Professional Ethics

Professional Ethics

              Key words: profession, ethics, integrity, training, obligations

Profession is a vocation based upon education and training and professionals are those who have got specialized training and can take decisions of their own and can act accordingly which ordinary persons can’t do. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Ethics are values and beliefs of an individual or a society as a whole. Ethical principles  are:  honesty, integrity, being fair and open minded, respect for dignity and accountable for one’s decisions and their consequences.

It is reported that Chanakya wrote “Arthashastra” in fourth century BC during Chandra Gupta Maurya’s rule. It is a treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy. 

Professional ethics refer to the ethical obligations to be followed by professionals. Every profession has got its own obligations - Engineers have got their own values and beliefs, doctors have their own, lawyers their own and teachers their own obligations.

The main question that crops at this juncture is who decides what is ethical?  What is good at one point of time need not be good all the times. 

Each profession has got its own code of ethics. A code of ethics prescribes what a professional should do so that he can  do the best at the minimum cost. It also helps a professional to choose what to do when faced with a problem.  A professional has obligations towards his employer, client/customer   and society.

Ethics plays an important role in the workplace. General public are unlikely to do business with an unethical company. When a company is caught doing something unethical, that company often faces  different problems. Consumers may  boycott their products.  Ethics and work should go hand in hand. Maintaining ethics should be an integral part of the workplace.

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Mental Tension and Worry - The disease of the modern world

Mental Tension and Worry- The disease of the modern world

The other day Sindhu, a B Tech final year student told me that she   forgot to write her roll number in the answer book of the examination.

I asked her why?

She answered that she was under  mental tension and as such forgot to write her roll number.

People of all ages starting from a kindergarten student to a senior citizen from all strata of the society -  house wife, engineer, doctor, politician etc  all are under tension in one way or the other.

But is it possible to avoid this mental tension?

Swami Vivekananda says “The calmer we are, the less disturbed our nerves, the more shall we learn, the better our work be”. But seldom we can find a  person leading a calm and peaceful life. Now a days nervous tension has become a regular phenomenon. Some of the stress induced diseases are heart attack and high blood pressure. The degree of tension may differ depending on the place and situation. Some may be undergoing tension in his office , others may suffer in their home and some others may be undergoing both in their office and home as well.

Stress can’t be completely avoided but it can be controlled to a certain extent. Stress can be positive as well as negative. It is the negative stress which causes nerves tension, anger, jealousy and other problems.

If we are able to remain calm under any provocation, to a large extent tension can be minimized. For this we should have strong will power and faith in our self. We should learn to live in the present forgetting the past. By practicing meditation, to a large extent, tranquility can be maintained and also  regular   practice will help in removing negative feelings.

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Human Relations

Human Relations

Man, it is told, is a social animal. Man can’t live in this world all alone. He has to maintain relations with his family members, with his colleagues in his work place, with the members of the society with whom he is associated.

In a work place (office) there must be cordial relations between the employees, between the employees and the employer. Also there must be cordial relations  between the employee and his family members. Then only the worker will be able to put all his energies and attention on his job. This is very essential for the overall progress of the company. It is necessary to have a healthy and peaceful environment in the work place. An employee should take interest in the welfare of his colleagues. Egoism should not come in the way. On the other hand the employee should be sympathetic towards his colleagues.

If the relations among employees are not healthy, the employees will like to quit  the job at the earliest opportunity. This is a big loss as far as the management is concerned, because training a new employee is time consuming and expensive. Also the productivity will be hampered which in turn will cause great loss to the company.

For enhancing the productivity, employees must be motivated. As such employees must be rewarded for initiating new techniques and also for suggesting improved methods. The management should conduct opinion surveys and get employees reactions and suggestions for increasing productivity.

The following actions will help in maintaining good relations:

-       Be friendly and helpful

-       Take genuine interest in others

-       Have a smile on face and greet others

-       Call people by their names

In short, relationships are the very foundation of our lives, whether personal or professional. The ability to understand others’ feelings and communicate effectively with the people around will  help in mitigating others problems to a large extent and thus enhance the overall efficiency.

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