Basic concepts of professional ethics. Concept, essence, types of professional

Professional ethics is a set of rules of conduct for a certain social group that ensures the moral nature of relationships conditioned or associated with professional activities.

Most often with the need to comply with standards professional ethics face people employed in the service sector, medicine, education - in a word, wherever daily work involves direct contact with other people and where increased moral demands are made.

Professional ethics arose on the basis of similar interests and cultural requirements of people united by one profession. Traditions of professional ethics develop along with the development of the profession itself, and currently the principles and norms of professional ethics can be enshrined at the legislative level or expressed through generally accepted moral norms.

The concept of professional ethics is associated, first of all, with the characteristics of a particular profession in relation to which this term is used. So, for example, the “Hippocratic oath” and medical confidentiality are some of the elements of the professional ethics of doctors, and an impartial presentation true facts– an element of professional ethics of journalists.

Features of professional ethics

In any profession, honest and responsible performance of one’s duties is one of the most important rules of professional ethics. However, some features of professional ethics may be missed by a novice specialist through ignorance or inattention - then such an employee may be declared unfit to perform his duties.

To prevent this from happening, you should remember the basic norms and principles of professional ethics:

your work should be performed professionally, strictly in accordance with the assigned powers;

in your work you cannot be guided by your personal likes and dislikes; you should always maintain objectivity;

When working with personal data of clients or other individuals or companies, the strictest confidentiality should always be observed;

in your work, you must not allow the emergence of off-duty relationships with clients or colleagues, managers or subordinates;

you should observe the principle of collegiality and not discuss your colleagues or subordinates in the presence of clients, partners or other persons;

It is impossible to allow an already accepted order to be disrupted by refusing it in favor of another (more profitable) order;

Discrimination against clients, partners, colleagues or subordinates based on gender, race, age or any other basis is unacceptable.

Currently, professional standards are developing and improving, and social relations are changing. And in this new picture of the world, the ability to respect nature and the people around us is more important than ever - the main advantage of the professional ethics of representatives of any profession.

Professional ethics- these are those specific features of professional activity that are aimed directly at a person in certain conditions of his life and activity in society. The study of types of professional ethics shows the diversity and versatility of moral relations. For every profession there is something special meaning acquire certain professional moral standards. Professional moral standards are rules, patterns, and procedures for internal self-regulation of an individual based on ethical ideals.

Any profession is based on stereotypical actions, certain technologies, filled with typical content, which distinguishes it from others. That is why the proper performance of professional duties from its bearer of fully defined abilities, skills, and abilities always leaves an imprint on the personal qualities, moral qualities and worldview of a person.

The moral significance of different professions cannot be the same. The public assessment of a particular profession is determined by its importance for the proper functioning of society, the extent to which it satisfies the vital interests and personal needs of the person who performs professional functions. The higher the social status of a professional group, the more demands, especially of a moral nature, society places on representatives of the profession and the more difficult the process of young specialists entering the professional field of activity. Some professions, associated with the need for constant interaction with people, require a number of detailed standards that could provide moral requirements for professional behavior and activities. Such specialists are obliged, more than others, to rely on generally accepted moral norms, to have not only a set of special skills, abilities, and creative abilities for a specific type of work activity, but also special moral and volitional qualities, and this becomes a prerequisite for their development as full-fledged specialists.

In the context of the formation of the development of market relations, the construction of civil society and the rule of law, the growth of free self-regulatory principles in work, the strengthening of moral factors in the system of its incentives, the humanization of various spheres of labor, there is a process of constant expansion of the range of professions that claim to form their own moral codes. In addition to the traditionally known ones - medical, pedagogical, legal, diplomatic and military ethics, administrative and parliamentary, police and sports ethics, the ethics of a scientist and journalist, engineer and service sector worker are decisively asserting themselves. It is becoming more and more obvious that the progressive development of modern society, all spheres of public life, depends on the level of general educational and professional training, general culture, and moral qualities of workers. Of course, every work activity (regardless of profession) is based on the moral system of society. In work activities, special moral norms may be justified, reflecting the specifics of professional activity. Professional activity, the object of which is living people, forms a complex system of mutually reciprocal, interdependent moral relations. Such a system includes, first of all: a) the attitude of specialists to the object of work (investigator - accused, doctor - patient, teacher - student), b) relations of a specialist with colleagues c) interaction of a specialist with society. These relationships and interactions are studied by professional ethics. The specification of general moral principles and norms of such relationships and interactions in accordance with the characteristics of a particular type of professional activity is the basis for the creation of moral and professional codes.

The social division of labor marked the beginning of the separation of socio-professional communities. With their education, a need arose to regulate relations between professionals and professionals with clients. At first it was a small range of professions; in the process of further specialization of labor, they became increasingly differentiated, as a result of which more and more new professions emerged. Depending on specific historical conditions, one or another sphere of professional activity prevailed. Society's attitude towards it determines its value. The moral assessment of a profession by society is determined by two factors: firstly, by the fact that the profession gives objectively for social development, and secondly, by the fact that the profession gives a person subjectively, namely from the position of moral influence on it. Any profession, since it exists, performs a certain social function. Representatives of such a profession have their own social purpose, their own goal. This or that profession determines the choice of a specific communication environment and leaves an imprint on people, regardless of whether they want to communicate or not. Within each professional community, certain specific connections and relationships of people develop. Moral and professional norms have historically developed from the concrete to the abstract. At first, their meaning was too specific and associated with certain actions or objects. And only in the process of long historical development their rational creative meaning acquires a general, actually moral meaning.

Depending on the object, tools, methods used and tasks solved, a unique variety of situations, difficulties and even dangers arise that require a certain type of action and psychological reactions from a person. Each profession has its own moral temptations, moral virtues and losses, certain contradictions arise,

conflicts, unique ways and means of resolving them are formed. A person is involved in professional activity with his subjective world of feelings, experiences, aspirations, image, moral assessments. Among the various situations in professional relations, typical ones begin to stand out, which characterize the relative independence of professions and its specific moral atmosphere. And this determines the specificity of people’s actions, the uniqueness of the moral standards of their behavior. So, as soon as professional relationships and interactions received qualitative stability, this led to the formation of special moral attitudes that correspond to the nature and content of work, reflect the practical feasibility of certain forms of relationships and interaction between members of the professional community and the community itself with society.

Each era has its own set of established moral and professional norms, which become a certain spiritual reality, and their assimilation becomes a force guiding the behavior of a representative of a particular profession. Moral and professional norms can live their own life and become an object of comprehension, study, and analysis of ethical science. The origins of professional ethics can be traced back to slaveholding society. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle considered it a special branch of ethical knowledge. It is also assumed that the ancient Greek doctor, the father of medicine, Hippocrates, developed for the first time in history a professional code in the form of a doctor’s oath as the starting point for the development of professional ethics. Each subsequent era brought its own ideas of moral regulation of professional activity.

Moral and professional norms are an integral part of universal morality and a specific historical moral system. Moral and professional norms, professional and ethical codes, like the moral system of society as a whole, are historically and socially closely connected with a specific era, are the child of their time, a reflection of specific historical social relations. Since moral and professional norms are not isolated, but are an integral part of the general morality of society, and at the same time reflect the specificity of professional activity, professional ethics is part of the general ethical theory.

Professional ethics is an applied socio-philosophical field of knowledge that studies the origin, essence, specificity, social functions of moral and professional norms and relations, patterns of their development at different historical stages. From the definition of the concept of professional ethics it follows that the object of professional ethics is specific, moral and professional norms, relationships, interactions, as well as norms, principles, commandments of the prevailing morality in society, transformed with the characteristics of a particular type of professional activity, regulates the behavior of professionals in the performance of they are functional responsibilities sanctioned by public opinion and the personal beliefs of professionals. Moral and professional codes have become a partial equivalent of public morality and carry out social functions: a) cognitive, which is realized in reflecting the objective processes of the socio-professional division of labor in specific historical conditions, b) regulatory (the relationship of specialists with society is ensured; a set of specific methods, methods of work ) c) value-orientation (ideas about the moral ideal of a professional, professional duty, honor, conscience, justice, etc. are given).

Professional ethics is intended to provide a theoretical justification for the essence of the transformation of general norms and principles of morality to the specific conditions of people’s professional activities in accordance with ideas about professional duty, good, good and evil, justice, conscience, honor and other moral values. It should be emphasized that professional ethics develops at the intersection of theoretical, normative and applied components (components) of ethics. its content is determined by the specific tasks of a particular type of professional activity. At the theoretical level, the essence and specificity of moral-professional relations, their place and role in the life of society, the current state and development trends are examined. The task of professional ethics is to study the complex process of reflecting professional relations in moral consciousness, in moral and professional norms, to draw a clear boundary between moral and professional phenomena and phenomena of professional excellence, to study social tasks, the purpose of the profession and their significance in social progress, namely thereby facilitating their successful implementation. The normative level concentrates on the study and justification of practical recommendations and specific moral standards. It is important to emphasize that professional ethics does not create norms or special standards for specialists of a particular profession. The most professional community is called upon to justify and promote them in order to protect professional honor.

The task of professional ethics of education and compliance - moral-professional relations - at the applied level of perception of the implementation of humanistic imperatives in the specific conditions of professional activity, establishing the boundaries of the desired, permitted and unacceptable justification, moral and professional ideal and a certain sample, standard, model of behavior, normative ideal in specific field of professional activity. Professional ethics is far from petty regulation of people’s behavior; through its recommendations, it forms in workers the ability to have maximum moral orientation, to establish moral boundaries for the use of creative methods, thereby determining only the basic moral norms and principles of professional behavior. The method of behavior in each individual case is determined by the person himself and becomes a matter of her moral experience and professional tact.

In professional ethics, one can trace the connection between certain types of activities and moral and psychological qualities, the combination of public interests with the orientation, interests and vocation of an individual. The needs of practice determine the purpose of a particular profession and require from workers of the appropriate profile the necessary qualifications (professionalism, competence), on the one hand, its ethical training, which provides for the theoretical development of norms and principles of morality for applying them in professional practice, on the other. Each person, due to life circumstances, is constantly, to one degree or another, involved in role-based communication with various professionals, for example, with a doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc. At the same time, a person expects from them not only the qualified performance of their duties, satisfaction of his needs, interests, but also an attentive, polite attitude towards her. Therefore, professional ethics is intended to provide guidance to professionals officials, including managers, implementation of professional functions. As a result, the moral characterization of an employee cannot be limited to broad social positions, but, if necessary, should extend to his purely professional properties, always considered from the perspective of the interaction of relationships that develop within the profession, its place and role in the life of society.

The purpose of professional ethics is not only to reveal the objective reasons for the emergence, patterns and trends in the development of moral-professional relations, not only to specify the connections of moral norms, principles and value judgments of modern morality, ideas about goodness, justice, in accordance with the characteristics of professional activity , but also to show the very nature of the influence of universal moral norms and principles in the practice of professional relations, to reveal how moral norms and principles are reflected in the consciousness of a representative of a particular profession and are embodied in his behavior and attitude towards a person as a consumer of professional services. Professional ethics is no less interested in the “antinomies of professional actions” that manifest themselves in conflicting forms of behavior, and in connection with the disclosure of ways to resolve conflicts within a particular profession. Based on this, professional ethics offers practical recommendations taking into account specific historical conditions and social problems. Professional ethics is also intended to provide recommendations for revealing the causes of deformations of moral and professional consciousness and ways and methods of their eradication.

Consequently, the purpose of professional ethics is associated with the humanization of social work. Embedded in traditional moral and professional codes, codes of honor for doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, etc., humanistic imperatives have universal significance. In modern times, thanks to technical power and efficiency, a person is capable of committing (due to inattention, incompetence, irresponsibility) a lot of evil, as a result of which people, material and spiritual values ​​perish. There is a growing disproportion between the perfect person and his capacity to bear moral responsibility. This becomes one of the prerequisites for the emergence of moral, professional or ethical codes for a wide range of modern professions.

It is known that morality is the most important element of human activity, and the activity of people itself, in all its diversity and specificity, cannot but leave its mark on the specifics of moral regulation. Representatives of professions related to fate, health, image, reputation, and interests of people are subject to very high moral requirements. This applies to such types of activities where, depending on the moral potential of workers, very acute moral conflicts can be generated, which in other types of activities arise only occasionally. These acute moral conflicts take place primarily where issues of life and death, health, freedom, honor and dignity of a person are decided, where the moral qualities of a specialist acquire decisive importance, where the fate of one may significantly depend on the moral capacity of another. Moreover, in some professions, even the most professional ability of a specialist largely depends on his moral qualities. This primarily applies to the work of a doctor, lawyer, teacher, leader, military man, diplomat, journalist, etc.

Consequently, we are talking about medical, legal, pedagogical, military, diplomatic, journalistic ethics. It is in such areas of activity that the dependence of one person on another is especially great, and the results of the professional activity of one can have a fateful significance for another. In everyday life, society puts forward the need to increase moral requirements for representatives of popular professions, not because of their mass character, but because their activities are directly related to people and their interests. The main feature of popular professions is the possibility of invading spiritual world a person, into his fate, which gives rise to special moral conflicts that entail a change in the subordination of moral requirements. To regulate conflicts that arise in everyday life, in addition to universal moral values, additional incentives are needed in the form of increased moral requirements, which gives rise to the need for new types of professional ethics. In the work activity of a lawyer, doctor, diplomat, teacher, manager at any level, more than in any other, society takes into account not only the level of education, the amount of special knowledge, skills, abilities, but also the moral qualities of the employee, which are understood as persistent manifestations of moral consciousness in activities, behavior and actions.

In society, despite the fact that the specific duties of representatives of a particular profession are based on the same requirements of general morality, there are still specific moral requirements. For a doctor, for example, the main moral requirement is a sensitive, attentive, caring attitude towards the patient, protecting the health and life of a person, for a teacher - love for children and awareness of responsibility to society for the upbringing of the younger generation. The professional duty of a scientist lies in the conscientious search for truth, the objectivity of scientific argumentation, in the service of the progress of mankind; representatives of justice - in maximum fairness (justice literally means fairness), integrity, unwavering loyalty to the spirit of the law, objectivity in the analysis of investigative materials, maintaining a sense of proportion and tact when interrogating witnesses, non-disclosure of investigative secrets, etc.

Given training manual is a brief reference publication on the main issues of professional ethics and etiquette. The manual is designed for students of special educational institutions. It can also be used by active professionals.

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The given introductory fragment of the book Professional ethics and etiquette (N. G. Shroeder, 2009) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

Chapter 2. Features of professional ethics

2.1. The essence of professional ethics

In the system of ethical knowledge, an important place is occupied by various types of applied ethics, which define and develop moral standards of communication between people in relation to various fields of activity. In the process of historical development of society, especially in the 20th century, many special types of morality arose, among which professional ethics occupies a prominent place.

Society can function normally and develop only as a result of the continuous process of production of material and spiritual values, and the well-being of the subjects of labor and society largely depends on the moral goals and content of people’s relationships in ensuring this process.

Professional ethics is a set of moral norms, rules, principles that regulate a person’s attitude towards his professional responsibilities, duty, as well as the relationships between people in their work activities.

♦ norms of behavior that prescribe a certain type of moral relationships between people that are optimal from the point of view of their professional activities;

♦ justification, interpretation of codes, tasks and goals of the profession.

Professional ethics as an integral part of morality is based on its general principles and guidelines, but considers them from the perspective of specific problems in various types of work activity.

The structure of professional ethics is determined by the presence of the following elements:

♦ people’s attitude to work, and through its characteristics to other people (hard work, conscientiousness, frugality, accuracy, dedication, etc.; antipodes - laziness, dishonesty, negligence, etc.);

♦ motivation for work (public good, earnings, personal life, etc.; antipodes - careerism, vanity, selfishness, etc.);

♦ management and production regulation of labor duties (setting goals for production activities, organizing work in a team, encouraging conscientious workers, etc.);

♦ means of achieving goals (training, education, example, authority of the leader, etc.);

♦ assessment of performance results (economic, economic, managerial, moral, etc.), their social significance;

♦ theoretical development of issues of professional ethics in connection with the development of social production, deepening the division of labor, and the emergence of new types of activities.

Professional ethics studies:

♦ personality qualities of a specialist necessary to fulfill his professional duty;

♦ moral relationships between specialists and the objects of their activity (teacher - student, doctor - patient, seller - buyer);

♦ relationships between people within the workforce and the norms that regulate them;

♦ goals and methods of vocational training and education.

Professional ethics:

♦ is a responsible, obligatory, but at the same time voluntary, i.e. free, activity of people who obey the rules, but are personally independent, comply with the law, but fulfill their duty;

♦ exists in a society with established morality and reflects the differences in moral requirements for specialists from universal or generally accepted norms and traditions of behavior in society. In this regard, professional ethics is sometimes called professional morality;

♦ affects the area of ​​human relations, developing especially in those professions where work requires direct contact with people. Particular attention is paid to the moral qualities of those workers who are associated with the right to control people’s lives (these are representatives of management, transport, the service sector, healthcare, education). The irresponsible attitude of workers in these areas to their duties is dangerous for others, harms the team and leads to personal degradation;

♦ sets standards for the behavior of specialists, understanding the quality of their work as the best result for people, the reliability and efficiency of goods and services;

♦ specifies society’s requirements for the moral aspects of the activities of specialists. The principles of professional ethics highlight the moral values ​​of the best, most educated and competent part of society, which takes responsibility for the state of affairs in enterprises.

Professional ethics in some cases is called professional deontology, or the doctrine of duty. The term “deontology” was initially identified with the doctrine of morality, then it began to be understood as one of the concepts of morality, and finally as one of the sections of ethics. But professional ethics is a broader concept, since, along with deontological aspects, it also presupposes certain obligations and norms both within the professional environment and outside of work.

The main function of the norms of professional ethics is to exclude the influence of random, purely subjective motives and circumstances, psychological states, to ensure reliability, predictability, standardization and generally accepted behavior. Norms form expected behavior that is understandable to others.

Professional morality cannot be considered outside of unity with the generally accepted system of morality. Only on the basis of the principles and norms of general morality is it possible to generalize new moral experience in the sphere of work, determine new norms and prohibitions of professional morality, and overcome outdated rules and assessments. In turn, a violation of work ethics is accompanied by a violation of general moral principles. If there is a discrepancy between the moral system and the content of professional codes, or a conflict arises between them, preference should be given to the general principles of morality, since they deeper and more fundamentally determine changes in the living conditions of people, including in the field of professional activity.

2.2. Origins of professional ethics

The division of labor led to the emergence of many professions. Some of them arose already in ancient times. Issues of the professional division of labor were considered by such ancient thinkers as Plato, Aristotle and others. It was from this period that the moral regulations of the priests who performed judicial functions, the Hippocratic oath in medical practice and other professional ethical codes regulating the attitude of workers to their professional duties date back.

The first professional and moral codes as charters for a specific purpose appeared in the 12th century, when the formation of the medieval guild organization of labor took place. Their emergence reflected the interests of certain social groups, united by social status and the nature of their work activity. Professional moral standards and requirements, recorded in the guild regulations of artisans of the Middle Ages, changed and were clarified depending on the level of division of labor in society and changes in the content of the activities of representatives of the professions themselves. Numerous charters determined the life of workshops and manufactories in cities (distribution of orders, sales of goods, purchase of raw materials, training of craftsmen, etc.).

The emergence of professional ethics preceded the creation of corresponding scientific ethical theories. Everyday experience and the need to regulate relationships between people in a particular profession led to the awareness and formulation of certain requirements of professional ethics. Having emerged as a manifestation of everyday, everyday moral consciousness, professional ethics further developed on the basis of a generalization of the practice of behavior of representatives of each professional group. These generalizations were summarized in both written and unwritten codes of conduct of various professional groups, as well as in the form of theoretical conclusions, which indicated a transition from ordinary to theoretical consciousness in the field of professional morality.

In modern times, these issues were considered by O. Comte, E. Durkheim and other representatives of positivism. Scientific explanation they were first given from a materialist position by K. Marx and F. Engels.

Nowadays, specialized moral codes are widely represented abroad, which regulate the process of labor activity to the smallest detail - the behavior of people of various ranks in production, communication between managers and subordinates, manner of dressing, gestures, etc.

