Professional Ethics The word Ethic finds its origin in Greek language from the word ethos, which

refers to the philosophical science that deals with the appropriateness (correctness) and unfairness (incorrectness) of human actions. Ethics are a compilation of principles of right conduct that shape the decisions people or organizations make. Practicing ethics in marketing means deliberately applying standards of fairness, or moral rights and wrongs, to marketing decision making, behaviour, and practice in the organization. Work Ethics are defined in following manner: As Qualities of character believed to be promoted by work. A set of values based on the moral virtues of diligence and hard work. A belief in the moral benefit and importance of work and its inherent ability to strengthen character. Integrity is one of the core qualities that any professional practitioners should possess. It also refers to Honesty, open-mindedness, its appreciation and communication. So is Civic virtue, because it is a standard of righteous behaviour in relationship to a citizens involvement in society. Individually or personally a person may know what is good or bad, however, due to lack of civic virtue people act unethically towards the civilized society and its citizens. The reasons are unawareness, insensitivity of issues, selfishness, faulty reasoning& pressure. For e.g. In the current scenario India as a nation is already dealing with issues like water & electricity scarcity both in developed urban metros & rural areas. Insensitivity and unawareness is a major reason for the same. Similarly at an individual level, A student might cheat or copy during exams because of pressure from parents or teachers. Student may also do that for his own faulty reasoning. As a professional, it is imperative for us to imply ethics during in our decision making and daily activities in our work culture. Based on all above moralities, values & qualities few professions are considered as highly critical. The following are as follows: 1) Nurses 2) Pharmacists 3) High School Teachers 4) Doctors 5) Clergy 6) Police The bottom five are as follows: 1) Stockbrokers 2) Advertising Practioners 3) Sales men 4) Telemarketers 5) Lobbyists We live in a society where the profession and behaviour of one individual affects other civilians either directly or indirectly. We are a part of close mesh of society.

Professions like Marketers, Engineers, Doctors, Police, and Media etc. are the best examples to discuss about because individuals in these professions have power of influencing the society. As rightly said with great power comes great responsibility, Marketers, Engineers, Doctors, Police men & Media professionals should practice their profession more ethically. The areas of possible disagreements on moral factors are as follows: Organisation related issues: Professional is employed in an organisation, so as an employee; professional should utilize his skills to the betterment of the organization and should take decisions accordingly. Not for his own benefits. Environment related issues: It is important to use resources without depleting them. A professional should take utmost care in allocation of resources without exploiting them beyond repair. Society related issues: A professional has his duty towards the growth, betterment & development of the society. His motive is not only to earn profit for himself but also contribute towards the welfare of the society. Product related issues: A professional is required to find solutions w.r.t. the product like safety, requirement mapping, requirement fulfilment & durability. Finance/Cost related issues: If the cost of product is more than the optimum cost, then this leads to the overcharging of the product from the customers. In order to achieve sustainability & long term profit, right pricing strategy is extremely important. Customer related issues: Balanced demand & supply chain, availability in the market etc. should be maintained else it will lead to cheap marketing or black marketing of the product. Supplier related issues: Giving right prices & getting right quality of material is the duty of a professional. Development of suppliers or ancillaries and not giving them any kind of false hopes is also the responsibility of a professional. Employee related issues: Professional must ensure safe working conditions for his workers / employees. The workload must not be excessive and the remuneration must be commensurate. Extending all possible benefits for his workers, fair terms & working conditions should be there. Competitor related issues: Cut throat completion should not get encouraged among professionals. Government related issues: Government has three major roles to play Maker of economic & business policy. Enforcer of economic and business policy. Maintaining law and order. A professional must comply with Govt. regulations, taxes, duties, & must cooperate with enforcement agencies like custom, police, safety inspector etc. Engineering profession reminds you of construction process of a structure or building. If a building is being built, which will house more than 20 families of 4 members each on an average, and then the responsibility of lives, safety & security of these families falls in the hands of the Engineer, of the building. If Engineer here doesnt follows the ethical code & conduct, then the lives of those families will be in grave danger. The value of engineering services depends on Honesty or the maintenance of truth. Communicating the truth when actually they are not supposed to be informed and allowing the judgement w.r.t. truth to be corrupted also an act of misuse of truth.

