What is new in PMBOK 8 – An ethics perspective
Categories:
Ethics as a competence,
Values,
Behavior,
values,
code of ethics,
Ethical Leadership,
Decision-making,
Ethics Insight Team,
Ethics Bistro,
Business Ethics,
code of conduct,
PMI Talent Triangle,
Ways of Working,
Decision-making,
Values,
Business Ethics,
AI,
Project,
PMI Program Management,
Do the right thing,
Culture,
Ethical Dilemma,
respect,
Professional Responsibility,
Professional Conduct,
Honesty,
Respect,
Responsibility,
Project Management,
Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct,
honesty,
responsibility,
professonal conduct,
volunteers,
professional conduct,
Digital Transformation,
Ethics in Communication,
Agile,
Leadership,
Decision Making,
Ethics,
Diversity,
Organizational Project Management,
Information Technology,
Organizational Culture,
Governance,
Artificial Intelligence
Categories: Ethics as a competence, Values, Behavior, values, code of ethics, Ethical Leadership, Decision-making, Ethics Insight Team, Ethics Bistro, Business Ethics, code of conduct, PMI Talent Triangle, Ways of Working, Decision-making, Values, Business Ethics, AI, Project, PMI Program Management, Do the right thing, Culture, Ethical Dilemma, respect, Professional Responsibility, Professional Conduct, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, Project Management, Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, honesty, responsibility, professonal conduct, volunteers, professional conduct, Digital Transformation, Ethics in Communication, Agile, Leadership, Decision Making, Ethics, Diversity, Organizational Project Management, Information Technology, Organizational Culture, Governance, Artificial Intelligence
 Imagine a team of explorers crossing a desert. No matter how skilled its members are or how modern their vehicles are, they may not succeed in reaching their destination without a compass. In project management, ethics serve as that compass, guiding decision-making, fostering trust, and ensuring accountability. For PMI Members, the compass is the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Developed even before the first edition of the Project Management Book of Knowledge, the Code was and remains the holder of the guardrails of the project management profession. PMBOK 7 replaced knowledge areas with performance domains. The 8th is more aligned with the Agile delivery approach, whilst retaining the importance of good governance. Like the previous version, the PMBOK highlights alignment with both internal and external environments. It is important to note the focus on artificial intelligence and sustainability. Principles of project management PMBOK 8 simplified the 12 principles from the 7th edition to create a more focused and actionable foundation for modern project management. The principles of project management are aligned with the values of PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. They do not follow the same format, and they are not duplicative; rather, the principles and the Code of Ethics are complementary. ·Adopt a holistic view: Consider the project within its larger organizational and ecosystem context. ·Focus on value: Prioritize delivering tangible value and aligning project outcomes with strategic goals. ·Embed quality into processes and deliverables: Integrate quality throughout the project lifecycle, not just as a final check. ·Be an accountable leader: Take ownership and responsibility for the project's success and outcomes. ·Integrate sustainability within all project areas: Include environmental and social considerations in project work. ·Build an empowered culture: Foster a project environment that empowers team members. Enterprise environmental factors: Internal and external to the Organization ·The standard emphasises the impact of organizational culture, structure, and governance. Aspects like vision, mission, values, beliefs, cultural norms, leadership style, hierarchy and authority relationships, organizational style, ethics, and code of conduct remain critical success factors, as well as a framework for ethical decision making. Social and cultural influences and issues. External factors include political climate, regional customs and traditions, public holidays and events, codes of conduct, ethics, and perceptions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI ethical issues, especially the responsible use of AI tools and the negative impact on project team members, are an especially important aspect. Topics like data privacy and security can be addressed using technical controls. Issues like bias and fairness require special attention from project managers. Lack of clarity on who is responsible when AI-driven decisions go wrong can create confusion and an unending blame game. AI agents cannot be (yet) included in a Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed (RACI) matrix. Although their use is unavoidable, the responsibility and accountability remain with the human user. The use of AI is dependent on context, and it should be assessed for each project through a decision-making process to determine when AI can assist with tasks or provide more time for other valuable activities. The evaluation should be focused on the use of AI to produce project artifacts. Initiative-taking measures should be considered to identify and assess the risk of incorporating AI and determine if it is acceptable or it should be controlled. Below is a list of some ethical concerns related to the use of AI in projects
·Diversification of the data sets on which the AI system is trained; ·Periodic tests conducted on the AI system, with particular focus on bias; and ·Involvement of different teams in the development of the AI system. Procurement is another ethics area of focus that PMBOK 8 provides guidance on. In chapter X4.9.2, Sensitivity of Legal Actions and Upholding Ethics Codes, the standard provides considerations to avoid impact on project outcomes and stakeholder relationships: ·Nuanced communication. ·Escalation protocols. ·Confidentiality. ·Impartiality. PMBOK 7 explicitly references the PMI Code of Ethics as a complementary and essential guide for project professionals. This code provides the specific rules for ethical conduct, based on core values of honesty, responsibility, respect, and fairness.
