Coping with ethical dilemmas : Sri Lankan professional quantity surveyors’ perspective

Abstract

Ethics is a vital constituent for any profession. Professions are governed via codes of practice as a measure of ensuring compliance of members with professional ethics. An individual may find himself/herself in a dilemma if these standards prescribe contradicting courses of action. Exploring this phenomenon was the drive behind this study. Past researchers in Sri Lankan context had not given adequate attention to the ethical dilemmas and a clear definition of ethical dilemma was lacking. Further, the Codes of Conduct hardly provide guidance for coping with ethical dilemmas. Therefore this study carried out to identify the most significant ethical dilemmas faced by Sri Lankan Quantity Surveyors. was carried using interviews and questionnaire survey involving An empirical study was _ was Professional Members of IQSSL. Within the pre-empirical study, ethical dilemma defined and categories of ethical dilemmas were identified. The results showed that IQSSL Members manage to observe die Code in coping with ethical dilemmas However, observations made during the study indicate that due attention has not been paid to ethical dilemmas. The study concludes with recommendations to improve observance of the IQSSL Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics.