The relations between people within society are traditionally regulated by definite norms and principles which are often discussed as ethical canons or rules. From this point, ethical principles and rules are based on the concept of morality which is considered as the universal notion.
Thus, the development of all the persons’ interactions should depend on the principles of morality. Ethical norms exist within society without their fixing as laws, but they are realized with references to the moral development of this or that individual.
People clearly understand what is morally good and what is bad. However, there are a lot of codes of ethics which are worked out for different professions. According to these codes, the ethical norms and principles are fixed and should be followed strictly.
This fact provokes the discussion about the significance of the codes for professions and their difference from the traditional non-fixed ethical principles used in society.
In his article “The Quest for a Code of Professional Ethics: An Intellectual and Moral Confusion”, John Ladd argues that ethical codes are absurd and unnecessary because ethical norms cannot be organized as it is given in codes.
In this case, ethical norms acquire the features of laws, and this fact contradicts to the idea of ethical principles.
Although the position of John Ladd is rather controversial and has some problematic issues to be discussed, the researcher’s vision is quite reliable and based on a lot of arguments. Thus, his critique has both strengths and weaknesses.
The representatives of different professions should communicate and cooperate with their colleagues and clients according to the definite code of ethics. Nevertheless, Ladd states that an organized professional ethics can be discussed as a kind of absurdity because of confusing the principles of ethics with corporate laws (Ladd).
It is possible to agree with the author’s point of view that ethics is based on the principles of openness and reflectivity.
Moreover, persons are autonomous that is why their moral behavior can depend only on the personal visions of moral or immoral actions and behaviors (Ladd).
Thus, the attempts to determine the ethical norms as rules which are necessary to follow according to the standards of the profession or organizations’ activity can be discussed as opposite to the fundaments of ethics.
From this point, it is important to distinguish between the code of ethics and the code of conduct.
If the code of ethics includes those principles which can be considered as the code of conduct in the context of the definite profession, the notion of the code of ethics becomes meaningless.
Therefore, Ladd’s opinion on the fact that the code of ethics begins to be developed as the disciplinary code is credible. The author logically develops his argument and continues the discussion of the controversial points of the question with accentuating the idea that ethics is the same for everyone.
That is why it is impossible to speak about the specific ethical norms for different professions (Ladd). According to Ladd, ethical issues can also be presented as the objects of macro-ethics and micro-ethics.
When the representatives of one profession are discussed as the social group their ethical or non-ethical behavior can influence as the whole society as individuals within it, and it is a problem of macro-ethics.
The aspects of this field are more controversial in comparison with the aspects of micro-ethics which is associated with personal relations (Ladd).
However, Ladd does not pay much attention to this or that category, and it is possible to disagree with his position depending on Luegenbiehl’s point of view that “the adoption of a code is significant for the professionalization of an occupational group, because it is one of the external hallmarks testifying to the claim that the group recognizes an obligation to society that transcends mere economic self-interest” (Luegenbiehl 138).
John Ladd develops his argument with emphasizing the idea that ethical norms and rules cannot be imposed authoritatively because their realization is connected with definite procedures and laws which are worked out as a result of decision making process, and this fact contradicts to the principles of ethics in its association with morality.
Ladd’s approach can be discussed as argumentative, but quite logical. The main concepts which are presented in codes of ethics for different professions reflect the universally adopted visions of the ethical behavior that is why the representatives of definite professions behave according to the general ethical norms which are expanded in the context of this or that profession.
In this case, the code of ethics is the collection of well-known ethical principles and rules according to which people regulate their behavior every day. Thus, is it necessary to develop different codes of ethics for a lot of professions, if their basics are the same and depend on accepted visions of ethical and non-ethical behavior?
John Ladd states that the development of codes of ethics is the meaningless process because of its uselessness (Ladd).
However, people can disagree with the author’s opinion with references to the groups of representatives of professions as collectives and their definite obligations according to the peculiarities of their activities.
Nevertheless, these peculiarities can be described in the codes of conduct without discussing them as the codes of ethics.
