Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct – CS Professional Study Material

Chapter 18 Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct – Secretarial Audit Compliance Management and Due Diligence ICSI Study Material is designed strictly as per the latest syllabus and exam pattern.

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct – Secretarial Audit, Compliance Management and Due Diligence Study Material

Question 1.
Write short notes on the following:
Ethical dilemma (Dec 2014, 3 marks)
Answer:
Ethical Dilemma:
Dilemma is a situation that requires a choice between option that are or seem equally unfavourable or mutually exclusive.
By definition, an ethical dilemma involves the need to choose from among two or more morally acceptable courses of action, when one choice prevents selecting the other, or, the need to choose between equally unacceptable alternatives (Hamric, spross and Hanson, 2000).
A dilemma could be right vs. wrong situation in which the right would be more difficult to pursue and wrong would be more convenient. A right versus wrong dilemma is easier to resolve.

An ethical dilemma is a situation that will often involve an apparent conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another. This is also called an ethical paradox.
An ethical dilemma involves a situation that makes a person question what is the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ thing to do. Ethical dilemmas makes individuals think about their obligations, duties or responsibilities. These dilemmas can be highly complex and difficult to resolve. Easier dilemmas involve a ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’ answer, whereas, complex ethical dilemmas involve a decision between right and wrong.

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct - CS Professional Study Material

Question 2.
Analyse the differences between the following:
Ethics and Values. (Dec 2019, 2.5 marks)
Answer:
Key Differences between Ethics and Values
The fundamental differences between ethics and value are described in the given below points:

  • Ethics refers to the guidelines for conduct, that address question about . morality. Value is defined as the principles and ideals, which helps them in making the judgement of what is more important.
  • Ethics is a system of moral principles. In contrast to values, which is the stimuli of our thinking.
  • Values strongly influence the emotional state of mind. Therefore, it acts as a motivator. On the other hand, ethics compels to follow a particular course of action.
  • Ethics are consistent, whereas values are different for different persons i.e. what is important for one person may not be important for another person.
  • Values tell us what we want to do or achieve in our life, whereas ethics helps us in deciding what is morally correct or incorrect in the given situation. .
  • Ethics determines to what extent our options are right or wrong. As opposed to values, which defines our priorities for life.

To summaries ethics are consistently applied over the period and remains same for all the human beings. Values have an individualistic approach, i.e. it varies from person to person but remains stable relatively unchanging, but they can be changed over time due to a significant emotional event.

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct - CS Professional Study Material

Question 3.
Distinguish between Meta-Ethics and Applied Ethics. (Aug 2021, 3 marks)
Answer:
Meta-Ethics or “analytical ethics” deals with the origin of the ethical concepts themselves. It does not consider whether an action is good or bad, right or wrong. Rather, it questions – what goodness or rightness or morality itself is. It is basically a highly abstract way of thinking about ethics.

On the other hand, Applied Ethics deals with the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in private and public life which are matters of moral judgment. This branch of ethics is most important for professionals in different walks of life including doctors, teachers, administrators, rulers and so on. There are six key domains of applied ethics viz. Decision ethics {ethical decision making process), Professional ethics {for good professionalism}, Clinical Ethics {good clinical practices}, Business Ethics {good business practices}, Organizational ethics {ethics within and among organizations} and social ethics.

Question 4.
State key differences between Ethics and Values. (June 2022, 3 marks)

Question 5.
Briefly discuss the following:
Ethical dilemma (June 2013, 3 marks)

Question 6.
As a Company Secretary, prepare a note differentiating between concept of Ethics and Values. (June 2019, 5 marks)
Answer:
Ethics are consistently applied over the period, and remains same for all the human beings. Values have an individualistic approach, i.e. it varies from person to person but remains stable, relatively unchanging, but they can be changed over time due to a significant emotional event.
The fundamental differences between ethics and value are described in the given below points:

  • Ethics refers to the guidelines for conduct, that address question about morality. Value is defined as the principles and ideals, which helps them in making the judgement of what is more important.
  • Ethics is a system of moral principles in contrast to values, which is the stimuli of our thinking.
  • Values strongly influence the emotional state of mind. Therefore it acts as a motivator. On the other hand, ethics compels us to follow a particular course of action.
  • Ethics are consistent, whereas values are different for different persons, i.e. what is important for one person, may not be important for another person.
  • Values tell us what we want to do or achieve in our life, whereas ethics helps us in deciding what is morally correct or incorrect, in the given situation.
  • Ethics determines to what extent our options are right or wrong. Values define our priorities for life.

