The dimensions, duties and implications of professional ethics are elements that configure the parameters applied in the development of a certain work activity. They can also be defined as the general features that constitute the reason for being of each of the professions.
It is important to note that professional ethics consists of a set of values that optimize the performance of different professional activities. Therefore, it is in charge of establishing certain guidelines using universal values that are inherent to all human beings. Depending on the profession, these values can be applied through different perspectives and objectives.
The dimensions, duties and implications of professional ethics are elements that configure the parameters applied in the development of a certain work activity. Source: pixabay.com
Likewise, the work ethic must be present in any company and employee; This guarantees a favorable work environment and in many cases represents a guarantee of the correct functioning of the production system. Some values that make up the work ethic can be punctuality, perseverance, responsibility, discretion, among others.
The author Teresa Yurén, in her text Professional Ethics and Praxis (2011), establishes that work ethics is part of a professional culture that includes a group of values, knowledge, beliefs and action schemes, whose objective is to guide practices within the Work field.
As part of the culture, professional ethics is transmitted from generation to generation through a process of socialization. Consequently, its elements are shared by those individuals who acknowledge having rights and duties to exercise during their professional development.
As mentioned above, professional ethics is made up of three elements: dimensions, duties, and implications. In the first case, it is the magnitude that ethical values encompass within the labor field; the second refers to the guidelines that are mandatory for all workers. The third element refers to the effect or consequences that result from participating in professional ethics.
Dimensions, duties and implications
Dimensions
When speaking of the dimensions of professional ethics, reference is made to the limits that exist between labor parameters and individual morality. Sometimes conflicts may arise between personal ethics and work ethics, since each person has the right to exercise the values they want from their individuality.
Within the professional sphere, each worker must strive to conform to the ethical rules of the company or organization. However, everyone has the right to decide whether or not to participate in these responsibilities.
The author Guadalupe Ibarra, in her text Ethics and professional values (2007) proposes that, although professional ethics groups together a series of criteria and principles, adherence to them leads to free choice by the professional, which constitutes an exercise of independence and freedom.
Therefore, professional ethics can be classified as affirmative ethics, since behind its principles it poses to the worker the possibility of exercising their autonomy and freedom in the choice of professional values.
According to Guadalupe Ibarra, the ethical and professional task does not only consist in the observance of the rules, but rather it is defined as acting in accordance with the values of each person. In this case, the values function as a filter that prevents the work ethic from being imposed in an authoritarian way.
In conclusion, the dimensions of professional ethics encompass the entire work environment. However, its rules are not imposed in a mandatory way, since each person can decide if they want to commit to complying with these parameters.
Although professional ethics is used only in the workplace, it can be said that its scope not only reaches workers, but also the whole of society; This is because the purpose of every profession is to contribute to the common good.
Homework
Duties can be defined as the responsibilities that one individual has towards another. The latter can be a legal person -organization / company- or a natural person. Duties are previously established before accepting responsibility and the individual is expected to develop actions to promote compliance with said duties.
In the case of not complying with the stipulated duties, sanctions or punishments may be imposed. Within professional ethics, each worker undertakes to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to her profession. Although each job or position has its own duties, all professions share some common guidelines, such as:
- All workers must treat with fairness, respect and impartiality the people with whom they maintain a relationship fostered by the exercise of their profession.
- The worker undertakes not to carry out acts that damage good manners and morals within his work area.
- The professional must be interested in the common good. Therefore, you have to place your skills, experiences and knowledge at the service of humanity.
- The professional has to participate in the progress of the community. It achieves this by contributing its material or intellectual collaboration in cultural works, scientific research or applied science.
- The worker agrees to make the best effort within his or her work area. In other words, every professional has a duty to offer the best of their abilities, avoiding mediocrity or failure to fulfill their tasks.
Implications
The author José Luis Fernández, in his text Ethics of the Professions (1994), assures that the essence of professional work lies in the way in which it contributes to increasing the degree of humanization of social and personal life.
When accepting a job, the individual is ensuring that their actions will contribute to the development of the common good, in addition to raising their own well-being. Source: pixabay.com
Therefore, it can be established that compliance with the work ethic necessarily implies the progress of both the individual and the society for which they practice their profession. This means that when accepting a job the individual is ensuring that their actions will contribute to the development of the common good, in addition to raising their own well-being.
For example, exercising professional ethics implies that the doctor puts the patient's welfare first, that the teacher takes care of the education of his students, and that the judge strives to dispense justice. In conclusion, each profession has to provide services and goods that justify its existence as a professional group within a modern society.
In addition, when a person claims to be ethical -both on a personal level and on a work level- he is recognizing himself as a member of a community in which there are rights and duties.
Similarly, exercising professional ethics implies that the person is competent in work activities. That is to say, that they have the skills, knowledge and attitudes that allow them to perform adequately in the position they occupy.
References
- Abbot, A. (1983) Professional ethics. Retrieved on November 28, 2019 from journals.uchicago.edu
- Durkheim, E. (2018) Professional ethics and civic morals. Retrieved on November 28, 2019 from taylorfrancis.com
- Fernández, J. (1994) Ethics of the professions. Retrieved on November 28, 2019 from Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid.
- Ibarra, G. (2007) Ethics and professional values. Retrieved on November 28, 2019 from Redalyc: Redalyc.org
- Yurén, T. (2011) Professional ethics and praxis. Retrieved on November 28, 2019 from Scielo: scielo.org
- Zaldívar, D. (sf) Professional ethics. Retrieved on November 28, 2019 from pepsic.bvsalud.org