CODE OF ETHICS FOR AXIOLOGICAL SERVICE PROVIDERS AND BOARD MEMBERS

The Board of Directors of the Robert S. Hartman Institute has established the following ethical guidelines for all Board Members, for all persons listed as a Service Provider, on our website, and for their affiliates. Signing a copy of these guidelines and filing it with the Institute=s Treasurer, is an essential condition for being a Board Member, or Service Provider.

In the spirit of Axiological Science, (Robert S. Hartman), we divide these ethical principles into those that are primarily systemic, those primarily extrinsic, and those primarily intrinsic.

Systemic Principles are designed to affirm and protect the intellectual, conceptual, or systemic values of the Institute, its Members, its Officers and Board, and its Service Providers, their clients, and relevant others.

Officers and Board Members, as well as Service Providers and their affiliates, should and do agree:

1. to respect the importance of freedom of inquiry and expression in research, teaching, training, coaching, and publication, and to help others to make informed judgments and choices.

2. to present the Hartman Value Profile, its alternate or parallel forms, derivatives, interpretations and products truthfully, without exaggeration or bias, and without exceeding what is realistically possible.

3. to recognize that the Hartman Institute itself does not interpret the Hartman Value Profile or approve or endorse any alternative, parallel form or derivative thereof, or any interpretations thereof, and that all applied axiologist must assume full responsibility for all interpretations and other materials that they provide to their clients.

4. to assume full responsibility for validating any version of the HVP, parallel forms and derivatives they employ, for validating their interpretations thereof as applied to the particular context in which they are operating, and for using appropriate test construction procedures based on current or professional knowledge when constructing alternative forms.

5. to discuss with their clients, affiliates, researchers, and Board of Director of the Hartman institute interested in testing their claims, the strengths and weaknesses of their test results and interpretations, especially where reliability and validity data are insufficient or non-existent, and to accurately describe the relevant norms, validation methods, reliability measures, and any pertinent test construction issues or special qualifications.

6. to correct their interpretations, products, and ethical discrepancies when deficiencies become apparent, and to work on a collegial basis with other axiologists and with the Board of the Institute to correct errors, their own and those of others.

7. never to promote their own products, instruments, interpretations, and systems as officially endorsed by the Hartman Institute.

8. to allow the HVP, derivatives, and alternative or parallel forms to count no more than 30% in selection/hiring or recruiting decisions, even if a job or position benchmark is utilized, as ruled by the EEOC;

9. not to present anyone else=s work in theoretical or applied axiology as their own, to acknowledge sources explicitly when drawing from anyone else=s work, and to obtain permission to use the work of others when morally and legally appropriate.

10. not to hold the Hartman Institute or its Officers and Board Members responsible for any and all damages, attorneys= fees, and/or court costs, that may result from the services that they provide.

11. to abide by all federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the sale or presentation of the HVP or alternate or parallel forms thereof and products relating to these.

12. not to engage in unfair discrimination based on age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or any basis proscribed by law.

13. to encourage one another to share data on which their conclusions are based (including statistical validation studies of specific alternate, parallel or derivative forms and their results) with the Robert S. Hartman Institute and with other competent axiological or other professionals who seek to verify their claims. The Institute will provide appropriate forums for these discussions, such as at Annual Conferences, or in our Journal of Formal Axiology: Theory and Practice.

14. to take all reasonable steps to correct misuses or misinterpretation of their work by others and to resolve possible ethical violations by other axiologists in a collegial manner by calling them to the attention of the individuals involved.

15. to recognize that RSHI takes no position regarding relationships between Service Providers and their affiliates and marketing activities except to expect responsible, respectful, and ethical behavior which will reflect positively on RSHI and its associates.

Extrinsic Principles are designed to affirm and protect extrinsic practical values of the Institute, its Members, its Officers and Board, and its Service Providers, their clients, and relevant others. Extrinsic guidelines pertain largely to behaving and performing work or service-related roles.

Officers and Board Members as well as Service Providers and their affiliates should and do agree:

1. not to engage in any activities that would bring disrepute on the good name or professional image of the Robert S. Hartman Institute or of other Service Providers.

2. to conduct business so as to maintain and increase the goodwill and positive reputation of The Robert S. Hartman Institute.

3. to operate only within their realm(s) of expertise, to develop and maintain their competence within their respective fields, to enhance their professional knowledge of established axiological science and how that pertains to their field(s) of expertise, and to carefully train others who are, or wish to be, affiliated with them. Service Providers who train others, or who use the services of others agree to supervise and take responsibility for such delegation. They agree not to promote the use of assessment techniques by unqualified persons except when such use is conducted for training purposes with appropriate supervision.

4. to act so as to maintain the integrity, security, and confidentiality of assessment materials and other assessment techniques, consistent with the law, contractual obligations, and this ethics code.

Intrinsic Principles are designed to affirm and protect the intrinsic values of persons, the Institute=s Members, its Officers and Board, its Service Providers, their clients, and relevant others. Intrinsic guidelines involve relations to persons and enjoin respect for and behavior in accord with the dignity and intrinsic worth of all persons, whether clients, patients, customers, trainees, affiliates, other Service Providers, or whomever.

Officers and Board Members as well as Service Providers, and their affiliates should and do agree:

1. to try to increase the scientific, professional, and philosophical knowledge of themselves and others that is relevant to appreciating all human beings as ends in themselves having immense inherent worth.

2. to respect and act in accord with those civil and human rights that protect the inherent intrinsic worth of individual persons, such as rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, justice, privacy, and confidentiality.

3. to try to benefit and not exploit those with and for whom they work, above all, to take extreme care to do no harm.

4. to build relationships of trust and trustworthiness with those with and for whom they work.

5. to protect the confidentiality of clients, and to discuss and disclose the limits of confidentiality where appropriate.

6. not to disclose without their written permission confidential information that could lead to the identification of clients in their writings, lectures, public media, or elsewhere, especially not to violate the confidentiality of respondents by showing HVP, parallel form, derivative assessment results with respondents= names attached, unless proper release forms have been signed by respondents. To get meaningful feedback and gain greater insight into assessments, results may be shared with Board Members, family members, therapists, coaches, personal trainers, teams, managers, or relevant others, but only if authorized by respondents.

If you are a Board Member, or a Service Provider, by signing below and mailing this to the Institute=s Secretary, you thereby indicate that you accept and agree to abide by the foregoing ethical principles.

NAME:________________________________________________

ADDRESS:________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

DATE:________________________________________________

Mail signed copies to:

Darlene Clark
Treasurer, Robert S. Hartman Institute
3201 Bandera Street
Athens, TX 75752