Professional Certificates and The Ethical Aspects

 

As Project, Program and Portfolio Managers we are looking for ways to increase and validate our personal value to the organizations and clients we serve. One way to achieve this is by acquiring additional professional certifications or credentials that match the milestones in our career with the experience gained, competencies acquired and accomplishments achieved.   

Earning professional designations  not only strengthens the profession, it demonstrates initiative,  is leading by example to others  such as our stakeholders, team members and colleagues the importance of professional development for our professional credibility.    

This makes the stakes high for the hard work, demonstrated competencies and commitment to achieve these credentials.  Obviously, not all of the institutions regulating and offering these professional designations adhere to the same standards. 

The requirements,  credibility and proven  reputation of the varying organizations who award these impact the value of the credential,  The awarding organization and the practitioner  both bear the responsibility for its value  In this article, I will address the ethical role of the organizations that grant professional certificates, the role of the applicants for such certificate, and what is expected from them before and after obtaining it, ethically.

 First, let's start by the role of the organizations that grant the certificates and among these organizations, there are some that have global acceptance and a reputation gained only by following a professional code of conduct and  technical rules and also because of the mutual trust between them and the professional community. We find that successful organizations are mainly based on the four ethical values we have in the PMI's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, which are honesty, responsibility, respect and fairness.

These organizations have entrusted themselves with the responsibility of graduating graduates of high efficiency through the issuance of valuable knowledge guides in which a great number of volunteers have participate , working through a specific methodology so that they would be able to issue a certificate of great value in the labor market. These organizations have extended their full respect for the community with honesty, responsibility and fairness. They also have required their members and those who wish to obtain such professional certificates to agree to and adhere to these values of a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.  .

Therefore, and generally, they have gained the acceptance of the profession, they are serving. At the same time, there were other organizations that did not adhere nor obligated their members to follow such ethical values, which led to the collapse of these professional societies and therefore did not become credible even if their scientific content was good or acceptable.

Second, as for the applicants to obtain such professional certificates, their lack of commitment to honesty in providing their papers and experience for the certificate is a violation. There are several applicants who may have provided false information to obtain the approval of such organizations to enter the test. if they succeeded in deceiving these organizations for some time, they will be in the eyes of their colleagues, with no credibility because their colleagues know how they were able to deceive these organizations to get access to the test. However, It is difficult to pass the tests if they do not already have the experience required for such field. So, there will be another station to evaluate their ability to pass the test. Therefore, the applicant must choose the certificate which truly commensurate with his experience and abilities.

Thirdly, we may find the holders of the professional certificate, although they have obtained the certificate and have totally agreed to follow such ethical values associated with it. While we find that the clear majority apply these rules, but there are some who may not follow these rules and mislead the community by conducting such immoral acts. We conclude that the social culture may affect the certificate holders to make decisions that may conflict with the ethical values that they already have agreed to, and this leads to the loss of the profession  which they work in. and then it raises some questions to the professional organization that gave them this certificate.

Therefore, we conclude that adherence to rules and ethical values in the field of professional certificates is the main basis that leads to the success of organizations and the individual and society in general.