Unethical actions, or the appearance of unethical actions, are unacceptable under any conditions. The Board of Directors, all officers, all committee chairs and vice-chairs, all special interest group leaders, all members and other volunteers are expected to use good judgment, professionalism, ethical standards, and avoid actual or potential conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest is a set of circumstances that creates a risk that a member or employee having a duty to act in DMS’ best interest may be unduly influenced by a secondary interest.
Each individual, committee, officer and board member must apply her/his own sense of personal ethics, which should extend beyond compliance with applicable laws and regulations in business situations, to govern behavior where no existing regulation provides a guideline. Each member is responsible for applying common sense in business decisions where specific rules do not provide all the answers
In determining compliance with this standard in specific situations, members should ask themselves the following questions:
- Is my action legal?
- Is my action ethical?
- Does my action comply with DMS policy?
- Am I sure my action does not appear inappropriate?
- Am I sure that I would not be embarrassed or compromised if my action became known within the Organization or publicly?
- Am I sure that my action meets my personal code of ethics and behavior?
- Would I feel comfortable defending my actions on the 6 o’clock news?
- Is there a real or even an appearance of a conflict of interest or compromising action?
Each member should be able to answer "yes" to all of these questions
before taking action Each director, manager and supervisor is responsible for the ethical business behavior of her/his subordinates. Directors, managers and supervisors must carefully weigh all courses of action suggested in ethical, as well as economic terms, and base their final decisions on the guidelines provided by this policy, as well as their personal sense of right and wrong.