Plays an active role in the formation and assimilation of professional ethics standards public opinion. When people interact, public opinion turns into a moral norm, which in turn can be the subject of criticism from public opinion. Various types professional ethics have their own traditions. These are, first of all, those universal moral norms in the sphere of labor that humanity has carried through various social eras and preserved, although often in a modified form.

The formation of a modern information society is associated with an increase in the importance of professionalism, competence, the emergence of new professions, and changes are taking place in traditional areas of work. Emerging professions give rise to corresponding moral codes of labor relations, professional codes become more complex and supplemented, creating a systemic education based on general norms and principles of morality, which collectively cover all types of professional relations.

2.3. Types of professional ethics

The development of society, accompanied by a constant deepening of the specialization of production, its complication, differentiation of working conditions, requires continuous improvement of professional activities. This entails appropriate specification

professional responsibilities, determines the need to develop new systems of moral requirements in various fields of work. A typological analysis of the sphere of work activity allows not only to determine the objective foundations of the norms of professional ethics, but also to identify its main types.

Depending on the sphere of work activity (production-economic, scientific, pedagogical, artistic, environmental, etc.), professional ethics is divided into the corresponding types: ethics of a doctor, teacher, journalist, scientist, actor, artist, entrepreneur, engineer, builder and etc. Within the types of professional activities, many subtypes are distinguished. For example, the ethics of an engineer are divided depending on the specifics of the activity into such subtypes as the ethics of a software engineer, a communications engineer, etc. Pedagogical ethics includes the ethics of teachers of general education institutions, teachers high school, preschool teachers, etc.

The identification of types and subtypes of professional ethics indicates the diversity of regulatory requirements for specialists and the need to take into account the specifics of moral relations in each specific area of ​​professional work. At the same time, there are general professional moral standards that act as guidelines, rules, models, requirements for a person’s professional activity based on humanistic ideals.

Depending on the specifics of moral requirements in various types of professional activities, the importance of moral norms governing the relations of specialists is determined. But some professions are characterized by increased moral requirements. These are professions whose objects are a person, his life, health, the formation of his professional and spiritual qualities (medicine, education, training, etc.). These areas of work do not lend themselves to programmed technological orderliness; strict regulation is impossible for them; creative activity, maximum humanism and dedication of a professional are required. Increased moral requirements determine for them the paramount importance of a sense of duty and a high degree of responsibility. They necessarily include additional moral standards of behavior - decency in public and personal life, selflessness, dedication, etc.

Each type of professional ethics is determined by the uniqueness of professional activity and has its own specific aspects in the implementation of norms and principles of morality, which constitutes the content of the professional moral code. Thus, the ethics of a scientist presupposes such moral qualities as scientific integrity, honesty, and responsibility for the environment. The professional and moral position of a journalist is determined by such categories as professional duty, professional conscience, dignity, and honor.

On modern stage Business ethics and business relations are being revived in Russia. Etiquette entrepreneurial activity assumes, first of all:

♦ respect for authorities, laws, business partners;

♦ purposefulness. The moral values ​​of a business person should not conflict with the goals and values ​​of the organization;

♦ loyalty to the word;

♦ goodwill in relations with team members;

♦ honesty and truthfulness, positive image;

♦ respect for private property rights;

♦ attentiveness to people, consumers of goods and services;

♦ continuous improvement (for example, becoming the best entrepreneur in the world).

Many features of professional ethics have spread to other professions from medicine. This is due to the fact that it was in medicine that the commandments of professional behavior towards the patient were first formulated. According to medical ethics, a medical worker must devote all his knowledge and energy to protecting and improving human health, treating and preventing diseases; be always ready to provide medical care; treat the patient with care and attention; keep medical confidentiality; constantly improve your professional skills; in all actions be guided by the principles of morality, etc.

Pedagogical ethics has also been sufficiently developed, studying the features of pedagogical morality, its principles and functions. On the basis of pedagogical ethics, the foundations of pedagogical etiquette are being developed, which is a set of rules of communication and behavior of people professionally involved in teaching and educating the younger generation: a teacher must love his profession, must know the psychology of students, be interested in their inner world, and study their individual abilities.

Nowadays there are more than a thousand professions, and their number is constantly increasing. Humanization of relations between people actualizes the importance of representatives of humanitarian professions - journalists, psychologists, librarians, museum workers, teachers, artists. In the humanitarian field, professional ethics is associated, first of all, with the increase in humanitarian values. But the duty of humanitarians is not limited to the narrow framework of specific responsibilities at the place of work - it is also participation in the formation of public opinion. A humanist as a professional creates and promotes socially significant ideas. Humanists are called upon to satisfy society's need for the publication of knowledge, information, and the promotion of new, progressive things in culture. The professional duty of a humanist is to have communication skills, the ability to speak correctly and intelligibly, and to easily express one’s thoughts orally and in writing.

Requirements for the behavior of representatives of different professions are not always expressed in a clear, orderly system. Many rules of activity are simply generally accepted. Some new professions do not yet have established traditions and a long history (programmers, roboticists, etc.). But there are areas of activity where deviation from the rules is excluded, for example, diplomatic protocol requires strict adherence to etiquette rules.

2.4. Principles and standards of professional ethics

"Golden Rule" Morality is considered a rule according to which you should not do to others what you do not want for yourself. There is also a positive reverse formulation of this rule“Treat others the way you would like to be treated. IN difficult situations When a person finds it difficult to choose a course of action, he can mentally put himself in the place of his interlocutor and imagine what he would like to see and hear in this situation.

In everyday life and in business communication, you can use the following principle-hint: “If you don’t know what to do, act according to the law.”

Virtually all ethical principles and prescribed standards of conduct are formulated with these provisions in mind.

Particular principles arise from the specific conditions, content and specifics of a particular profession. Some of the particular principles include the following:

♦ common sense principle: the norms of professional ethics should not contradict common sense, and common sense dictates that professional etiquette in general is aimed at maintaining order, organization, saving time and other reasonable goals;

♦ principle of convenience: ethical standards should not constrain business relationships. Everything in professional activities should be convenient - from the layout of the office space to the placement of equipment in it, from business clothes to the rules of behavior at work. Moreover, convenience should be provided to all participants in business processes;

♦ principle of expediency. The essence of this principle is that each precept of business ethics must serve certain purposes;

♦ the principle of conservatism. Conservatism in the appearance of a business person, in his manners, inclinations involuntarily evokes associations with something unshakable, strong, reliable, and a reliable partner in business is a desire for every business person. Reliability, fundamentality, stability are attractive features in the business world. They have a meaningful connection with conservatism;

♦ principle of ease. It is important that professional ethics does not become an artificially imposed phenomenon. Ethical standards should be natural, easy and effortless to implement;

♦ “Do no harm” principle. The corollary of this principle is that there is no room for error. The legislation of almost all civilized states provides for sanctions for erroneous actions of professionals. Professionalism presupposes a full consciousness of responsibility, concentration, and maximum concentration on work. Of course, people remain people, which means they can make mistakes, but negligence, mistakes due to oversight, laziness or indifference are unacceptable;

♦ the principle of the highest quality of work is common to all professions within specified capabilities. The ability of a professional to develop creatively and improve his skills not only adds to his experience, but also strengthens his authority;

♦ principle of professional secrecy, confidentiality (from the Latin confidentia - “trust”) of information about clients, information requests, services, technologies, recipes. If in personal relationships a person is expected to be sincere and open, then professional morality dictates that a specialist must always remember the need to keep special information related to his work secret. Professional secrecy dates back to the Hippocratic Oath. Professional secrets are fundamental in the state, military service, banking, etc. Professional secrets can have the status of state, military, commercial, medical, and provide for various degrees of responsibility - from official to criminal;

♦ conflict of interest. All professions require that you refrain from using your official position for personal gain. Professional ethics affirms the primacy of official duties and the secondary nature of personal duty. A professional has no right to receive income for work other than the agreed salary. Briefly, this principle can be understood as the absence of privileges in connection with a profession. Conflicts of interest are overcome by fulfilling professional duties;

♦ principle of collegiality. This principle is a direct consequence of the social essence of man, directing the latter to subordinate his personal interests to public ones. A person guided by the principle of collegiality experiences a sense of involvement in the affairs of the team, its goals and objectives.

Making collective decisions regarding the development strategy of a corporation or organization, joining forces for a prompt response in difficult situations does not lose relevance at the present stage, when the degree of individual responsibility increases. In many professions, even today, collective searches for solutions to difficult professional problems are no exception; production meetings are regularly held - planning meetings, five-minute meetings, departments, etc., in which all employees are required to take an active part.

Production teams celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, weddings of employees, and congratulate them on special successes. Sad events do not go unattended when this or that person especially needs support and compassion;

♦ right to criticism. A professional must be able to criticize the work of colleagues without infringing on the dignity of other workers, and also correctly accept criticism addressed to him. Understanding the need for a critical analysis of activities and a constructive search for a better result is a condition for moving forward. But in this matter, it is most important to take care of the ethics of employee relations, to avoid criticism of the individual rather than the idea, settling scores, or psychological confrontation;

♦ hedonic principle. Hedonism is an ethical principle according to which the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain is a natural human right. Hedonism in professional

activity welcomes everything that prolongs the pleasure of life, mitigates inconvenience and smoothes out troubles. Hedonism imparts comfort and pleasantness to goods and services, along with usefulness and efficiency. The outward friendliness and friendliness of the employees not only leaves a pleasant impression on the client, but also puts him in a good mood.

Hedonism obliges a professional to be optimistic, energetic, and able to inspire. A smile plays a special role. She opens the way to the hearts of other people. In trading, for example, a smile increases the number of sales.

Consequently, etiquette culture should be a manifestation of a general moral culture, a person’s upbringing, and his internal attitude towards others.

Professional ethics is also based on general moral norms. One of the most necessary norms is politeness, which is manifested in many specific rules of behavior: in greeting, addressing a person, in the ability to remember his name and patronymic, important dates his life. True politeness is certainly benevolent, since it is one of the manifestations of sincere benevolence towards people. Benevolence is an essential basis of politeness. An indispensable condition for politeness is sincerity.

Other important norms are tact and sensitivity. The content of these qualities is attention, deep respect for those with whom we communicate, the desire and ability to understand them, to feel what can give them pleasure, joy or, conversely, cause irritation, annoyance, and resentment.

