PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Ethics and professional responsibility questions make up 9% of the exam.

Thats good news because these questions are really easy if you understand the ideas behind the PMP Code of Professional Conduct. Bribes arent always cash. They can be anything ranging from free trips to tickets to a ball game. Any time youre offered anything to change your opinion or the way you work, you must decline the offer and disclose it to your company. Fly business class? Even if it seems like no harm will be done if you dont follow the policy, and even if you will be able to get away with it, you should not do it. And that goes double for laws under no circumstances are you ever allowed to break a law, no matter how much good it seems to do you or your project. New software When it comes to copyright, its never OK to use anything without permission. Books, articles, music, software... you always need to ask before using it. For example, if you want to use some copyrighted music in a company presentation, you should write to the copyright owner and ask for permission. Shortcuts You might see a question or two that asks if you really need to follow all of the processes. Or you might be asked by your boss to keep certain facts about your project hidden from stakeholders or sponsors. You have a responsibility to make sure your projects are run properly, and to never withhold information from people who need it. Being responsible to the community is even more important than running a successful project. But its more than being environmentally awareyou should also respect the cultures of everyone else in your community, and the community where your project work will be done. PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct outlines four areas of responsibility: 1- Responsibility -- ownership of decisions and actions 2- Respect -- treatment of people and resources 3- Fairness -- objective and impartial decision 4- Honesty -- truth-based actions Responsibility: Responsibility is the act of making decisions that are for the good of the organization rather than ourselves, admitting our mistakes, being responsible for the decisions we make and the consequences that result, along with other actions. -- Ensuring Integrity: As a project manager, one of your professional responsibilities is to ensure integrity of the project management process, the product, and your own personal conduct. Correctly applying the project management processes youve learned will ensure the integrity of the product. -- Accepting Assignments: You should not knowingly accept assignments that are beyond your capabilities or experience. -- Laws and Regulations Compliance: This might seem obvious, but as a professional, youre req uired to follow all applicable laws and rules and regulations that apply to your industry, organization, or project. This includes PMI organizational rules and policies as well. -- Confidential Information:

-- Company Data: -- Intellectual Property: Respect: Respect involves several areas as well, including the way we conduct ourselves, the way we treat others, listening to other viewpoints, conducting ourselves in a professional manner, and so on. -- Professional Demeanor: * Part of acting professionally involves controlling yourself and your reactions in questionable situations. As a professional, your concern for the project and the organization should take precedence over your concern for your own feelings. Therefore, lashing out in return would be unprofessional. Maintain your professional demeanor, and dont succumb to shouting matches or ego competitions with others. -- Reporting Ethics Violations: As a PMP, one of the responsibilities that falls into this category is your responsibility to report violations of the PMP code of conduct. When you know a violation has occurred and youve verified the facts, notify PMI. Part of this processand a requirement of the code of conduct is that youll verify that an ethics violation has occurred (in other words, dont report bogus or unsubstantiated reports) and will assist PMI in the investigation by supplying information, confirming facts and dates, and so on. This includes anything listed as violations in the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, such as conflicts of interest, untruthful advertising, and false reporting of PMP experience and credentials, appearances of impropriety, and so on. -- Cultural Awareness: When in Rome, do as the Romans do? -- Culture Shock: Working in a foreign country can bring about an experience called culture shock.One of the ways you can avoid culture shock is to read about the country youre going to work in before getting there. -- Diversity Training: Sometimes you might find yourself working with teams of people from different countries or cultures. Some team members might be from one country and some from another. The best way to ensure that cultural or ethical differences do not hinder your project is to provide training for all team members. Teambuilding activities are ways to build mutual trust and respect and bond team members with differing backgrounds. -- Respecting Your Neighbors: -- Perceiving Experiences: Fairness: Fairness includes avoiding favoritism and discrimination against others, avoiding and reporting conflict of interest situations, and maintaining impartiality in our decision making process. -- Conflict of Interest: A conflict of interest is when you put your personal interests above the interests of the project or when you use your influence to cause others to make decisions in your favor without regard for the project outcome. In other words, your personal interests take precedence over your professional obligations, and you make decisions that allow you to personally benefit regardless of the outcome of the project. * Associations and Affiliations: For example, perhaps your brother-in-law owns his own construction company and you are the project manager who has just published an RFP. Your brother-in-law bids on the project and ends up winning the bid. * Vendor Gifts: Dont accept gifts that might be construed as a conflict of interest. If your organization does not have a policy regarding vendor gifts, set limits for yourself depending on the situation, the history of gift acceptance by the organization in the past, and the

complexity of the project. Its always better to decline a gift youre unsure about than to accept it and later lose your credibility, your reputation, or your PMP status because of bad judgment. * Stakeholder Influence: Honesty: Honesty can include a lot of topics: reporting the truth regarding project status, being honest about your own experience, not deceiving others, not making false statements, and so on. -- Personal Gain: Honesty involves not only information regarding your own background and experience, but information regarding the project circumstances as well. -- Truthful Reporting: As a project manager, you are responsible for truthfully reporting all information in your possession to stakeholders, customers, the project sponsor, and the public when required. Always be up front regarding the projects progress. -- Role Delineation Study: In addition to the areas covered in the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, you should be aware of four other focus areas that PMI discusses in its role delineation study. This study was published in PMIs publication Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Specification. The four focus areas are as follows: * Ensure Personal Integrity and Professionalism * Contribute to the Project Management Knowledge Base * Enhance Personal Professional Competence * Promote Interaction Among Team Members & Other Stakeholders Applying Professional Knowledge: Professional knowledge involves the knowledge of project management practices as well as specific industry or technical knowledge required to complete an assignment. As a PMP, you should apply project management knowledge to all your projects. Take the opportunity to educate others by keeping them up-to-date on project management practices, training your team members to use the correct techniques, informing stakeholders of the correct processes, and then sticking to those processes throughout the course of the project. One way to apply professional knowledge is to become and remain knowledgeable in project management best practices techniques. -- Project Management Knowledge: