Every once in awhile my mind stumbles and an old subject rises to the top. Ethics can be a subject with more than a few gray areas, although there are some people who have a very black and white view of it. I believe that I always ran an ethical business (practice) but even so, I can’t say that everyone would agree. Most of us believe we are ethical people, but we each were raised in a different environment and our experiences tend to provide us with slightly different interpretations of our professional rules of conduct. People who have never worked in a commercial business may have a different view of what is “proper” from those who have.
Do you remember when it was unethical to sell hearing instruments for a profit. People were kicked out of organizations for such conduct. Things have changed and will continue to just as we change. Our laws, rules, and professional standards all try to strip away our different ways of thinking regarding ethical conduct and have us think and act in a way that is clear, open, honest, and beneficial to our clients. I have no quarrel with this and have even done my small bit to help promote ethical conduct within our professions.
With this said, I have constructed a few scenarios, and would like you to rank them as:
Ethical = 1 Questionable = 2 Really questionable =3 Unethical = 4 I punt = 5
I would really like you to send me your results and you may rest assured that no one’s name will be made public. You can even send them anonymously if you prefer. Your additional comments should you choose to undertake this assignment, will be greatly appreciated. The results will be tabulated and printed in next week’s blog.
A. ____ An office purchases all of its instruments at the wholesale, single unit list price and sells them at an amount deemed to be competitive with its competition.
B. ____ An office owner and its employees want to attend a seminar that involves registration and travel expenses and accepts a manufacturer’s offer to pay for the trip.
C. ____ A manufacturer provides travel and attendance at one of its seminars to offices who purchase a set number of units.
D. ____ An office accepts a prepaid trip of their choosing from a manufacturer after purchasing a set number of units.
E. ____ An office uses points accumulated on its credit card for buying units at full wholesale, and uses the points to go to a professional seminar and gets a quantity discount rebate check from its supplier.
F. ____ An office gets a quantity discount from its supplier but does not reflect that discount in the price it charges its clients.
G. ____ An office sends each new client a check for their share of the office’s quantity discount for that month.
H. ____ An office sells all of its units at its cost and charges a separate professional services fee.
Good luck to everyone and PLEASE send me your answers.