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct - CS Professional Study Material

Question 7.
What do you mean by Ethical Dilemma? (Dec 2020, 3 marks)
Answer:
Ethical Dilemma is the situation where a person’s view regarding selecting an object or the alternative includes series of outcomes, which is very confusing. Each outcome has a serious overlapping outcome, which cannot be at a time wrong for one person but the same may be ethically wrong for the other.

An “absolute” or “pure” ethical dilemma only occurs when two (or more) ethical standards apply to a situation but are in conflict with each other. In ethical dilemma if we obey one decision then it would bring about disobeying another.

Ethical dilemma is also known as moral dilemma. Ethical dilemmas make the situations too difficult. A person has to choose only one way from two of them – a moral or an immoral way. Ethical dilemmas can be seen everywhere in daily lives. However everybody has their own particular experience towards ethical dilemma. Ethical dilemmas assume that the chooser will abide by societal norms, such as codes of law or religious teachings, in order to make the choice ethically impossible.

Question 8.
Explain the concepts of Integrity and Conflict of interest. (June 2022, 3 marks)

Question 9.
You are appointed as a Company Secretary of Aparana Pvt. Ltd. You have to conduct the audit for the financial year 2019-20. Draft the guidelines for verification of Board Composition & Board Process as per the CSAS-4 (Auditing Standard on Secretarial Audit). (Dec 2021, 5 marks)
Answer:
As per ICSI CSAS-4 clause (3):
Board Composition the auditor shajl verify:
(a) Overall composition of the Board including the minimum and maximum strength of the Board as per provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2015, Articles of Association and provisions of other Acts/rules/regulations as may be applicable to the Company.

(b) Optimum combination of Executive, Non-executive, Independent, Non independent, retiring, non-retiring, woman, nominee in the Board as per provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, Articles of Association, agreement with Lenders/Investors and provisions of other Acts/rules/regulations as may be applicable to the company.

(c) Eligibility criteria including qualifications of Directors in accordance with the provisions/principles laid down in the Companies Act, 2013, SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, Articles of Association and provisions of other Acts/rules/regulations as may be applicable on the Company.

(d) The constitution and composition of Committees of the Board.
As per ICSI CSAS-4 clause (4);
Board Processes
The Auditor shall verify that the decisions of the Board and its Committees are taken and recorded in compliance with applicable laws, rules, regulations, guidelines, standards and defined internal processes, if any. In case of conflict between various provisions the stricter compliance to be verified.

Question 10.
Define Ethical Practices
Answer:
Ethical Practices
(a) Beneficence
(b) Least Harm
(c) Utilitarian
(d) Autonomy
(e) Justice

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct - CS Professional Study Material

Question 11.
How to Resolve Ethical Dilemma?
Answer:
Think about outcomes if you find yourself in a situation when this approach doesn’t work, you can resolve a right versus right dilemma by finding the highest “right.” Kidder wrote that there are three ways to make the best choice when faced with these types of dilemmas:

  • Ends-based: Select the option that generates the most good for the most people.
  • Rule-based: Choose as if you’re creating a universal standard. Follow the standard that you want others to follow.
  • Care-based: Choose as if you were the one most affected by your decision. Once you’ve identified an ethical right versus right dilemma, lay out your options according to these three principles. One approach will immediately present itself as the “most right”.

Question 12.
What are principles which should be adopted by the company Secretaries to become successful?
Answer:
Professionalism is the virtue, conduct, aim, value or quality that characterize or marks a profession or professional person; it implies quality of workmanship or service. Professionals like the Company Secretaries are highly valued by their profession. For any professional the below can be the Golden Rules of Ethics for Professionals. It is recommended to apply these Golden Rules of Professionalism for enjoying a reputable, professional and prosperous career in providing service to the client/ organization:

  • Strive for excellence
  • Be trustworthy
  • Be accountable
  • Be courteous and respectful
  • Be honest, open and transparent
  • Be competent and improve continually
  • Be ethical
  • High Integrity
  • Be respectful of confidentiality .
  • Set Good Examples

Therefore, professionals need to practice with a sense of responsibility the evolving principles of good corporate governance across the globe on a continual basis. Excellence can be bettered through continuous up-gradation of research and interaction between the relevant practices and control of respective disciplines of Compliance, accounting, finance, law and management functions to deliver the highest quality of good corporate governance.

In this context the corporate looks upon Company Secretaries to provide the impetus, guidance and direction for achieving world-class ethical business practices and strategic corporate governance.
The ICSA (UK) Code of Professional Ethics and Conduct comprises four core principles to which all Fellows, Associates, graduates, students and affiliated members registered need to follow.

  • Integrity
  • High standard of service/professional competence
  • Transparency
  • Professional behavior

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct - CS Professional Study Material

Question 13.
What is the strategy for overcoming from the Evils?
Answer:
Strategy for Overcoming from the Evils
Satisfaction:
To achieve happiness it is essential that the culture of ‘being satisfied’ is developed. However, the most challenging and unanswerable question on satisfaction is “How much is Enough” The issue is very difficult to resolve especially in the corporate field where expansion is the prime direction in which it is supposed to move; yet it is the need of the hour to understand and remain satisfied with what is achieved within the validly available means.

Ends not to justify the means:
It is often said that the results matter and what was done to achieve the same is of no consequence. The statement may appear encouraging; but reading between the lines it is not the intention to achieve results by compromising ethics and values. The need of compromising ethics and values arises when there is a dearth of valid means to achieve the end-result. The thirst to succeed, vaulting ambition and flawed education are equally responsible elements. It is essential to note that however worth the cause may be, the means to achieve the same should also be equally valid. An irregular or an unethical action leading to a good outcome may not necessarily justify the method of achieving the goal.

Ethical Leadership:
The Professional should lead the organisation like Krishna as he led Pandvas to success by guiding them to fight morally. It is the duty of the leader driving the organization to ensure use of proper and ethical means in his conduct. It is equally essential that the leader walks the talk and sets an example of good governance and ethical leadership.

Character:
Professional should always consider the old idiom: If Character Is Lost Everything Is Lost. The idiom amply highlights the importance of good character. Character is generally built or earned by virtues like courage, honesty, values and ethics. Great leaders and eminent personalities are judged by their character. A good character is synonymous to reliability.

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct Notes

Descriptive Ethics:
Descriptive Ethics deals with what people actually believe (or made to believe) to be right or wrong, and accordingly holds up the human actions acceptable or not acceptable or punishable under a custom or law. Descriptive Ethics is also called comparative ethics because it compares the ethics of past and present; ethics of one society and other.

Normative Ethics:
Normative Ethics deals with “norms” or set of considerations how one should act. Thus, it’s a study of “ethical action” and sets out the rightness or wrongness of the actions. It is also called prescriptive ethics because it rests on the principles which determine whether an action is right or wrong.

Meta-Ethics or “Analytical Ethics”:
Meta-Ethics or “Analytical Ethics” deals with the origin of the ethical concepts themselves. It does not consider whether an action is good or bad, right or wrong. Rather, it questions – what goodness or rightness or morality itself is. It is basically a highly abstract way of thinking about ethics.

Applied Ethics:
Applied Ethics deals with the philosophical examination, from a moral stand point, of particular issues in private and public life which are matters of moral judgment. This branch of ethics is most important for professionals in different walks of life including doctors, teachers, administrators, rulers and so on. There are six key domains of applied ethics viz. Decision ethics {ethical decision making process}, Professional ethics {for good professionalism}, Clinical Ethics {good clinical practices}, Business Ethics {good business practices}, Organizational ethics {ethics within and among organizations} and social ethics.

Business Ethics:
Business Ethics is one of the branches of Applied Ethics which is mostly used in various Organizations and Corporates. It can be defined as, “The application of a moral code of conduct to the strategic and operational management of a business.”

Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct - CS Professional Study Material

Model Ethical Principles for Company Secretaries:

  • Strive for excellence
  • Be trustworthy
  • Be accountable
  • Be courteous and respectful
  • Be honest, open and transparent
  • Be competent and improve continually
  • Be ethical
  • High Integrity
  • Be respectful of confidentiality
  • Set Good Examples

Ethical Dilemma:
Dilemma means a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two courses of action, either of which entails contravening a moral principle. An ethical dilemma or ethical paradox is a decision-making problem between two possible moral imperatives, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The complexity arises out of the situational conflict in which obeying one would result in transgressing another.
Ethical Dilemma is the situation where a person’s view regarding selecting an object or the alternative includes series of outcomes, which is very confusing. Each outcome has a serious overlapping outcome, which cannot be at a time wrong for one person but the same may be ethically wrong for the other.

Some examples of ethical dilemmas include:

  • A secretary discovers her boss has been laundering money, and she must decide whether or not to turn him in
  • A doctor refuses to give a terminal patient morphine, but the nurse can see the patient is in agony,
  • While responding to a domestic violence call, a police officer finds out that the attacker is the brother of the police chief, and the police chief tells the officer to “make it go away”
  • A government contractor discovers that intelligence agencies have been spying on its citizens illegally, but is bound by contract and legalities to keep his confidentiality about the discovery.

Common Causes of Loss of Ethics and Values:

  • Conflict Between Organisational and Individual Goal
  • Cultural Value and Background
  • Dynamic and Different Human Nature
  • Pressure from Management
  • Negotiation Skills
  • Conflicting Values

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