Code of Ethics Self-assessment
Could you be a great fit for our Service? This self-assessment will help you decide.
As a Service, we have embedded the Core Code of Ethics that has been designed for all Fire and Rescue Services to ensure that our staff act in the right way. The Core Code of Ethics sets out five ethical principles, which provide a basis for promoting good behaviour and challenging inappropriate behaviour.
This self-assessment is designed to explain a bit more about the Core Code of Ethics and to demonstrate how the ethical principles and behaviours apply in some common workplace situations, ranging from helping a distressed member of public to managing a complex financial scenario.
Before you take this self-assessment, you may want to find out more about the Core Code of Ethics.
We need ethical , professional people who are willing to take responsibility, embrace diversity and support others; both colleagues and in our communities. DWFRS is a great place to work and is constantly transforming as society’s need for our services changes; so we also need to attract, recruit and retain people who are flexible, creative, willing to ask ‘why?’, and go the extra mile to deliver excellence.
This may sound a lot like you, but perhaps the best way to find out if we would work well together is to take this assessment.
On the following screens, you’ll find a series of scenarios and two potential responses that you might make in each situation. By selecting your most likely response, you’ll find out how well your behaviours match the way that we work at Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.
This assessment is completely anonymous; none of the information that you enter will be recorded and it cannot be viewed by anyone else. Before you begin, you should be aware that:
- There is no pass or fail mark, this exercise is about self-awareness;
- You will be presented with 14 short scenarios and two possible actions in each situation;
- For each scenario, select the action that you would be most likely to take;
- It’s important to be as honest as possible with your responses to get the most benefit from this assessment;
- After making your selection, you will receive some feedback about how this matches the expectations of our Core Code of Ethics.
- There is no time limit on this assessment but you should allow about 10 minutes to complete the exercise.
Scenario 1
You arrive at your place of work and find a visitor waiting outside, tapping the door and looking into the building apparently searching for someone.
What might you do?
a
I would say hello and ask if I could help them; find out who they were looking for and then invite them inside to wait with me while I tried to contact that person or someone else who could help.
b
I would ask who they were and what they wanted then leave them to wait outside while I see if I could find anyone else to deal with them so that I could get on with my own work.
Scenario 2
A colleague asks you about the location of a piece of equipment that they need to use urgently. It’s something that everyone in the team needs to use regularly and you remember putting it away somewhere in a hurry the last time that you used it without preparing it ready for the next person’s use.
What might you do?
a
I would tell them where I had put it, apologise and explain my rush at the time; and I’d offer to find it and make it ready for their use.
b
I would tell them that I didn’t know where it was but offer to help them search so that I could retrieve it from where I’d put away and get it ready for use without them knowing.
Scenario 3
During a break when you are sitting down with your team, someone tells a joke that you feel is inappropriate and, although you’re not offended personally, you know it might cause offence to someone from a particular group.
What might you do?
a
I wouldn’t do anything; everyone else thought it was funny and if someone was offended by it, it’s up to them to say so.
b
I would speak privately to the person who told the joke and explain that this type of humour was unacceptable and not in line with our workplace values.
Scenario 4
A new person joins your team; they are trying hard to get on with everyone but they just don’t really seem “your type” and probably won’t ever really fit in with the group.
What might you do?
a
I would treat them like everyone else – it’s up to them to join in and adapt to our ways if they’re new.
b
I would try to find out more about them and encourage the rest of the team to include them more.
Scenario 5
You’re in a team meeting and one of your colleagues, who is usually easy-going at work, raises their voice, gets very angry about what’s being discussed, and then storms out of the room.
What might you do?
a
Excuse yourself from the meeting, go and find them and ask if anything is wrong as the way they behaved is really not like them.
b
Leave them alone to calm down and get over it; and let the manager who was at the meeting speak to them about how they behaved.
Scenario 6
After completing a piece of work with people from another team in the Service, one of that team asks to meet up to give you some feedback about how the work was delivered.
What might you do?
a
Ask what they want to discuss and explain that you’re now busy on your next task – the work was done on time and if anything was wrong with what you did, you should have been told before now.
b
Agree to meet with them and spend some time preparing for the meeting by reviewing what you delivered and reflecting on how you and others worked together to do this.
Scenario 7
You are approached outside your house on a Saturday morning by one of your elderly neighbours who you know lives alone. They know that you work for the Fire Service and they’re really unhappy about the smoke alarm that was fitted for them by the Service as it keeps beeping at them. They haven’t been able to sleep and want something done about it today.