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Upholding Ethics in Personal Conduct: Lessons from “Wrongful Referrals”
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The January 9, 2025, Bloomberg article titled "The New $30,000 Side Hustle: Making Jobs Referrals for Strangers" by Jo Constantz highlights a disturbing ethical issue and discusses the emerging trend of technology workers earning significant sums by referring job candidates they have never met. This underground marketplace for employment referrals has gained traction at major U.S. companies like Microsoft and Nvidia. Platforms like Refer Me and Refermarket allow job seekers to anonymously request referrals from verified employees, with some tech workers earning up to $30,000 in referral bonuses over 18 months. While this practice can improve hiring odds, it raises ethical concerns as it often violates company policies that require personal knowledge of candidates. Examining the ethical issue using PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct as Ethical Decision-Making Framework, I, as an astute member of the Ethics Insight Team, draw these lessons learned and propose remedies for considerations. Comments and Lessons Learned:
Remedy: To address these ethical concerns, companies should reinforce their referral policies and provide clear guidelines on acceptable practices. Regular training on the corporate/internal on similar Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Policy and or Procedures can help employees understand the importance of responsibility, respect, fairness, and honesty in the hiring process. Additionally, implementing stricter monitoring and enforcement mechanisms can deter unethical referral practices and ensure a more transparent and equitable hiring process. How would you, as an ethical project practitioner, act when a stranger offers monetary incentives and seeks your referrals? Does the situation happen to you? Are there any other lessons learnt and remedies to which you can relate? The PMI Ethics Insight Team likes to bring this timely topic for a healthy deliberation. References: Constantz, J. (2025, January 9). How to Get a Job Referral from a Stranger. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-09/how-employee-referrals-for-tech-jobs-became-a-side-hustle Project Management Institute. (n.d.). Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. pmi.org. https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/ethics/code-values-card.pdf Project Management Institute. (2011). PMI Ethical Decision-Making Framework (EDMF). pmi.org. https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/ethics/ethical-decision-making-framework.pdf
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Workforce Ethical Dilemmas in times of COVID-19
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As Angela started her car, a thought crossed her mind on when she gets home, will she be greeted by her family? It was a disturbing thought and so she set it aside trying not to dwell on it. Why would they not? They have been always ready to greet her with a hug as soon as she arrived from her hectic hospital duty that almost left her lifeless. What will be different this time? She imagined her two year old Sally hugging her, and her husband John offering to park her car and make her coffee. She reassured herself nothing would be different and continued to drive. These are the thoughts and emotions of our healthcare workforce as they are working on the frontlines in the COVID-19 settings in the hospitals. While we are grateful for their dedicated service, some part of us is concerned if they are carriers for the virus, infecting the family when they get home. We are privy to the universal truth that the personal protective equipment as in gown, gloves, N95 respirator plus a face shield/goggles etc. are scarce. What does that leave our loved ones with? An exposure to the risk of contracting the virus at the hospital? Will they be carrying it back home? Cases are reported across the world around growing discrimination due to heightened fears and misinformation. Driven by authentic information, ethical behavior and health literacy, there is an urgent need to counter such prejudices and show empathy to these “warriors”. Yet another situation seen around ethical concerns is around resource allocation. During medical emergencies, it’s important to ensure that ethically appropriate treatments are delivered. In face of scarcity of resources in treatment of COVID-19 patients and shortages of life-saving equipment including ventilators and medications; healthcare personnel often face an ethical dilemma and are forced to make difficult choices for appropriate allocation of these limited health resources. In Italy, the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation, and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) has formulated the guidelines1 for the benefit of tackling such ethical challenges. Recently World Health Organization (WHO) has established an international Working Group on Ethics & COVID-19 in order to develop advice2 on key ethical questions that member states need to address. Let’s map these to PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and see how they fit.
