How Far Is Too Far? An ethics questionnaire to help you decide.

In the business world, it is often difficult to know when our actions are ethical and when they are not. How Far is too far when faced with the ethics questionnaire? The more you compete with others for business, the more difficult it will be to decide what's ethical and what's not. Competition drives the economic system, legal system, and political system. Competition drives our society, and that means we are all pitching, all the time.

Image Courtesy: Unsplash by Kelly Sikkema

How far should a sales pitch actually go? As an Image cum Strategist Coach, I've found myself faced with scores of ethical dilemmas. 

Here are some basic ethical principles that can help guide our decisions or help us determine whether a particular action is ethical or not.

Full disclosure is the best policy.

Anything that can be done openly and publicly without embarrassment is inherently ethical. But the converse is not true- things that must remain secret aren't necessarily unethical. Competition inherently involves secrecy and even deception.

A competitive playing field that is fair.

This rule covers a wide territory. Treat everyone equally and we should not discriminate against anyone on the basis of ethnicity, gender, religion, or any other factor. When competing for business, we should not engage in practices that place one group at an unfair advantage over another. This includes things like spreading false rumours about our competitors or using unfair tactics to win customers. Instead, we should focus on offering the best possible value to our customers and respecting the right of our competitors to compete fairly.

Consider Beneficence

This means we should strive to do good and help others. When competing for business, we can also strive to create a win-win situation, or even at times, seek potential collaboration with our competitors.

Stewardship

Act in a responsible manner and we should strive to use resources wisely. This means that when competing for business, we should not waste resources or take advantage of our competitors. Instead, we should strive to create s sustainable competitive environment, where everyone has a chance to succeed. Ethical behaviour here includes how, as leaders, in order to compete, we should act responsibly towards our staff, health, information, environment, economics, and nature, as well as taking into consideration the cultural aspects. We should think long term as we might need the help of our competitors one day.

These are just some of the basic ethical principles that can help guide our decisions when competing with others for business. 

How far is too far? Ethical or unethical? 

Solutions to the ethics questionnaire: There are no right answers. Surely, you're not surprised?

Look at the word responsibility- "response-ability"- the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognise that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behaviour. Their behaviour is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feelings.

-By Stephen Covey

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