Ethics and Values
The code of ethics are being used by the practitioners so that they would have common reference and to enhance the practitioner’s sense of identity as a global professional community. The presence of the code of ethics, values, and beliefs is that to prevent the occurrence of ethical concerns, issues or problems in the helping-consulting process.
OD Ethics
RESPONSIBILITY TO OURSELVES: Acting with integrity and Authenticity; striving for self-knowledge and personal growth; asserting individual interests in ways that are fair and equitable.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETENCE: Accepting responsibility for the consequence of our acts; developing and maintaining individual competence and establishing cooperative relations with other professionals; recognizing our own needs and desires, and dealing with them responsibly in the performance of our professional roles.
RESPONSIBILTY TO CLIENTS AND SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: Serving the long-term well-being of our client system and stakeholders; conducting ourselves honestly, responsibly, and with appropriate openness; establishing mutual agreement on a fair contract.
RESPONSIBILITY TO THE OD COMMUNITY: Contributing to the continuing professional development of other practitioners and field of practice; promoting the sharing of professional knowledge and skill; working with other professionals in ways that exemplify what the profession stands for.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Acting with sensitivity to the consequences of our recommendations for our client system and the larger systems within they are a subsystem; acting with awareness of our cultural filters and with sensitivity to multinational and multicultural differences and their implications; promoting justice and serving the well-being of all life on earth.
Values
Ethics based on values help OD practitioners guide themselves as they move along the paths of their work and lives.
Values are set of manners that individuals learn while growing up. It is different from ethics because ethics are publicly agreed on, and publicly stated, guidelines for a practice in a profession. Why is it important for OD practitioners to have his/her own values? It is important and necessary because mostly, his/her judgment will depend on his/her values. It is also important that the OD practitioner and the organization have aligned values to that they could be able work hand in hand and there would be purpose in what they are doing.
Fundamental Values
LIFE AND THE QUEST FOR HAPPINESS: People respecting, appreciating, and loving the experience of their own and others’ being while engaging in search for and the process of co-creating a good life.
FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND SELF-CONTROL: People experiencing their freedom, exercising it responsibly, and being in charge of themselves.
JUSTICE: People living lives whose results are fair and equitable.
Personal and Interpersonal Values (Larger Systems Values)
HUMAN POTENTIAL AND EMPOWERMENT: People being healthy and aware of the fullness of their potential, realising their power to bring that potential into being, growing into it, living it, and generally doing the best they can, both individually and collectively.
RESPECT, DIGNITY, INTEGRITY, WORTH, AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS AND OTHER HUMAN SYSTEMS: People appreciating one another and their rights as human beings, including life, liberty, and the Quest of Happiness.
AUTHENTICITY, CONGRUENCE, HONESTY AND OPENNESS, UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE: People being true to themselves, acting consistently with their feelings, being honest and appropriately open with one another and both understanding and accepting others who do the same.
FLEXIBILITY, CHANGE AND PROACTION: People changing themselves and acting assertively in a continuing process whose aim is to maintain or achieve a good fit between themselves and the external reality within which they live.
Systems Values (Values at Personal and Interpersonal Levels)
LEARNING, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH AND TRANSFORMATION: People growing in ways that bring into being greater realisation of their potential, individually and collectively.
WHOLE-WIN ATTITUDES, COOPERATION-COLLABORATION, TRUST, COMMUNITY AND DIVERSITY: People caring about one-another and working together to achieve results that are good for everyone, experiencing the spirit of community and honouring the diverse that exists within it.
WIDESPREAD, MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION IN SYSTEM AFFAIRS, DEMOCRACY, AND APPROPRIATE DECISION MAKING: People participating as fully as possible in making decisions that affect their lives.
EFFECTIVENESS, EFFICIENCY, AND ALIGNMENT: People achieving desired results with an optimal balance between results and costs and coordinating the energy of systems, subsystems, and macro systems (especially energy, needs, and desires on human being within those systems)
In the recent years, values such as Spirituality and Community are gaining voice, Sustainability is being raised, and Human Potential and Personal Development values are reemerging.
Reference
“A Statement of Values and Ethics by Professionals in OD and HSD.” (Gellermann, Frankel, and Landenson. 1990)
