It's a funny coincidence we have had two topics now concerning ethics, and we are studying the course, professional ethics in medical laboratory science.
Ethics are a set of rules set to guide behaviors, drawing a clear line between wrongs and rights, representing a group, organization or culture.
From what I understand so far on ethics, when it comes to business ethics and profits, it depends on the area of work or specialization.
But still, I would advise putting ethics before profit. I watched a podcast one time, and the lady said something— most people that succeed in businesses understand that they are not their profit, nor is their business, but the source of the profit is the consumers of the service or product.
Without consumers one wouldn't even have a business to start with.
So one has to put the consumers first as best as they can. And one way to ensure that is by keeping good ethics.
Ethics can be another form of inaudible communication. The way you comfort yourself and the values you hold would tell people more about you. Like, if you are deserving or worthy of customer respect or trust.
Profit-driven decisions, which are most time based on greed, may be good for benefit management, but in the long run, it is rather detrimental to the business.
A business run on ethics secures longevity and gradual and stable growth.
There is a man who has a POS business. I have patronized him just twice, the second time I went to withdraw money from him, he was in the middle of calling his account number for me for the transaction, when a man pulled up in an SUV. And right in the middle of our transaction, he started conversing with the man like I was invisible. From conversing, they started a transaction, and when they were done, this man just went straight back to calling the account number. He didn't say anything to me to show that he regarded me as a human. It didn't matter if he saw me as a small girl; his behavior didn't sit right with me.
That was the last time I went to him. Now, instead of going to the nearest POS merchant, which is him, I walk further instead. I know some people might say it's just one customer, but with that kind of mindset, the business would be run to the ground sooner or later. You have to retain as many customers as you can.
Many business owners have lost me as a customer because of bad ethics.
While some businesses or jobs that have no roots in good ethics experience later negative effects. Some won't stand a minute without ethics, and it even costs more than the business sometimes. For example, my profession, medical laboratory science and technology, can't do without ethics.
Lack of ethics in the medical field doesn't just cost profit, it might cost you your certification, people's lives, and even your own life.
So if you ask me, ethics and profits can go hand in hand. Prioritizing both, but more on ethics would be healthy for business.
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