Responsibility, Values, and Ethics in Project Environments from POME by Gautam KOppala

The construction of a new dam and power generator increases the service and viability

of a regional supplier of electrical power, it decreases the emissions of greenhouse gas through a reduced need for power generated by fossil fuel, and it generates local employment and revenues not easily available otherwise. However, it also disrupts the scenic environment and changes the habitats for humans and other beings in a rural river valley and it will most likely be followed by other projects to come.

Good or bad? Right or wrong? In trying to meet requirements, project management includes decision making based on choices and criteria. Ethics will be used as one basis for the decisions to be made.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS OF ETHICS AND ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

Values, Morals, and Ethics

Values are the major motif of our actions and endeavors (e.g., preserving our environment, making profit). They provide us with orientation and serve as a basis for responsible decisions.

In order to make daily choices about good or bad behavior easier, societies and groups tend to develop principles and rules that guide our conduct. These morals are codified convictions and expectations as to what is considered good behavior (e.g., shop locally).

Finally, ethics are the systematic combination of values and morals to enable rational and values-based judgments and decisions about what ought to be done. Ethics include criteria and processes allowing to arrive at or to assess personal decisions or behavior in terms of good or bad and right or wrong (e.g., religious ethics, corporate codes of conduct).

Systems of Ethical Decision Making

Ethical decision making tends to be easy in the case of one option serving one value. Facing several options serving one value or conflicting choices (e.g., the introductory dam project), we need to enter a decision making process based on ethical considerations helping us to sort out the ethical dilemma and arrive at an ethically sound decision.2

Results-based systems focus on the "good" end. They are interested in good results, neglecting how they came about. In a rather simplistic economic environment, for example, a cost-benefit-analysis will lead to a decision in favor of the greatest gain. In more complex situations, however, it becomes difficult to weigh the level of gain of a majority against the level of pain for a minority. A more elaborate approach is built on the concepts of fairness and cooperation. Trying to eliminate personal preferences by pretending that the actors were under a "veil of ignorance" hiding their personal situation and status, Rawls argues that not knowing who exactly will benefit from any given decision will most likely produce just decisions.

Rules-based systems focus on "right" conduct. Behavior is considered "right" if based on "right" principles, independent of its results. Good will and universal applicability of the principles of actions provide the major criteria for evaluating decisions. However, this approach does not easily help to decide in the case of conflicting principles.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Ethical Hotspots

Ethics deals with right actions and good results. Project Management strives for meeting project requirements through project activities. Hence, every aspect of project management involves ethical considerations and may produce an ethical dilemma. in project management are areas of interest to the public and issues that touch on basic, generally accepted values (human rights, preservation of our environment, financial honesty, etc.).

Benefits of Managing Ethics in Project Environments

Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, and other companies have brought ethical questions to the forefront of business and project environments. Thus managing ethics is expected to lessen the liability and maintain the professional integrity of executives and project managers. Furthermore, managing ethics has proven to provide companies with financial advantages and improved public image.However, beyond tactical considerations, ethical reasoning per se and values-oriented leadershipbecome part of a comprehensive organizational and project strategy in trying to "maintain a moral course in turbulent times[and to] support employee growth and meaning."

Existing Approaches to Managing Ethics in Project Management

While many project teams implement codes of conduct for their projects, ethical reasoning begins to emerge in some particular project management areas.Some dominant ethical principles (honor, honesty, bias, adequacy, due care, fairness, social cost, action) are used within the project management process to produce a "Software Development Impact Statement." First, stakeholders and ethical issues are identified (generic). Then, this process is applied to the work breakdown structure (specific), ensuring the consideration of ethical aspects in all project activities. Approaches like these may be the cornerstone of managing ethics comprehensively in project environments.

Ethical Standards in Business and Project Management

International Standards of Business Ethics

In trying to increase awareness and appreciation of cultural differences, various standards of global business ethics have been published.The secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has started the latest and most comprehensive initiative in January 1999. In challenging business and other leaders to support and implement core values within their corporate and public practices and policies, and to support his vision of "a more sustainable and inclusive global economy,"Annan has initiated the United Nations Global Compact and put forward nine principles regarding human rights, labor, and the environment. On its first Leader's Summit on June 24, 2004 in New York, the principles have been enhanced by a tenth against corruption. "Today, hundreds of companies from all regions of the world, international labour, and civil society organizations are engaged in the Global Compact."

MANAGING ETHICS IN PROJECT ENVIRONMENTS

Ethical Considerations for the Project Life Cycle and Organization

Phases in projects are supposed to reduce complexity, increase transparency, and allow for controlled transitions and reviewed handoffs.Reviews are meant to detect problems and suggest solutions. Reviews may even be used to stop projects that no longer seem to be feasible within the given constraints. It is the responsibility of project managers and team members to honestly and truthfully report any problems regarding phase deliverables and to care for a thorough review of the phase they are about to close. Although rushing could be tempting and may even be supported by time constraints put forward by stakeholders, giving in without clearly discussing the impact and associated risk is irresponsible and unprofessional conduct.

