Ethics and Professional Practice
Introduction
There are fundamental issues in the social work profession that established an ethical trajectory. Recently, there has been an increase in the demand for public consciousness on the role of ethics and human values in social works; understanding the importance of defining core social work principles as a professional code of conduct; understanding the need of ethical decision-making as a means of overcoming ethical dilemmas faced during practice; understanding the importance of recognizing and managing ethical risk as well as the desirability to provide solutions to ethical dilemma as they happen in the community (Deng et al., 2016). The modern ethical issues revolve around the central problem of current ethical dilemmas. Through reality, social workers are frequently faced with ethical dilemmas and are expected to apply ethical standards in social work to direct practice, participate in ethical decision-making, consider and maintain personal values in a way that enables action to be driven by professional values as well as accept uncertainty in the resolution of ethical conflicts. This paper will assess the ethical decision-making process in the presented case study.
Assessment: Case Study Three
The Facts of The Case
Professional social workers should understand that a client will always remain a client and that being a social worker and everything else (friend, business partner, paramour) is unethical. This means that it is difficult for Keith to date Laura at the moment without compromising his work. According to section. Luse (2018) noted that 1.09 of the NASW Code of Ethics states that social services professionals should not participate in sexual activity or sexual interaction with former clients because of potential harm to the client. On the same note, then it is crucial to note that the relationship between a social worker and a former client is allowed in some countries but provided that some conditions are met such as the minimum time before dating after a client is no longer a client and client’s vulnerability. Besides, Reamer, (2017) observed that because of the potential harm to the client, social workers are prohibited from engaging in sexual activities or inappropriate and sexual interaction with former clients. If social services professionals engage in conduct that is inconsistent to the prohibition or claim that an exception to these restrictions is justified due to extraordinary circumstances, then, the social workers and not their clients should prove that the former client has not been manipulated, coerced, or exploited, deliberately or inadvertently. In case study three, an unethical issue is presented between Laura and her caseworker Keith. Keith has been helping Laura to get accommodation. It is only two weeks since Laura ceased being his client while the law requires at least one year before a social service worker starts to date with a former client.
Relevant Ethical Issues Relating to The Case
Professionalism is important in that it allows appropriate limits to be defined. Although socialization is important among employees and between workers and management, these interactions need to be restricted so that work is done and the workplace relationships do not go overboard. Professionalism also enhances improvement; employees who professionally perform all activities create a suitable work environment and are highly motivated to achieve better performance (Fantus, Greenberg, Muskat, & Katz, 2017). On the same note, professional management ensures transparency as all employees including senior leadership positions are expected to observe policies and procedures. Professionalism means the smooth flow of procedures in process-oriented business situations, with cooperation from different departments. Professionalism also enables resource-efficient usage to achieve the maximum performance possible. It often facilitates respect for figures of authority and minimizes conflict by reducing unnecessary personal interaction and chatter.
Ethical principles in organizations are meant to guide professionals throughout their decision- making process and especially in approaching challenges when working through ethical dilemmas. These principles should have served to clarify Keiths’s ethical obligations for the organization and its clients. While these principles are instrumental in achieving best practices in an organization, they cannot be used by these organizations to guarantee ethical behavior as in the case of Keith and Laura. In their case, it is clear that Keith is not committed to ethical practice by allowing Laura to express her feelings and allowing her to ask him for a date while it was barely two weeks since she ceased to be a client of the organization. These breach of code of ethical codes indicate that the information in the ethical codes was not enough for Keith to guide him in making his decision concerning the relationship as well as his actions (Rosoff et al., 2018). Besides, Keith did not conduct himself professionally as professionals always seek help from their supervisors, colleagues, lawyers, ethicists, or other people when in dilemma to avoid making wrong decisions.
Banks (2016) observed that typically, the policies of virtually every organization does not allow the relationship with clients or former clients as it can be harmful. The homeless service organization requires that its employees follow the set policies, guidelines, and procedures as well as best practices and applicable laws and procedures. As a professional, Keith understands that the organization has a staff handbook that guides them to uphold best practices and to avoid unethical issues in the course of the performance.
Ethical Decision-Making Process
In the recent past, many models have tried to provide unique perspectives on the ethical decision-making process and some of the elements seem common as they run through each of them. These elements include awareness, of the nature of the existing dilemma as well as personal values and biases; grounding which include individuals’ knowledge of code of practice, institutional policies, laws, and procedure; support which one achieves through consultation with relevant parties and supervisors and professional colleagues; and lastly, an implementation which involves documentation and evaluation process (Brownlee, LeBlanc, Halverson, iché & Brazeau, 2019). These elements are instrumental and are applied to the case scenario involving Laura and Keith.
