Professional ethics is not a new concept. Each of us should roughly understand what requirements it implies and how it behaves in the refraction of various areas of activity. Consider the historical development of professional ethics, its written regulation, various types and much more.
Labor and professional morality
Labor morality - special moral requirements that are imposed on a specific professional activity along with the universal values of morality. Another definition of labor morality shows it as a set of generalized moral requirements that have been developed in the process of people's lives and the acquisition of the corresponding life experience. Such requirements make it possible to transform ordinary labor and professional activity into a socially significant phenomenon.
It is quite obvious that labor morality is actually embodied in the professional activities of individuals. That is why a sufficiently long period of time, the concepts of “labor” and “professional morality” were identified, not only in the mass and public consciousness, but also in the educational literature on the course of ethics.
However, this can be done only when characterizing these concepts in the most general terms. Professional morality is similar to labor morality from the point of view that the fundamental precepts of the latter are clearly addressed to all types of professional activity. Let us give some examples of these commandments: responsibility, integrity, creative initiative in work, discipline.
However, be that as it may, it cannot be argued that such a concept as “professional morality” is completely reduced to labor morality. The main explanation for this fact is very obvious: some professions include a set of very specific problems that arose on the plane of morality. These problematic issues, although indirectly and can be attributed to labor morality, but, in any case, bear a certain imprint of the established profession (physician, teacher, journalist, etc.).
The rise of professional morality
Professional morality, according to the generally accepted point of view, is the fundamental principle of professional ethics. It is very interesting in what way the formation of these phenomena took place.
The design of professional morality and professional ethics for a number of professions (the traditional subspecies will be discussed later) has a rather long history. Just imagine, exceptional professions already in the era of ancient times could boast of their professional moral codes.
For example, at ancient Greek temples there were and actively developed medical schools of Asklepiads. It is unlikely that you have ever come across the concept of asclepias. It comes from the name of the ancient Greek god of healing Asclepius. It is thanks to these educational institutions that Greek medicine has reached a high level of development and has come close to perfection (in those days). An interesting fact is that the healers who graduated from the school of Asklepiads made a professional oath. Does it resemble anything? Yes, yes, it was this text that was subsequently supplemented to the version that we know today as the Hippocratic oath.
However, before the Greek oath, its model existed in Geneva. The Geneva Oath was accepted at the World Association of Physicians. The requirements of professional morality in the field of medicine, which were presented to ancient Greek doctors, remained practically unchanged compared to the earlier oath in Geneva. In them, first of all, the regulation of professional moral principles in relations between doctors and patients is established. Let us designate the most familiar of them even today: observance of medical confidentiality, the desire to do everything that is necessary for the well-being of the patient. It is absolutely clear that the basis of these requirements is nothing but painfully familiar principle of modern doctors “do no harm”.
Ancient Greece also became a pioneer in the field of presenting the requirements of professional morality in relation to teachers. Once again, you will not see anything new here: strict control over your own behavior in relations with students in order to avoid extremes (topical today, isn’t it?), Love for children and the like.
As you understand, the ancient Greeks attributed medical and pedagogical morality, first of all, to other people, aimed at other individuals (patients, students). However, this is not the only way. Some professional groups developed codes of professional morality in order to effectively regulate, roughly speaking, relations between each other (representatives of the same profession).
We depart from antiquity and note that the Middle Ages are another step on the road to the development of the concept of professional morality. Separate artisan workshops at this time developed their own rules for mutual relations within the craft profession. These included, for example, such requirements as: not to lure the buyer, if he already managed to stop in front of the goods of the neighboring store, not to call the customers, while loudly praising his own goods, it is also unacceptable to hang up your goods so that he would certainly close the goods of neighboring stores .
As a mini-conclusion, we note that representatives of some professions from ancient times have tried to create something that resembles professional moral codes. These documents were intended to:
- regulate the relations of specialists within one professional group;
- to regulate the rights of representatives of the profession, as well as their duties regarding the people who are directly focused on professional activities.
