Ethics and Administrative Professionalism

It is necessary to underline that administrative professional, according to the International Association of Administrative Professionals (1998), should “strive to maintain and enhance the dignity, status, competence, and standards of the profession and its practitioners.” Therefore, the answers to the cases will be given taking into consideration this statement.

Case #1—The Boss’s Expense Report

It is necessary to underline that because of his high workload or neglecting attitude to the displaying of the facts about trip expenses, chief creates for me a situation where I have to submit false information about such expenses. Understanding that any information that affects the financial situation of the company should be disclosed fully and has to be supported by the original documents that confirm the incurred costs (Lattal & Clark, 2005), I will not fill the given blank report. I will kindly ask the boss not to make such a report until we do not receive the bills or other primary documents that will assist in reporting.

 

Type of service

Type of assignment

Title of your paper *

Academic level

Pages

Timeframe

Spacing

Currency

  Order now

Case #2—Lunch Reservations

An administrative professional is a person who is responsible for the administrative support and information coordination in an office related environment (International Association of Administrative Professionals, 1998). I agreed to make a reservation, however, this task was not work related. Moreover, I do not want to be involved in private life of third parties – boss, his wife and his mistress. Maybe other administrative assistant will do it while being afraid of losing the position; I will certainly ask the boss to keep his private life separately from work related tasks that he gives to me. My personal qualities and beliefs will not allow me to pretend and to lie, and the question of the private life of third parties is not my business. 

Case #3—Dinner a la Corporate Card

I consider a dinner with my co-worker to be a pleasant time spending. However, this dinner was purely personal and not work related. As far as I know, the company that I work for supports managers to use the corporate credit card to pay for the dinner with the official guests of the company and dinner where the work questions are discussed. Such funding is justified by obtaining future benefits to the company. However, after finding out that my co-worker will pay with a corporate credit card, I will insist on the fact that I pay for the dinner with my own credit card. I am sure that my message and tone of voice will be clear, and the employee will understand his incorrect behavior and will avoid its repetition. The use of company resources for personal or nonprofessional purposes is prohibited by the Code of ethics for administrative professionals (International Association of Administrative Professionals, 1998).

Case #4—The Confidential Report

Keeping confidentiality of the company’s business related questions if they do not harm public welfare and other parties is one of the ethical responsibilities of the administrative professional. It was by accident that I saw the contents of the folder that was addressed to another person. It will be nonprofessional to spread the rumors around the office. Therefore, I will keep calm and wait until the observed fact will be proved or disclaimed by the person to whom this letter was addressed.

Case #5—Party Marty

According to Lattal & Clark (2005), employees should not use company’s assets or information for their personal purposes. Therefore, I feel uncomfortable about Marty’s behavior. I will prefer to communicate with her by dinner and explain that as a good friend of her I will insist to return a key and avoid misusing the corporate property without permission of a boss. There should be a clear distinction between private and work life.