PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY

Meaning of Professional and Integrity

 Professional means;
 Who willingly adopts and consistently applies knowledge, skill
and values of chosen profession

 Integrity means;
 The quality of being honest and morally upright
 State of being whole or unified
 Is a personal choice, uncompromising and predictably
commitment to honour moral, ethical, spiritual and artistic
values and principles
 Being staight-forward and honest in professional and
business activities
 Fair dealing and truthfulness
 Related values of Integrity

 Five related values of integrity are;

 Moral values, such as honesty

 Motives, such as desires, interests and ideals

 Commitment in thought, word and deed

 Qualities, such as perseverance and courage

 Standing fast, even in the face of opposition

 Integrity

 Kinds in integrity:
 Personal integrity
 Professional integrity

 Professional integrity is the sub sect of personal integrity

 Personal integrity covers everything we do

 while professioal behavioural requirements are generally

restricted to professional and business activities

 Personal behaviour may be so outrageous as to discredit the

profession by association
 Behaving with Integrity

 There is expectation from the stake holders that profession will

expect or demand an ethics-based culture by its members
around underlying values of integrity, transparency and expertise

 It is important for such behaviour to be adopted by those in the

profession and other business activities, particularly throughout
financial reporting chain
 Behaving with Integrity

 Behavioural characteristics expected of someone behaving

with integrity in professional context should be:

 Straight forward, honest and truthful

 Deal fairly
 Comply with the spirit as well as the letter of laws and
regulations
 Take into consideration the public interest
 Show consistency
 Be open-minded and open to consider new information
and ideas
 Take corrective action
 Professional Integrity -Meaning

 It is all about making right choices in regards to the good of the

organisation and the people around

 The decision should not negatively affect anyone

 It involves being ethical, means acting in a manner that is fair and

responsible

 Making decisions in the frame of mind as to what is right

 Dress is also a very important part of integrity

 Personal Integrity

 Does not have organisation or client as main drive, instead it

is more persons themselves

 More focused on values that the person holds that do not

affect their work life

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 Professional Integrity

 Not easy to have, if we don’t have personal integrity

 It is an extension of personal integrity

 Inside the code there is the underlying theme of professional

integrity

 Understanding the nature of a dilemma is extremely

important in being able to act with professional integrity

 As a professional, it is your duty to be fair and unbiased

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 Integrity in Organisation
 Culture of the organisation has an impact on the way
individuals behave within

 It is much easier to behave with integrity, if surrounded by

framework that encourages such behaviour

 A code of conduct is aften a key component of such a frame

work, if designed and applied properly

 Codes of conduct must be transformed into powers for good

 The codes must become active documents aiming to

encourage the professional to accept that ‘not everything has
a price’, that the professional’s actions should be founded on a
strong premise
Factors affecting organisational integrity

 Leadership

 Strategy

 Policies

 Information

 Culture
Indicators to observe the success of ethical values

 Awareness

 Predictability

 Transparency

 Long term view

 People
 Professional Integrity and Ethics

 It is crucial for personal credibility and professional success

 Personal credibility allow us to build effective relationship based

on mutual respect and trust and helps in achieving results

 Individual’s value system provides a framework within which

individual acts in ways which are consistent and expected

 Integrity is a state or condition of having such a frame work and

acting congruently within the given framework

 One essential aspect of consistent framework is avoidance of any

unwarranted exceptions for a particular person or group
 Professional Integrity and Ethics

 In personal ethics, one should not act according to any rule that
one would not wish to see universally followed

 The concept of integrity implies a wholeness, a comprehensive

corpus of beliefs, often referred to as a worldview

 The concept of wholeness emphasizes honesty and authenticity

 According to Ayn Rand, integrity does not consist of loyalty to

one‘s subjective whims, but of loyalty to national principles

 Popular psychology identifies personal integrity, professional

integrity, artistic integrity and intellectual integrity
Intellectual Dishonesty
Intellectural Dishonestry - Definition

 Failure to point out the truth or

 intentional coloring or distorting the facts
 or failures to act in time,
 This is caused by vested interest
or expectation of a future favour or
 fear or inability or sheer indifference
 Basic types

 Distorting or hiding of facts:

not bringing out the absolute truth

 Act of omission which otherwise is a duty bound action

 Motivation

 Vested interest or fear

 Inability or indifference
Corruption Vs intellectual dishonesty

 Corruption:
Abuse of public position for private benefit

 Corruption is a much larger and widespread evil.

Intellectual dishonesty is more about acts of omission
than about commission
Work environment that contributes
to Corruption

 Regulation and authorisation

 Lack of transparency in dealings

 Maze of laws and procedures

 Absence of consequences to tasks

 Lack of informed public opinion

 Low morale and poor work ethics

 Discretion
THANK YOU