Definition of ethics in the profession
We see that the system of professional ethics as such began to take shape a very long time ago. For an absolute understanding and analysis of the issue, a detailed definition of this concept should be given.
Professional ethics is, in a broad sense, a system of moral rules, norms and principles of behavior of specialists (including a specific employee), taking into account the characteristics of his professional activity and duty, as well as a specific situation.
Classification of ethics in the profession
It is generally accepted that the content of professional ethics (in any profession) consists of general and particular characteristics. The general is based, first of all, on established universal moral standards. Key principles include:
- special, exceptional perception and understanding of honor and duty in the profession;
- professional solidarity;
- a special form of liability for violations, it is due to the nature of the activity and the subject on which this activity is directed.
Private, in turn, is based on specific conditions, the specifics of the content of a profession. Particular principles are expressed, mainly in moral codes that establish the necessary requirements for all specialists.
Often, professional ethics as such exist only in those types of activities where there is a direct correlation of people's well-being with the actions of specialists in this field. The process of professional actions and their results in these types of activities, as a rule, have a special impact on the fate and life of both individuals and humanity as a whole.
In this regard, one can distinguish another classification of professional ethics:
Traditional ethics include such variations as legal, medical, pedagogical, and the ethics of the scientific community.
In the newly emerged species, such industries as engineering and journalistic ethics, bioethics are defined. The emergence of these areas of professional ethics and their gradual actualization are associated, first of all, with a constant increase in the role of the so-called “human factor” in a specific type of activity (for example, in engineering) or an increase in the level of impact of this professional area on society (a vivid example is journalism and the media as the fourth power).
Code of Ethics
The main document in the regulation of the specialized ethical sphere is the code of professional ethics. What is this?
A code of professional ethics, or simply a “code of ethics”, is a published (fixed in writing) statement regarding the system of values and moral principles of people belonging to a certain type of professional activity. The main goal of developing such codes, undoubtedly, is to inform specialists in this field of activity about the rules that they are obliged to observe, but there is also a secondary task to write them - to educate the general public about the standards of behavior of specialists in a particular profession.
Codes of ethics are included as part of official professional standards. They are traditionally developed in the public administration system and are intended for specialists of various types of activities. In a more general and understandable sense, codes of ethics are a certain set of established norms of appropriate, correct behavior, which is certainly considered appropriate for a person of the profession to which this code belongs (for example, the professional ethics of a notary).
Code of Ethics Functions
Ethical codes are traditionally developed in organizations of the profession for which this code is intended. The basis of their content is a listing of those social functions for which the organization itself exists to maintain and preserve. Codes, however, assure society that the functions embodied in them will be carried out in strict accordance with the highest moral principles and standards.
From a moral point of view, codes of professional ethics have two main functions:
- act as a guarantee of quality for society;
- allow you to get acquainted with the information about the standards established in the framework of the activities of specialists in a particular field, and the restrictions for those professions for which these codes are developed.
Signs of a Good Code of Ethics
The famous American author James Bowman, who is the publisher of the book “The Limits of Ethics in Public Administration”, identified three features that are characteristic of a successful code of professional ethics:
- the code is able to provide the necessary guidance on the behavior of professionals in a particular field
- this document seems to be applicable to many specialties that the profession includes (peculiar branches within it);
- a code of ethics can offer truly effective means to ensure compliance with the standards specified therein.
However, it is worth noting separately that the vast majority of documents regulating professional ethics do not include sanctions in their content. If compulsory standards are nevertheless contained within ethical codes, then such options become much more specific and much less approximate to the ideal. After all, they can no longer be perceived as normative descriptions of the desired faithful behavior, but are turning into something similar to real normative legal acts regulated and established by the state (codes, federal laws, etc.). As if they include a limited set of specifically defined and statutory requirements. In fact, at the very moment when the code of ethics turns into a description of the standards of the only correct behavior, the failure of which leads to sanctions by law, it ceases to be a code of ethics, and becomes a code of conduct.
