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| NEWSLETTER OF COMMISSION 1 –
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND PRACTICE Vol. 2.0 – August, 1999 ContentsCommission 1 web page launched Commission 1 web page launchedThanks to Stephen Djaba of Ghana, Commission 1 now has its own web site. It is hosted by FIGtree at http://www.ddl.org/figtree and can be reached also from Figtree's Commissions section. Please have a look! Stephen has put a lot of work into designing a site that hopefully will meet the requirements of users. Not only does the site set out the Mission Statement and Terms of Reference of Commission 1, but also details of Commission Officers, Working Groups, Current Events, Other Activities and Newsletters. Other items of interest will be added, as they become available. We would like to make this site as useful as possible to all those who have an interest in "Professional Standards and Practice", so if you have any ideas, requests or comments to improve the site’s content please let me know at park106@dcsi.net.au or use the feedback button on the site. Stephen as Chair of Working Group 3 (and its sole member) demonstrated a mock up of the site to delegates attending the Commission 1 Annual Meeting at the Working Week in South Africa in May/June this year. All were very impressed with his achievements. Congratulations Stephen on a job well done and for achieving the objective of Working Group 3. John Parker PS. In this edition of Friends of Commission 1 we have given you an update of the Working Groups of the Commission, asking for your comments on Ethical Dilemmas and a brief report on Commission activities at the Working Week in South Africa. Working group 1 – OrganisationProgress to dateAs mentioned in Sun City unfortunately there does not seem to be many active members in working group 1 except Gianfranco Morocutti from Italy and Bernard Bour from France. All other promises of playing an active role are obviously forgotten. Nevertheless we three musketeers stand together and are working on our task. For a quick reminder, our project is to work out..."The public sector organisational structure that cover FIG activities and the method of providing services and the role of the private sector." (see Workplan Commission 1) In a report, we will show the different organisational structures of various governments around the world including the private sector in provision of services. We will provide papers on outsourcing/contracting out of government services and examples of clauses used in contracts that cover quality, timelines and liability and those that impose penalties. What have we done so far? In a couple of meetings, we three have had basic discussions to clear up some words and the meaning behind them. It is quite important to clarify first the terms and definitions you are talking about before starting work. Otherwise you may discuss and talk parallel to each other and you will never meet your partner because of misunderstandings. Therefore, we were lucky to have French, German and Italian around the table for doing this work. Further possible actions were discussed and John Parker and me decided to send out a questionnaire to get the needed data. This questionnaire has been sent to all FIG delegates and I would like to encourage the receivers to fill it in and send it back. Only with reliable data can we fulfill our duties for commission 1 and FIG in general. All FIG members will benefit from the results of the commission. If anybody should have difficulties filling in the questionnaire, do not hesitate to get in contact with klaus.ruerup@t-online.de. !!! Latest News!!! Two questionnaires have been received back so far, which is nice but not quite representative. Make it some more! Klaus Rürup Commission 1 annual meeting 1999The Annual Meeting of Commission 1 took place during Working Week in Sun City, South Africa. Fourteen delegates and interested people attended the meeting where each of the Working Groups presented an overview of their activities, which are described elsewhere in this Newsletter. In addition to the activities of the Working Groups, discussion took place on how the Commission may be able to support the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement programme, and the SE Asian Survey Conference to be held in Perth, Australia in November 1999 where Commission 1 has been asked to participate. Seven papers and presentations from Commission 1 were arranged during the Survey 99 Conference with joint sessions being held with Commission 2 and the Task Force on Under-represented Groups in Surveying. Of the 10 topics planned for Working Week 2000 to be held in Prague, Commission 1 has been to be responsible for two of them, being "Quality Assurance in Surveyor’s Profession" and "Multidisciplinary nature of Surveying". Each of these topics will be a session of 4 to 6 papers. Working group 2 – Business PracticesProgress so farWorking Group 2 had a useful meeting during the Working Week in Sun City. We agreed that the areas that we will explore are:
We will aim our work particularly at small- and medium-sized survey firms. Our final output will be a single publication covering these issues, making heavy use of examples/ case studies, and including check lists for firms to use. The publication will exist in draft form by the working week in Korea in May 2001, and will be published by the time of the 2002 Congress. The members of Working Group 2 include John Parker, Niels Nielsen from Denmark, Stephen Djaba from Ghana, Willi Schmidt from the USA, Chris Hoogsteden from New Zealand and Ken Allred from Canada. The next stepsIn the period between now and May 2001, we want to stimulate a debate around business issues, using this newsletter, the Commission 1 web site, papers at working weeks and elsewhere, and any other appropriate communication tools. Rather than overloading everyone by trying to debate everything at the same time, we are going to take the items in turn. Therefore, this issue of the newsletter contains some ethical dilemmas and asks you to consider how you would respond to them. All contributions received will (indicating country only) be added to the Commission 1 web site to spark further debate; the debate will also continue in the next issue of the newsletter. We will write a paper for the Prague Working Week in May 2000 to draw the issues together. We will start the quality debate later this year - in the meantime, John Parker will do some work on how quality award criteria can best be adapted to apply to survey firms. Again, we will use the newsletter, web site and so on to debate the issues and capture them in a paper at the Prague Working Week. In the same Prague session, we hope to have two papers from firms who have implemented quality programmes, with one coming from the Czech Republic if at all possible. The issue of IT and its impact on businesses will be debated in a similar way in the second half of 2000; we will then pull together the text of the publication. How you can helpThe Working Group sees these business issues as crucial if we are to succeed in the developing environment in which we all operate. We are anxious to receive as many contributions as possible to the debate, and to be sent relevant material (particularly on the impact of IT - we already have a good amount on ethical and quality issues). Please could you all, therefore:
I look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible - the more information we gather, the better the publication that we can produce. Thank you. Iain Greenway Ethical dilemmas – How will you act?It has often been said that one of the main elements that separates professionals from others is a focus on ethical issues. FIG recently completed revising its model code of ethics; the work being led by Commission 1 past-chairman Ken Allred. Those not familiar with the results can find them on the FIG web site. Commission 1 Working Group 2 is currently investigating the area of business practices, including how the revised code of ethics can be applied to situations that surveyors encounter in their work. To help the working group develop its thinking, we are keen to stimulate debate around ethical issues. We have therefore prepared three ethical dilemmas on which we would like to hear your comments, whether by email, fax, or other means of communication. We will report the responses (anonymously) on the Commission 1 web site, in an attempt to broaden the debate further, and will summarise responses in forthcoming issues of the Commission 1 newsletter, before preparing a paper for the Prague Working Week. The working group very much looks forward to receiving your comments! Dilemma 1 - the client and the environmentWhilst undertaking a site survey for a private sector client, it becomes apparent to you that the client intends to ignore potentially serious environmental impacts of the development of the site. You reflect on your obligations to your client and to the community. What do you do? Dilemma 2 - cross-cultural issuesAs a partner in a firm of surveyors, you have successfully won a tender for some work in a country where bribes are considered a normal part of doing business. In your own country, bribes are illegal (or, at the very least, not accepted practice). Will you use bribes to get the project completed successfully? Dilemma 3 - commercial mattersYou have successfully tendered for a survey. Other work means that you cannot complete by the required date, so you subcontract the work to another surveyor who only charges you a small fraction of the fee you have agreed with the client. What do you charge the client? All reflections and views should be made via the Commission 1 web site, or to me, 25 Greville Road, Southampton SO15 5AW, UNITED KINGDOM, Fax + 44 171 451 7603 and email: iain.greenway@btinternet.com Forthcoming events
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