1. Enhanced Decision-Making: AI algorithms analyse massive datasets to predict outcomes and recommend actions, akin to a co-pilot guiding navigational decisions during a race. 
2. Efficiency Gains: AI automates repetitive tasks and improves processes, freeing project managers to focus on strategy—like how co-pilots manage tactical information during high-speed races. 
3. Risk Reduction: By identifying potential issues in advance, AI serves as an advisor, much like a racing co-pilot warning about challenging road conditions, enabling initiative-taking corrections. 

1. Over-Reliance on AI: Just as a driver must remain vigilant and not entirely dependent on the co-pilot, project managers risk deferring critical decisions to AI tools, potentially leading to a lack of accountability. 
2. Ethical Blind Spots: Racing ethics demand fair play and adherence to rules; similarly, ethical AI use in project management calls for attention to bias, transparency, and fairness. Overlooking these aspects can harm stakeholders or perpetuate inequitable practices. 

 

1. Unparalleled Precision: Autonomous AI can minimize human errors, akin to driverless cars maintaining perfect lane control or braking at precisely calculated intervals. 
2. Scalability: AI can manage complex, multi-layered projects beyond human capacity, like its role in optimizing traffic flows with autonomous vehicle networks. 

1. Loss of Human Judgment: Driverless cars highlight the drawback of removing human intuition, empathy, and situational awareness—a challenge mirrored in project management where human leadership and creativity are essential. 
2. Accountability Gaps: In a driverless car accident, responsibility is ambiguous. Similarly, with autonomous AI, project managers may struggle to allocate accountability for errors, raising ethical dilemmas. 
3. Ethical Concerns: Driverless cars must navigate moral conflicts (e.g., protecting passengers versus pedestrians). In project management, fully autonomous systems must grapple with potentially biased decisions affecting stakeholders, raising questions of fairness and inclusivity. 

 

• In shared responsibility (co-pilot), humans are ethically required to oversee and correct AI outputs, ensuring alignment with organizational values and stakeholder trust. Like racing, project managers retain control while benefiting from AI's support. 
• In autonomous systems (driverless cars), ethical concerns magnify as AI takes over critical decisions. Issues of fairness, inclusivity, and transparency emerge, demanding rigorous bias checks, accountability frameworks, and adherence to PMI’s Code of Ethics principles. 

 

Related discussion topic: Can project management run on AI autopilot?

• Accountability and responsibility: When AI systems are used for decision-making, it is challenging to assign accountability if something goes wrong. AI agents are not members of the project team; they are a tool that should augment human capabilities. Project managers need to establish clear lines of responsibility for the outcomes of AI-driven projects.
• Bias and fairness: AI is still in its infancy, and finding large volumes of good-quality data that can be used to train AI models is difficult. AI models can inherit biases from the data they are trained on, leading to unfair or discriminatory outcomes in areas like task assignment or performance evaluation. These biases can reinforce existing societal prejudices related to factors like gender, race, or socioeconomic status, potentially leading to workplace discrimination and legal penalties.
• Transparency and explainability: The "black box" nature of some AI algorithms makes it difficult to understand how they reach a decision. This lack of transparency can erode trust and make it hard for project managers to oversee, troubleshoot, or validate AI-driven recommendations.
• Over-reliance on AI agents and lack of human oversight: At any point in the project, the control should remain with humans and avoid over-reliance on AI. Lack of knowledge and practice can lead to a decline in critical thinking and human judgment among team members.

• Contextual application: The principles and the code are designed to be applied within the context of project work. Ethical dilemmas are often encountered when balancing conflicting needs, and the framework provides guidance for decision-making.
• Performance domains: Ethical dilemmas can arise in any of the performance domains (e.g., Stakeholders, Delivery, Performance). The principles and the code provide the tools for navigating these situations and making responsible choices.
• Focus on value: Ethical considerations are a crucial part of focusing on long-term value, rather than just short-term outputs, ensuring that projects are conducted in a responsible and sustainable way. 

• The principles in the PMBOK 8th Edition align with and reinforce the values in the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, which are honesty, responsibility, respect, and fairness.
• Project managers are expected to apply these principles in their daily work to make ethical choices that lead to positive results and maintain trust. 
• The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct remains the primary source for detailed ethical guidelines.
• ProjectManagement.com offers webinars that discuss the connection between PMBOK 7 principles and the Code of Ethics. 

As an experienced project manager, Victor recently joined a new organization after a five-month break due to layoffs at his previous job. He was hired as a PMO Lead and was eager to make a positive impact on his new team. However, he quickly realized that the team seemed hesitant to trust him, due to his newness to the organization or the time it would take for him to fully engage with them.

Victor took various initiatives to engage with his team, scheduling regular cadence with them to get to know them better. However, he observed that the team was not seeking help when they needed it, and his peers were taking advantage of this situation. This lack of trust was affecting the progress of the team, the projects, and even the customers.

