
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE: to help people in need and to address social problems.
2.
CORE VALUE: Social Injustice
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE: challenge social injustice.
3.
CORE VALUE: Dignity and worth of all person.
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE: respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

4.
CORE VALUE: Importance of human relationship.
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE: recognize the central importance of human relationship.
5.
CORE VALUE: Integrity
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE : behaves in trustworthy manner.
6.
CORE VALUE : Competence
ETHICAL PRINCIPLE: practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Absolutism vs. Relativism
 Consider context when evaluating
“rightness” and “wrongness” of behavior:
 Culture
 Generation (i.e., age)
 Personal value system
 Consider effect of emotional desires on ethical and moral behavior.
 What happens when there is a tug-of-war between ethical standards and emotional desires or feelings?
 Competing values.
 What do we do when our values collide?
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

ETHICAL DILLEMAS – THE APPROACHES
 There are two major approaches that philosophers use in handling ethical dilemmas:
 One is to focus on the practical consequences of what we do.
 The other focuses on the actions themselves and weighs the rightness of the action alone.
 The first school of thought argues that if there is no harm, there is no foul.
 The second claims that some actions are simply wrong in and of themselves.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Kitchener’s Model (1994): four assumptions that need to be at the heart of any ethical evaluation.
 Beneficence
 Autonomy
 Justice
 Non-malfeasance
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

 Beneficence: our human duty to assist another in need and to facilitate a good outcome. It speaks to another person.
preventing harm to
 Autonomy: the right to liberty without interference; the right to make personal decisions and act on coerced or manipulated.
them without being
 Justice: giving others their due, assuring fairness, equal distribution of resources, and appropriately providing person what is owed in any circumstance.
to a
 Non-malfeasance : to do no harm, prevent harm, remove harm and facilitate good.
not kill, do not cause pain, do not cause
.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

STEPS IN SOLVING ETHICAL DILLEMAS
 Recognize the Ethical Issue
 Get the Facts
 Relevant Facts
 Individuals and groups with an important stake in decision
 What are the options for acting?
 Evaluate Alternative Actions
 Make a Decision and Test It
 Act and Reflect the Outcomes
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE
PERCEPTION OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR
 Model of ethical decision making that stresses the importance of being culturally sensitive.
(Garcia Cartwright, Winston and
Borzuchowska, 2003).
 Challenged the notion that all cultures value autonomy equally as many cultures operate on a very interdependent basis.
 Cautioned that what one culture considers abnormal, another culture considers perfectly normal.
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM

ETHICAL STANDARDS IN HUMAN SERVICES
AND OTHER RELATED FIELD
• National Organization for Human Services:
Ethical Standards
• National Association of Social Workers
(NASW): Code of Ethics
• American Counseling Association (ACA):
Code of Ethic
SA’ODAH AHMAD G0521898

Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)
Say’s:
“You cannot treat people by means of your wealth; hence, you should treat them by means of your moral conduct.”

Always do right – this will gratify some
and astonish the rest .
(Mark Twain, 190I)
When I do good, I feel good,
When I do bad I feel bad,
That’s my religion.
(
Abraham Lincoln)
SA’ODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM