Introduction
Ethics in industrial psychology is one of the most important issues today as it determines privacy and confidentiality. Every employee can expect workplace safety and healthy working conditions. If it can be agreed on that ethical behavior is legal behavior plus some other element, then it is important that this additional element be identified, if possible. At first blush, many people will probably agree that this additional element is the collection of moral principles and values of what is right and what is wrong and what is good and what is bad, as determined by group behavior or by some member of the group. The problem is that professional training covers only main areas and the most typical situations occurred in modern organizations but cannot provide clear and detailed recommendations for all areas and problems in organizational psychology. This situation creates an ethical dilemma of practicing psychology outside an area of acceptable training. At this point, it appears that one’s behavior is ethical if it is legal and in accordance with group norms. Based on discussions and some recent philosophies, this is what many would have everyone believe
Discussion Section
The complexity of organizational psychology has led to a good deal of confusion about its proper conceptual domain. Not surprisingly, studies have addressed quite different aspects of the support metaconstruct, focusing on subjective appraisals of support, supportive behavior, or components of the support network. Some have cast a broader net, examining facets of the social network, affiliation with groups, attachment to neighborhoods, and social role status. This diversity of focus, alone, makes it very difficult to integrate findings. Confusion over the conceptual richness of social support led to an astonishing array of measures. Following APA Ethical Principles (2002), diversity of measures particularly in theoretical framework for sorting them makes synthesis of research findings difficult. The lack of reliability and validity information on these novel and dissimilar instruments makes it all but impossible. In addition to having unknown reliability and validity, some early measures were confounded with other personal and social resources. For proper business and social conduct, these ethical standards and values must be shared by not only individuals but by the total business community and society as a whole. Without agreement by all parties involved, only legality exists to control the actions of everyone (Aamodt, 2007).
Following the main ethical theories, it is possible to say that when choosing between two actions, the one that produces the greatest net happiness should be the one chosen. Where most of them disagree with one another is in the area of how this principle should be applied. There are also several stated weaknesses in this concept. It ignores actions that appear to be wrong in themselves; it espouses the concept that the end justifies the means; the principles may come into conflict with that of justice; and it is extremely difficult to formulate and establish satisfactory rules of application. Hardly a day goes by without picking up the newspaper and reading of someone or some business involved in fraud, price gouging, kick backs, negligence, pollution violations, or any number of other illegal or unethical practices. What is being done about this and what should be done about this by business, the government, and the academic community will be briefly examined after first looking at what the public thinks of the ethical and moral climate of the nation and its major professions (Spector, 2008).
A competent person is competent in those situations he/she knows well and can find the appropriate solution. The links between stressors and support may be highly problematic in tests of the buffer hypothesis, especially when they are not acknowledged. A third issue has to do with diversity, once again, this time, diversity of stressors experienced (“APA Ethical Principles” 2002). Variations in training may account for some inconsistencies in findings, and, although most studies testing the buffer hypothesis have involved life event inventories (technically, similar measures of stressors), it is not implausible that the distribution of stressors experienced by participants has varied across studies (particularly those with disparate populations). Life event inventories have a good deal to recommend them, but support effects certainly vary across stressors, and life event inventories quite likely contribute to inconsistent findings. Relatively little attention has been paid to outcome variables in social support research. In the psychological domain, distress and wellbeing variables have included depression, anxiety, positive and negative affect, happiness, life satisfaction, psychosomatic complaints, and psychiatric and neurotic “symptoms,” among others. Generally, differential predictions regarding outcome have been absent in social support research — it has been viewed as a universal tonic. First, most research on social support is not merely passive, but cross-sectional (Spector, 2008). As such, findings are open to reverse causation explanations that sometimes are highly plausible. In many of the studies discussed here, distress may influence support instead of, or as well as, support influencing distress. Complex, reciprocal relationships between stress, support, and distress were explored by psychologists. Standard practice has been to interpret associations as support effects, with an obligatory caveat (Aamodt, 2007).
The problem with competence and ethical decision making is that a psychologists has to deal with different situations and find state-of-the-art solution for every individual situation or employee. Many researchers focus on the individual’s experience as indicative of adjustment. In management, maintenance of relatively low levels of negative affect and, in some studies, high levels of positive affect defines optimal adjustment in these studies. Both general (e.g., state anxiety, global distress) and change-specific measures are used. Most studies relied on the absence of negative affect to indicate adequate adjustment (Mullins, 1993). Functional status and role-related behaviors also can indicate adjustment. Return to work has been used as an adjustment index in many studies of those undergoing cardiac events, for example (Spector, 2008). Other examples of functional status include mobility, completion of physical rehabilitation, and ability to adhere to change management regimens. First, adjustment to new business, social and political environment is multidimensional, including both intra- and interpersonal dimensions. Within these realms, individual adjustment comprises cognitive (e.g., intrusive thoughts, self-evaluations), emotional (e.g., depression, anxiety), behavioral (e.g., return to work), and physical (e.g., symptom reports) functioning. Interpersonal adjustment often is relevant with regard to both personal relationships (e.g., family, friends) and relationships with health care providers. Professional training is important as it determines the main human moral values and traditions coined during centuries. In discussing ethics and morals as it applies to society, three words (ethics, morals, and ethical) will be frequently used (Aamodt, 2007). Professional training involves the system or code of human conduct, with the emphasis on the determination of what is right and wrong. The main advantage and benefit of ethics is that it stipulates behavior patterns desirable and beneficial for all social beings. Ethical conduct goes beyond legality and is more comprehensive. If ethical behavior is legal behavior plus some other element, then it is important that this additional element be identified, if possible (“APA Ethical Principles” 2002).
Influenced by social, cultural, economic and political environments organizations have changed, so any training would respond effectively to these changes. A psychologist will be a competent professional if he/she works in new environment and analyses it weaknesses and threats for employees and the organization in general. Organizational development seems to be an inevitable thing which any organization is supposed to live through. There can be various reasons for organizational change, and all of them have to be carefully taken into account in order to make the organization productive and help it survive in the competitive world of business. It is understandable that some people may appear to be quite conservative and may not accept the change as a positive thing. The organization cannot afford internal conflicts, and needs the employees to work in synergy. Thus, the way out in this situation could be inviting a consultant who could train employees the new ways of behavior in a changed environment and make them believe that change is a positive thing, as well as make them work for the success of their company (Aamodt, 2007).
Conclusion
In sum, competence is determined by knowledge and skills of the psychologist rather than specific programs included in training courses. It is ethically to practice psychology outside an area of acceptable training because of fast organizational changes and shifts in organizational psychology discipline. These ethical standards and values must be shared by not only individuals but by the total business community and society as a whole. It affirms that every judgment is composed both of the materials of perception and the hidden principles of thought. The genesis of intellect has nothing to do with the concrete problem; we must understand its present terms, which may be summarized as follows: A distinct moral situation is presented for consideration. It becomes companion in the daily round of commonplace experiences.
References
Aamodt, M. G. (2007) Industrial/organizational psychology. An applied approach. (5th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadswo
APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002).
Spector, P. E. (2008). Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice. Wiley; 5 edition