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Chapter 1: Introduction to Legal and Ethical Considerations

Lesson 1: Professional Conduct and Ethical Responsibilities of Housing Managers

The Role and Ethics of Housing Management

1. The Housing Manager and Stakeholders
   At the helm of housing operations, the housing manager is not an isolated entity. This role frequently interacts with various stakeholders – from tenants to government agencies, and other collaborators. Recognizing and respecting each stakeholder’s interests and concerns, the housing manager serves as a bridge, ensuring fluid communication, addressing concerns, and strategically making decisions that benefit the larger community.
2. Upholding Professional Standards
   A housing manager is bound by Standards of Professional Conduct, ensuring transparency, fairness, and integrity in every decision and action. These standards serve as a compass, guiding managers towards ethical practices and establishing trust among stakeholders.
3. Navigating Sensitive Terrain
4. The managerial position inevitably faces sensitive issues, influenced both legally and culturally. It’s imperative to understand the legal obligations tied to the role while also showing respect for cultural sensitivities. Striking this balance safeguards the community’s interests and fosters an environment of mutual respect.
5. Deciphering Legality, Morality, and Ethics
   While these terms might seem interchangeable, they represent distinct realms. Legality focuses on what is defined as right or wrong by law. Morality delves into personal beliefs about right and wrong, often influenced by cultural, societal, or religious factors. Ethics, on the other hand, revolves around the principles and values that guide professional conduct. For a housing manager, navigating these distinctions is vital, especially when faced with dilemmas where these realms intersect.
6. The Ethical Landscape of Housing Management
   Beyond general ethics, housing managers encounter unique ethical challenges. From allocation decisions to handling disputes, the role demands an unwavering commitment to fairness, transparency, and justice. By recognizing and addressing these ethical dilemmas proactively, housing managers ensure that public works and housing projects are executed with integrity.

The role of a housing manager extends far beyond administrative duties. It’s a position interwoven with ethical considerations, demanding a deep understanding of professional standards and the broader social and cultural landscape. By acknowledging and embracing these aspects, housing managers can lead with vision and purpose.

Standards of Professional Conduct for Housing Managers

As a manager in any industry, it is crucial to familiarize oneself with the Standards of Professional Conduct. Many industries have professional standards that guide their professionals in their careers. For example, teachers in Saskatchewan have to adhere to the Standards of Professional Conduct set by the Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board (SPTRB). Housing management is no different and should also have standards set for its professionals. Professionalism is extremely important and having a set of standards/professional conduct policy in place can help to establish this importance.

BC Housing Policy Example

The following standards are taken from the BC Housing Policy document. The policy aims to establish a framework for ethical behavior, outlining expectations for all employees and commissioners in their roles within BC Housing. This comprehensive policy covers a range of principles and guidelines that extend beyond mere legal compliance, emphasizing trust, professionalism, and commitment to public service. In this context, we’ll explore key elements of the Standards of Professional Conduct, offering explanations and insights into their significance.

By comprehending and internalizing these standards, managers in housing can prepare themselves to uphold the principles of ethical conduct essential for success in their roles. Adherence to these standards not only ensures legal compliance but also fosters a culture of integrity and trust within BC Housing, contributing to its reputation and public service mission.

Why should housing managers have a professional conduct policy in place?

Housing managers should establish and implement a comprehensive housing policy, similar to the one described above, for several important reasons:

