BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY Consultancy Specialist Group

A joint event with the

BCS Ethics Forum.

“Ethical Dilemmas“Date/Time:

Wednesday 12th March 20086.00pm

Venue: BCS London Office, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA

Speakers: Session 1: Clive Bonny & John McGarvey, Independent ConsultantsSession 2: Dr Penny Duquenoy, BCS Ethics Forum Strategic Panel

Session 1

History of Ethics; Definitions; Ethics Today; Ethics – is this a problem for

Consultants? Ethics and the Independent Consultant; Consulting Dilemmas; Profiting from ‘Good Practice’.

Ethics – A Little History

From Ancient Greece about 460 BC; Hippocrates may have been the first

proponent of ethical behaviour; Philosophy is the discipline concerned

with the questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic);

An underlying thought system for moral judgements and behaviour.

Ethics - Definition

Ethics - also called  ’Moral philosophy’  the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad, right and wrong. The term is commonly applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles;

Ethics - the fundamental issues of practical decision making and its major concerns include the nature of ‘ultimate value’ and the standards by which human actions can be judged.

Source: Encyclopædia Britannica

Ethics Today

Today the word Ethics is often substituted for Morals;

Focus is on ‘Business ethics’ and how this affects the consultant in their day to day working life;

Is it important? Can ethics just be ignored and carry on as normal?

The Trouble with Consultants …

Public opinion low; Successful assignments do not make

news; Government (biggest user of

Consultants and Interim Managers) rarely has anything positive to say;

NAO says that there is some way to go before good value for money is achieved overall for use of consultants.

Independent Consultants

Client Focussed. The Client’s needs are all important;

No ‘Conflict of Interest’ with Practice Manager;

No pressure to find work for other colleagues;

Lower cost base means VFM rate flexibility; Access to associates for specialist skills

when required.

Ethical Consultant

Takes assignments only in those fields where they can confidently predict that they can help their client;

Is professionally qualified in these areas and keeps up their CPD;

Acts as a guide or mentor to junior or less experienced consultants;

Has professional indemnity and public liability insurance as necessary;

Subscribes to a professional body which has a code of professional conduct;

Supports their professional body with their time or ‘pro bono’ consulting as appropriate.

Consulting Dilemmas

Consulting Dilemmas from Clive Bonny www.consult-smp.com

Please respond to the following situations according to what you would ACTUALLY do, NOT what you think you SHOULD do. This requires some tough but honest internal dialogue! If this dialogue is too tough please consider yourself a twin of the main player, and decide how you would react to your twin AFTER they have taken this course of action. When you have decided, please share this decision within your syndicate to discuss all individual responses. Discussions will be held without disclosing identities outside the syndicate to ensure confidentiality. A nominated person will record the way the discussion develops without attributing who said what.

Dilemma 1

1. You have quoted time and materials pricing for two similar assignments both requiring preparatory work. To your delight both clients order the work but a dilemma has been created. The preparatory work on one job can also be used on the other job. Potentially this reduces your costs and allows you to reduce pricing on one or both jobs. What would you do?

Dilemma 2

2. You and a colleague have worked hard with much time negotiating a bid which you have just won. You are reviewing your colleague’s bid offer and notice that the client pre-qualification question requiring a specific CPD certification was not answered. The client and your colleague appear to have overlooked this. You do not have the required certification. What would you do?

Dilemma 3

3. You have developed a successful client relationship for some years. Your main client contact has indicated to you confidentially s(he) is considering a move to a consulting supplier who competes with yourself. You were planning to recruit a person with the same skills and experience. What would you do?

Dilemma 4

4. You are in the middle of delivering a successful project with your employed team. The client wishes to extend the work and has emailed you asking you confirm within 48 hours that you have the capacity to deliver more as time is of the essence for a decision. Your resources are currently fully committed but you are confident you can sub-contract to an associate to deliver. However the sub-contractors are on holiday and cannot be contacted within 48 hours. What would you do?

Profiting from Good Practice

Take an ethical approach at all times by:

Encouraging Clients to evaluate and measure the benefits of any work conducted by Consultants;

Agree from outset to share any IPR; Protect personal methods but transfer

Knowledge; and Leave the business change

successfully embedded.

End of Session 1

Many thanks for listening to the presentation –

Please take a break if you wish …

Session 2

Introducing the BCS Ethics Forum

Minimising ethical dilemmas- ethics in practice

Dr. Penny DuquenoyManager, BCS Ethics Forum

www.bcs.org/forums/ethics

Revisiting examples (session 1)Values from business ethics: integrity, honesty, quality, loyalty Professionalism, responsibility Mutual respect, fairness and meritocracy Leadership, responsibility Client focus and teamwork

Add ………………… ? ?

(Business) Ethics and personal values

See: www.ibe.org.uk/examples

Big business and values …

Example: 3i Group plc(world leader in private equity and venture capital)

Core values: “We believe that the highest standard of integrity

is essential in business. In all our activities, we aim to: Be commercial and fair Respect the needs of our shareholders, our staff, our

suppliers, the local community and the businesses in which we invest;

Maintain our integrity and professionalism; and strive for continual improvement and innovation

Benefits of ‘being good’

The ‘benefits of ‘being good’ are:

- building trust and confidence - setting your standards - reducing 'dilemma opportunities'

Resolving dilemmas

resolving the dilemmas - practical guidelines

Working through case studies, understanding points of conflict, and clarifying priorities

Determining your ethical position

Sample: BCS Code of Conduct

The public interest E.g. legitimate rights of third parties

Duty to relevant authority E.g. conflicts of interest

Duty to the profession E.g. encourage, support, act with integrity

Professional competence and integrity – e.g. am I familiar with the technology involved, or have

I worked with similar technology before? have I successfully completed similar assignments

or roles in the past? can I demonstrate adequate knowledge of the

specific business application and requirements successfully to undertake the work?

Sample code of good practice

BCS Code of Good Practice

Maintain Your Technical Competence Adhere to Regulations Act Professionally as a Specialist Use Appropriate Methods and Tools Participate Maturely Respect the Interests of your Customers Promote Good Practices within the Organisation Represent the Profession to the Public

Available from the BCS website: www.bcs.org