Tactfulness and sensitivity are manifested in a sense of proportion that should be observed in conversation, in business contacts, in the ability to sense the boundary beyond which words and actions can cause a person undeserved offense, grief, and pain.

A tactful person always takes into account specific circumstances: differences in age, gender, social status, place of conversation, presence or absence of strangers. The basis of tactful behavior is also the ability to control oneself.

A prerequisite for tact is respect for another, manifested, in particular, in the ability to listen to him, in the ability to quickly and accurately determine the interlocutor’s reaction to a particular statement.

An important etiquette norm is modesty, which manifests itself in the fact that a person does not strive to show himself better, more capable, smarter than others, does not emphasize his superiority, and does not demand any privileges, special amenities, or services for himself. At the same time, modesty should not manifest itself in timidity and shyness.

Delicacy should be a constant companion and advisor. This word most succinctly expresses what we mean when we talk about a sensitive, subtle attitude towards others, towards their feelings. But delicacy should not turn into flattery and lead to the praise of everything seen and heard.

Along with these generally accepted norms, honesty, truthfulness, commitment, hard work, fairness, and keeping promises and contracts are also important moral norms in professional ethics.

These principles and norms are not always taken into account in the actual practice of business relations. Sometimes the language of ethics itself is seen as a hindrance in business relationships. Often in the business world they generally try to avoid talking about morality, ethical ideals, duty, social duties, and responsibility. These problems are perceived as “irrelevant.” But compliance with ethical principles and standards is important; this is necessary both to increase production efficiency and to strengthen business ties and business relationships in general.

The principles and norms of ethically competent behavior are specified in the rules of etiquette in specific situations.

2.5. Classification of ethical codes

The issue of codes (from codex - “book, code of laws”) deserves special attention. Codes professional associations are created as an addition to the legislation regulating the activities of professionals, usually on their own initiative, as a result of self-determination, with the participation of lawyers, ethicists, to increase the responsibility of professionals for their actions. They remind us of the moral goals of the profession and are the result of understanding specific ethical problems. The codes formulate standards of professional conduct and indicate the most important rules of activity.

Emerging as a way of specifying job responsibilities in the historical past, ethical codes originate from the famous Hippocratic Oath. Gradually they become sets of laws for corporate use, an effective form of control over the activities of specialists.

In professionally homogeneous organizations such as banks and consulting companies, codes are often developed that primarily describe professional problems. The content of ethical codes regulates the behavior of employees in complex professional ethical situations. For example, in banking, the code describes how to handle information about the stability of the bank and confidential information about the client; prohibits the use of this information for personal purposes.

Development corporate culture contributes to the inclusion in the code of an ideological part about the mission and values ​​of the company. At the same time, the code can be of significant volume, have complex specific content and be addressed to all employees of the company.

Structurally, the code may contain the following sections:

♦ introduction;

♦ message from the head of the organization;

♦ the main mission of the organization, its goals;

♦ what an employee of the organization should be like;

♦ labor dynasties;

♦ traditions and rituals of the organization;

♦ professional skills competitions;

♦ relationships with other organizations;

♦ social life of the organization;

♦ relations between managers and subordinates;

♦ relations between managers;

♦ attitude towards women employees of the organization;

♦ attitude towards young people working in the organization;

♦ the organization’s attitude towards pensioners;

♦ requirements for business attire for employees of the organization.

Creating a code is not limited to writing the text of the document. There is a specificity in the execution of such documents: one cannot be forced to comply with the code of ethics. In order for the code to really work, even at the stage of its creation it is envisaged that, if possible, all employees of the company will be included in the process of developing the document. Only on the condition that every employee accepts the code of corporate ethics will it be actually implemented.

Professional codes perform the following functions:

♦ reputational– building trust in the company from external groups (description of policies traditionally enshrined in international practice in relation to clients, suppliers, contractors, etc.) in order to increase the investment attractiveness of the company. Having a company code of corporate ethics becomes a global standard for doing business;

♦ managerial– regulation of behavior in difficult ethical situations;

♦ development of corporate culture.

The code provides ways to improve the efficiency of employees:

♦ regulation of priorities in interaction with significant external groups;

♦ determination of the procedure for making decisions in complex ethical situations, as well as unacceptable forms of behavior.

Classification of codes. Currently, there are three types of ethical codes:

1) a regulatory document with specifically developed rules, including sanctions for violators. Such codes are developed by authoritative experts and adopted at special symposia;

2) relatively short charters, declarations, created in the process of formation professional community. These are a kind of declaration of intent;

3) detailed codes of individual companies and organizations, including specific obligations of employees to clients and partners, employees and society.

Many large corporations, trying to maintain their image in the eyes of the general public and find their own line of behavior, are developing ethical codes. Their characteristic feature is that the sections containing recommendations for solving ethical problems are developed in more detail and carefully than other sections. Most codes are based on internal corporate control over their compliance. Public (external) from the outside public organizations and state control over compliance with the code requires the creation of an appropriate government structure, quite expensive, which is burdensome for the budget of any country. The development of a unified system for motivating employees to comply with the code of ethics remains a very difficult problem. Of course, it is impossible to characterize and address in a code every ethical issue that employees may encounter. At the same time, the presence of official instructions makes it possible to resolve ethical issues that occur most frequently.

Codes are a kind of guide to correct behavior. The very existence of a code of ethics as a collective ethical standard helps employees understand the ethics of their business decisions. The written form gives codes even greater significance. Codes can provide a certain level of legal protection for both the company as a whole and each employee individually.

Many companies form special departments or hire special employees to create codes of ethics. At the same time, company employees are familiarized with the provisions of these codes. A system of rewarding employees who take ethical issues into account when making decisions is also being created, provided that their professional behavior complies with the ethical standards set out in the codes.

2.6. Business dress culture

The basis of etiquette culture in clothing is taste. Dressing with taste means showing consideration for others. Of course, opinions on what “good taste” is may differ, but they have a lot in common. It is good taste that will always tell a person his own style - in clothes, hairstyle, etc. Good taste allows, following fashion, to apply and adapt it to one’s own appearance and character. Blind adherence to fashion and its exaggerated perception are tasteless. The appearance of a business person largely determines the effectiveness of professional connections and contributes to the creation of the necessary working atmosphere.

Clothes should be neat, cleaned and ironed, since neatness and smartness in clothing are often associated with organization at work and the ability to value one’s own and other people’s time. Untidy is a synonym for fussiness and forgetfulness.

Each professional group of people has its own style of clothing and appearance. But we can also highlight a general characteristic of a business person’s style – conservatism (since the business sphere is almost not subject to random influences); moderation (there should not be too sharp color contrasts, excessively pretentious styles of clothes or shoes, etc.) A business person should look confident, solid, elegant, trustworthy, not lacking in taste, reliable, decent, neat.

Business etiquette is more lenient towards a woman, allowing her to deviate from rigid standards. Deviations relate primarily to color. Although the main type of business casual clothing for a woman, like a man, is a suit, the range of colors for a woman’s suit is very extensive, unlike men’s, who are prescribed an extremely meager choice - gray and blue, for special occasions - black.

The ability to find your own style in clothing, look attractive and fresh is especially important when working with people. Employees who spare no effort to achieve this are often perceived as more competent, and they move up the career ladder more easily.

2.7. Behavior in public places

Professionals, of course, spend most of their time at work. But they have to get to work every day by public transport, they visit shops, exhibitions, conferences, go to the theater, cinema, and go on business trips. The mood and state of mind of not only them, but also those around them depend on how they behave in public places. Therefore, it is unacceptable to violate the rules of good manners both on the street and in public places.

Rules of behavior on the street not any special ones. In our country, traffic is on the right, so it is customary to keep to the right on the street. When moving down the street, it is important not to touch others with your elbows, umbrella, or bag. If the sidewalk is wide enough, you should not walk in the middle, much less against the traffic. But if there is no other way, then you definitely need to apologize if you interfere with someone walking towards you. Not allowed when big flow people suddenly cross the pedestrian zone and squeeze through the crowd. Those walking in front are passed around on the left, and those walking towards them are passed around on the right. If the sidewalk is narrow, then the man must give way to a woman, an elderly person, and, if necessary, even get off the sidewalk (of course, the younger person must give way to the older person). You should talk to your interlocutor while moving away from the walking mass of pedestrians.

It is better to keep a bag, briefcase, various things in right hand. You should not wave your arms, especially if you are holding an umbrella, cane, or briefcase.

Loud laughter and conversation, exclamations and gestures that attract the attention of others are not accepted on the street. You should not look behind passing pedestrians. You need to be friendly and friendly when addressing someone with a particular question. If on the street there is a need to ask a passerby with a question, then the question must be formulated briefly and precisely in advance. When you stop a passerby or contact a police officer, you must apologize for the inconvenience caused. Thank you for the clarification. In this case, you should not forget about the smile. By asking questions, you will make a favorable impression and are more likely to get the information you need.

It is strictly not recommended to eat on the street. If you're hungry, go to a café, or at least stop at a bistro kiosk for a snack. Should not be used outdoors chewing gum, since a chewing person does not look aesthetically pleasing and his appearance may be unpleasant to others.

You can't spit on the street. If something happens to you and you need to spit it out, it is better to use a handkerchief or paper napkin.

Usually men smoke outside (this is prohibited in some countries). A woman on the street can smoke only in the most exceptional cases. If a man is asked for a light, it is more polite to hand him a lighter or matches than a smoking cigarette.

Rules of conduct in public transport are also based on generally accepted rules. It is the violation of the “passenger code of conduct,” which is still not uncommon, that causes poor health and low performance. The rules for passengers are quite simple and easy to remember: in the metro, tram, trolleybus, bus, you are first given the opportunity to get off. The outgoing ones have the advantage, and only then comes the turn of the incoming ones.

A man must let a woman, an elderly man, a disabled person pass ahead, and, if necessary, help them when boarding. If the transport is crowded, you should try to stand in such a way as to disturb others as little as possible.

Young people should give way to older people, pregnant women, and women with small children. The offer to take the given place should be accepted with words of gratitude.

It is indecent to talk loudly and gesticulate in transport; it is not at all necessary for those around you to take part in solving family or work matters.

If you read a newspaper or book on public transport, try to hold it so as not to disturb your neighbors. It is indecent to look over your shoulder at a book, newspaper or magazine that another passenger is reading.