• Clarity and Consistency
  A well-defined housing policy provides clarity to employees, commissioners, and other stakeholders regarding the expected standards of conduct. It ensures that everyone understands their roles, responsibilities, and ethical boundaries, leading to consistent decision-making and behavior throughout the organization.
• Ethical Guidance
  Such a policy serves as a guide for ethical behavior. It helps housing managers and staff make principled decisions, fostering an organizational culture built on trust, integrity, and respect. This is especially important when housing managers deal with sensitive matters involving residents, public funds, and community stakeholders.
• Legal Compliance
  Housing managers operate within a legal framework, and a comprehensive housing policy ensures that the organization complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and standards. This helps mitigate the risk of legal issues, fines, and penalties.
• Public Trust and Reputation
  Housing organizations play a vital role in providing safe and equitable housing solutions for communities. Upholding high ethical standards and transparency, as outlined in the policy, helps build and maintain public trust. A strong reputation is crucial for attracting funding, partnerships, and support from government agencies, donors, and residents.
• Conflict Resolution
  The policy provides a structured mechanism for addressing conflicts of interest, disputes, and ethical dilemmas. It offers clear guidelines on how to identify, report, and manage conflicts, reducing the potential for disputes within the organization.
• Employee and Commissioner Accountability
  By setting clear expectations, the policy holds employees and commissioners accountable for their actions and decisions. It establishes a basis for performance evaluations and disciplinary measures if necessary, ensuring that individuals are responsible for their ethical conduct.
• Workplace Culture
  The policy contributes to creating a positive, respectful, and inclusive workplace culture. It emphasizes principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, promoting a harmonious environment where employees and commissioners are treated with dignity and respect.
• Risk Management
  Housing organizations face various risks, including legal, financial, and reputational risks. A robust housing policy helps identify and mitigate these risks by providing guidelines to avoid situations that could harm the organization’s interests.
• Transparency and Accountability
  The policy encourages transparency by requiring employees and commissioners to disclose potential conflicts of interest, outside business activities, and other relevant matters. This transparency enhances accountability and ensures that decision-makers act in the best interest of the organization.
• Continuous Improvement
  A housing policy is not static; it should evolve over time to adapt to changing circumstances, laws, and ethical standards. It encourages a culture of continuous improvement, with regular reviews and updates to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

Employees’ Rights and Responsibilities

Manager or Supervisor’s Responsibilities

Managers and supervisors play a vital role in ensuring workplace safety. Their responsibilities include:

• OH&S Compliance: Ensuring that workers comply with OH&S acts and regulations, fostering a culture of safety.
• Protective Equipment: Making sure that workers use prescribed protective equipment and devices to mitigate risks.
• Hazard Awareness: Advising workers of potential and actual hazards in the workplace.
• Providing Instructions: Supplying workers with written instructions on protective measures and procedures.
• Taking Precautions: Exercising reasonable precautions for the protection of workers in all circumstances.

Employer’s Responsibilities

Employers have overarching responsibilities to maintain a safe workplace. Their duties include:

• Health and Safety Committee: Establishing and maintaining a health and safety committee or ensuring the selection of at least one health and safety representative.
• Workplace Safety: Taking every reasonable precaution to ensure the workplace is safe.
• Employee Training: Training employees on potential hazards and safe usage, handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous substances.
• Equipment and PPE: Ensuring workers know how to safely use and handle equipment and providing necessary personal protective equipment.
• Reporting Critical Injuries: Promptly reporting all critical injuries to the relevant government department responsible for OH&S.
• Competent Supervisors: Appointing competent supervisors who set performance standards and ensure safe working conditions are observed.

Legislation and Health & Safety Committees

Legislation across Canada mandates specific requirements for health and safety committees, including composition, meeting frequency, and co-chairpersons. Employee representatives must be elected or selected by workers or their union. Here are some of the main elements when it comes to legislation for health and safety:

• Role of Health and Safety Committees: Health and safety committees serve as advisory bodies and can perform various functions, such as identifying hazards, recommending corrective actions, participating in incident investigations, and making recommendations to management regarding health and safety concerns.
• Refusal of Unsafe Work: Employees can refuse work they believe is unsafe, triggering a process that involves reporting to their supervisor, an investigation, and, if necessary, involvement of a government health and safety inspector.
• Legislation Enforcement: Legislation holds employers accountable for employee health and safety. Government inspectors enforce these laws. In severe cases, charges may be laid under the Canada Criminal Code, Section 217.1, if an organization or individual “wantonly” or recklessly disregards safety duties, leading to harm or death.

