Ethics in Consulting - Analysis
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Why are ethics important as a consultant? Provide examples from your professional experiences that demonstrate constructive or questionable ethics.
How might you, as a consultant in your field of interest, stay current on trends and best practices in your field?
Should a code of ethics be required for consultants? Support your opinion with examples from your own experience or recent business events. What professional associations, societies, or organizations might you be a member of as a consultant in your field? How does membership in those organizations support authentic consulting? Is it required to be a member of your relevant association, society, or organization to be an authentic consultant? Explain your response.
Why is it difficult to find examples in the news of consultants acting ethically? What does that mean for you?
Define authentic consulting.
Develop a 3-item code of ethics for the consulting field. For each item of the code, provide an example from journals or explain why the item should be included in the code of ethics.
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Solution Summary
Businesses by nature demand a high level of ethics from their employees. However, when you are a consultant for a business, the trust and confidence that is entrusted to you by the companies you will work for, demands the highest ethical standards. In order to be a success as a consultant, one must be able to operate in good faith with the company they are helping. Many times the consultant will have access to areas of the company that are extremely proprietary and confidentiality is a must. Top consultants in their industry often are faced with the challenge of keeping one company's secrets from another which requires a strong moral and ethical compass (Cohen, 2009).
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*Why are ethics important as a consultant? Provide examples from your professional experiences that demonstrate constructive or questionable ethics.
Businesses by nature demand a high level of ethics from their employees. However, when you are a consultant for a business, the trust and confidence that is entrusted to you by the companies you will work for, demands the highest ethical standards. In order to be a success as a consultant, one must be able to operate in good faith with the company they are helping. Many times the consultant will have access to areas of the company that are extremely proprietary and confidentiality is a must. Top consultants in their industry often are faced with the challenge of keeping one company's secrets from another which requires a strong moral and ethical compass (Cohen, 2009).
Professional experiences of questionable ethics in consulting:
Scenario 1 - A situation where consultants are brought on board to help resolve problems in the company. The main issue may be for the consultant to offer advice on how to best brand a new product and bring it to market. Upon working on the solution with company ABC and learning their market strategy, the consultant loses his ethical standard and is persuaded by a competitor company XYZ who is making the same marketing pitch with the same product. The consultant reveals confidential information which is not only unethical, but could be illegal.
Scenario 2- There are instances in many cases where consultants will unethically bill time toward an account when in actuality they have worked fewer hours then they are stating on the issues they were hired for. These types of situations where consultants appear to take advantage of business accounts through overcharging time, dinner expenses, travel, etc. in excess always seem questionable.
Constructive ethics demonstrated:
Scenario ...
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