case study 3

Introduction

As one of the ACS member, Hershal is required to advance and uphold effectiveness and dignity as a professional. This involves acting within the law and being a good citizen and to conformance to the ACS values such as; honesty, competence, enhancement of quality life, primacy of the public interest, professionalism and professionalism development. This aforementioned Codes, are meant specifically for guidelines for acceptable conduct of professionalism and to an individual practitioner. The codes aids in resolving contentious and ambiguous matters concerning the professional conduct and resolving the ethical dilemmas (Aronson, 1976, 28). The Primary of the public interest will be given first priority over other values in case of conflict among the values.

In the context of the public interest code, the interest of the public will have consideration over sectional, individual and private interest and any conflict that may arise should be solved in the interest of the public. Hershal should protect the interest of his stakeholders in his work, provided that the interest will not conflict or disrupt the loyalty and duty he owes the public. The public interest includes matters such as safety, environment and the public health. Based on the values Hershal will; find the potential impact of his work and put their interest under consideration, report any conflict among his professional activities and public requirements, to advise his stakeholder earlier enough of any conscientious objections and conflicting interest, to take into consideration that his profession has impact on other organization and social system and he should also endeavor to keep the privacy and confidentiality of information of others.

Under the code of honesty, Hershal should not break the trust that the public has in his profession or trust of his stake holders. Observation of integrity and honesty should underlie his actions and decision and accordance to the value he will; reject any inducement of offer of bribery, not misleading client knowingly as to the suitability of service or product, differentiate between his personal opinion, advice and profession, give realistic estimation for the project under his control, qualify professional views which he know are of limited experience or knowledge and give credit to others for the work done.

In the context of competence, Hershal is required to accept work that he believes he is competent to do and should also be willing to get extra experience from qualified personnel. He must be informed of his personal limitations and never imply to have competence he does not possess knowingly. In accordance to this value, he will; endeavor to give services and products that match financial and operational needs of his stakeholders and not to misrepresent his knowledge or skills. He would also make himself aware of the relevant legislation and standards and act accordingly, protect and respect his stakeholder’s interest, advise his stakeholder when he believes a proposed product, service or project is not of best interest, respect the responsibility of his work and seek when needed and respect professional colleagues in their various areas of competence.

According to the Australian legislation, in the context of compliance with law, professional are required to make themselves of the legislations, regulations, laws and professional policies based on their practice settings. These areas of legislation include; employment and workplace, criminal law, anti-discrimination, business practice, consumer protection and privacy protection. It is therefore important for Hershal to ascertain whether what he has is truly a clinical issue or an ethical issue. If is a clinical issue, then the social workers requires to consider the ethical ramification or implication of given choices. It is important to go through exercise of listing the values that are competing. If there are two or more competing values, then the social worker is obligated to continue with full ethical analysis with the demand of reconciling the conflict.

Reference

Aronson, R.H., 1976. Conflict of Interest. Wash. L. Rev., 52, p.807.