We will discuss here about the various traits of human being w.r.t the Engineering profession. Lying: Lack of Honesty is considered a form of Lying. For e.g. If an Engineer unknowingly or due to lack of knowledge provides wrong results of a testing process. This might result into serious complications. Honesty means, an individual should not give information that he believes is false even though it is actually true. Deliberate deception: Under the pressure of target achieving or making an impression, Engineer must not thoughtfully trick his employer or customer. Withholding the information: Sometimes people hide information in their conversation. Although it is not lying, but it is a type of misleading conduct. Adequate promotion of dissemination of information: If there is some information which is in the interest of general public then, that information must be shared well in advance, so that in times of need the people affected are well informed of precautionary measures or the next step of action. Maintaining confidentiality: Engineers should not get interested in disclosing the confidential information without the knowledge or consent of their clients. Permitting any judgement leading to corruption: Professional judgement is an important part of any professional services. At times, this judgement might get corrupted or unduly influenced by certain conflict of interests or some extraneous factors. Engineers must not be biased regarding professional judgement, as this may be considered a form of dishonesty. Hence we see that Engineering like medical, legal and business professions, has huge impact on society and there are many moral and ethical, both big and small that engineering professionals will face. Marketing similarly is a profession wherein ideas, views & thoughts are expressed to a large audience. In a market economy, the purpose of marketing is to create a competitive advantage. An organization achieves an advantage when it does a better job than its competitors at satisfying the product and service requirements of its target markets. Those organizations that develop a competitive advantage are able to satisfy the needs of both customers and the organization. As we observe, nowadays the focus of the organizations has been diverted towards following ethical practices than just providing a product. First, when an organization behaves ethically, customers develop more positive attitudes about the firm, its products, and its services. Not employing ethical marketing practices may lead to dissatisfied customers, bad publicity, a lack of trust, lost business, or, sometimes, legal action. Thus, most organizations are very sensitive to the needs and opinions of their customers and look for ways to protect their long-term interests. Second, ethical abuses frequently lead to pressure (social or government) for institutions to assume greater responsibility for their actions. Since abuses do occur, some people believe that questionable business practices abound. As a result, consumer interest groups, professional associations, and self-regulatory groups exert considerable influence on marketing. Calls for social responsibility have also subjected marketing practices to a wide range of federal and state regulations designed to either protect consumer rights or to stimulate trade. There are several areas of concern in marketing ethics:

