Ethics on the agenda
On Saturday 5 October, 1996, Jill Fitzpatrick from Relate put 15 IMC volunteers through intensive training to enable them to provide a ground-breaking service to IMC members, an Ethical Helpline.
Management consultants often, and suddenly, find themselves faced with a situation or a dilemma which they have not confronted before. “What should we do?, what can we do?, what will we do?”, become questions which seem difficult, if not impossible, to resolve at the time. IMC not only has a Professional Code of Conduct to provide clear guidance on the way in which members provide their services to clients, but also Ethical Guidelines which encourage members to consider two basic principles, namely, Transparency and Vulnerability. Transparency means the degree to which there is openness in the situation, that is, how much knowledge or information has been made available to the stakeholders. Vulnerability refers to the extent to which each of the stakeholders’ interests are at risk as a result of the proposed action (or inaction).
These guidelines will be used by the telephone panel to help individual members with their dilemmas. The first task of the Helpline will be to assist the caller to establish the facts of the situation. This will ensure that there is a clear understanding of the problem and can sometimes lead to a redefinition of the dilemma. The ultimate aim is to enable individuals to manage the situation themselves. The guidelines are designed to support this process by asking testing questions at the appropriate time.
The service is confidential and non-judgmental. In order to provide a secure environment for addressing the member’s dilemma, information exchanged between members and the panel will not be made available to anyone else. As chairman of the Helpline Panel I have been fielding ethical enquiries throughout the year and have noticed that members gain a new perspective on their problem and become renewed in their will to resolve the situation themselves.
The service aims to facilitate members to develop their own solutions.
It is not an advisory service. IMC’s “Lawcare” service provides such legal advice as may be required and the Helpline may well refer a member to that or other support services if necessary.
This important and innovative IMC development is in line with recommendations contained in the recent report, Ethical Business in Britain prepared by a multi-group working party under the sponsorship of the London Society of Chartered Accountants. Representatives from IMC worked with the Holborn Law Society, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, The Institute of Management, HM Treasury, the Royal Instititution of Chartered Surveyors and The London Business School among others. The report, published in June, recommends that professional bodies should “provide mechanisms to support members in managing ethical dilemmas”.
Members who would like to access the Ethical Helpline should call IMC and ask for the Registrar, Jean Garner, who will then put them in touch with a panel member. The Code of Professional Conduct and Ethical Guidelines are available from the IMC office at a cost of #2.50 for 10 copies.