Abstract:
Practitioners make decisions daily that have ethical implications. Too often these are made without explicit concern for short and long term implications for the stakeholders involved in the project and with vague guidance from a code of ethics. With greater awareness of ethical issues generally and with the strengths and limitations of their own values, project managers can positively influence their decisions for the betterment of the individual and his/her environment. The application of this positive influence is achieved through explicit reflection on the project manager’s ethical attitudes and likely behaviors in general, as well as through individual participants’ discussions with other project managers. Increased awareness of ethical impact can stimulate ethical leverage to everyday decision making and key ethical choice points. It can help practitioners to lead by exemplifying personal behaviors aligned with ethically informed values and provide a framework with which to analyze ethical scenarios in project management.