Understanding these roles, rights, and responsibilities is essential for managers, employees, and employers alike in maintaining a safe and secure work environment, addressing sensitive issues, and ensuring compliance with workplace safety regulations.

Ethics vs Morals vs Laws

Understanding the Interplay of Ethics, Morality, and Law

Did you know that you can never be ethical and moral and follow the law at the same time? The idea that we can have all three elements together is the hope that human society dreams. The challenging reality is that they often conflict with each other. The pursuit of these three elements in harmony can be an elusive ideal. To understand why these three concepts, intersect, let’s begin with clear definitions of each:

• Ethics, the realm of moral principles governing individual behaviour or professional conduct.
• Morality, concerned with distinguishing right from wrong behaviour and assessing the inherent goodness or badness of an individual’s character.
• Law, a system of rules recognized by a particular country or community, enforced through penalties, regulating the actions of its members.

The Relationship Between Them

While ethics, morality, and the law share connections, it is nearly impossible to embody all three simultaneously. The relationship unfolds as follows:

• If one adheres to ethical principles, they inherently follow the law.
• Similarly, aligning with morality often leads to ethical behavior and, consequently, compliance with the law.
• However, achieving a complete synthesis of ethics, morality, and the law remains a daunting challenge.

Watch the following video to learn more about the relationship between the 3 elements:

Different Domains of Influence

These three elements operate within distinct spheres of influence:

Morality governs personal and private interactions, guiding individuals in their conduct towards others. Ethics step into the realm of professional interactions, delineating appropriate conduct within workplaces and specific roles. Law, in contrast, oversees broader societal interactions, often intervening in cases where individuals engage with strangers or the community at large.

Contrasting Morality and Law

A clear distinction emerges when contrasting morality and the law:

Law imposes an absolute obligation on individuals to comply with its rules, deriving its authority from the state. It governs the outer life of people, regulating their interactions with others and society as a whole. Morality, on the other hand, emanates from one’s inner values, is not enforced by the state, and primarily guides personal conduct. It revolves around an individual’s inner life. Here are some more elements to understand the relationship between morals and law:

• Evolving Morals Into Law: While ethics and morals often influence the formation of laws, some moral principles may eventually find their place in legislation. For instance, tax deductions for charitable donations reflect a moral principle turned into law. Nevertheless, distinctions persist.
• Ethics vs. Law: Ethics, essentially, provide guidelines for personal conduct, while laws establish societal regulations. A notable difference is that breaches of ethical principles generally incur no legal penalties, whereas legal violations result in fines or imprisonment. Moreover, ethics originate from an individual’s personal values, whereas laws are products of governmental decisions.
• Navigating the Conflict: Balancing ethics, morality, and the law involves making complex choices. In certain situations, adhering to the law may challenge personal morality, necessitating careful consideration and discernment.

Law’s Enforcement Power

Legal systems are equipped with courts and enforcement agencies, granting them the authority to impose penalties on those who transgress the law. This enforcement power stands in stark contrast to morality, which does not carry the same capacity for coercion. While acting immorally may incur scorn from society, it rarely leads to legal consequences unless it breaches the law.

Examples of Acts in Different Categories

• Some acts may be immoral but not illegal, such as displaying grumpiness toward a spouse. Conversely, certain actions may be illegal but not necessarily immoral, like failing to complete a form accurately.

Understanding Legal Perspectives

• Legal Positivism: Some say laws come from governments and don’t always need to be morally right.
• Natural Law Perspective: Others believe laws should always be based on moral truths. For example, if a law isn’t fair, it might not really be a law.
• Different Legal Systems: Legal systems vary around the world. Some focus on past cases (Common Law), while others use written rules (Civil Law). Legal rules are strict and different from moral values.

Balancing the intricacies of ethics, morality, and the law is a multifaceted endeavor. While they may align harmoniously on occasion, they often present conflicting demands. Understanding their distinctions and complex interplay aids in navigating ethical and moral dilemmas within the framework of the law.