Professional ethics implies a series of principles and rules that a professional activity must observe in the performance of its work and then from the same taken as pillars and bases of action it intends to regulate all actions and activities that are carried out within the framework of such profession.
It is worth noting that it is a discipline that has been inserted in applied ethics because it refers to a specific part of reality.
At a general level, ethics is not coercive, that is, it does not impose regulatory penalties, however, professional ethics could do so if there is a deontological code that regulates the professional activity in question. Normative ethics is the same as deontology and consists of a series of principles and rules that require mandatory compliance.
Professional ethics will expose and suggest what is desirable and what on the contrary is not in a profession and on the side of deontology it will have the administration tools that will guarantee that the corresponding profession is carried out in a manner ethical and as planned.
So, the concept of professional ethics is one that applies to all situations in which professional performance must follow both an implicit and an explicit system of moral rules of different kinds. Professional ethics can vary in specific terms with each profession, depending on the type of action carried out and the activities to be carried out. However, there is a set of standards of professional ethics that can be broadly applied to all or many of today's professions. Professional ethics can also be known as professional deontology.
The idea of professional ethics is established from the idea that all professions, regardless of their branch or activity, must be carried out in the best possible way, without causing harm to third parties or seeking exclusively the own benefit of those who exercise them. . Thus, some of the elements common to professional ethics are, for example, the principle of solidarity, that of efficiency, that of responsibility for the facts and their consequences, that of equity. All these principles, and others, are established to ensure that a professional (be it a lawyer, doctor, teacher or businessman) carries out his activity consistently and sensibly.
In some cases, professional ethics has to do with specific actions of each profession. In this sense, a lawyer, a psychologist or a doctor have as values of professional ethics the confidentiality of the information received, the efficiency, since in some cases they are situations that imply risk of life, etc.
In another vein but in a similar way, for example, journalistic ethics will condemn that a professional of the press receives a sum of money in exchange for publishing information either for or against a person, with the clear mission of harm or benefit it, as appropriate. Such action is flatly opposed to the journalistic ethics proposal that promotes that professional practice is always carried out with objectivity and transparency.
So, whatever the profession, the professional as an individual has the responsibility to develop their work in the most ethical way possible, always trying to contribute to the common good as far as possible and within their reach. Avoid putting individual benefits before that common good.
Furthermore, there are some professional activities that as soon as the professional graduates demand that he or she commit in a public way, taking an oath, to perform in the same within the ethical guidelines that have been established. One of the most representative cases are public officials who are sworn in on the national constitution, that is, invoking it, and placing their hand on it when taking office. Such a solemn act symbolizes the commitment assumed by the official.
When a professional does not obviously comply with the rules of professional ethics, he is punishable by high penalties or sanctions either by his clients or patients as well as by his superiors, whatever these may be depending on the type of profession or activity of the one that is spoken.
