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Text Box: How Does the STC Enforce Its Code of Ethics ? Part of becoming and remaining an STC member is understanding that your ethical judgment is always subject to review by the STC. If something comes up, then Section IX, C of the STC Bylaws prescribes a highly structured review procedure by a Professional Conduct Committee, and, if necessary, by the STC Board. To summarize, if the committee decides that there is no basis for investigation, it seals its records and identifies the case by number only. If the matter goes before the STC Board, then the member may still be exonerated, or censured, suspended or terminated. In any case, the member has the opportunity to state his or her position at each stage of the process. If the Board censures, suspends, or terminates a member, it records its action and notifies the member and the membership of its decision. If the Board takes action in lieu of censure, suspension or termination, it may, if it decides by majority vote, seal its records and cause the records of the Professional Conduct committee to be sealed, and it will record that the matter, identified by number only, has been closed. Walking the Line Johnny Cash sang about it, but for the STC, the ethical judgment of its consultant members is serious business. As STC members, we hold ourselves to a high standard of professional ethics. Non-standard fee arrangements are a very basic area of ethical concern, while avoiding the appearance of impropriety and demonstrating honesty and straightforwardness in our business dealings are others.

Text Box: What’s Wrong With This Picture? In 1995, an otherwise independent consultant in Chattanooga, Tennes-see offered his client an alternative to a traditional consulting fee. He suggested that instead of paying for his advice directly, the client could allocate to him a portion of their investment in the technology he would be recommending on an ongoing basis. He indicated that this sort of commission arrangement would allow both the spreading of the fee payment and the capitalization of their investment in his advice . As it turned out, the client filed arbitration proceedings against this consultant in early 2003, accusing him of, among other things, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Even though this practice should be easy to red-flag at the outset from the STC’s perspective, not all ethics violations are as transparent. It so happens that this consultant did not operate within the telecommunications industry. If he had, he would have fallen into the category of what we in the STC might call, “a salesperson who does consulting,” rather than a consultant who advises clients as an independent professional. Consider the case of an STC consultant who issues a request for proposals on behalf of a client for an IP- telephony system, where one of the RFP respondents turns out to be a distributor for a manufacturer who has been a past client of the consultant. Or, how about the consultant who provides off-site technical support, using software developed in-house that is also used for other clients?

Ethics And The STC Consultant By HENRY BAIRD

Commission arrangements are easy to classify as ethical violations. After all, direct remunerations from equipment or service providers, or placing oneself in a position to bene-fit directly from the recommendation of one source over another, are among the most black and white of ethical violations.

But running an ethical consulting practice is often a matter of much more refined judgment.

Consider the just-mentioned case of the RFP respondent who was a former client. The consultant needs to determine whether that relation-ship constitutes a conflict of interest.

Most long-time STC members would advise you to assume that it does create a conflict and that you will need to take steps to avoid an ethical problem. Appropriate steps to take would vary by circumstance.

In the case of software that you develop for client use, judgment is also required. When the issue surfaced within the STC about 15 years ago, the general guideline emerged that selling and supporting such products, as separate invoice line items, is a practice that STC consultants should avoid.

This leaves a little room, but not much, for tools provided along with independent consulting services. In any case, the STC consultant will need to be very careful, especially if the client will require support from the consultant in the use of the tools on an ongoing basis.

For members who might be unsure about the ethical implications of a particular situation, even after reviewing the STC Code of Ethics, it would always be a good idea to contact either the current STC president, or one of the STC past-presidents, for guidance.