Professional ethics in the construction industry

Charles Vee; CMartin Skitmore

doi:10.1108/09699980310466596

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Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

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Professional ethics in the construction industry

Document Information:
Title:	Professional ethics in the construction industry
Author(s):	Charles Vee, (Charles Vee is at the School of Construction Management and Property, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.), CMartin Skitmore, (Martin Skitmore is at the School of Construction Management and Property, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.)
Citation:	Charles Vee, CMartin Skitmore, (2003) "Professional ethics in the construction industry", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 10 Iss: 2, pp.117 - 127
Keywords:	Construction industry, Ethics, Professions, Surveys
Article type:	Research paper
DOI:	10.1108/09699980310466596 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	MCB UP Ltd
Abstract:	Provides results of a small, but representative, questionnaire survey of typical project managers, architects and building contractors concerning their views and experiences on a range of ethical issues surrounding construction industry activities. Most (90 per cent) subscribed to a professional code of ethics and many (45 per cent) had an ethical code of conduct in their employing organisations, with the majority (84 per cent) considering good ethical practice to be an important organisational goal. It was agreed by 93 per cent of the respondents that “business ethics” should be driven or governed by “personal ethics”, with 84 per cent of respondents stating that a balance of both the requirements of the client and the impact on the public should be maintained. No respondent was aware of any cases of employers attempting to force their employees to initiate, or participate in, unethical conduct. Despite this, all the respondents had witnessed or experienced some degree of unethical conduct, in the form of unfair conduct, negligence, conflict of interest, collusive tendering, fraud, confidentiality and propriety breach, bribery and violation of environmental ethics.