Comparison of professional codes of ethics

Code of Ethics Comparison

Ethical codes are those regulations put by an organization or association to enable them to make a clear decision on understanding what is wrong or right and hence applying this understanding to make informed decisions. There is three main classification of ethical codes, they include code of ethics for corporate or businesses, code of conduct for employees, code of practice (professional ethics).

Code of ethics in business focuses on social issues. It also focuses on organization's belief on issues to do with the mission of the organization, privacy within the organization, quality of services offered by the organization or the environment. Business code of ethics is the one that gives rise to employee's code of conduct. The managers are the ones who determine its effectiveness with their support on various issues by either sanctioning or rewarding the employees.

Code of conduct for employees spells out clearly the procedures to be followed during a certain specific ethical incidence such as when there is a conflict of interest or when an employee is offered a gift and it also provide guidelines to know whether there are any irregularities in the code of ethics, and if so, it gives out the solutions which should be implemented.

Lastly, the code of practice also known as professional ethics is the type which is used by a government, non-governmental organization or a professional body to control that specific profession. The American Association of Christian Counselors and American Counseling Association both operate within these ethical standards. This code of practice stipulates the professional responsibility, whereby the professional is allowed to decide whether an event or a behavior is right or wrong ethically American Association of Christian Counselors, 2010()

General similarities and differences

These two associations also have similarities in the following areas of concern. Such as professional responsibility, ethical standard on supervisors, researchers, educators and writers, they also have similarities in the way they resolve issues.

Both associations are guided towards doing harm to their clients, research participants or trainees. The counselors are required to be aware of their attitude, personal values, behavior and beliefs to avoid imposing values that are not in line with that of the counseling goals (American Counseling Association, 2005).

In both associations, the client has informed consent to choose whether to engage into or remain in the counseling relationship. The clients should be given any information pertaining to the counseling they are to go through either in writing or verbally.

Both associations prohibit sexual or romantic relationship between the clients and their counselors. But in case the relationship involves a former client, both association allow relation leading to marriage but only after five years from the time there was a professional encounter between them and only if the case was resolved in a professional way and not for marriage purposes American Association of Christian Counselors, 2010()

In both associations, the counselor is allowed to refer a client only if he/she is unable to offer the client appropriate counseling needed. The client is first given the referral options to choose from, and the counselor is not entitles to leave a client without providing him/her with proper treatment required. The counselor is only entitled to terminate the counseling sessions if he/she realizes that the counseling may lead to harm from the client (American Counseling Association, 2005).

Another similarity is that they both advocate for respect of a client's rights which include respect, to confidentiality, privacy, explanation of any limitations arising. The counselor is also prohibited from disclosing the client's information but may do so only is it entails a life threatening disease or a court order.

Both associations, the amount of fees levied on the client are determined by the location, time spent with the client and his/her ability to cover his/her counseling cost. But at the same time, Christian counselors are allowed to set their own fee unlike the professional counselors who are entitles to the use of sliding fee structures scaled by the client's ability to pay and other fee reduction strategies which will lower the prices of the services hence increasing accessibility to the poor.

One of the differences is that in American Counseling Association, the counselor is allowed to share the client's information with members of staff, but in American Association of Christian Counselors, the counselor is not allowed to share or disclose the client's information with anyone without a legal consent from the client American Association of Christian Counselors, 2010()

Other differences arise where the proper record is to be kept and its ownership. In Christian counseling, in case the client is from a certain organization then, the records are sent to the client's employer while in professional counseling association; the clients' records are all stored and later destroyed in accordance with the law.

Discrimination

In Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association, the client's dignity is to de respected at all cost and his/her welfare should be the topmost priority. The counselors are allowed to keep a record for progressive revision and assessment of the clients' improvement (American Counseling Association, 2005). But in Christian counselor association code of ethics, the counselors are allowed to give the client his/her records and incase he/she was from a certain organization then the records were given to his/her employer then later to him/her on departure from the organization.

Also, in Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association, the counselor should not engage in any form of discrimination based on age, disability, culture, race, spirituality, gender identity, marital status, language preference, socioeconomic status. Apart from clients, the counselors are also not to discriminate against students, research participants and employee in a manner that it will have a negative impact on the person. The counselors are also not allowed to deny anyone employment, admission to academic programs and advancement. While in comparison, for Christian counselor association, their codes of conduct do not allow discrimination of any kind especially to a client, an employee or student. Difference might come in matters pertaining to disclosure of client information to any staff member American Association of Christian Counselors, 2010()

Community Standards