Ethics Bistro

• 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. 

A couple of years ago in my last blog, right before being invaded by the pandemic, , I asked myself and the community about how to be more sustainable in this disruptive age, and answered myself that we are ready if we stick to our ethical values, as leaders.

After two years, where for some of us,  life and workstyles have changed, I have launched a discussion earlier in February 2022,   asking the community about how to navigate through the period after the pandemic.

I am sharing, in this blog, the interesting insights and ideas that were shared by the community.

Professionals and project management practitioners stated that “binding project work and deliverables with a ring of ethics is crucial to bring the value of those deliverables for the project. Regardless of the leadership styles of the project manager, upholding ethical values should be MANDATORY”.  

“With maturity and experience, basic ethical values are the key to a long term success, the power of a project manager comes from respect and trust achieved through honesty, fairness, transparency, and integrity.”

Moreover, there is an emphasis on creating a balance between the values to satisfy employers, the profession, and practitioners.

An interesting opinion to share with the readers is that what the globe is going through is not a transition, this is a long-time reality that was accelerated due to the pandemic. This is a continuation of the process of evolution. People are always transitioning while values are the only CONSTANT.

Before ending my blog, I want to share with you the story of my dear friend Albert Agbemenu:

I worked on a project last year during the peak of the pandemic. The project involved the design of some buildings and infrastructure for a new mine. Being the project manager, I initially thought it was going to be the most difficult assignment, especially so when I never had the opportunity to meet most of the team members with who I was going remotely work with.  The only platform we had to meet was virtually to review work and discuss reports. Part of the team was located in Australia whilst the others were here with me in Africa, but yet still not co-located. I was working from my small space on the dining table reaching out to the rest of the team (multicultural). One thing that was clear to every one of us from the outset was the need for having these ethical values. With that in mind, we were able to work across a time zone of 8 hours of difference. This routine continued for almost one year and the project was completed without any single conflict, due to the values we all carried along positively.

The story ends with a confirmation that living by these values is just as important in normal times as in uncertain periods.

These values should not only be dependent on a particular situation or period. They must be embedded in the sleeves of the diligent project manager. That said, these values should not be difficult to implement in a virtual project. Constantly upholding these ethical values should be a lifestyle of the project manager.

As a recap of what was said, top things to remember:

• Values and principles are constant through all times
• Values and principles start with the individual
• Values and principles are not tied to a specific profession
• Values and principles are the key to a balanced and successful journey

In light of what was said, one of the received feedback is that it is inevitable to find tools and techniques to make sure that right things are done promptly.

As an answer to this, PMI/EIT have created the PMI Practitioner Ethics Toolkit. The tool includes a rich set of resources to assist PMI practitioners understand, identify, and proactively manage ethical issues.

Finally, Honesty, trust, fairness, transparency, integrity are the values that will help us navigate through all times.

How many of us, as professionals are upholding those values? And how much the ecosystems we are operating inside are fostering the adoption of those values?

Some people still think that the most important projects are in the private sector, however, governments are the ones that are responsible for creating and establishing the society we want to live in.

Saying that questions emerge:

• Why are government projects failing?
• Why do we still have corruption in the planning and execution of these kinds of projects?
• Is it a leadership problem?
• Or is it because there are good and bad leaders, where bad leaders are in the power?

From a human perspective, people are just people, with light and dark sides.

Leaders are exposed to take decisions at all times in their projects, they should decide what should be right or wrong with public funds, having a direct impact on the expectations of the population living in poverty, that’s why ethics in project management are fundamental while making those decisions.

Al Capone, one of the biggest gangsters in history, even at the end of his days in jail, when people asked him if he was a bad person, he honestly answered: “no, I just wanted to do what is good”.  Several sociologists and psychologists went into deep analysis of his answers, find out that he was not lying, he was truly convinced that he was doing what was good in every situation.

Observers might think that this is part of Al Capone's craziness, but most human beings tend to justify their actions to the good intentions laying behind those actions.

That is why, especially in governmental projects, leaders can’t just rely on their own set of criteria; rather they must have clear and well define metrics and transparency during project execution.

Those metrics must be shown to the ones benefiting from the results of the projects as well.

Perhaps it’s not too common having metrics to reinforce ethical behaviors, however, “taking the right decision in a project” is subject to be divided into several parts, measurable in schedules and sprints.

Communities have the right to see how the projects are managed because they are the ones paying taxes, accordingly, metrics are powerful tools to emphasize public ethical behavior in any government.

PMI has a framework to address ethics decisions that apply as well for any project in government, in any approach and country, you can find it in the following link: https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/ethics/ethical-decision-making-framework.pdf

I have witnessed several protests in my city and around the world lately. These protests were against the action taken or not taken, perceived bias by the government, organizations etc.

Residents from my locality took part in these protests. When I spoke to them as why they were protesting against the government while they are not directly affected by the proposed law changes, they said that they are doing it for the betterment of the society as a whole.

And after few days, I read in the news that protesters burned public transport buses, chocked the traffic on the road and caused delays for several hours impacting commuters and causing inconvenience to the same society they want to make better by protesting!

One of the arguments given to me is that protest is their human right given by the constitution - the same constitution that explains the citizens’ roles and responsibilities. How convenient it is for these citizens to choose one side of the constitution while choosing to ignore another!

And then there is a section of general public who are not part of these protests, but they suffer greatly even when there were not faulty. For example, Hong Kong airport was shut down during the protests; there were significant property loss in India due to protest against an amendment in the existing law. 

In my view, protesters must ask themselves some questions, no matter what they are protesting for, before they