We; as citizens; have a responsibility to ourselves and others to recognize these challenges that our near and dear ones who are front-ending the COVID-19 patients are facing. Let’s all be empathetic, responsible, respectful, honest and fair towards them and spread the word of ethical behavior in face of these challenges. Angela reached home to find Sally and John waiting for her with basket full of flowers that they were eager to shower on their “brave” mother/wife. Angela’s eyes were wet with tears as she approached her home, facing another ethical dilemma – As much as she wants to shower her family members with hugs and kisses, as much as she’s aware of the risk that she is exposing them to. If you were Sally, what would you do? References and helpful links
Names are changed to protect identity |
The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct by Project Management Institute with its four values (Responsibility, Respect, Fairness and Honesty) are all-inclusive and can be applied to any domain and situations. We urge readers to review these and keep themselves informed.“To Do or Not To Do – That’s The Question” – A Whistle-blower's Dilemma
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"The sign of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing views at the same time and still retain the ability to function." - F. Scott Fitzgerald Mary seemed worried as she gulped her lunch and dashed off to her office. Nina, her lunch-buddy followed her to check if everything was okay with Mary. “Oh, this is quite challenging for me. I need courage to deal with the situation” Mary finally opened a window of her mind to Nina “What is bothering you?” - Nina “You have to keep this to yourself. Promise me. Tom is talking to one of our competitors around our top-selling product line and I happened to overhear their discussion. I was on my way to get a coffee for myself and as I stood near the vending machine, I could not help listening to the conversation, I was shocked at the details Tom was sharing. I talked to Tom and tried to sound him of my concern around doing this. He dismissed my concerns stating that he had not leaked any confidential details. I tried explaining the issue and the impact it may have but he clearly wasn’t listening to me. He tried to convince me that sharing some of this information is absolutely normal and that I should not be surprised at this behavior. As you know, Tom is my team lead and I fear this will result in some sort of retaliation” - Mary “Oh! This is a serious matter. You should inform the relevant compliance authorities about this. I hope you are aware of the laws that protect whistle-blowers. The compliance office in the organization is in-charge of such matters. Rob from the compliance office takes care of such matters. He and his team are authorized to investigate the matter and report to the higher compliance authorities” – Nina “Good to know. But, how will anonymity around such matters be maintained?” – Mary “That is protected at the beginning of the investigation but I guess the names may need to be public if deemed necessary as the investigation proceeds. However, the law itself protects whistle-blowers from retaliation. I don’t think you should worry about this.” – Nina
“How can I not worry? If my name is exposed, I know of how things can get difficult for me and may impact my career negatively. From being singled out as a whistle-blower, I am likely to face corporate retaliation, financial hardships and finally, impact on my personal and professional relationships. I may be fired from my job too. Is all this damage worth it?” “Well, I understand your concern. However, looking at things beyond you, reporting this matter to Rob is an ethical act to do. Not only will it save the reputation of our organization but will also get you some brawny points for blowing the whistle before it becomes too late. I am sure our team will hold you in highest regard for this act and you will serve as an example for many from our team members and organization. Don’t you think this outweighs your personal concerns? I am sure you are aware of the Project Management Institute’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the pmi.org/ethics webpages. These pages list a plethora of references containing great tools that might further assist you in taking a decision – you really need to look them up too. “To do or not to do, is the question and my friend, I am sure, you will choose “to do”” - Nina “Ok. But do you think these laws are operational or are they merely on paper”? – Mary sounded skeptical “We can check with Rob on it” – Nina’s assuring voice “Thanks Nina. That makes me feel better. I will see Rob at the earliest” – Mary This is a common challenge in the contemporary competitive world where cutthroat competition is fierce, ugly and threatens to destroy businesses. Many of us, intentionally or unintentionally find ourselves in situations that get us involved in similar whistle-blowing cases and then the question arise on “what do we do?” The question is at the core of an ethical dilemma, sleepless nights and uncertainty about the next steps, the implications on us as individuals, our well-being, our livelihood, our families, friends and loved ones. Will it be risky to be a whistle-blower? While our ethical compass directs us on what to do, the consequences might deter us, prior stories and the outcomes might determine how confident we are in the system, following the process and putting our trust in the compliance system that might or might not support us. Without any dearth of evidence, it has been shown that to be ethically correct is always the ideal and right thing to do. With codes around ethics and laws that protect whistle-blowers, those who wish to report such unethical or illegal acts can be assured that their interests and welfare will be protected. However, in this age of disruption where uncertainty around jobs looms large, what is way out? After about six months of the incident, the team heard that Mary had resigned with a note on facing some distress from her manager and the organization. Well that ended the matter of this specific case but did it really end the overall issue that Mary had raised? Have you ever come across this situation in your professional life so far? Would love to hear your thoughts. References and helpful links
