Professional culture and ethics. Culture of behavior and professional ethics - why is this important? Business etiquette, business man ethics principles

Let us dwell in a little more detail on things that would seem obvious - the culture of human relations. In this case, we will talk about it in relation to human behavior. After all, each of us “behaves” in one way or another, performs some actions, actions in relation to the world around us and, above all, in relation to people. Behavior reveals the characteristics of a person’s character, his temperament, views, tastes, habits, emotions, feelings, etc.

Each person has a so-called general, characteristic tone of his usual mood. In this sense, we characterize this or that person: “a cheerful person”, “a gloomy person”, “a frivolous person”, etc., although in each of these cases situations of deviation in personal mood in one direction or another are not excluded. A stable mood, its general background, inherent in a particular individual, spreads to those around him, which is of fundamental importance, say, when recruiting so-called small professional groups (cosmonaut corps, submarine crew). In other cases, this happens, as a rule, spontaneously, without any preliminary socio-psychological work. If the behavior of individual members of a team prevents it from forming into an integral social organism, then we are talking about a difficult moral and psychological climate in the team.

There are two types of behavior - verbal (verbal) and real. Verbal behavior is our statements, judgments, opinions, evidence. Behavior expressed in words largely determines the culture of relations between people; the power of words is enormous (the poet E. Yevtushenko expressed it this way: “With a word you can mark, with a word you can save, with a word you can lead shelves”). Behavior already at the verbal level can be life-affirming or depriving human existence of meaning. (Remember, for example, Aesop’s judgment about language from Figueiredo’s play “The Fox and the Grapes.”)

It was already discussed above that the emergence of thinking, will and language was the main prerequisite for cultural genesis at the turn of the transition from habilis to neoanthropes. Since then, i.e., since the completion of human biological evolution, the word has become a regulator of behavior and relationships transmitted in oral and written creativity. It is not for nothing that one of the elements of the “seven arts” of educational programs of antiquity and the Middle Ages was rhetoric, the science of oratory (and, more broadly, of artistic prose in general), which remained part of humanities education until the 19th century.

The main sections of classical rhetoric, which reveal various aspects of verbal behavior, are: 1) finding, i.e. systematizing the content of speeches and the evidence used in them; 2) arrangement, i.e. dividing the speech into introduction, presentation, development (evidence of one’s view and refutation of the contrary) and conclusion; 3) verbal expression, i.e. the doctrine of the selection of words, their combination, as well as the simple, medium and high style of speech; 4) memorization; 5) pronunciation.



One can cite a great many wise sayings, proverbs, individual statements about the power of the word, the language of communication, which is clothed in the language of the culture of a historical era or of any ethnic group throughout the entire duration of its existence.

Real behavior is our practical actions, actions performed in accordance with certain rules and moral principles. In this case, we are talking about the coincidence of ethical knowledge and moral behavior, which indicates a high moral culture of the individual. Another situation is hypocrisy, discrepancy between words and deeds, etc. When comparing the behavior of a person with accepted norms and moral values, it is customary to talk about “normal” or “deviant” behavior. Therefore, in order to understand a person, the meaning of his actions, the nature of his behavior, it is necessary to penetrate into the motives that guide him in a given situation. Only by understanding the motives can one correctly judge the actions, the real behavior of a person in relation to the reality around him, and above all to other people, to himself.

The culture of behavior is also revealed in how a person is able to understand himself, evaluate his actions and their motives. M. M. Prishvin subtly noticed that if we always judge ourselves, we judge with bias: either more towards guilt, or towards justification. This inevitable fluctuation in one direction or another is called conscience, moral self-control.



Often in everyday speech we talk about “cultural human behavior” and “behavior of a cultural person.”

Cultural behavior is a person’s behavior in accordance with the norms that a given society has developed and adheres to. It includes certain manners, generally accepted ways of communicating and dealing with others. Cultural behavior presupposes correct and beautiful behavior at the table, a polite and helpful attitude towards elders and women, the ability to behave in society (both familiar and unfamiliar), adherence to professional ethics, etc.

