Rothwell (n.d.) states that OD practitioners should care about ethics for two reasons:

1. In many organizations OD practitioners are the ones to train on ethics and encourage an ethical culture.
2. OD practitioners should serve as role models of what ethical behavior looks like in practice.

One of the greatest lessons that my dad taught me, is that “your reputation travels further than your name.” In other words, people may know who you are before you’ve ever met them based on the types of stories that people tell. Which is why it’s important to always act with integrity.

As a leader, it’s important that you act in the way that you want people who are working with you to act. If they see the leader yelling at people and not giving them the time of day, then that will be similar across the organization as people start to take their queues from the people at the top. If, however the person leading the group or company treats everyone the same, takes time to get to know people, and acts with integrity, those actions will be mimicked.

As an OD practitioner, it’s imperative that we practice what we preach. If we are teaching how to listen to others, but then we take over the conversation and don’t let others speak, we are eroding the foundation of the lesson. The same way, if we as a leaders say that everyone’s voice is equal, and then only listen to the two most vocal, we aren’t acting practicing what we preach, and soon, everyone may follow our example.

Rothwell (n.d.) writes that one of the greatest areas where OD practitioners have an ethical conflict is the conflict of interest. For example, if the OD practitioner is working with her only client and doesn’t have another one lined up, she may be tempted to continue presenting problems that need to be solved with the client before moving on. In reality, these problems may not exist, or may be easily remedied by giving the client the tools to solve them. But, if the practitioner continues to work on the issue, because she can’t afford to let the client go, then she is no longer serving the client, but herself.

As an OD practioner not only do we need to have a firm understanding of what constitutes ethical behavior, we should have a confident or two that we can run things by if we feel like we’re stepping into murkey water. Sometimes the best intentions can take us down the wrong path. The Organization Development Institute drafted a code of ethics, that clearly outline what good ethical conduct looks like. It is crucial that OD practioners keep these in mind when working on a project, with a client, or in their day to day life. The code of ethics can be found here

Reference

Organization Development Institute (n.d.) The international organization development code of ethics. The OD Institute Internationa. http://www.theodinstitute.org/od-library/code_of_ethics.htm

Rothwell, W.J. (n.d.) Why ethical standards are important. Retreived from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2012625/modules/items/27320431