Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality; that is, about concepts such as good and bad, right and wrong, justice, and virtue. The NASW Code of Ethics is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers. This Code includes four sections. The first Section, "Preamble," summarizes the social work profession 's mission and core values. The second section, "Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics," provides an overview of the Code’s main functions and a brief guide for dealing with ethical issues or dilemmas in social work practice. The third section, "Ethical Principles," presents broad ethical principles, based on social work 's core values, which inform social work practice. …show more content…
Many organizations have been destroyed or heavily damaged financially and took a hit in terms of reputation, for example, Enron. The word Ethics is derived from a Greek word called Ethos, meaning “The character or values particular to a specific person, people, culture or movement” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2007, p. 295). Ethics has always played and will continue to play a huge role within the corporate world. Ethics is one of the important topics that are debated at lengths without reaching a conclusion, since there isn’t a right or wrong answer. It’s basically depends on how each individual perceives a particular situation. Over the past few years we have seen very poor unethical business practices by companies like Enron, which has affected many stakeholders. Poor unethical practices affect the society in many ways; employees lose their job, investors lose their money, and the country’s economy gets affected. This leads to people start losing confidence in the economy and the organizations that are being run by the so-called “educated” top executives that had one goal in their minds, personal gain. When Enron entered the scene in the mid-1980s, it was little more than a stodgy energy distribution system. Ten years later, it was a multi-billion dollar corporation, considered the poster child of the “new economy” for its willingness to use technology and the Internet in managing energy. Fifteen years later, the company is filing for bankruptcy on the heels of a massive financial collapse, likely the largest in corporate America’s history. As this paper is being written, the scope of Enron collapse is still being researched, poked and prodded. It will take years to determine what, exactly; the impact of the demise of this energy giant will be both on the industry and the
The NASW (National Association of Social Workers) Code of Ethics is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers. This Code includes four sections. The first Section, "Preamble," summarizes the mission and core values of the social work profession. The second section, "Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics," provides an overview of the Code 's main functions and a brief guide for dealing with ethical issues or dilemmas in social work practice. The third section, "Ethical Principles," presents broad ethical principles, based on social work 's core values, that affect social work practice. The final section, "Ethical Standards," includes specific ethical standards
The NASW code of ethics has six ethical principles. One of the six is Social Justice (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). This principal ensures social change for oppressed individuals. A social workers focus in social change relates to issues of unemployment and discrimination.
Working with people can be challenging, but so rewarding all at the same time. As humans, we are certainly not perfect and we are making mistakes daily. Making decisions is one thing that does not come easily to us, and depending on the day you can get multiple different answers to one situation. The NASW Code of Ethics is an extremely helpful tool when we are working with clients and something that does not ever waiver in ethical decision-making. If we are working in the Social work profession, then we must insure we are making the correct decision for everyone who is involved with the client.
I attribute this by our consent interaction with the NASW: Code of Ethics in our social work courses. By the use of journals, it is easy for students to connect ethical issues to practice and know what to do in certain situations. As I am getting ready to become a social worker, keeping this ethical principles fresh in my mind will be important to assure clients are treated with respect and adequate services are provide.
The National Association of Social Work's Code of Ethics is not only something that is crucial to someone in the field of Social Work but can also be applied to everyday life. These values in which the Code of Ethics mandates professionals to use are very important in knowing how to help clients in bettering their lives, and in help society as a whole become a better place. Service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence are all the core values of Ethics and should be learned and practiced by all, not only Social Workers (NASW, 2008).
National Association of Social Workers [NASW]. (1998). The New NASW Code of Ethics Can Be Your Ally: Part I. Retrieved from: http://www.naswma.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=96
As a student new to social work, The Code of Ethics written by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is in the forefront of my mind whenever practicing my freshly learned skills. According to the Code, these rules were written as the “values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct” (Code of Ethics - NASW, n.d.). Within my most-recent session, certain aspects of this code were relevant, including informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, a commitment to the client, the dignity and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships, integrity and competency of the worker, and social diversity.
The NASW Code of Ethics are professional standards created by the National Association of Social Workers for social workers. The Code of Ethics has ethical st...
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Washington DC: Author.
O’Conner pinpointed ( as cited in Chenoweth& McAuliffe, p. 78) that the code of ethics is clearly linked to the process of professionalization which establishes guideline for professional behavior, assist in establishing a professional identity, provide self-regulation measures, protect clients from incompetent practitioners and protect worker from malpractice lawsuits. The primary responsibility of worker is to promote the well-being of clients. As a disability worker, Code of ethics is intended to assist all workers collectively and individually to act in ethically accountable ways. It helps to identify the ideals and purpose of the social work profession. In instances when clients are not receiving services, the worker should provide information about nature and extent of services.. In the same way, in the field of disability, the code of ethics is the core document which informs and guides the ethical practice of disability worker (AAAW, 2010). The human services professional protects the integrity, safety, and security of clients records, and the professional should be aware that
The NASW Code of Ethics outlines the ethical responsibilities to colleagues including areas of respect, confidentiality, interdisciplinary collaboration, consultation, impairment or incompetence of a colleague, sexual relations and harassment, as well as unethical conduct of a colleague (NASW, 2008). In my opinion, the code of ethics is identifying common grounds for working with all human relationships, treating each other with kindness, respect and compassion, in addition to displaying professionalism in the field. Within my internship, I am only one of two social workers in our school district. I have encountered areas of conflict within my district, as my colleagues are not bound my the same ethical standards of the social work profession. I feel most of my colleagues do uphold the same standards of treating each other with the respect and engaging in professional behaviors, however there are times when I question the intent of a few colleagues. At times, I feel they may not be acting in the best interest of our district and are engaging in behaviors that appear intentional to cause conflict amongst their peers. Given I am interning at my place of employment, this can be a difficult area to address, however I have used this as an opportunity to talk with my field supervisor, as well as my administrators to ask for help in processing and addressing the conflict. I believe we are all confronted with these uncomfortable decisions at times and we use these situations as a chance to learn and grow. Understanding the importance of
The six core values that are described in the Code of Ethics by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) are social justice, service, importance of human relationships, dignity and worth of a person, integrity, and competence. According to the NASW (2016), these core values are the foundation for the purpose of the social work profession. It is essential for social work professionals to be able to put aside their personal values, and embody these core values when working with clients.
While working with the Doe family on the issues that they are facing it is most important to maintain professionalism and to make sure to uphold the values and ethics that are outlined for social workers in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. A social worker should also remain up to date with information on resources and policies in order to keep their clients well informed.
Ethics consists of factors such as culture, religion, and these continuously affect a person’s beliefs and ethics. As individuals continue to develop and adapt to different values and ethics. This is through past experiences and the expectations as our life pattern changes. Core values in social work practice are the code of ethics, informing our understanding of the difference and diversity. The social work profession is evaluated by a whole set of guidelines, measures put in place by regulatory bodies, allowing the movement to put in place new governmental laws and guides within this field.
The NASW Code of Ethics was established to serve six purposes to establish the core values upon which the social work profession is based, create specific ethical standards that should guide social work practice and reflect the core values, help social workers navigate professional considerations and obligations when ethical uncertainties arise, to provide ethical standards to which the social work profession can be held accountable, to initiate new social workers to the profession’s mission values, and ethical principles and standards, and to create standards by which the social work profession can assess if a social worker has engaged in unethical conduct. Social workers who pledge to abide by this code must cooperate with its implementation and disciplinary rulings based upon