In transport, it is not customary to comb your hair and put yourself in order. It is completely unacceptable to be in the salon with ice cream, a hot dog or an open bun. You cannot ride in public transport wearing dirty, dirty clothes.

You should not respond to rude remarks from other passengers in transport or enter into controversy with them. Without getting into arguments, without responding with rudeness to rudeness, you will look more attractive.

Rules of conduct in a trading enterprise. A business person often plays the role of a buyer. While in a store, you need to adhere to generally the same rules as in any other public place.

When entering the store, you should let those leaving. In a small store, it is customary to greet the seller. In such a store, the buyer can be offered assistance in selecting the right product. When leaving, don't forget to say goodbye.

The selected goods should be handled carefully, trying not to wrinkle or get dirty. Food should not be touched with hands (there are special forks and spatulas for this).

When approaching the checkout, you need to have ready the approximate amount needed for the purchase. You should only address the seller as “you”, regardless of his age. When refusing a purchase, you should thank the seller for his attention.

In a store, as in any other public place, you should try not to draw special attention to yourself and not discuss your problems loudly.

In large supermarkets, each department has a salesperson on duty who you can contact for advice and help. But usually in such stores the buyer independently selects the desired product into a special basket.

The practice of ordering goods by telephone with delivery by a special messenger to your home or work has become widespread in many countries, and recently in Russia. To order household goods by telephone, there is also a service such as “goods by mail”, when the product of interest can be ordered by selecting it from the catalog. Nowadays, the practice of ordering goods via the Internet is becoming more widespread.

In any retail establishment, the buyer usually deals with the seller and the cashier. The level of the store as a whole is judged by the way they look. It’s not for nothing that they say that the salesperson is the face of the store.

The seller must behave friendly, be neat and cleanly dressed, regardless of what he is selling. The seller must always be ready to help the buyer.

Rules for visiting cultural institutions. When visiting the theater or cinema, they prepare in advance: they buy tickets and plan their time so as not to be late for the performance. People usually wear a smart dress and evening suit to the theater. It is customary to arrive at the theater early in order to have time to undress and put your outerwear in the cloakroom. Upon entering the theater lobby, men take off their hats. A man enters the auditorium first. You should walk down the row to your seat facing those sitting.

Acquaintances in the auditorium are greeted with a slight nod of the head, a smile, and a hand is given only to those who happen to be nearby.

It is customary to maintain silence in the theater, except when the action is interrupted by applause.

Rules for visiting exhibitions and museums. A visit to a museum, exhibition, art gallery, etc. requires large quantity free time, and prepare for a visit to the museum in advance. This means that you need to find out, if possible, about the exhibition of a given museum, art gallery, and if the museum is large enough, it is better to decide in advance what exactly you should see. To do this, you can use the museum catalog or exhibition guide. Since it is known that a person is able to fully perceive information while maintaining attention, for about three hours it is worth choosing either the works that interest you, or the work of one artist or sculptor, or one department dedicated to a certain period.

In museums and at many exhibitions, it is customary to take off outer clothing, hand over bags and briefcases to the cloakroom or storage room, and in a number of museums you need to wear special shoes.

When viewing, you should not come too close to the exhibits, much less touch them with your hands. A well-mannered person will not react violently to what he sees in museum halls, expressing his delight or indignation.

During the excursion, well-mannered people silently listen to the guide's story. It is not customary to have discussions with tour guides. You cannot talk loudly with other members of the group, and questions can only be asked during pauses that the guide specifically makes, or at the end of the inspection. You should be restrained in both words and gestures.

Rules of conduct on a business trip. When getting ready to travel, you should not forget the basic rules of conduct on a train, plane, or when staying in a hotel.

To the train It is advisable to arrive a little earlier so that you have enough time to calmly enter the carriage and unpack your luggage. If you are traveling not alone, but with a companion or an older person, you should enter the carriage first, lay out your luggage, and only then help your companion or an elderly person enter the carriage. Upon entering the compartment, you should say hello, but it is not necessary to introduce yourself and introduce your companions to your compartment neighbors. Usually, seats on the train are occupied according to the tickets purchased, but a polite person will offer his lower (more comfortable) seat to an elderly person, a woman, or a mother with a child. It is customary to help them unpack their luggage.

If the trip is short and the travel time is a day, then it is not necessary to change clothes on the train. It is only important to ensure that the clothes do not become too wrinkled, lose their appearance, or become unkempt. If the trip is long, it is better to change into a travel suit (possibly a tracksuit). A woman in a dressing gown and a man in pajamas look indecent. Your feet should be wearing comfortable shoes, but not slippers. It is not necessary to meet fellow travelers. You may not have long conversations with random people. Talkativeness is a sign of poor upbringing. However, if there is a common topic for conversation with fellow travelers, then it should be supported. A long trip together with people you don’t know before will not be tiring if all your fellow travelers are attentive to each other, tactful and polite.

The food that a passenger takes with him on the train should not have a strong odor and should not be perishable. You should stock up on napkins. You need to eat (as, indeed, everywhere else), carefully. Paper, cans, and bags should be carefully collected and thrown away. It is better to put leftover food in a bag without leaving anything on the table.

It’s not entirely tactful when people occupying the lower seats in a compartment seem to arrogate to themselves the preferential right to use a table.

Smoking is not allowed in the compartments and corridors of the carriage. Usually a vestibule is used for this purpose. You can also smoke in the dining car. But in the train restaurant, unlike ordinary restaurants, it is not customary to stay for a long time, so as not to delay other passengers who want to eat.

When approaching your destination, you need to get ready in time, change clothes and pack your luggage. When leaving the compartment, you need to politely say goodbye to your neighbors and wish them a good journey. If a man is traveling with a woman, he must get out first, take out the luggage and help his companion get out.

End of introductory fragment.

Ethics as a science examines its subject from a specific historical, philosophical and worldview position in close connection with social relations; it reveals the laws of the emergence and historical development of morality, its current state and functions, analyzes the social essence of morality, and substantiates its historical progressiveness. The subject of this science has always been influenced by the practical demands of the time.

Ethics considers a person in integrity, the unity of all its components. The methodological significance of ethical knowledge lies in the fact that it has both a heuristic aspect, which is associated primarily with the achievement of new knowledge, and an evaluative one, which involves the disclosure of the value content of morality.

Ethics, studying the subject in its social conditioning with all social life, scientifically substantiates ethical categories, principles and norms, provides their philosophical and social analysis.

Generalizing qualitatively new moral relations in society, she clarifies and expands her subject of research, studies general patterns moral consciousness, determines the role of objective and subjective factors in the formation of morality, discovers what is new that life brings into its content, discovers what motives people are guided by when they act in a certain way, it is possible to generally subject human actions to moral assessment and which, in this case, is their objective criterion.

Professional ethics has its task, based on the methodology of ethics, to substantiate a certain system of norms regulating the relationships between people in a particular field of activity. There are no professions without specific morality. Each has relative independence in society. This imposes certain requirements and in a certain way affects the morality of the representatives of this profession.

Historically (as professional differentiation deepens), the social need to regulate relations within and between work collectives increases. The attitude of society towards professional activity determines its value.

Moral assessment of the profession mainly due to two factors:

1) what this profession provides objectively for social development;

2) what it gives to a person subjectively, what moral influence it has on it.

Any profession performs a certain social function. All its representatives have their own goals, purpose, and characteristics. Each profession has a specific communication environment, which leaves its mark on people, regardless of their desire. Within professional groups, the inherent connections and relationships of people are formed and maintained.

Depending on the conditions, the object, the nature of work activity and the tasks solved in its process, many unique situations constantly arise and change, even extreme ones, which require adequate actions and methods from a person. In this case, certain contradictions arise, ways to resolve (remove) them are chosen, successes are achieved, and losses are incurred. In professional activity, a person exhibits subjective feelings, she reflects, worries, evaluates, and strives for new results. In situations corresponding to these relations, much is repeated and becomes typical, which characterizes the independence of the profession and its moral foundations. This, in turn, places demands on people’s actions and determines the specifics of their behavior. As soon as certain professional relationships acquire qualitative stability, special moral attitudes begin to form that correspond to the nature of the work. Thus, professional morality arises with its main element - a norm that reflects the practical expediency of certain forms of relationships both within a professional group and in its relationships with society.

Each era leaves a significant imprint on moral professional standards and forms its own moral and ethical codes. Over time, professional morality becomes a relatively independent spiritual reality, begins to “live” in its own way, turns into an object of comprehension, analysis, assimilation and reproduction, and becomes an effective motivating force for representatives of the relevant professions.

This process actively occurred back in the era of feudalism, when, as a result of the intensive division of labor, numerous professional charters and codes (of craftsmen, judges, knights, monks, etc.) were formed. At first they expressed the desire of representatives of the upper classes to consolidate their privileges, and then this tendency became a means of economic protection, a form of social self-affirmation.

During the Middle Ages, social and corporate divisions deepened, the regulation of moral relations, and the backwardness of moral rules and regulations. These trends have especially intensified under capitalism. The rapid development of labor and the accompanying social contradictions led to anarchy of production; increased competition, social pessimism and individualism, in turn, contributed to the formation of closed clans, corporate groups and the formation of their inherent moral atmosphere and corresponding moral ideas.

So, development and changes in the norms of professional morality are accompanied by changes in the economic, socio-political, and spiritual spheres. These changes reflect the nature of production relations, forms of organization of social labor, the level of scientific and technological progress, etc.

Professional ethics regulates the moral relations of people in one of the main spheres of public life - labor activity (material-production, economic-economic, managerial, spiritual, cultural). Society can function normally and develop only as a result of the continuous production of material and spiritual values. And the well-being of the subjects of labor and society depends to a very large extent on the moral goals and content of people’s relationships in ensuring this process.

Under professional ethics it is customary to understand the historically established set of moral precepts, norms, codes, assessments, scientific theories about the mandatory behavior of a representative of a certain profession, his moral qualities arising from social functions and are determined by the specifics of work activity 110.

Professional ethics in the field of ethical knowledge is a concretization of general ethical norms, brought to life not only by the specifics of the relationship of professional groups to society as a whole, but also by the peculiarities of interpersonal relationships in professional activities. The presence of specific relationships between people in professional groups forms the peculiarity of moral norms designed to regulate these relationships. Despite all the uniqueness of the goals and objectives of a particular profession, which are generated by various social conditions, they also have constant elements arising from the very nature of professional activity.

