Leadership and Business Skills · tool 11 of 11
Ethics and Professional Conduct
Ethics and Professional Conduct: prepares you for the moment someone asks you to bend the truth.
Best for: Any project · Time: Reference
Domain: Across all domains · Focus area: Executing
How it works
PMI’s code of ethics rests on responsibility, respect, fairness and honesty. The hard cases are small: rounding status to green, hiding a defect, or favouring a friend’s firm.
- Report status truthfully.
- Declare conflicts of interest.
- Keep confidential data safe.
How to apply it
- Decide your lines in advance.
- Say what you can and can’t report.
- Escalate if pressured.
- Keep written records.
A manager asks you to mark a red project amber before an audit. You show the real status, with a recovery plan.
Your reputation is the one asset that follows you from project to project.
Quick check
You’re asked to report amber when you know it’s red. What should you do?
Sources
- PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Last reviewed 2026-11-02 against the PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition · Practitioner review pending · How this guide is made