Deceptive marketing practices: Customers might feel that they are being cheated, if the product / service deliver less than they actually receive. Deceptive pricing practices cause customers to believe that the price they pay for some unit of value in a product or service is lower than it really is. The deception might take the form of making false price comparisons, providing misleading suggested selling prices, omitting important conditions of the sale, or making very low price offers available only when other items are purchased as well. Promotion practices are deceptive when the seller intentionally misstates how a product is constructed or performs, fails to disclose information regarding pyramid sales (a sales technique in which a person is recruited into a plan and then expects to make money by recruiting other people), or employs bait-and-switch selling techniques (a technique in which a business offers to sell a product or service, often at a lower price, in order to attract customers who are then encouraged to purchase a more expensive item). False or greatly exaggerated product or service claims are also deceptive. When packages are intentionally mislabelled as to contents, size, weight, or use information, that constitutes deceptive packaging. Selling hazardous or defective products without disclosing the dangers, failing to perform promised services, and not honouring warranty obligations are also considered deception. Objectionable or Offensive marketing practices: Marketers control what they say to customers as well as and how and where they say it. When events, television or radio programming, or publications sponsored by a marketer, in addition to products or promotional materials, are perceived as offensive, they often create strong negative reactions. For example, some people find advertising for all products promoting sexual potency to be offensive. Others may be offended when a promotion employs stereotypical images or uses sex as an appeal. This is particularly true when a product is being marketed in other countries, where words and images may carry different meanings than they do in the host country. Direct marketing is also undergoing closer examination. Objectionable practices range from minor irritants, such as the timing and frequency of sales letters or commercials, to those that are offensive or even illegal. Among examples of practices that may raise ethical questions are persistent and high-pressure selling, annoying telemarketing calls, and television commercials that are too long or run too frequently. Marketing appeals created to take advantage of young or inexperienced consumers or senior citizens including advertisements, sales appeals disguised as contests, junk mail (including electronic mail), and the use and exchange of mailing list say also pose ethical questions. In addition to being subject to consumer-protection laws and regulations, the Direct Marketing Association provides a list of voluntary ethical guidelines for companies engaged in direct marketing Ethical Product and Distribution Practices: Several product-related issues raise questions about ethics in marketing, most often concerning the quality of products and services provided. Among the most frequently voiced complaints are ones about products that are unsafe, that are of poor quality in construction or content, that do not contain what is promoted, or that go out of style or become obsolete before they actually need replacing. An organization that markets poor-quality or unsafe products is taking the chance that it will develop a reputation for poor products or service. In addition, it may be putting itself in jeopardy for product claims or legal action. Sometimes, however, frequent changes in product features or performance, such as those that often occur in the computer industry, make previous models of products obsolete. Such changes can be misinterpreted as planned obsolescence. For example, pressuring vendors to buy more than they need and pushing items that will result in higher commissions are temptations. Exerting influence to cause vendors to reduce display space for competitors' products, promising shipment when knowing delivery is not possible by the promised date, or paying vendors to carry a firm's product rather than one of its competitors are also unethical.

Special ethical issues in marketing to children: Children are an important marketing target for certain products. Because their knowledge about products, the media, and selling strategies is usually not as well developed as that of adults, children are likely to be more vulnerable to psychological appeals and strong images. Thus, ethical questions sometimes arise when they are exposed to questionable marketing tactics and messages. For example, studies linking relationships between tobacco and alcohol marketing with youth consumption resulted in increased public pressure directly leading to the regulation of marketing for those products. The proliferation of direct marketing and use of the Internet to market to children also raises ethical issues. Sometimes a few unscrupulous marketers design sites so that children are able to bypass adult supervision or control; sometimes they present objectionable materials to underage consumers or pressure them to buy items or provide credit card numbers. When this happens, it is likely that social pressure and subsequent regulation will result. Likewise, programming for children and youth in the mass media has been under scrutiny for many years. Ethical issues in marketing to minorities: Unlike the legal protections in place to protect children from harmful practices, there have been few efforts to protect minority customers. When targeting minorities, firms must evaluate whether the targeted population is susceptible to appeals because of their minority status. The firm must assess marketing efforts to determine whether ethical behavior would cause them to change their marketing practices. Ethical issues surrounding the portrayal of women in marketing efforts: As society changes, so do the images of and roles assumed by people, regardless of race, sex, or occupation. Women have been portrayed in a variety of ways over the years. When marketers present those images as overly conventional, formulaic, or oversimplified, people may view them as stereotypical and offensive. Examples of demeaning stereotypes include those in which women are presented as less intelligent, submissive to or obsessed with men, unable to assume leadership roles or make decisions, or skimpily dressed in order to appeal to the sexual interests of males. Harmful stereotypes include those portraying women as obsessed with their appearance or conforming to some ideal of size, weight, or beauty. When images are considered demeaning or harmful, they will work to the detriment of the organization. Advertisements, in particular, should be evaluated to be sure that the images projected are not offensive. Because marketing decisions often require specialized knowledge, ethical issues are often more complicated than those faced in personal life and effective decision making requires consistency. Because each business situation is different, and not all decisions are simple, many organizations have embraced ethical codes of conduct and rules of professional ethics to guide managers and employees. However, sometimes self-regulation proves insufficient to protect the interest of customers, organizations, or society. At that point, pressures for regulation and enactment of legislation to protect the interests of all parties in the exchange process will likely occur.