Awareness
Keith must first note that the specific nature of the dilemma exists and that it needs to be resolved. In the case study, Keith as a professional let personal values run contrary to the set ethical standards of a professional social service worker. On the same note, Keith is expected to identify the principles and code of conduct he is likely to compromise and also be aware of his values and biases that can influence his decision making in this situation.
Grounding
Keith must have been confronted with a sense that he was entering dangerous territory when Laura disclosed that she is attracted to him with two weeks after ceasing to be his client. Johari, Mohd‐Sanusi, Chong (2017) asserted that this is in contrary to the ethical codes which allow one to date former client after at least a year after they ceased to be their client. Understanding this, Keith should have found grounding in the ethical codes, legal standards as well as organizational policies to guide his practice and in deciding the matter. In this step, Keith should take his motives into account, and try to separate them from his decision. He should attempt to detach the thoughts or emotions from the equation and focus on the repercussions on those that will be affected. On the same note, he should examine his code of conduct regarding ethical codes. The question of ethical issues requires a strong understanding of what is right and wrong.
Support
As a professional, it is understandable that ethical codes guiding individual practice are not always clear and, in some cases, do not suit some situations and can even contradict organizational legal standards or policies (Weber, 2019). As a result, professionals such as Keith must seek out consultation and support when in an ethical dilemma.
Should Keith have had any concerns, doubts, or questions as to what would be the correct course of action in any of this case, he should have contacted the appropriate stakeholders and the parties concerned. Some key role players are part of the process of finding the best solution to an ethical issue. This would boost the accountability and integrity of the process of seeking support and participation of all stakeholders. The involvement of all those affected by the ethical problem is important and as it contributes to the final and right decision.
Implementation
It is crucial to understand that decision-making is a continuous process that leads in action and it is not just an intellectual activity. According to Schwartz (2016), the process includes generating possible pathways that can be used to resolve the existing dilemma, assessing the consequences of the possible pathways on involved parties, selecting the path to follow as well as documenting and evaluating the ultimate impact. The previous steps discussed in this section were preparing for this process to ensure that the decision-making process works fine. There is one approach to decide from all the choices and it has to be one that everyone will support and be behind. When implementing the selected alternative decision, it is important that the decision to be rational and objective. Nevertheless, unilateral decisions resulting from political power, poor leadership, or personal preference by basing the final decision on the previous steps.
Figure 1.0: Ethical Decision-Making Process
Source: Own Source
Possible Outcomes of the Case
Most social service workers come into the social work industry to help others develop and change their lives. But they must maintain clear boundaries when working with clients to ensure professional integrity and transparency (Reamer. 2019). In any given website of the social work certification board, one can see numerous instances in which charges have been lodged against social workers resulting in fines, sanctions, licenses, suspension, or revocation being enforced. In certain cases, the staff was jailed for wrongdoing for violation of confidentiality, forgery of record-keeping, malfeasance, among others. In this case study, Keith can be suspended from the company considering that despite understanding the codes of ethics he still goes ahead to date Laura two weeks after Laura ceased to be their client. On the same note, there is a possibility of his license revoked for breaching the codes of ethics for professionals.
At least in part, the concern about acceptable boundaries is a concern about the consequences of the power differential between client and professional. According to Rui (2017), this is mainly concerned with boundary breaches which are evident in this case where Keith seems to have used his power to influence Laura’s feelings deliberately or unintentionally. In another angle, the relationship can be a form of exploitation in terms of financial gains with Laura opting to benefit, and on the other end it can be abuse and Keith may be taking advantage of Laura’s current status.
Conclusion
In the end, ethical practice has many advantages whether in business, public service, or day-to-day regular activities. In situations where the right course of action is not immediately apparent, both in personal and business decisions, a strict code of ethics serves as a guide. Ethical practices create customer faith in the service or brand that an individual or organization provides by building trust. A code of ethics minimizes the need for legislation as well as regulations as self-driven employees in an organization understand what the organization expected of them. Such code also establishes a norm by which employee behavior should be assessed, and appropriate disciplinary measures can be taken in cases of unethical conduct as in the case of Keith who is responsible for the relationship with his former client.
References
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