Ethics of hotel professions
We will talk in more detail about one of the most famous complexes of professional ethics formation in specific areas today.
Accounting ethics
The code of ethics for professional accountants includes several sections. So, for example, the part entitled “Goals” says that the main tasks in the accounting profession are to perform work in accordance with the highest standards of accounting professionalism, as well as to ensure the best results of professional activities and the maximum observance of social interests. Four goals are required for these goals:
- the trust;
- professionalism;
- reliability;
- high quality of services provided.
Another section of the code of ethics of professional accountants, called the "Fundamental Principles", gives specialists the following obligations:
- objectivity;
- decency;
- confidentiality;
- necessary thoroughness and professional competence;
- professional conduct;
- technical standards.
Lawyer Ethics
The professional ethics of a lawyer has a number of features. According to the code, the lawyer undertakes to reasonably, honestly, in good faith, principled, qualified and timely fulfill the duties assigned to him, as well as to protect in the most active way the freedoms, rights, interests of the principal in absolutely all ways not prohibited by law. An attorney must certainly respect the rights, dignity and honor of persons who have come for legal assistance, colleagues and principals. A lawyer must adhere to a businesslike manner of communication and a formal business style in clothing. Professional culture and ethics are inextricably linked as part of advocacy.
In professional ethics, a lawyer is obliged in all circumstances to behave appropriately, to preserve personal dignity and honor. If a situation arises in which ethical issues are not regulated by official documents, the lawyer must follow the traditional patterns of behavior that have developed in the profession and customs that do not violate general moral principles. Each lawyer has the right to apply to the Council of the Bar Association for clarification on an ethical issue, which he could not answer independently. The Chamber cannot refuse such an explanation to the lawyer. It is important that a specialist who makes decisions on the basis of the Chamber Council cannot be brought to disciplinary action.
The professional personal sovereignty of a lawyer is a necessary condition for the client to trust him. That is, under no circumstances should a lawyer act in such a way as to somehow undermine the client’s trust in both his own person and the bar in general. The first and most important thing in advocacy ethics is the preservation of professional secrets. It directly provides the so-called immunity of the principal, which is officially granted to the person by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
In addition, the lawyer can use the information of his client only in the case of this client and in his interests, and the principal himself must have the maximum degree of confidence that everything will be so. That is why we are well aware that a lawyer as a professional is not entitled to share with anyone (including relatives) the facts that were communicated to him in the framework of interaction with the clientele. Moreover, this rule is in no way limited in time, that is, a lawyer must comply with it when fulfilling his immediate professional obligations.
Respect for professional secrets is an unconditional priority for the lawyer and its main ethical element. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the defender of the accused, suspect or any other party to the case cannot be invited to the police to testify as a witness. Employees of the bodies do not have the right to ask a lawyer about those moments that became known to him as part of their own activities or conducting an independent investigation.
The main value for each lawyer is the interests of his client, it is they who must determine the whole path of professional cooperation between the parties. However, we are well aware that the law has supremacy in the territory of the Russian Federation. And in this case, the legislation and immutable moral principles in the professional activities of a lawyer should rise above the will of the principal. If the wishes, requests or even instructions of the client go beyond the scope of the current legislation, then the lawyer does not have the right to fulfill them.
Civil Servant Ethics
The professional ethics of an employee is determined by eight basic principles:
- Impeccable and selfless service to the state and society.
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- Receiving information only honestly and openly.
- Correction of their own mistakes in case of their admission (refutation of false information).
- Non-violation of the agreement with the source of any facts.
- It is forbidden to use one's own position as a means of pressure or, especially, as a weapon.
- The publication of material capable of causing harm to someone only in the presence of irrefutable facts confirming the information.
- Content as the complete and absolute truth.
- It is forbidden to break the truth in order to obtain any benefit.
Unfortunately, today not only many journalists, but entire editorial offices neglect the ethical requirements given.