Society considers the moral qualities of an employee as one of fundamental elements professional suitability. Trans-moral norms must be particularly specified in his work activity, taking into account the specifics of work, the structure of moral relations inherent in this type of profession.

IN modern society The personal qualities of an individual are very revealingly manifested in his business characteristics, attitude to work, and level of professional suitability. All this determines the extreme relevance of the issues that make up the content of professional ethics. True professionalism is based on such moral standards as duty, honesty, demanding of oneself and one’s colleagues, responsibility for the results of work, etc. The nature of work activity in post-industrial society objectively dictates not only the inextricable unity of a person’s professional and moral qualities, but also provides for a qualitatively new level of implementation of the latter.

Issues ethics of professional groups comes down to the following set of questions:

1) the moral status of the group;

2) professionally typical situations requiring a certain position;

3) moral duties and criteria for their fulfillment arising from ethics;

4) moral codes, formulated in the form of a set of moral values ​​and norms.

The specificity of the content of professional ethics can be expressed in different ways. In this case, general morality plays a decisive role and provides the professional with a special quality and orientation. Professional morality, being functional, cannot exist on its own, outside of general morality. At the same time, the general in professional morality will always be personified, translated into the tonality of professional sound, changes in each specific type of activity will be felt, reflected in its own way in a specific environment.

Due to the fact that the professions themselves differ not only in the object and volume of labor effort, but also in the goals of influence, specific types of professional morality and, accordingly, professional ethics are distinguished: political, legal, diplomatic, medical, pedagogical, theatrical, managerial ethics , scientist, journalist, etc.

Society places particularly high demands on representatives of these and other human-related professions, since their activities are connected with people. An important feature of these professions is the possibility of “invasion” into a person’s spiritual world, influence on her fate, which gives rise to special, often delicate moral conflicts. All this forms a complex system of mutually reciprocal, interdependent moral relations.

Along with professional requirements, their responsibilities in society, a social group, a team, a family and other entities have a great influence on the moral consciousness and behavior of people. A close combination of normative and non-normative morality is achieved on a voluntary basis, when relations between people develop as the practical implementation of ideas, views, principles, assessments contained in morality as a form of social consciousness and in normative - programmatic, statutory and other requirements of society. their simultaneous formation is carried out on the basis of social and individual existence, specific features of the life and activities of the corresponding professional teams, groups, communities. Moral requirements are deposited in the minds of people and from an externally acting factor develop into internal moral conviction, becoming a motive and stimulus for behavior both in professional activities and in public places and in the family. Intracollective moral relations

The highest form of practical morality in society, which accumulates promising changes in the moral progress of mankind.

Ethics cannot solve its problems autonomously; it is widely based on the theory of education, pedagogy, psychology, and other social sciences, and together with them it stimulates ethical and sociological directions in the study of man. In the complex scientific research it highlights the moral aspects of the interaction between the individual and society, and contributes to the translation of the moral ideal into the language of specific educational goals and objectives. What is important is not only the positive socially valuable result of human activity, but also the ways of achieving the goal, the degree of consciousness and especially the nobility of the internal motives of people’s activities, their value orientations and attitudes. And deviation from moral norms, their violation, moral permissiveness

All this leads to personality degradation.

The applied orientation in ethics is revealingly revealed in professional ethics. Along with the general moral ideas that are characteristic of everyone, in the sphere of professional activity the employee faces questions about the range of moral, and not just official, responsibilities, the qualities necessary for their implementation, such as communication with colleagues and other people. We are talking about the professional ethics of a certain person.

The development of professional ethics is a dialectic of the general and the specific. For its correct understanding, important methodology, the methodology of ethical research, acquires its own specificity in professional ethics.

As in classical ethics, professional ethics uses general and specific methods. Regarding the general ones, they remain unchanged in professional ethics. And the specificity of work activity leaves its mark and this is recorded in the process of studying professional ethics and revealing its features. Therefore, in this case it is worth noting the importance of specific research methods.

Specific methods are used mainly to study specific moral problems, including professional activities. The fundamental feature is that they are applied on the basis of a general methodology and arise as a real manifestation of the general in the specific, special.

Especially great value To study professional ethics, sociological research methods are used (analysis of various statistical materials, personal conversations, surveys, questionnaires, etc.). Like other humanities, sociology also turns to mathematics, cybernetics, linguistics, psychology, etc. Using the structural approach, it is possible to model the structure of morality and explain the functional connections in it.

The philosophical nature of ethics opens up the possibility of applying moral assessments to various social phenomena and processes, primarily to work activity. But ethical thought is not constrained by a professional narrow approach to real problems. Possessing relative independence, it not only deduces specific methods in philosophy and other sciences, but also takes into account the specifics of its own subject, produces and applies its own conceptual apparatus, which is constantly refined by including new and modified classical categories, concepts, etc.

Ethics in dialectical interaction considers ethical categories, principles, norms, taking into account that they reflect real moral relations, the richness of the moral life of society. The qualitative uniqueness of the object of activity and the nature of the relationship in each profession (doctor - patient, teacher - student, leader - subordinate, etc.), as well as its various social functions, give rise to special moral professional norms, requirements, and assessments. Professional ethics does not necessarily have to capture all the nuances of each profession (various directories list thousands of the most common specialties). Ethics can express the moral requirements of not one, but groups of professions whose social functions, tasks and purposes coincide (doctors, engineers, teachers, managers, etc.).

In professional ethics, a system of specific moral norms with accompanying practical rules is formed, serving one or another area of ​​human activity.

These moral norms are professional and ethical because their emergence and assimilation are not directly determined by any institutional conditions (education, official position), and their mastery is ensured mainly by the culture of the individual, his upbringing, his moral potential.

The content of professional ethics, “firstly, codes of conduct that prescribe a certain type of moral relationships between people that are optimal from the point of view of their professional activities, secondly, methods of justifying these codes, social and philosophical interpretation of the cultural and humanistic vocation of this profession ".

Professional ethics studies:

o the relationship of work collectives and each specialist in particular to society as a whole, classes, layers, their interests;

o moral qualities of a specialist’s personality, which ensure the best performance of professional duty;

o the specifics of moral relations between specialists and people who are the direct objects of their activities;

o relationships within professional groups and those moral norms specific to a given profession that reveal these relationships;

o professional activity as a moral personality trait;

o features of professional education, its goals and methods. Justification of the moral aspect of relationships between people in

the labor process provides:

Determining the purpose of work activity and its motivation,

Selection of normative guidelines and means of achieving the set goals,

Evaluation of labor results, their social and moral meaning. Professional morality functions not only at the level of theoretical

principles and attitudes, but also everyday ideas and in the practical sphere of people’s behavior in various types of work activities.

Professionalism and attitude to work are important qualitative characteristics of a person’s moral qualities. They are of paramount importance both in the personal assessment of the individual and in the assessment of him as a specialist.

Since professional ethics is formed on the basis of the characteristic duties and tasks of the profession, the situations in which people may find themselves in the process of performing these tasks, the latter influence its formation. In the process of work, certain moral relationships develop between people. They have a number of elements inherent in all types of professional activity, primarily the following:

o attitude towards social work;

o to participants in the labor process and

o moral relations that arise in the sphere of direct contact between the interests of professional groups with each other and society.

Professional ethics is not a consequence of inequality in the degree of morality of different professional groups. But society places particularly high moral demands on certain types of professional activity. These are types of activities that are capable of generating particularly acute moral conflicts, which in other types of activity arise only occasionally. These acute moral conflicts appear where issues of life and death, health, freedom and human dignity are decided, where the moral qualities of a specialist become decisive.

The specificity of the labor morality of those professional groups whose object of activity is the spiritual world of the individual lies in the presence of a set of special requirements, additional norms regulating the behavior of members of these professional groups in their relation to the object of labor and through it to society, as well as relations within these professional groups .

In these professions, on the basis of general principles of morality, unique codes of honor and professional behavior are produced, which, along with the underlying moral rules, absorb all the experience of this type of human activity. Moreover, in some professions even the professional ability of a specialist largely depends on his moral qualities. This primarily concerns the work of a teacher, doctor, and lawyer.

When determining the degree of trust in an employee, society takes into account not only the level of education, the amount of special knowledge, skills and abilities. The relative opposition between action and deed, reflecting the operational and moral side of work activity, is leveled out for such professions. Professional simultaneously acts as moral.

It is in these areas that direct access to the human personality and its destiny is made. It is here that the dependence of one person on another is especially great. Basically, it is in these areas that an individual can find himself (especially in the field of medicine) almost completely dependent on the knowledge, skills, integrity and responsibility of another individual. Therefore, in these areas of professional activity, a social phenomenon of special moral responsibility arises, generated by a situation of extreme severity of moral conflict.

In addition to traditional professions, which, due to their specificity, require special moral regulation at the level of professional moral codes, in the modern world, in connection with the discovery of new information technologies, achievements of scientific and technological progress, features social development and functioning social institutions A number of professions are emerging in which an internal need for certain rules imbued with moral content is maturing. We include the profession of sociologist among these.

These are professional areas in which the labor process itself is based on a high degree of coordination of the actions of its participants, exacerbating the need for solidarity behavior. Particular attention is paid to the moral qualities of workers in those professions that are associated with the right to manage people’s lives, significant material assets, some professions in the service sector, transport, management, healthcare, and education. Here we are not talking about the actual level of morality, but about duty, which, if left unrealized, may somehow interfere with the performance of professional functions.

The labor activity of people in these professions, more than others, is not subject to preliminary regulation and does not fit within the framework of service instructions or technological templates. It is inherently creative. The peculiarities of the work of these professional groups significantly complicate moral relations and a new element is added to them: interaction with people - the objects of their activities. Since their activities mean an invasion of inner world person, then moral responsibility acquires decisive importance here.

