College Axia HSM 230 Legal Considerations
Compose a 200- to 300-word response to the following: The Community Services Code of Ethics in Appendix A of Ethical Leadership in Human Services states, Whatever your personal feelings about the justice and appropriateness of particular laws, all board members, staff, and volunteers are to obey all laws in the performance of their work on behalf of Community Services. Why do you think this instruction is necessary? What does it tell you about the relationship between law and ethics?
I believe the instruction is necessary because as individuals, we each bring a unique background and set of built in prejudices (meaning disposition to think and act a certain way--not necessarily the negative connotation traditionally associated with the word) with us to the job. As these prejudices are built in, we often act on them without thinking. The instruction serves a two-fold purpose:
1. To enlighten the employee as to what is expected, regardless of their individual
predispositions. 2. To suggest that a violation of the law will result in punishment. In other words, some people don't consider the law, but rather on act their instincts, or feelings, or the way they themselves have been treated in the past. The instruction tells these employees that when the law conflicts with their sense of right and wrong, they MUST nevertheless act in accordance with the law. In regards to the fact that the instruction is in the handbook says about the correlation between the law and ethics, the author of the instruction understands that what is ethical in one person's mind does not always comport with the law and that in the running of a business, complying with the law is paramount over actions based on what the employee believes to be fair, just and ethical. The author of the instruction understands that what is ethical in one person's mind does not always comport with the law and that in the running of a business, complying with the law is paramount over actions based on what the employee believes to be fair, just and ethical.
This means that the company recognizes that there is a difference between what people may believe is the ethical way to handle a situation, and the legal way to handle that same situation. Law and ethics are not one in the same thing.