Activity & Assessment - Professional Development, [University Name]

This homework assignment delves into various aspects of professional development within a community service context. It begins by identifying legal requirements in the workplace, referencing relevant websites and legislation. The assignment then explores the importance of understanding the legal framework, job descriptions, and workplace agreements. It addresses confidentiality breaches, their consequences, and the actions required when identifying potential violations. Furthermore, the assignment examines ethical obligations, including ethical responsibilities and sources of information, as well as ethical issues arising in worker-client and co-worker interactions, along with potential ethical dilemmas and actions to be taken. It discusses the impact of individual values on work, ways to address negative attitudes, and the process of problem-solving, emphasizing ethical considerations and decision-making in professional settings.

Running head:ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Activity & Assessment
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s name

1ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Formative assessment
Activity 1
Q1.There are certain websites from where we can gather information regarding the legal
requirements of a workplace –
http://www.acwa.org.au/resources/ethics-and-standards
http://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/12_2013/nsds_web.pdf
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/mental-pubs-n-servst10
http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Vehicles_at_Work/Work_Related_Vehicle_Safety/Legal_Requirements/
http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml
https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/2017/02/01/resource-australian-community-workers-code-ethics
https://dlgc.communities.wa.gov.au/LegislationCompliance/Pages/Education-and-Care.aspx
https://labour.gov.in/policies/safety-health-and-environment-work-place
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-law-regulations
https://www.osha.gov/
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/model-whs-laws

2ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Q2. Legislation is a set of guidelines, passed by an Act of Parliament, which clearly defines what
is legal and illegal. There are certain numbers of legislations which are provided to the workers
of the community services –
 Duty of care
 Community Services Act
 Carers (Recognition) Act
 Disability Services Act
 Forensic Disability Act
 Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs Act
Activity 2
When an individual is working on a role, it is important for him to have a full
understanding of the legal framework relevant to the role. This experience will help the
individual work comfortably in an atmosphere of community service while upholding the rights
of clients. It is important for the individual to follow and adhere to the legal requirements
regarding the workplace policies and procedures, within the scope of their role. The Job
description will comprise of the individual’s role, duties and line of reporting for that position.
The JD explains briefly what the organization expects of the individual and how this correlates
with the goals and objectives of the organization. It also discusses the interdependencies with
others and the methods, training and success-related experience needed. It is important for the
individual to make themselves familiarize with relevant industrial award, workplace agreement
or enterprise bargaining agreements. They should know about the federal, state and local,
government regulations that impact on their work. They should also be knowledgeable regarding
the accreditation standards and audit necessities applicable to the role for which they work. The

3ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
individual has a legal responsibility of their own to guarantee that their peers are safe from any
injury or and harm due to the work-related environment. They should make sure that their
working environment is safe to work. If there is something wrong with anybody regarding their
health, then the individual should provide information or guide them to help them prevent any
further work-related injuries (Westerveld and Terlouw 2015).
Activity 3
Q1. Examples of ways in which a person can violate confidentiality unknowingly:
 Share private details with a family member or friend about a client without the consent
from the client.
 Discussing some confidential information at a place from where anyone can be overhear
even if they are not in that discussion group.
 Leaving the desktop in an open state containing some confidentiality can also lead to
breaching of secrecy.
 Sharing selfies on social media of a patient by nursing members.
 When permission is granted to communicate details but is not precise, this can lead to
confusion and lead to a possible breach (for instance, a patient can allow their details to
be discussed with an instructor but not their General practitioner).
Q2. There are certain consequences when an individual breaches the confidentiality of others.
Such as –
 Termination from the job
 Payment of compensation under civil law
 Serving a prison sentence in criminal proceedings

4ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Q3. If anybody identifies potential or actual breaches of work legislation, then there are certain
actions that are required to be taken –
 Documenting and evaluating the issue objectively.
 Mentioning the problem to the team leader or any other supervisor or any senior staff.
 Mailing or informing the management or board of authority about the problem, to let
them decide whether the issue is required to be reported to the regulatory authority.
 Recognizing the most possible outcomes of non-compliance.
 Recognizing and implementing the most possible actions that can help in resolving the
issue without any further issues.
 Fulfilling the agreement in the proper time provided, to help resolve the issue and
distributing information regarding the issue to the concerned people.

5ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Activity 4
Q1. Ethical obligations bind companies, managers and staff. Ethics is a system of beliefs
principles that govern the actions of an individual. Ethics demonstrate faith in what is right and
wrong, good and bad in human behaviour. Ethics refers to all facets of organizational behaviour.
Ethical responsibilities that an individual should have are –
 The person should not lend money to their clients from their own salary.
 The person should behave in a professional manner and should adhere to the
workplace’s code of ethics.
 The person should never breach privacy; either of their own, company or their client.
 The person should never do all the work of the client rather they should guide and
show them the way through which they should fulfill their work.
Q2. Identifying and accessing the sources of information about the scope and nature of ethical
responsibilities of a person can be found in the employee joining letter, organizational value
statements, policies, procedures, codes of conduct and in the unspoken culture. The ethical
responsibilities can also be found in the professional codes of conduct and professional
standards. All the ethical responsibilities describe the guidelines through which a person can
work properly. They can receive and provide high standards of behavior, how to protect their
peers and clients, and guides them by how to increase their status in the profession they are
working in.

6ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Activity 5
Q1. There are various situations where ethical issues can rise amid worker-client interaction.
Some of them are -
 Worker and customer interact with each other through a call on the personal and/or
company mobile phone of the worker.
 Workers are warm-hearted and embrace physical connections with customers such as
hugging or loving touch, kissing, soothing the shoulder hands or face to provide the
customer with emotional support.
 Workers spend long hours on the customer's phone on the day of work or perhaps even in
the private time.
 Workers generally invest a disproportionate amount of hours with the customer, planned
and unplanned, relative to other customers.
 Worker also speaks about the customer and can even freely discuss how much he or she
wants, imagines or can connect to the customer.
 Workers may start to spend regular time with customers in different restaurants, cinemas
or other public areas outside of the customer's residence and also at the worker's
household, under the disguise of a customer visit.
 Worker communicates openly with the client and addresses his / her own individual
experiences.
 The worker pays his / her own personal money to help the needs of customers, especially
if the company does not pay for the needs of customers, while the worker prefers to bear
his / her own costs.
 The worker is associated with the customer on the use of drugs and/or alcohol.

7ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
 The customer's own relatives and/or social friends or colleagues of the worker start
talking about the length of time the employee spends with the customer and can even
communicate directly during the working hours.
Q2. There are various situations that may lead to ethical dilemmas amid the interaction between
co-workers, staff members and workplace. Some are –
 A family or close friend communicates with the boss which impacts their work, salaries,
and advancement.
 A supervisor tries to develop a relationship with a female colleague and vice versa who
reports to him.
 In a civil dispute, a lawyer assists a plaintiff while taking payments from attorneys who
hold the alternative viewpoint.
 A company employee conducts his/ her personal business during the company working
hours.
 Workers frequently work in groups to develop marketing strategies, but often take credit
for the work of others.
 A worker creates a private blog where he sells the firmware goods of his company.
Q3. There are a number of actions that can be taken if any ethical issue is identified. Such as –
 The person can take guidance of the code of ethics relevant to the issue.
 The person can take guidance of the code of conduct relevant to the issue.
 The person can take guidance of the organizational policies and procedure relevant to the
issue.
 The person can discuss the issue with the person who is involved.

8ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
 The person can discuss the issue with a senior supervisor or his/ her peers to help in
resolving the issue.
Activity 6
Q1.
 If individual values coincide with their job or company, they notice that they help their
own tasks and energize it
 When most or all of the individual values clash with their own job then they are inclined
to feel very troubled and depressed.
 Due to the personal values and attitudes of those of the individual they are working with,
the connections at work may be affected.
 Build gaps in your corporate and personal life
Q2. If a person’s own attitude is negatively impacting the company surroundings then less
amount of time should be spend around them. If the attitude or behavior of a person contradicts
the attitude or conduct, which does not mean that they are a horrible individual. Therefore the
worker's attitude must change. It will enable them to see the mentality of others from another
angle, and maybe stop others ' attitudes from affecting the worker's mindset. Usually, people
discuss about their misfortune with their co-workers, which can negatively impact their attitude
or behavior. It is important for other to not to respond to such events, or they can just listen to it.
People can be empathetic towards them, but should not take such events into serious note.

9ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Activity 7
Q1. A value system is a collection of common principles for moral and philosophical integrity
purposes. Value system is not universal. Every individual has their own value system.
 When most or all of the individual values clash with their own job then they are inclined
to feel very troubled and depressed.
 Due to the personal values and attitudes of those of the individual they are working with,
the connections at work may be affected.
 Build gaps in your corporate and personal life.
 If a person is feeling stressed in the workplace, it is important to recognize the underlying
cause of distress by analyzing the condition and taking action to address the issue, thus
reducing stress. One major factor would be to detach the beliefs from what is going on at
work or in the company.
 When a person finds it hard to honour his or her values at a job or in the corporation, they
may recognize it to be in the wrong field or to work for the wrong profession.
 A person can find that at work or in company, their individual values clash with each
other. Their ideals might include happiness and wellbeing and may be effective at work
or in industry, but they might not feel so good because of the lengthy hours they work
for.

10ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
Q2. The process by which an effective problem solving methods works are –
 First, looking at the problem and collecting as much data as possible is important to
illustrate the situation. Considering, for instance, whether there are legal aspects to the
issue or whether the case can be described as an ethical dilemma. It may help to discuss
about it with a work manager or colleague.
 When a better understanding has been established of the scope of the problem, it is
important to review the professions code of ethics to determine if there is any clear
guidance on how to deal with the issue. More research is often needed. A code of conduct
can also appear in the policy and procedures handbook of the organization. It is necessary
to read these instructions or procedures.
 The next stage is to ask yourself questions such as: ' Which behaviour will have the
minimum likelihood to affect the customer? ' ' Which decisions would secure the
customer's well-being? ' ' How can self-determination be promoted? '
 To find solutions to the problem / dilemma, brainstorm with colleagues if possible.
 Next stage encompasses analyzing all of the possibilities and implications for all parties
concerned, customers, peers, organization, career, and many more.
 Finding the balance among employees ' and customers ' rights and obligations is
important. The problem emerges from employees ' obligations to ensure a safe
atmosphere for all customers and at the same time promoting clients ' freedom to make
informed decisions that may be correlated with a risk factor. This is called dignity of risk.
Given this balance, it is essential to choose options that respect clients ' freedoms and
enable them to take personal liability for their decisions and conduct.

11ACTIVITY & ASSESSMENT
 Finally the method should be reviewed before implementing so that it does not create any
issues (Bardach and Patashnik 2019).
Activity 8
Unethical conduct in a workplace should be reported to the supervisor's like the
department of ethics or the manager of the company. They are trained to handle such situations
as necessary as they know how to minimize such issues (Tzini and Jain 2018).
Activity 9
A conflict of interest is a circumstance where an individual has enough private or
personal interest to appear to affect the rational exercise of official duties such as, say, a public
official, an employee, or a specialist (Resnik and Elmore 2018). There is a conflict of interest
when a person or people participating in a particular circumstance may have opposing
allegiances, may profit from supporting a circumstance outcome or have hidden reasons to
appear to help others. When a conflict of interest occurs, it is important to take certain particular
actions, such as –
 When a conflict of interest arises, it is important to inform consumer and/or any other
individuals or organizations regarding conflicts of interest instantly.
 It is important to explain the conflict to the person or organization who can aid in solving
the issue.
 A separate advocacy organization is necessary.
 Remove the problem-if the dispute is between, for instance, family members, then the
issue should be taken away from the family arrangement.
There are some models also that can help in the management of conflict of interest.