A Topic- “Professions, ethics and governance”

The conversation

City AM, newspaper headline-“PWC facing £10M BHS Audit fine”
Ethics & Leadership?
(CIPS ethics test)

Governance? The boundary- A country? A company?
Conflicts- Political/Power/Partner/Culture

Ethics, learning and knowledge
“Why I am I not comfortable with this?” “A moral compass?”
Personal perpectives?
Differing perspectives?
Situational? Eg cheating, playing the game

Values, Governance and Decision Making?
“The Fish Rots from the Head” & “Stop the Rot” Books on governance by Bob Garret
Do we need governance?
Consider ethical dilemmas
Governance for the investor and tax payer
Regulation with deliberation

Defining professions
Are we human? Nursing and the NHS
Professions and leadership
Moral identity- Loneliness? Nostalgia?
(Consider TV programme –“Life of five year olds”)
Need to conform?

Leadership styles & ethics
Command & control
Collaboration
Manipulation
Power
“The unethical decision and reflection creates the ethical company”

The role of professions and the origins of codes of ethics?

Nanette Young

Comment from Richard Gadd

Nanette,

I'm not entirely sure how "Professions, Ethics and Governance" are directly related, but confess to being one of the "angry public", Bob Garratt refers to in his latest book.

Anxious not to infer any wrongdoing by my own organisation, I'd suggest that all Public servants should be bound by the Nolan Principles, which effectively outlines the acceptable standards of behaviour for those employed by the state. In my own experience, these standards are not widely known, are not upheld, and 'offenders' act with impunity. Introduce professional codes of conduct, multiple cultures, and unaligned personal values and standards, and the entire issue appears more complex.A new approach is certainly required, although I'm unsure whether this is an educational, L&D challenge, or an organisational matter.

Any standard of ethics or governance will only ever be as effective as its regulation and quality assurance, and in today's world of acute resource shortfalls, a thirst for greater trust and empowerment, and lean structures, can increased governance ever be justified.