Exam #3 (Governance-103) Flashcards
What is a Profession?
Profession is defined as: (1) a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and formal qualifications and (2) an open but often false claim, such as a profession of allegiance.
The CC-P is a formal qualification for practicing the climate change profession in the first sense. Profession in the second sense by unqualified individuals may lead to ethics and liability issues.
What are Morals?
Standards for good or bad character and behavior, which includes the notions of right and wrong.
Sometimes these notions are an expression of religious or spiritual views.
What are Ethics?
Moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conduct of an activity.
Ethics can be thought of as morals in action and usually involve a codified system, whether for law, business, medicine, real estate, architecture, or philanthropic fundraising.
What are Values?
A person’s principles or standards of behavior, one’s judgment of what is important in life.
Values represent personal choices, which may or may not reflect morals and ethics. These priorities often become the basis for actions around ethics when professionals make decisions for their employers or clients.
What is Compliance (action)?
As an action in busness, adhering to government laws, health and safety standards, or data and security requirements, which involves a conscious recognition of the said rules and policies.
Adhering to the letter of the law is a behavioral minimum. Professional ethics, e.g., for an architect with a project proposed for development in a flood plain, may prompt going beyond mere compliance.
What is Compliance (standard)?
As a standard in business, a well-designed set of rules and policies to help maintain security and stability and are strictly followed and enforced.
Understanding and complying with a company’s internal behavioral standards contributes to workforce well-being and productivity and to company health.
What is compliance?
Compliance as an action vs. compliance as a standard.
As an action, compliance submits to external authority; as a standard, compliance establishes an internal behavioral expectation.
What is Competence?
Having requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide quality services as defined by the technical and ethical standards of the profession.
One of the three pillars of professional ethics, it particularly includes the expertise needed to undertake professional responsibilities and to serve the public interest.
What is Disclosure?
Communicating relevant information regarding financial, conflict of interest, reporting, and legal issues to investors and the public.
One of the three pillars of professional ethics, it includes ensuring that clients know what they need to, e.g., about the professional’s other commitments or the clients’ legal liabilities.
What is Honesty?
Adherence to the facts as well as fairness and straightforwardness of conduct.
One of the three pillars of professional ethics, e.g., continually practicing full disclosure and pointing out where conflicts of interest exist for the professional and for clients.
What are the Pillars of Ethics (in professional codes)?
Competence, Disclosure, and Honesty
A professional can show they have specialized or advanced training leading to competence, engage in representing the client and ensuring the client understands what they need to know through disclosure, and act with honesty by continually practicing full disclosure and pointing out where conflicts of interest exist for themselves and for their clients.
What is Civil Law
(i.e., liability)?
The branch of law that involves disputes between individuals, organizations, or between the two for which compensation may be awarded to the victim.
Example: law suits for malpractice or for breach of contract.
What is Criminal Law?
Criminal law involves legally defined crimes and the legal punishment of criminal offenses.
Example: legal prosecution for violating laws, e.g., for fraud or bribery.
What is
Regulatory Compliance?
The steps an organization takes to adhere to relevant laws, regulations, and guidelines created by government legislation and regulatory bodies applicable to an organization based on the industry and jurisdiction in which it operates.
Example: fulfilling legal obligations for reporting GHG emissions to the U.S. EPA for facilities that exceed some emissions threshhold.
What are Best Practices?
Commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.
Example: understanding projections for sea level rise in coastal Florida and designing conservatively to accommodate them over the design lifetime of a project.