Communication with and management of project stakeholders is at the heart of successful project management. Furthermore, identifying stakeholders, determining their requirements, and managing their influence involve ethical considerations including varying levels of responsibility. Project managers need to comprehensively determine the impact of any decision to be made. Expectations of funding or otherwise powerful authorities need to be balanced with conflicting requirements of other stakeholders. In order to comprehensively manage stakeholder expectations and conflicting issues, objectives and values need to be carefully addressed and openly discussed. The focus needs to be on customer satisfaction without disregarding others.

Furthermore, project needs have to be balanced withorganizational influences: systems, cultures, and structures need to be considered. While team and project cultures may be innovative and leading the change, the possible difference to organizational culture and hierarchy has to be "managed" in loyalty to superiors and to the organization as a whole.

Ethical "Hotspots" in the Project Management Processes and Knowledge Areas

The project manager is responsible for tailoring project management processes according to the needs of the project and the organization. Since tradeoffs are inevitable, the ethical implications of all decisions need to be assessed.

While defining the project during theinitiating processes, the project team needs to understand the values, concerns, and expectations of stakeholders and analyze the possible impact of the project. That may help the project manager to create buy in and evaluate the existence of a strong and broad enough basis for the project to move forward.

The focus of ethical considerations in theplanning processes is defining the detailed objectives and preparing the best course of action. Translating the general impact analysis of the project on various stakeholders into the detailed project activities and deliverablesdocumented in the work breakdown structure is a helpful approach to base planning decisions on ethical reasoning. Furthermore, all planning processes need to be conducted and communicated honestly and thoroughly both internally and externally.

Executing, monitoring, and controlling processes implement the plans with the ethical focus again being on communicating timely and truthfully with all stakeholders and on continuing to manage their expectations in balance with changes in and around the project environment. In spite of daily pressures and necessary control measures, not loosing sight of stakeholders as human beings having values, objectives, and feelings rather than mere resources or obstacles of project improvement becomes the major ethical challenge of execution and control. Customer satisfaction and team development are the main criteria for measuring project progress and success. Both depend on correct, comprehensive, and careful information and feedback in a timely manner.

Finally, theclosing processes need to formalize acceptance, evaluate stakeholder satisfaction, and bring the project to an orderly end. Including evaluations of the impact analysis and stakeholder management processes in final lessons learned and post implementation reviews will further improve the processes of ethical decision making and conduct.

Guidelines for Managing Ethics in Project Environments

Some ethical principles for project management have emerged in our earlier discussions. A clear visionincluding valuesneeds to be part of project leadership and should be aligned with policy, practice, and communication to become effective. Project managers need to be "obsessed"with basic values like fairness, honesty, due care, and integrity. They need to feel comfortable communicating intensely with a variety of internal and external stakeholders and taking their perspectives seriously. Ethical decision making requires commitment to solving problems collaboratively based on shared values. However, accountability calls for personal rather than collective responsibility in a professional context. The human, social, and environmental cost and impact of decisions and actions need to be analyzed, considered and balanced with other project and stakeholder requirements in a local and global perspective. The initial results of that process and later changes need to be documented in both a productor service-oriented Project Deliverables Impact Statement (ProDIS) and a process-oriented Project Management Impact Statement (ProMIS).

Specific project management guidelines on ethical decision making can help implementing the ethical principles:

Include ethical dimensions in all decision-making procedures.

Use checklists and samples for the ProDIS and ProMIS.

Make ethics decisions in groups and make them public (use of "veil of ignorance" approach).

Define a joint process and mutually agreeable criteria for ethical decision making.

Apply both ethical principles and evaluation of the possible results and impact.

Continually evaluate and improve the procedures of ethical decision making.

Finally, although corporate project management policies and procedures for managing ethics are no prerequisite for managing ethics in individual projects, they will substantiallyhelp in doing so. However, top-down commitment is paramount. If senior executives do not live up to the core values of the corporation and fail to communicate both their short-comings and their continuous strive for ethical growth, all further efforts in ethical programs will be perceived as dummy activities merely aiming at deceiving the public. Thus, on top of the possible development of codes of ethics or conduct, ethics management needs to be implemented as a comprehensive and corporate-wide process using cross-functional teams.

Furthermore, ethics management needs to be integrated in other management practices in order to become effective. Ethicists and ethics committees may then be functions supporting the ethics management process by designing and implementing procedures to develop the Impact Statements (ProDIS and ProMIS) and to resolve ethical dilemmas based on vivid corporate values and principles. Both leaders and managers as well as special ethics functions need to hold and support regular challenging meetings confronting values statements with practical conduct and procedures and thus updating and improving both.

All involved in that process need to be educated and trained in ethics management and ethical reasoning and decision making.

Last but certainly not least leaders and managers need to install a corporate culture that values forgiveness and continuous effort for improvement. The survival of such a culture will depend on the valued perception of ethical integrity and moral courage even in the light of their occasional negative impact on the bottom line. Most probably this culture can best be implemented and nurtured by leaders serving both their various stakeholders and a joint mission based on shared values.

Gautam Koppala,

POME Author

Responsibility, Values, and Ethics in Project Environments from POME by Gautam KOppala

By: GAUTAM KOPPALA

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