PRACTICE

Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.		  
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  MANAGEMENT

See ADMINISTRATION		  
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  PERFORMANCE

A measure of how well an organizational system provides services to consumers. Performance is often based on key indicators, such as rates of service, cost per consumer, degree of satisfaction with services, and extent of consumer access to services.		  
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  SERVICE

One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.		  
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  COMMUNITY

A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.		  
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  PROCEDURES

Written instructions that outline the steps for performing a task(s) or operationalizing an administrative or service delivery process. A procedure can be written as a step-by-step set of instructions or as a narrative description of a process. A procedure tells someone how to do something not just what to do.

Unlike policies, procedures do not need to be approved or reviewed by the governing body, and need not be associated with a specific policy. For example, whereas a broad anti-discrimination policy requires grievance or other procedures in order to be operationalized within an organization, assessment procedures do not require a governing body approved assessment policy.

Note: Procedures are sometimes referred to as administrative policies.

  
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  RESEARCH

For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.		  
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  CULTURE

The customs, habits, values, skills, technology, beliefs, and religious, social, and political behaviors of a group of people in a specific period of time.		  
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  EMPLOYEE

Paid member of an organization. Foster parents are not considered employees and are specifically referenced in relevant standards. 		 
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  ACCOUNTABILITY

The extent to which an organization is answerable for its processes and outcomes to a variety of relevant stakeholders including: consumers, community representatives, governing bodies, and governmental regulators.		  
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  TRAINING

Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.		  
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Ethical Practice
  
Private Org Public Agency  
Introduction
  

COA’s Ethical Practice standards are based on the assumption that good resource management drives excellence in agency performance and service delivery, and that good resource management cannot occur in an environment that lacks expectations for ethical practice.

The current discussion of ethical practice in business and legal literature, and best practice codes of corporate governance, parallels the current discussion about ethical practice in the nonprofit community. While debate continues about the feasibility of substituting federal and state regulations for strong voluntary support of non-profit ethical practice standards to prevent improper conduct, the risk of harm to an agency's reputation due to negative publicity remains a strong, practical deterrent to unethical practice. A practical, proactive stance to garnering the public trust goes beyond thinking about compliance with legal standards. The recommended standard can exceed what the law allows and be indicated by “what we are comfortable reading about our organization in the newspaper.”

COA’s standards assume the most effective approach to preventing improper conduct lies in a combination of factors rather than isolated policies and procedures. Research suggests that an organizational culture with a clear preference for trustworthiness in employees, public reactions and demands for accountability, and compliance with legal requirements, altogether, will work to encourage ethical practices.

Note: Please see Self-Paced Training: Ethical Practice (ETH) in the Tools Index for additional assistance with this standard.
 
PURPOSE: The agency earns and sustains the public trust through honest, truthful, and responsible transactions, partnerships, and relationships with individuals, communities, providers, businesses, donors, and government entities.
 
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