Professional ethics aims to regulate the actions carried out during the exercise of a profession.
The word ethics comes from the Greek ethikos ( "character" ). It is the study of morality and human actions to promote desirable behaviors . An ethical sentence involves the elaboration of a moral judgment and a norm that indicates how the members of a society should act.
A profession is understood as an occupation that is carried out in order to collaborate with the well-being of a society . To carry out this work, it is necessary for the professional (person who exercises the same) to act responsibly, following the requirements that current law establishes for the development of that activity.
What is professional ethics
Professional ethics aims to regulate the activities carried out within the framework of a profession. In this sense, it is a discipline that is included within applied ethics since it refers to a specific part of reality.
It should be noted that ethics, at a general level, is not coercive (it does not impose legal or regulatory sanctions). However, professional ethics can be, in a certain way, in the deontological codes that regulate a professional activity. Deontology is part of what is known as normative ethics and presents a series of principles and rules of mandatory compliance.
It could be said, therefore, that professional ethics studies the binding rules collected by professional deontology. Ethics suggests what is desirable and condemns what should not be done, while deontology has the administrative tools to guarantee that the profession is carried out ethically.
Some examples
Journalistic ethics , for example, condemns a journalist receiving money to publish biased news in favor of a certain person, organization or company.
In the business world, on the other hand, ethics indicates that a seller cannot carry out operations outside the company for which he works as an employee .
Professional ethics must be present in the field of business.
Professional ethics in the business field
Professional ethics is linked to a concept known as business ethics that establishes the conditions under which human beings, in the field of business or commercial, must relate to their environment. Both forms of work are interrelated since it is as important to offer a fair service and carry out responsible work as it is to preserve the habitat in which we develop it.
Within business ethics there are three branches that define the relationship of different professionals with their habitat. They are: limited economism (whose fundamental objective lies in maximizing benefits but complying with what is imposed by current legislation, preserving the environment and trying to satisfy the social demands of the environment), rationalist dualism (based on the search for profit while respecting the principles imposed by a rationalist ethical theory, which determines what is correct) and moderate realism (understands that human beings have the ability to know the needs of their environment and as such are responsible for establishing an equitable relationship with their environment).
The importance of responsibility
When we are born we acquire our legal personality ; through which we receive a series of rights and duties that will govern our lives from then on. However, to develop a full social life it is necessary to acquire professional training . That is, a particular interest in a certain activity and the studies necessary to develop it well. But this learning is not enough, it is necessary to know how to use it; This means, exercising responsibly.
A person's responsibility lies in their obligation to respond for their own actions. It is conditioned by freedom and will. With regard to professional ethics, the responsibility of an individual obliges him to carry out his work ethically and fairly, trying to cooperate, to the extent possible, with the common good.