Victor felt conflicted because he wanted to help the team succeed in their projects, but he also wanted to earn their trust and inspire them as their leader. He did not want the team to be affected by negative energies resulting from the trust issues. However, he realized that he was not being honest with the responsibilities assigned to him by the management and was not justifying his role as PMO Lead.

According to the Project Management Institute's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, honesty is defined as understanding the truth and acting truthfully in communications and conduct. Victor realized that he was not being honest with himself or the organization, and this was causing him to feel like he was not fulfilling his responsibilities. He considered leaving the organization as he did not want to compromise on his integrity.

At the same time, Victor also realized that he may encounter similar situations in any new workplace, and his lack of confidence in himself may be due to the five-month break he had taken. He did not want to let his peers take advantage of this situation, and he wanted to find a solution that would align with his values and principles as a project manager.

After careful consideration, Victor decided to take the following steps:

1. Communicate openly and transparently with his team: Victor scheduled a team meeting where he shared his observations and concerns with the team. He emphasized his commitment to their success and his willingness to support them in any way possible. He encouraged open and honest communication within the team and set up regular feedback sessions to address any issues or challenges.
2. Build trust through actions: Victor understood that trust is earned over time through consistent actions. He made sure to follow through on his commitments, be transparent in his communication, and be approachable and supportive to his team. He also acknowledged and appreciated the contributions of his team members and recognized their efforts and achievements.
3. Seek feedback and improve: Victor understood that self-reflection and continuous improvement are essential to becoming a better leader. He sought feedback from his team, peers, and mentors, and actively addressed any gaps or areas for improvement. He also invested time in building his confidence and skills through professional development opportunities.
4. Stay true to his values and principles: Victor reminded himself of the importance of honesty, integrity, and professionalism as outlined in PMI's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. He made a conscious effort to align his actions with these values and principles and hold himself accountable for his responsibilities as a PMO Lead.

As time passed, Victor noticed a positive change in his team's attitude towards him. They started seeking his guidance and support, and the team's progress improved. Victor regained his confidence as a project manager and felt that he was justifying his role in the organization. He realized that by being honest with himself and others, and upholding his professional values, he could overcome the initial trust issues and create a positive work environment.

"What are your thoughts on how project managers can balance the need to be honest about their challenges while still fulfilling their responsibilities and justifying their role within an organization?"

As I am writing this blog, Australia confronts the findings of an investigation that our special forces allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan, our New South Wales Premier is perceived to have broken her own health advice rules – not self-isolating after a Covid-19 Test; and our previous Federal Finance Minister; is jetting Europe at the expense of tax payers to lobby for an OECD role while at the same time, Australians overseas are waiting for repatriation flights to bring them home.  

Australia is facing national and global challenges[i]:  Covid-19 pandemic, the future of work resulting from the introduction new technologies; AI, Robotics, Cyber Security;  climate change and the impact on our environment with the diversity and uniqueness of our rare species be it in the bush or in the oceans. The fires followed by floods that we faced last year are still vivid in our memories as we are experiencing a heat wave this weekend with well above average temperatures. In addition to that our journey of reconciliation with Indigenous Australians has yet a long way to go.

One cannot help but wonder: How ethical is Australia? And what difference would that make? And why would I care as a leader whose field is Project Management about how ethical the country is?

Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay[ii]

Despite the challenges, and the current political climate, the findings of a recent study commissioned by the Ethics Centre in Australia and conducted by Deloitte Access Economics[i] draw a more positive picture, stating that:  

• 56%:  Proportion of Australians who think most people can be trusted. This was a considerably higher percentage than the USA, the UK and most Western European nations but some way behind the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland. In particular, we were approximately 10 percentage points behind Sweden – a country with consistently one of the highest levels of trust.
• 12/18: Average assessment of the degree to which others make agreements honestly, keep their word or succeed by not stepping on other people
• +37%:  The Governance Institute rates Australia + 37 on the scale of -100 to 100. The health care sector is seen as the most ethical.

So what are the benefits of a more ethical Australia, or any country for that matter, and where do we start?

The study affirms that ethical infrastructure is to be built at the society and organisational level in both formal and informal ways;

So how ethical are we as leaders? What’s our ethical score? And, do we have any PMI Ethics tools that will enable us as individuals to be more aware of our ethical values and behaviors?

• Ethics Self Assessment
• Project Team Ethics Assessment
• Ethics Decision-Making Workshop
• Project Bully Identification

How about taking the Ethics Self-Assessment questionnaire as a self-reflection tool? How ethical is each and every one of us? What is the gap and how can we address it?

Share your thoughts - What other activities do we undertake as individuals and professionals to build ethics and professional conduct awareness in our teams, organizations, and communities? 

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  References:  [i] https://ethics.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Ethical-Advantage-4.pdf  [ii] https://pixabay.com/illustrations/business-idea-style-concept-goals-1753098/