Note: You can find a rich set of Ethics resources such as the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Ethical Decision Making Framework, Ethics-related Tools, etc., in many world languages at http://www.pmi.org/ethics. Names are changed to protect identity. |
As per Oxford dictionary, a whistle-blower is a person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity. This is a guard against harmful and dishonest activities that can jeopardize the credibility and reliability of an organization. In this case, Mary is a whistle-blower and wishes to report Tom’s actions to the compliance officer.Vital Work Venture Varies with Vickie’s Values
| Vickie was on the horns of a serious dilemma. It had almost made her miss the brilliant orange and red colors of the setting sun. A chilly breeze and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the pantry prompted Vickie to take a break. As she sipped on the steaming brew, her mind rewound events of the past few hours. Vickie was a successful senior project manager with a mid-size marketing firm in Nevada. She had been asked to lead a marquee client’s high-priority multi-million-dollar new product promotion campaign across radio, television, and multiple social media platforms. On most days, she would have been delighted and immediately accepted this project for its high career prospects. However, today, she had asked her manager Dominic for some time. He was surprised and not too pleased, but had reluctantly given her a couple of days to decide.
Why? The new product was from a company which sought to seize the opportunity of recreational cannabis being recently made legal in Nevada. Right from childhood, her parents had taught her the dangers of drug abuse. At college, Vickie had volunteered to help students avoid and deal with drug addiction. She now volunteered with a local hospital which helped people recover from the effects of addiction. Leading the project to success would accelerate her career. However, a recreational marijuana marketing project went totally against her long-held values! Realizing she needed help, Vickie reached out to Rishi, a favorite professor from college. He had taught her several courses in her Ethics minor. The professor immediately responded to her request for a call in the evening.
Vickie replied that she felt very strongly against drug abuse and addiction. She wasn’t sure about the other questions and promised to get back to Rishi the next day. Soon after, she recalled that, as a PMI member, she needed to follow the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. She realized that she had a responsibility to her employer to perform assigned work provided it was legal. She had to honestly disclose her moral conflict. Vickie’s manager needed to respect her strongly held values. Was there a way she could work with Dominic to find a fair solution? Speaking to Rishi the next day, Vickie explained her thought process. Was she thinking on the right lines?
He suggested that she openly express the dilemma to her manager and explain the consequences to the project. She could request that the project be led by a peer. The best outcome would be if her manager agreed. If not, she would have to make a difficult decision. The professor also asked her to also consider other win-win options. That evening, Vickie explained to her manager how her strong beliefs about drug abuse could subconsciously affect the project. Dominic appreciated her honesty but said that she’d been specifically chosen for her project management skills. No one else in the firm had that level of expertise, and so the project would still suffer! Vickie suggested that instead of leading the project, she would be happy to contribute her technical expertise by actively assisting and mentoring another project manager. The win-win option was readily accepted. Vickie worked hard to support Ivonne, the new project manager. Fast-forwarding to eleven months ahead: The marketing project achieved all objectives, and was declared an unqualified success!
How did you handle it? Do you agree with Vickie’s strategy? Would you have done anything differently? Please share your experience and views in the comments section!
Note: You can find a a rich set of Ethics resources such as the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Ethical Decision Making Framework, Ethics-related Tools, etc., in many world languages at http://www.pmi.org/ethics |
Thinking long and hard, she still couldn’t decide. 
Over Skype, Vickie explained her dilemma in detail. After patiently listening to her, Rishi asked:
Rishi felt that if she agreed to lead the project, it would be virtually impossible to completely ignore her deep-rooted beliefs. As professional as she tried to be, her subconscious bias could certainly to affect her leadership. Her team would perceive this, and the project would suffer.
Have you faced a similar dilemma? 
