Codes of Ethics

Abstract

Codes of ethics are traditionally most associated with professions, particularly those of doctors and lawyers. There are codes of ethics, often self-regulating ones, for companies, organisations, social workers, librarians, engineers, journalists and many others. Codes of ethics are essential to the development of trust with all parties. The key difference is that while codes of ethics focus on ethical standards or principles, both codes of conduct and codes of practice focus on behaviour, although codes of practice appear in the definition to be more linked to professions than codes of conduct. There have been criticisms of codes of ethics from a number of scholars who object to what they perceive as rigidity in the codes and who use words such as ‘positivist’, ‘outdated’, ‘conservative’, ‘prescriptive’ and a clash with ‘morally responsible action’. Advocacy is probably the most controversial issue in public service interpreting and one ridden with confusion due to differing understandings of the tem.