15 November 2023

Governance News

In August 2023, AOM President, Sharon Alvarez, sent a member communication expressing that professional ethics are at the core of what we do and the very foundation of our AOM community. At that time, Sharon invited members to review the revised Code of Ethics and to affirm their commitment to its principles and standards. Since then, the following activities have gotten underway:

• A renewed and reconstituted Ethics Education Committee, responsible for educating members about the Code and ethics in our profession, is being assembled.
• The Ethics Committee of the Board of Governors is being asked to review all policy statements that exist at critical member gateways for consistency of messaging and intent as reinforcement and proactive commitment to our values and standards of behavior.
• Input is being collected from Division and Interest Group (DIG) leaders to identify and share the various undertakings across the DIGs to instill positive professional practices within their member communities.
• A series of video communications with the AOM membership are under development, and the first topic will be a review of the AOM Ethics infrastructure. Our hope is that this will create a greater understanding of our expectations of each other and the processes available to members for informal counseling and formal adjudication of complaints. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the recently renewed Code of Ethics or our ethics program in general, please see our FAQs or reach out to our skilled and helpful Ombuds Committee.

In other governance news, we take this time to remind members of AOM’s Policy on Taking Stands. AOM has a Board-adopted policy on Taking Stands that was developed through a detailed process of member input. The principal tenet of the policy is that a request for consideration to take a stand must be based on a public policy action that threatens the existence, purpose, or functioning of the AOM as an organization. Taking a stand in the name of AOM occurs only under rare and exceptional circumstances.

The AOM community includes nearly 20,000 members in 115 nations of diverse political, social, and cultural traditions and our members hold a range of views on public policies. Members and leaders of AOM ascribe to the principles of our inclusive organization which are reflected in our Code of Ethics and guided by AOM policy which is very specific about AOM taking stands. Our policy is governed by members and was developed in light of the deep, pluralistic nature of our association and the need for clear boundaries for taking stands in response to the full diversity of member views. 

To learn more about the Policy on Taking Stands and to read about its origin, rationale, and the process please see the detailed FAQ.