Critical Issues Affecting Compliance with Professional Codes of Conduct: A Case of Professional Construction Project Managers in South Africa.

The article focuses on critical issues affecting compliance with professional codes of conduct among professional construction project managers registered with the South African Council for Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP). It identifies 39 specific obligations imposed by the SACPCMP code of conduct, covering values such as integrity, justice, competence, and utility, and assesses varying levels of compliance among 72 surveyed project managers, with 76% indicating full compliance on most obligations. Key challenges to compliance include obedience to authority, peer pressure, conflicts of interest, time constraints, socio-economic and political pressures, breaches of confidentiality, and diminishing moral awareness, which often lead to unethical practices despite formal commitments at registration. The study highlights a significant gap between the ethical commitments made by project managers upon registration and their actual professional conduct, recommending that SACPCMP implement stronger follow-up and enforcement mechanisms tailored to the contextual realities of developing countries.