Rules of conduct may change over time, and at the same time, behavior patterns also change. These rules taken together constitute etiquette that regulates the external manifestations of human relationships. Etiquette refers to the external culture of a person and society. It includes those requirements that acquire the character of a more or less strictly regulated ceremony and in the observance of which a certain form of behavior is of particular importance. Etiquette in modern conditions(unlike traditional societies, where it was reduced to a strictly canonized ritual), it becomes more free and natural, acquiring the meaning of everyday benevolent and respectful attitude towards all people, regardless of their position and social status. Attention to external form culture is manifested here only insofar as it reflects ideas about beauty in the behavior and appearance of a person. Then we say that any actions and motives of human activity have both ethical and aesthetic significance (value) and therefore can be assessed, on the one hand, as beautiful or ugly, on the other, as good or evil. The main thing here is precisely the behavior, which can be, should be cultural.

However, cultural human behavior is part of the problem of the culture of human relations. Another part of it is the behavior of a cultured person. In this case, the emphasis is on the person - what is he like, cultural or uncultured? In what terms should we talk about a cultured person? Obviously, this is a person whose knowledge of ethical principles and moral standards accepted in a given society has turned into an internal conviction and has resulted in a moral feeling. The criterion of culture and good manners is the correlation of an action as a manifestation of moral feeling with the interests of another person. Therefore, more extensive than the scope of etiquette is the culture of feelings, which is formed in the process of communication between man and nature, in labor activity, in interpersonal contacts when objectifying monuments of material and spiritual culture.

So, the culture of ethical thinking, the culture of feelings, the culture of behavior, etiquette in their totality form an integral system of moral culture of the individual. Each of these elements is directly embodied in professional ethics. In this case, as a rule, they mean specific moral requirements associated with the characteristics of various professions.

Professional ethics represents, firstly, codes of conduct that prescribe a certain type of moral relationships between people engaged in any one field of professional activity, and secondly, certain ways of justifying these codes, interpretation of the cultural and humanistic purpose of a particular profession. So, let’s say, the concept of a lawyer’s professional duty includes a special, sometimes even punctual and pedantic commitment to the spirit and letter of the law, compliance with the principle of equality of all before the law. Military-statutory collectives are characterized by greater clarity, even rigidity of relations, more unambiguous adherence to statutory requirements and orders of superiors than other types of collectives, and at the same time they are characterized by a higher degree of mutual assistance and mutual assistance. All this is dictated by the nature of the activities of military-regulatory teams, increased requirements and emergency situations that arise during the performance of official duties.

The concept is not new. Each of us should roughly understand what requirements it implies and how it behaves in the refraction of various areas of activity. Let's consider the historical development of professional ethics, its written regulation, various types and much more.

Labor and professional morality

Special moral requirements that are presented to specific professional activities along with universal moral values. Another definition of work morality shows it as a set of generalized moral requirements that were developed in the process of people’s lives and their acquisition of relevant life experience. Such requirements make it possible to transform ordinary labor and professional activities into a socially significant phenomenon.

It is quite obvious that labor morality is truly embodied in the professional activities of individuals. That is why for quite a long period of time the concepts of “work” and “professional morality” were identified, not only in the mass and public consciousness, but also in the educational literature on ethics courses.

However, this can only be done by characterizing these concepts in the most general outline. Professional morality is similar to labor morality from the point of view that the fundamental commandments of the latter are clearly addressed to all types of professional activity. Let us give some examples of these commandments: responsibility, conscientiousness, creative initiative in work, discipline.

At the same time, be that as it may, it cannot be argued that such a concept as “professional morality” is completely reducible to labor morality. The basic explanation for this fact is quite obvious: some professions involve a set of very specific problems that arise in the moral plane. These problematic issues, although indirectly can be attributed to work morality, but, in any case, bear a certain imprint of the established profession (medical, teacher, journalist, etc.).

