Course Description

Professionalism and ethics, are two words that we all know are important, and yet, in our behaviour, we often, unconsciously or deliberately overlook them in pursuit of short-term benefits.

Working with integrity and intrinsic motivation leads an individual to work to the best of his abilities. Ethics are the morals and principals that govern a person’s behaviour. It means to be able to differentiate between what is right or wrong, and what is good or bad. People with robust work ethics perform their work with full dedication. It makes them stand out from the rest who may try to dodge hard work. The one with strong ethics never loses focus from their goals. They put persistent efforts, leading them to produce high-quality work consistently.

According to few people ethics can be taught while some say, it depends upon how a person has been raised, if he or she was made to distinguish between being morally right and being ethically wrong.; but psychologists today say that ethics consists of knowing what we ought to do, and such knowledge can be taught.

Professionalism is the conduct, behaviour, and attitude of a person in a work or a corporate environment. Professionalism can, indeed, be taught, and it has been for centuries, but not in the classroom. Instead, it is taught in the hidden curriculum at work, where professional behaviours are recognized and promoted while unprofessional practices get penalised, directly or indirectly, sooner or later.

During this course we will examine ethics, ethical behaviour and ethical dilemmas and consider the experiences that shapes one’s behaviour. We will also examine professionalism and to what extent our morals and values shapes our professional conduct.

Objectives

After completing this course, participants will:

• Identify and describe the origins of personal ethics.
• Compare and evaluate various models of ethical reasoning.
• Identify and apply ethical theories to issues and dilemmas.
• Develop an ethical decision-making model and apply it to scenarios / dilemmas / case studies.
• Identify and discuss ethical and professional standards and conduct
• Develop skills of critical ethical analysis of contemporary moral problems.