What might you do?
a
Apologise on behalf of the Service and say that it’s not really something that you have anything to do with. Tell them that the best thing you can do is give them a number to call on Monday.
b
Apologise on behalf of the Service and say that it’s not really something that you deal with but a local station may be able to help. Give them the Service number to call, or offer to ring for them.
Scenario 8
You’ve volunteered to represent the Service at a community safety event being run for a number of local service providers in your village hall. As you’re setting up the stand with Fire Service colleagues, you notice that the volunteers in the hall’s kitchen are raising voices at each other and seemingly distressed about something.
What might you do?
a
Carry on setting up your stand and organising materials so that you will definitely be ready for visitors as they start to arrive and can be sure to present a professional image of the Fire Service.
b
Ask your colleague if they can finish setting up the stand so that you can go to see what’s happening in the kitchen and whether there is anything you can do to help.
Scenario 9
You’re in the final stages of finishing a key piece of work on the day that it is due to be delivered when a colleague asks for your input on an urgent enquiry that they’re dealing with and that you both know will have major consequences if not dealt with immediately.
What might you do?
a
Leave what you’re doing and focus on what your colleague needs – it’s an urgent matter and the consequences of not dealing with it immediately are more important than meeting your own deadline.
b
Suggest to your colleague that they see if anyone else can help them as you have a deadline to meet today. Tell them to come back to you if they really can’t find anyone else to give the input they need.
Scenario 10
You notice that one of your colleagues is increasingly frustrated with a monthly task that they have to perform – it involves gathering information from lots of other people, whom they always have to chase, distributing the data to another group and then spending time trying to get a response from them. You wonder if you can help.
What might you do?
a
Ask them about what is involved in this task and whether they’ve thought about doing it differently. Encourage them to try out a different method or speak to the others involved about their ideas.
b
Ask them about what is involved and join in with getting it done. Encourage them by being positive and sympathise with their frustrations.
Scenario 11
You’re asked by a manager to take on a certain piece of work that you’re really keen to get involved with. However, you already have a packed schedule and are not at all sure that you’ll achieve what’s required as well as meeting your other deadlines.
What might you do?
a
Show your enthusiasm for this new piece of work, explain your current workload and priorities, and discuss with your manager how you might be able to fit everything in or contribute in a different way.
b
Show your enthusiasm for this new piece of work and be willing to take on whatever your manager is asking so that you don’t put them off asking you again. You can worry about the other deadlines later.
Scenario 12
You present some information to another team and, at the end of your presentation, you ask if anyone has any questions about what you’ve said. The response is a blank face from everyone around the table.
What might you do?
a
Thank them for listening, say that you recognise it was a lot to take in and that it may be confusing. Leave the meeting so that they can discuss the information as a team.
b
Thank them for listening and ask them whether what you’ve told them helped their understanding. Pick out some key points and ask them questions about how this might apply to their situation. Offer to send your presentation to them for reference.
Scenario 13
You’re at your team meeting and your manager raises a complaint from another department that clearly shows that someone in your team has made a mistake at work. This could have resulted in a serious problem for the Service (although it didn’t on this occasion), and they want to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again.
The manager says that they’ll talk to each of you individually throughout the day to try to establish what’s happened.
What might you do?
a
Meet with the manager to find out what happened and then make sure that you can provide evidence of where you were and what you were doing so that you can make sure you’re in the clear.
b
Meet with the manager to find out what happened and suggest sitting down as a whole team to share what everyone knows about the situation, identify what needs to be done differently and prevent it from reoccurring.
Scenario 14
You contact a department at headquarters to request something that you need in order to do your job effectively. They ask you to log your request through the computer system and then fill out a form with the full information behind your request. This feels like a waste of time when you have a job-based need.
What might you do?
a
Complete the computer log and fill out the form as requested – there must be a reason behind their process and you don’t want to risk not getting what you need by refusing to give the information.
b
Complete the computer log and fill out the form so that your request can be processed. Try to find out why you need to use two different ways to tell them what you need, as well as the phone call, and where all the information goes.
Thank you for completing the Code of Ethics self-assessment.
We hope that going through these scenarios and reading the feedback provided has given you an insight about our culture and the way that we work.
Our values and behaviours are central to how we work in the Service and are a part of the selection process for all vacancies.
We would therefore encourage you to review the Core Code of Ethics Handbook in more detail before you progress with your application to ensure that you fully understand what we look for when selecting candidates.
Good luck with your application!
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