Questions:

1. Professional ethics: concept, origin and essence.

2. Types of professional ethics, their features.

3. Basic principles of professional ethics.

4. Ethics in business and services.

5. Managerial ethics.

6. Ethics of partnerships.
1. Professional ethics: concept, origin and essence.
The development of society is inevitably associated with the division of labor and the emergence of many professions. Depending on the type of activity, the techniques used and the problems being solved, unique situations, difficulties and unexpected dangers arise that require appropriate actions, methods, and psychological reactions from a person. Each profession associated with the interaction of people has its own moral temptations, moral successes and failures, certain contradictions arise, and its own specific ways of resolving them are developed. A person enters into professional activity with his own set of feelings, experiences, aspirations, and moral assessments. Among the diverse moral situations in professional relations, the most frequently repeated, typical ones arise, which determine the moral atmosphere of the profession. And this, wittingly or unwittingly, determines the specificity of people’s actions, the uniqueness of the norms of their behavior. As soon as professional relationships acquire qualitative stability, special moral attitudes begin to form that correspond to the nature of the work, and professional morality arises. Having arisen, professional morality becomes a certain spiritual reality with relative independence. It begins to live its own life and turns into an object of study, analysis, assimilation, and becomes a kind of spiritual force that determines the behavior of a representative of a particular profession.

Professional ethics is a set of certain duties and norms of behavior that support the moral prestige of professional groups in society. The tasks of professional ethics include identifying moral norms and assessments, judgments and concepts that characterize people in the role of representatives of a certain profession.

Professional ethics develops norms, standards, and requirements specific to certain types of activities. Professional ethics should also explain and teach morality, instill moral principles and ideas about duty and honor, and morally educate workers. Ethics is designed to educate, help people behave correctly with people, communicate in a production team, etc. Professional ethics teaches to follow moral standards accepted as the norm of behavior of people in certain activities. The employee must be guided by these standards. By looking up to this standard, a service worker must cultivate the appropriate personal quality.

Professional ethics is intended to regulate human relations in the field of production. Each profession has its own specifics of the accepted and current value system. Moreover, the same act can be considered as moral, non-moral and even immoral, depending on how it expresses the attitude towards the current value system.

The basis of professional ethics in the service sector is intolerance of neglect of public interests, a high consciousness of public duty.

Origins of professional ethics

The emergence of the first professional and ethical codes dates back to the period of the craft division of labor in the conditions of the formation of medieval guilds in the 11th-12th centuries. It was then that for the first time they noted the presence in shop regulations of a number of moral requirements in relation to the profession, the nature of work, and partners in labor. However, a number of professions that are of vital importance for all members of society arose in ancient times, and therefore, such professional and ethical codes as the “Hippocratic Oath*” and the moral principles of priests who performed judicial functions are known much earlier.

The emergence of professional ethics preceded the creation of scientific ethical teachings and theories about it. Everyday experience and the need to regulate relationships between people in a particular profession led to the awareness and formulation of certain requirements of professional ethics.

Professional ethics arose within the framework of specific types of activities, acting as a normative principle in the behavior of specialists. Based on those variants of personal manifestations that the professional consciousness of the work group recognized as the most preferable for this activity. professional ethics creates standards of professional behavior, formalized in the form of specific documents - oaths, charters, codes.

Professional ethics, having emerged as a manifestation of everyday moral consciousness, originated within the framework of specific types of activity, then developed on the basis of the general practice of behavior of representatives of each professional group, acting as a normative principle in the behavior of specialists. These generalizations were contained in both written and unwritten rules of behavior.

Public opinion plays a major role in the formation and assimilation of new professional ethics. Norms with a struggle of opinions. The relationship between professional ethics and social consciousness is noted. Various types of professional ethics have their own traditions, which indicates the continuity of the basic ethical standards developed by representatives of a particular profession over the centuries.

Essence

Professional ethics is a set of moral standards that determine a person’s attitude towards his professional duty. Professional ethics regulates the moral relations of people in the labor sphere. Society can function normally and develop only as a result of the continuous process of production of material and moral values.

Professional ethics studies:

• 
  relations between work collectives and each specialist individually;
• 
  moral qualities of a specialist’s personality that ensure the best performance of professional duty;
• 
  relationships within professional teams, and those specific moral norms characteristic of a given profession;
• 
  features of professional education.

Professionalism and attitude to work are important characteristics of a person’s moral character. They are of paramount importance in the personal characteristics of an individual, but at different stages of historical development their content and assessment varied significantly.

In a class society, they were determined by the social inequality of types of labor, the opposition of mental and physical labor, and the presence of privileged and unprivileged professions. The class nature of morality in the sphere of labor is evidenced by writings written in the first third of the 2nd century. BC Christian biblical book “The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach”, which contains teachings on how to treat a slave: “fodder, a stick and a burden for a donkey; bread, punishment and work are for the slave. Keep your slave busy and you will have peace; His hands have weakened and he will seek freedom.”

The situations in which people find themselves in the process of performing their professional tasks have a strong influence on the formation of professional ethics.

In the process of work, certain moral relationships develop between people. They contain a number of elements inherent in all types of professional ethics.

Firstly, this is the attitude towards social labor, towards participants in the labor process.

Secondly, these are the moral relations that arise in the area of ​​direct contact between the interests of professional groups with each other and society.

Professional ethics is not a consequence of inequality in the degree of morality of different professional groups. It’s just that society has increased moral requirements for certain types of professional activities. Basically, these are professional areas in which the labor process itself requires coordination of the actions of all its participants. Particular attention is paid to the moral qualities of workers in that field, which are associated with the right to manage people’s lives. Here we are talking not only about a moral lesson, but also, first of all, about the proper performance of one’s professional duties. (these are professions from the service sector, transport, management, healthcare, education). The labor activity of people in these professions, more than any other, lends itself to preliminary regulation, and does not fit within the framework of official instructions. It is inherently creative. The peculiarities of the work of these professional groups complicate moral relations and a new element is added to them: interaction with people - the objects of activity. In this case, moral responsibility becomes crucial. Society considers the moral qualities of an employee as one of the leading elements of his professional suitability. General moral norms must be specified in a person’s work activity, taking into account the specifics of his profession,

Thus, professional morality must be considered in unity with the generally accepted system of morality. Violation of work ethics is accompanied by the destruction of general moral principles, and vice versa. An employee’s irresponsible attitude towards professional duties poses a danger to others, harms society, and can ultimately lead to the degradation of the individual himself.

Now in Russia there is a need to develop a new type of professional morality, which reflects the ideology of labor activity based on the development of market relations. We are talking, first of all, about the moral ideology of the new middle class, which makes up the overwhelming majority labor force in an economically developed society.

In modern society, an individual’s personal qualities begin with his business characteristics, attitude to work, and level of professional suitability. All this determines the exceptional relevance of the issues that make up the content of professional ethics. True professionalism is based on such moral standards as duty, honesty, demanding of oneself and one's colleagues, and responsibility for the results of one's work. Professional honor and dignity, as a rule, are a measure of professionalism in any field.

2. Types of professional ethics
Each type of human professional activity corresponds to certain types of professional ethics with their own specific characteristics. Ethics considers the moral qualities of a person without regard to the mental mechanisms that stimulate the appearance of these qualities. The study of ethics shows the diversity and versatility of professional moral relations and moral standards.

Professional moral standards are rules, patterns, and procedures for internal regulation of the individual based on ethical ideals.

Medical ethics is set out in the “Ethical Code of the Russian Doctor”, adopted in 1994 by the Association of Russian Doctors. Previously, in 1971, the physician's oath was created Soviet Union. The idea of ​​a high moral character and example of ethical behavior of a doctor is associated with the name of Hippocrates.

Traditional medical ethics resolves the issue of personal contact and personal qualities of the relationship between the doctor and the patient, as well as the doctor’s guarantees not to harm a specific individual.

Biomedical ethics (bioethics) is a specific form of modern professional ethics of a doctor; it is a system of knowledge about the permissible limits of manipulating the life and death of a person. Manipulation must be regulated morally. Bioethics is a form of protection of human biological life. The main problem of bioethics: suicide, euthanasia*, definition of death, transplantology, experimentation on animals and humans, the relationship between doctor and patient, attitude towards mentally disabled people, hospice organization, childbirth (genetic engineering*, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, abortion, contraception).

The goal of bioethics is to develop appropriate regulations for modern biomedical activities. In 1998, under the Moscow Patriarchate, with the blessing His Holiness Patriarch Alexia II, the Council on Biomedical Ethics was created. It included famous theologians, clergy, doctors, scientists, and lawyers.

Professional morality in journalism began to take shape along with journalistic activity. However, the process of its formation lasted for centuries and reached certainty only with the transformation of the journalistic profession into a mass one. It ended only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the first codes were created and the professional and moral consciousness of the journalistic community acquired a documented form of existence.

A journalist, mastering the postulates of professional morality during his professional development, enters into professional and moral relationships with colleagues, which, unlike moral ones as such, presuppose the possibility of institutionally organized and direct intervention of the corporation in his behavior. However, this intervention differs significantly from administrative influence, since its goal is not coercion, but motivation.

The professional ethics of a journalist, like other types of professional ethics, began to take shape directly in their work activities. It manifested itself in the course of codifying those professional and moral ideas that spontaneously developed within the framework of the method of journalistic activity and were, in one way or another, recorded by the professional consciousness of the journalistic community. The appearance of the first codes meant the completion of a long process of formation of professional journalistic morality and at the same time opened a new stage in its development. This new stage was based on targeted self-knowledge of journalistic activity and the practical application of its results.

A special manifestation of professional ethics is economic ethics (“business ethics”, “business ethics”). Economic ethics is an ancient science. It began with Aristotle in his works “Ethics”, “Nicomachean Ethics”, “Politics”. Aristotle does not separate economics from economic ethics. He advises his son Nicomachus to engage only in the production of goods. Its principles were developed in the ideas and concepts of Catholic and Protestant theologians, who for a long time pondered intensely on the problems of business ethics.

One of the first ethical and economic concepts was that of Henry Ford*, one of the founders of the US automobile industry. He believed that happiness and prosperity can only be achieved by honest work and that this is ethical common sense, the essence of Ford's economic ethics lies in the idea that the produced product is not just sold " business theory“, and “something more” is a theory whose goal is to create a source of joy from the world of things. Force and machine, money and property are useful only insofar as they contribute freedom of life. These economic principles of G. Ford are of practical importance even today.

Management ethics is a science that examines the actions and behavior of a person acting in the field of management, and the functioning of an organization as a “total manager” in relation to its internal and external environment in the aspect in which the actions of the manager and the organization relate to universal ethical requirements.

Economic ethics is a set of norms of behavior for an entrepreneur, the requirements imposed by a cultural society on his style of work, the nature of communication between business participants, and their social appearance.

Economic ethics includes business etiquette, which is formed under the influence of traditions and certain prevailing historical conditions of a particular country.

The main tenets of the entrepreneur's code of ethics are the following:

he is convinced of the usefulness of his work not only for himself, but also for others, for society as a whole;

proceeds from the fact that the people around him want and know how to work;

believes in business and regards it as attractive creativity;

recognizes the need for competition, but also understands the need for cooperation;

respects any property, social movements, respects professionalism and competence, laws;

values ​​education, science and technology.

These basic principles of ethics for a business person can be specified in relation to various areas of his professional activity. For Russia, problems of economic ethics are becoming of great importance. This is explained by the rapid formation of market relations in our country.

Currently, the basic principles and rules of business conduct are formulated in ethical codes. These may be standards by which individual firms live (corporate codes), or rules governing relationships within an entire industry (professional codes).
3. Basic principles of professional ethics
Professional ethics regulates the relationships between people in business communication. Professional ethics is based on certain norms, requirements and principles.

Principles are abstract, generalized ideas that enable those who rely on them to correctly form their behavior and actions in the business sphere. Principles provide a specific employee in any organization with a conceptual ethical platform for decisions, actions, actions, interactions, etc.

The order of the ethical principles considered is not determined by their significance.

The essence of the first principle comes from the so-called gold standard: “Within the framework of your official position, never allow your official position in relation to your subordinates, management, or colleagues; to clients, etc. such actions that I would not want to see towards myself.”

The second principle: fairness is needed when providing employees with the resources necessary for their work activities (monetary, raw materials, material, etc.).

The third principle requires mandatory correction of an ethical violation, regardless of when and by whom it was committed.

The fourth principle is the principle of maximum progress: the official behavior and actions of an employee are recognized as ethical if they contribute to the development of the organization (or its divisions) from a moral point of view.

The fifth principle is the principle of minimum progress, according to which the actions of an employee or an organization as a whole are ethical if they at least do not violate ethical standards.

Sixth principle: ethical is the tolerant attitude of the organization’s employees towards moral principles, traditions, etc., that take place in other organizations, regions, countries.

Eighth principle: individual and collective principles are equally recognized as the basis when developing and making decisions in business relationships.

The ninth principle: you should not be afraid to have own opinion when resolving any service issues. However, nonconformism* as a personality trait should manifest itself within reasonable limits.

The tenth principle is no violence, i.e. “pressure” on subordinates, expressed in various forms, for example, in an orderly, commanding manner of conducting an official conversation.

The eleventh principle is consistency of impact, which is expressed in the fact that ethical standards can be introduced into the life of an organization not with a one-time order, but only with the help of continuous efforts on the part of both the manager and ordinary employees.

The twelfth principle is when influencing (on a team, an individual employee, a consumer, etc.) take into account the strength of possible resistance. The fact is that while recognizing the value and necessity of ethical standards in theory, many workers, when faced with them in practical everyday work, for one reason or another begin to resist them.

The thirteenth principle is the advisability of advances based on trust - the employee’s sense of responsibility, his competence, sense of duty, etc.

Although conflict in the business sphere has not only dysfunctional but also functional consequences, nevertheless, conflict is a fertile ground for ethical violations.

The fifteenth principle is freedom without limiting the freedom of others; Usually this principle, although in an implicit form, is determined by job descriptions.

Sixteenth principle: the employee must not only act ethically himself, but also encourage the same behavior of his colleagues.

Seventeenth principle: do not criticize your competitor. This means not only a competing organization, but also an “internal competitor” - a team from another department, a colleague in whom one can “see” a competitor.

These principles should serve as the basis for each employee of any company to develop their own personal ethical system.

It seems that each person develops his own pyramid of values ​​throughout his life. In fact, it is laid down in the subconscious in childhood. Information received by a child under 6 years of age goes there directly. This also applies to the ethical standards of behavior that children receive by watching their parents' actions and listening to their conversations.

Ethics is a very ancient concept, aimed at studying the actions of people and their legality, their moral and ethical qualities.

The Science of Good and Evil

The word ethika, once used by Aristotle, later became a science, to the study and development of which many philosophers of the world devoted themselves. If the ancient thinker was interested in finding an answer to the question of what lies at the basis of human actions, then subsequent generations of sages were interested in the concept of ethics and morality in the pyramid of human values.

As a science she studies:

• what place in public relations occupies morality;
• its existing categories;
• main problems.

The concept and subject of ethics relate to the following industries:

• normative indicators, the main study of which is the actions of people from the perspective of such categories as good and evil;
• metaethics deals with the study of its types;
• applied science of this kind studies individual situations from a moral perspective.

Modern ethics is a broader concept than ancient philosophers imagined it to be. Today it helps not only to evaluate any actions from the position of correctness, but also awakens an evaluative consciousness in people.

Ethics in antiquity

The sages of antiquity did not distinguish it as a separate scientific discipline, but included it in the branches of philosophy and law.

Most of all in those days it resembled moralizing aphorisms that helped awaken in people their best and noble character traits. It was Aristotle who singled it out as a separate discipline, placing it between psychology and politics.

In a work entitled "Eudamic Ethics", Aristotle addresses questions concerning human happiness and the reasons for its occurrence. The deep thoughts of this scientist were aimed at the fact that, in fact, for a person to prosper, he needs to have a goal and energy to implement it. As he believed, not subordinating life to its achievement is great folly.

For Aristotle himself, the concept and content of ethics became the foundation for the formation in the minds of his contemporaries of such norms as human virtues. Ancient philosophers attributed justice to them, and others.

Even before the appearance of the Greek word ethika, which began to mean the science that studies the morality and legality of people’s actions, at different times humanity was interested in questions of good, evil and the meaning of life. They are still fundamental today.

Morality concept

The main criterion for the morality of a person is the ability to distinguish between the concepts of good and evil and the choice of non-violence, love for one’s neighbor, and adherence to the spiritual laws of good.

Sometimes concepts are considered synonyms, meaning the same thing. This is wrong. In fact, morality and morality are categories that ethics as a science studies. Spiritual laws, outlined by people in ancient times, require a person to live according to the rules of honor, conscience, justice, love and goodness. The study and observance of moral laws was once monitored by the church, teaching the 10 commandments to believers. Today this is done more at the family and school level, where ethics is taught.

A person who puts into practice and propagates spiritual laws has at all times been called righteous. The concept of moral ethics is the correspondence of the categories of goodness and love to the actions that a person commits.

History is well known for examples of the destruction of strong empires after the spiritual values ​​of their people were replaced. The most striking example is the destruction of Ancient Rome - a powerful, prosperous empire defeated by barbarians.

Morality

Morality is the degree of human improvement in such virtues as goodness, justice, honor, freedom and love for the world around us. It characterizes the behavior and actions of people from the perspective of these values ​​and is divided into personal and public.

Public morality is characterized by such features as:

• compliance with prohibitions generally accepted for a particular population group or religion (for example, Jews cannot eat pork);
• characteristic of a given society (for example, in Mursi women have a plate inserted into their lips, which is completely unacceptable for the peoples of other countries);

• actions prescribed by religious canons (for example, keeping the commandments);
• nurturing in every member of society such a moral quality as self-sacrifice.

Not only interpersonal relations, but also between countries and peoples are built on the basis of moral values. Wars occur when one of the parties violates accepted norms that were previously the basis for peaceful coexistence.

History of professional ethics

The concept of professional ethics appeared as long ago as the first crafts. The Hippocratic Oath, known to all doctors, for example, is one of the types of such ancient statutes. Soldiers, Olympic athletes, priests, judges, senators and other representatives of the population had their own ethical standards. Some were stated orally (don’t go into someone else’s monastery with your own rules), others were written down on tablets or papyri that have survived to this day.

Some similar rules of antiquity are today perceived as recommendations and prohibitions.

More similar to the concept of a guild charter, which was drawn up in the 11th-12th centuries in each craft community in its own way. They indicated not only the duties of each shop worker in relation to colleagues and the artel, but also their rights.

Violation of such a statute resulted in exclusion from the community of artisans, which was tantamount to ruin. The concept of a merchant's word is well known, which can also be called an example of an oral agreement between representatives of one or different guilds.

Types of professional ethics

The concept and in each profession implies those features of activity that are inherent in this particular work. The existing ones for each profession determine the actions of workers within the framework of accepted rules and procedures.

For example, there is such a thing as medical, legal, economic, military secrets and even confessions. Professional ethics include not only the rules of behavior inherent in any human activity, but also those of an individual team.

If an employee is subject to administrative punishment or dismissal if he violates the work regulations, then if he does not comply with the moral code of the profession, he can be tried according to the laws of the country. For example, if a medical worker is caught performing euthanasia, he will be arrested for murder.

The main types of professional ethics include:

• medical;
• military;
• legal;
• economic;
• pedagogical;
• creative and others.

The main rule is high professionalism and dedication to your work.

Business ethics

The concept of business ethics belongs to the category of professional morality. There are many unwritten laws (in some cases they are specified in the charters of companies) laws that prescribe not only the style of clothing for businessmen and business people, but also communication, concluding transactions or maintaining documentation. Only a person who complies with moral standards of honor and decency is called a business person.

Business ethics is a concept that has been used since people made their first transaction. IN different countries They have adopted their own rules for conducting negotiations, no matter whether it concerns business or diplomatic relations, or the places where transactions are concluded. At all times, there have been stereotypes of a successful person. In ancient times, these were rich houses, servants or the amount of land and slaves, in our time - expensive accessories, an office in a prestigious area and much more.

Ethical categories

• goodness is a virtue that personifies everything positive that exists in this world;
• evil is the opposite of good and the general concept of immorality and meanness;

• good - concerns the quality of life;
• justice is a category indicating the same rights and equality of people;
• duty - the ability to subordinate one’s own interests for the benefit of others;
• conscience - a person’s individual ability to evaluate his actions from the standpoint of good and evil;
• dignity is the assessment of a person’s qualities by society.

Ethics of communication

The concept of communication ethics includes the skills of establishing communication with other people. This branch of science studies the level of human culture through his speech, the quality and usefulness of the information he presents, and his moral and moral values.