Social Work Ethical Codes

Ethical codes are used to state the expectations that the company have of the actions of their employees. Though why would you need an ethical code to begin with? Companies may make an ethical code to display that they do not tolerate certain dishonest behaviors since it tarnishes the company’s reputation. They may also list out certain actions that aren’t considered professional and may not seem obvious at first glance. The ethical code that I will discuss in depth is the social worker ethical code. Social work’s primary mission according to the NASW is to enhance human well being and help meet the basic human needs of all people. While my career as a psychological counselor will not involve feeding people or building houses, I still wish …show more content…
Respect may seem to be the simpler of these two ethical rules to understand. It makes sense that as a social worker that not giving proper respect to the people you are helping or even your own colleagues gives a bad impression of you and the organization. This also applies to my field as well since I can not disrespect my clients as well. Disrespecting my clients not only ruins any potential counseling I could give but also leaves a bad impression of myself. The second rule in the social worker code Cultural Competence and Social Diversity may be a bit more difficult to understand. While some things may work in our culture, they may be considered offensive to another culture. To avoid this according to the NASW you must have an understanding of the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to race, ethnicity, national origin, and etc. Some things that may translate as acceptable in our culture may turn out to be unacceptable in other cultures. If research is not done on trying to be understanding of other peoples it can make you appear ethnocentric. While it may be simpler to simply classify your clients as weird and ignore …show more content…
Integrity is a concept that is taught and known outside of ethical principles and basically means to be consistent and aware of your values, morals, and ethical principles. In other words a social worker with integrity does their job in a trustworthy manner and acts consistently in their values. Integrity is an important principle to have and for a psychological counselor this is no different. Integrity for a psychological counselor basically means the same thing as a social worker expect the focus is on a client instead of people in general. If integrity was abandoned in either of these two careers, the person working as a psychological counselor wouldn’t care how to treat his client ethically nor would a social worker care about doing his job fairly. Human dignity can simply be described as treating a person a human regardless of gender, religion, and etc. There is no difference in how this is applied as a social worker and a psychological counselor since treating your clients and people you help as humans is just common respect. Human dignity and integrity unlike the previous ethic principles apply quite