According to Ladd, the development of codes of ethics has definite objectives, and it is possible to determine benefits and negative aspects of this process (Ladd). Such an approach to the discussion of the problem provides the readers of the article with the opportunity to agree on many ideas presented by the author.
It is rather difficult to indicate the specific objectives of using the codes of ethics which could refer to definite professions. Thus, the norms which are provided in the codes of ethics can be analyzed as the significant rules of the ethical behavior for the specialists.
Ladd states that such rules can inspire the professionals and remind them about the necessity to act ethically, especially in those situations which are listed in the code (Ladd). Nevertheless, this statement can be discussed as contradictory to the point that it is meaningless to organize specific codes of ethics.
Thus, there are a lot of persons which can behave and act unethically and without any reference to the principles of morality.
From this point, the code of ethics is not only the collection of the rules, but the factor of limiting the possibilities for the professional’s unethical behavior in relation to colleagues, clients, or any group of people within the society.
However, it is only one side of the problem. Codes of ethics cannot include all the controversial aspects which are important for professionals to avoid or follow. They can only be used as the collection of the useful points.
Moreover, it is interesting to refer to Luegenbiehl’s opinion that moral conflicts should be solved effectively, but codes of ethics do not provide employees and managers with the necessary base for overcoming conflicts and ethically problematic situations (Luegenbiehl).
When these codes can be used for resolving conflicts, they are relevant to the disciplinary codes in which the professionals’ possible risks and responsibilities are given.
Discussing the code of ethics for the definite professions as the way to regulate the relations between the employers, employees, and clients, it is possible to speak about the domination of the micro-ethical problems (Ladd).
However, this approach also accentuates the facts that there are no extremely significant differences between the ethical norms and principles for different professions because they are based on the single vision of morality as the category, and the confusion between the code of ethics and the code of conduct leads to the wrong usage of the notion of the code of ethics.
Moral norms and rules cannot be imposed on people authoritatively as the part of the certain procedure because it is a human right to choose or not to act according to the canons of morality.
To support this idea, Ladd proposes the notions of suppression and tyranny in order to emphasize the difference between the code of conduct and ethical norms which should be followed without any pressure.
Ladd concludes that it is impossible to codify ethics as the special collection of norms for this or that profession because of the impossibility to use the fixed norms in relation to the phenomenon of morality (Ladd).
However, in spite of the position of such researchers as Ladd and Luegenbiehl according to the necessity of working out the codes of ethics for different professions, these codes are still developed and actively used.
What is their role in regulating the relations within organizations? It is possible to speak about the defense of the interests of the representatives of certain professions and about the increase of the status of these professions.
People are inclined to trust those persons who act in relation to some limits and regulations even in connection with the questions of morality. From this point, the code of ethics can be discussed as a kind of guarantee for people to get the qualified service or cooperate effectively.
Nevertheless, the real situations provide the evidences for supporting the idea that codes of ethics are ineffective for resolving conflicts which are based on the misunderstandings associated with moral issues.
Having analyzed John Ladd’s vision of the problem of codes of ethics presented in his work “The Quest for a Code of Professional Ethics: An Intellectual and Moral Confusion”, it is necessary to conclude that the notions of the code of ethics and the code of conduct should not be confused.
Thus, codes of ethics are ineffective for overcoming the conflicts between professionals which are based on ethical or moral issues.
However, well-developed codes of conduct can be used as the effective means to resolve the conflicts and regulate the problematic situations because these norms can be imposed authoritatively, and employers and managers can require their absolute following when principles of ethics depend on the person’s free choice.
Works Cited
Ladd, John. “The Quest for a Code of Professional Ethics: An Intellectual and Moral Confusion”. Ethical Issues in Engineering. Ed. Deborah G. Johnson. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1991. 130-136. Print.
Luegenbiehl, Heinz C. “Codes of Ethics and the Moral Education of Engineers”. Ethical Issues in Engineering. Ed. Deborah G. Johnson. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1991. 137-154. Print.