From ethical competence to ethical leadership

Social work is a profession in which the primary mission is to enhance human well-being and to help people meet basic human needs, with particular attention to the needs of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. Ethical competence in social work has evolved significantly since the profession’s formal inception in the late nineteenth century. Ethical standards and ethics literature in social work matured significantly during a third historical period that focused on ethical theory and decision making. Contemporary professionals also developed a better appreciation of the limits of science and its ability to respond to the many complex moral and ethical questions that professionals face. In the United States, social workers have experienced an increase in claims and lawsuits against practitioners, and a substantial portion of these complaints allege some form of unethical conduct. This trend has led to the development of ethical competence in social work, with its emphasis on ethics risk management.