TRAINING LOBBYISTS IN ETHICS SHOULD BE MANDATORY

In the lobbying field, ethics includes values such as honesty, openness, loyalty, fair-mindedness, respect, integrity, and forthright communication. The current state of ethics in the lobbying practice depends heavily on codes of conduct held by the major professional associations. Membership in these groups is voluntary, meaning that one is not required to belong to such an association in order to practice lobbying. Members agree to abide by a code code of conduct that is written for the entire group. Some codes of conduct  are written in terms that forbid a list of certain activities; other codes of conduct espouse a set of ethical principles which should be followed. Whether written in positive or negative terms, most of the professional associations in lobbying have a code of ethics.

Codes of ethics have been critiqued for falling short of the ideals espoused in the codes, or even in being internally contradictory. Practitioners often state that codes of conduct do not give enough specific guidance to be anything other than rudimentary . Some practitioners say they see a code of ethics once and then do not refer to it or read it again .

Most codes of ethics provide no enforcement monitoring or recourse for their infringement, leaving them impotent other than the occasional revocation of association membership.

At the EU level, lobbyists’ codes could be best described as ‘principle-based’ with little detail on how a professional lobbyist should behave in a given situation. There are few explicit rules governing behaviour. Instead, association members are expected to ‘act with honesty and integrity at all times, conducting their business in a fair and professional manner’ or be honest, responsible and courteous manner at all times’. However, there is little detail on how improper influence should be avoided.

 Little or no  ethics training or study is held by lobbying practitioners.

• A consideration of ethics should pervade all content of lobbying  professional education.
• If a curriculum cannot accommodate a dedicated ethics course, short  courses or mini-seminars should provide a meaningful ethics forum.

Lobbying professionals need both experience managing ethical issues and academic study of ethics. Studying ethics helps practitioners to advance professionally and to make defensible judgments in the eyes of publics. Not preparing young practitioners to deal with ethics disadvantages them in their career aspirations and harms the reputation of the lobbying profession itself.

Lobbying professionals must pay attention to ethics before they desperately need it. Once a crisis of conflicting ethics or high media interest befalls the organizationand/or the lobyist, it is too late to begin searching for ethical guidance. Professional lobbyists should begin studying ethics now, before they “must” address a problem, and as soon as possible.

In order to foster excellence in ethics, lobbyists should be taught what is to be considered when confronting an ethical dilemma, encourage the defining of issues in ethical terms, and encourage an atmosphere of open ethical debate.  

Principles and rules are necessary but not sufficient to ensure that lobbyists maintain high ethical standards. People’s awareness of rules does not necessarily make them more motivated to follow them. People need not only to know what unacceptable behaviour is but also to understand the principles behind good ethical behaviour and to internalise them. Education, training and active governance is key to embedding ethical principles and internalising high ethical standards.

Training should consist of two approaches firstly a “rules based” approach focusing on the rules in professional conduct. Secondly a “principles based” approach to training lobbyists to recognise ethical situations and dilemmas and exercise appropriate ethical judgement to resolve the problems and challenges faced.

The principles-based approach is robust and flexible because it:

• provides guidance that can be applied to the infinite variations in circumstances that arise in practice
• focuses on the spirit of the guidance and encourage responsibility and the exercise of professional judgement, which are key elements of professions

In practice, Codes of Ethics are (should be) a mixture of principles and rules. The rules should support the underlying principles of the Code. Whether a Code is described as principles or rules-based will be dependent on whether the principles are built into the foundations of the Code and the extent of the rules. The key issue is striking an appropriate balance which encourages the spirit of the guidance to be complied with and does not undermine the exercise of judgement and the role of the profession. 

In general, the field of professional ethics is the study of the principles and standards that underlie a profession’s responsibilities and conduct. It examines the ethical dilemmas and challenges met by practitioners of a profession, the way in which professionals organize and develop ethical standards for members of their profession, and how these standards are applied in everyday practice. The study of professional ethics seeks to help individuals working in a profession make ethical decisions when faced with a moral dilemma. By gaining an understanding of the core ethical standards of a profession, knowledge of the professional standards of practice that may apply to their situation, and other influencing rules or factors, a professional has the tools to decide how they should act in a given situation.

Key Features of Training Programme

1. Stimulating moral imagination
2. Recognizing ethical issues
3. Analyzing key concepts and principles
4. Eliciting sense of responsibility
5. Dealing constructively with ambiguity and disagreement 

Teaching Methods

• Brief, but concrete cases,
• Lectures, readings, guest speakers, movies, role plays,
• Class discussions that strike a balance between structure and openness,
• Ethical reasoning schematics,
• Problems requiring an exercise of judgment (with reasons),
• Discussions requiring exercising of judgment (and criticism),
• Group assignments requiring exercise of judgment;
• Ethics across the board