by John D Carmack

Created on: April 14, 2009

What are the ethical standards of a project manager? What are the challenges a project manager faces?

What do Bernie Madoff, Enron, WorldCom and AIG have in common? If you said, "Investigations into accounting fraud", you would be correct. There have been numerous accusations of fraudulent activity of large corporations since 2000.[1]

Our entire economy is run on at least a basic level of trust. We trust that our money will be accepted. We trust that public corporations will have oversight and comply with the law. The stock market indicates the level of trust that investors have in our economy. When news is good, the stock market usually goes up. When the news is bad, the stock market usually goes down. The strength of the US dollar overseas is an indication of the level of trust that other economies have in our own.

Customers trust companies to provide the goods and services contracted and paid for. Companies trust customers to pay on time. Likewise, vendors trust companies to pay them on time, and companies trust the vendor to deliver on time. Many times in the middle of these affairs will be a project manager (PM).

While the PM may not be a high-visibility position like a CEO, the ethics of a PM can reflect upon a company. They can reflect upon a department. Ethics or the lack thereof can even reflect upon an entire profession. That is why the Project Management Institute (PMI) has developed a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.[2] This code is important enough that a PM must agree to the Code before receiving their credentials, such as the Project Management Professional (PMP). The emphasis that PMI places upon ethics is unmistakable in its purpose statement:

"The purpose of this Code is to instill confidence in the project management profession and to help an individual become a better practitioner. We do this by establishing a profession-wide understanding of appropriate behavior. We believe that the credibility and reputation of the project management profession is shaped by the collective conduct of individual practitioners."

Yet, there are conflicts of interests and conflicting values everywhere. How do you standardize conduct? PMI chose the best way, actually. They begin by stating their values and then further delineate the types of conduct that uphold those values. According to the Code, ethics are based upon responsibility, respect, fairness (objectivity) and honesty. An example of a conduct that would uphold responsibility would be "We make decisions

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