PRSA as well as the GDC professional code of ethics - Essay Example

? The key to realizing a degree of self satisfaction, honor, and integrity within any field or profession is to seriously engage with a full understanding and application of the way in which ethics are practiced. With regards to my particular field of study, graphic design, I must closely examine the PRSA as well as the GDC professional code of ethics. It is also important to recognize other ethical codes that we so far learned in this semester and apply them to our professional codes. Furthermore, virtue, deontological, teleological, and enlightenment ethics are extremely important since they state the approach to ethical decision-making and allow the individual to come to a delineation of what approach is best suited to maximizing the good in difficult or otherwise confusing situations. Ethical decision-making will lead to a successful profession as well as understanding of each professional code. Also, in this course we learned the approach of developing individuals’ professional ethos. All of the material we learned, such as utilitarianism, social contractarianism, social justice/veil of ignorance, and duty-based ethics vs. situation-based circumstances, is significant to comprehend in order to effect a more well-rounded representation of ethics within the field of practice. Virtue ethics concentrates on “the development of a right character over time through correct habits” (Traditional Ethical Approach p.1). It is also important to understand that you cannot merely become a virtuous person in a day; rather, it comes with experience and time. Becoming a virtuous person is important not only due to the fact that it represents engagement through the rules of best practice, it also allows for a degree of character growth as well as the increased benefit that those working with you will take note of your ethical decision making and seek to mirror it or to reward you based upon this aspect of your character. The PRSA code primarily enforces ethical practice and values. It states that all members must be honest with the people each communicates and deals with. Naturally, this is straight forward enough; however, when one contemplates the severe lack of honesty and the level that individuals within the business and professional world are forthcoming, one begins to understand the ultimate rational for putting such a simplistic expectation first and foremost within the ethical expectation for stakeholders within the PRSA. Furthermore, the GDC code proclaims that all members should not compete amongst each other; since this will invariably lead to unethical communication and an attempt by some to get ahead by lowering the status or position, trust, or ability of others. Thus, becoming an honorable person will exclude me from ever having unethical communication or acting dishonorably with my future co-workers, boss, or people I might be assisting. The second classical approach to making ethical decisions that we discussed is known as the deontological approach. This approach proclaims that a person must act according to one’s morals, regardless of the outcome since it will always be virtuous. Moreover, the deontological view asserts that virtue in and of itself can be defined as that which one would wish to become a universal law. In such a manner, the deontological viewpoint promotes the understanding that one should always seek to act in such a way that if their actions became a universal law they would have no issue with this. Naturally, this has a certain degree of the Golden Rule inherently built into the deontological approach to human behavior and ethical responsibilities. Yet, even if some of these approaches might not immediately be noted to have a strong or direct correlation to my professional code of ethics which have been discussed previously, they nonetheless can be applied to ethical situations in which the stakeholder is at something of a quandary with regards to what the best approach might be. Similarly, from the teleological standpoint, it must be understood that ethics and the code of professional conduct, as exemplified by both the PRSA and GDC, would be understood with respect to the fact that an action or thing has both an intrinsic and an extrinsic degree of finality. What this ultimately means is that the individual should be aware of seeking maximize the virtue towards a given purpose as well as for the purpose of affecting other goals as well. In such a way, the graphic designer should be mindful of the fact that engaging in ethical behavior should be effected not only due to the fact that it is a correct and virtuous form of behavior, but also with regards to the fact that it is likely to impact positively on secondary and tertiary factors that can provide an overall net benefit to the individual or other stakeholders as well. Enlightenment ethics must be engaged in order to effect the professional conduct and code of ethics that both the PRSA and the GDC promote. The underlying reason and rational for this is due to the fact that enlightenment ethics requires the individual to question the hierarchy of good and/or virtue that they have learned. Within the professional world, there are a number of ways through which a hierarchy of competing needs might be evidenced. As such, it is the responsibility of the stakeholder to keep this in mind and seek to maximize the ethical approach whenever possible. Within this approach, the individual situation that espouses a great deal of complexity and the needs of different individuals and groups can be ameliorated. The classical approach to making ethical decisions that we discussed is known as utilitarian ethics. This approach promotes the undemanding that a person should always seek to act in such a way to maximize ethical utility. Within the professional world, this can be done by always seeking to understand how the decisions that will be made impact upon other people and perennially seeking to promote the universalism of ethics within the decisions and choices that are made. For instance, a graphic designer might be requested to display one particular group in a less than favorable or demeaning manner. By realizing that this goes against the utilitarian code of ethics, this pitfall can be avoided and the ethical choice can be made. If one is to examine the social contractarianism and the means through which it can be applied within my future professional work, it must be understood that the ethical interpretation with regards to the expectation for members of the PRSA includes the following: advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness; each of which can reasonably exists within the social contractarianism and/or the deontological ethical framework which is previously been discussed. In short, ethics within the workplace, regardless of the function and/or professional entity that individual might the law, is an integral part in ensuring that virtue remains a best practice within the workplace. Whereas many individuals often become sidetracked with regards to the ultimate purpose of business and work being to generate income and to raise the quality of life, a review and discussion of the ethical implications necessarily engages one with an appreciation for the fact that even if a high degree of money is not, even if a high degree of prestige is never attained, the ethical implementation of one’s work is a high virtue that cannot and should not be discounted. Within such a theory, the professional can apply this line of logic to preclude those choices that would be unethical to a provisions of freedom or justice for others. If one’s work threatens to infringe on these, then the clear ethical decision would be to cease and desist from any such path. Similarly, social justice must be engaged in order to effect the professional conduct and code of ethics that both the PRSA and the GDC promote. The underlying reason and rational for this is due to the fact that enlightenment ethics requires the individual to question the hierarchy of good and/or virtue that they have learned. In such a way, enlightenment ethics promotes an understanding of virtue that is outside the normal mechanisms of the individual practitioner’s worldview or understanding. This is an especially important aspect of ethics to integrate with due to the fact that it challenges the preconceived notions that the individual might have and forces them to determine what the best ethics and virtue for all involved might be. In order to apply this in practice, it will be necessary for me to be ever mindful for how my own needs and the greater virtue effect not only the given situation or the immediate stakeholders but others as well. With regards to my own personal stance at the current juncture, as compared with Kohberg’s theory of ethical development, it must be stated that a self assessment on this lends me to believe that I am in the social contract stage. This delineation of ethical approach points to the fact that I have a strong belief in the fact that virtues and ethics are not only in place to maximize the good of the individual or the situational outcome, but also with regards to the efficacy of the way in which society continues to integrate. In such a manner, the understanding that virtue and ethics should perennially be engaged both on the personal front as well as the professional front points to the fact that this action in and of itself has tangential moral and tangible benefits. Read More