The origins of professional morality

Professional morality, according to the generally accepted point of view, is the fundamental basis of professional ethics. It is very interesting how these phenomena were formed.

The formulation of professional morality and professional ethics for a number of professions (the traditional subspecies will be discussed later) has a fairly long history. Just imagine, exceptional professions already in ancient times could boast of their professional moral codes.

For example, medical schools of the Asclepiads existed and actively developed at the ancient Greek temples. It is unlikely that you have ever come across the concept of "asklepiad". It comes from the name of the ancient Greek Asclepius. It is thanks to these educational institutions Greek medicine reached a high level of development and came very close to perfection (at that time). Interesting fact is connected with the fact that healers who graduated from the Asclepiad school took a professional oath. Doesn't remind you of anything? Yes, yes, it was this text that was subsequently expanded to the version that we know today as the Hippocratic Oath.

However, before the Greek oath, a model of it existed in Geneva. The Geneva Oath was adopted at the World Medical Association. The requirements of professional morality in the field of medicine, which were presented to ancient Greek doctors, remained virtually unchanged compared to the previously existing oath in Geneva. They, first of all, establish the regulation of professional moral principles in the relationship between doctors and patients. Let us outline the most familiar of them today: maintaining medical confidentiality, the desire to do everything that is necessary for the well-being of the patient. It is absolutely clear that these requirements are based on nothing more than the painfully familiar principle of modern doctors “do no harm.”

Ancient Greece also became a pioneer in the field of presenting demands of professional morality in relation to teachers. Once again, you won’t see anything new here: strict control over one’s own behavior in relationships with students in order to avoid extremes (this is still a topic today, isn’t it?), love for children, and the like.

As you understand, among the ancient Greeks, medical and pedagogical morality were attributed, first of all, to other people, aimed at other individuals (patients, students). However, this is not the only way. Some professional groups have developed codes of professional morality in order to effectively regulate, roughly speaking, relations between each other (representatives of the same profession).

Let's move away from antiquity and note that the Middle Ages is another step towards the development of the concept of professional morality. Individual workshops of artisans at this time developed their own rules for mutual relations within the craft profession. These included, for example, such requirements as: not to entice a buyer if he has already stopped in front of the goods of a neighboring shop, not to invite buyers while loudly praising your own goods, it is also unacceptable to hang your goods so that it would certainly cover the goods of neighboring shops .

As a mini-conclusion, we note that representatives of some professions have been trying to create something resembling professional moral codes since ancient times. These documents were intended to:

  • regulate the relations of specialists within one professional group;
  • regulate the rights of representatives of the profession, as well as their responsibilities in relation to the people directly affected by their professional activities.

Definition of ethics in the profession

We see that the system of professional ethics as such began to take shape a very long time ago. For an absolute understanding and analysis of the issue, a detailed definition of this concept should be given.

Professional ethics is, in a broad sense, a system of moral rules, norms and principles of behavior of specialists (including a specific employee), taking into account the characteristics of his professional activity and duty, as well as the specific situation.

Classification of ethics in the profession

It is generally accepted that the content of professional ethics (in any profession) consists of general and specific characteristics. The general is based, first of all, on established universal moral standards. The basic principles include:

  • special, exclusive perception and understanding of honor and duty in the profession;
  • professional solidarity;
  • a special form of liability for violations; it is determined by the type of activity and the subject on which this activity is directed.

The private, in turn, is based on specific conditions, the specifics of the content of a certain profession. Private principles are expressed mainly in moral codes that establish the necessary requirements for all specialists.

Often professional ethics as such, it exists only in those types of activities where there is a direct dependence of people’s well-being on the actions of specialists in this field. The process of professional actions and their results in such activities, as a rule, have a special impact on the fate and life of both individuals and humanity as a whole.

In this regard, one more classification of professional ethics can be distinguished:

  • traditional;
  • new species.

Traditional ethics includes such variations as legal, medical, pedagogical, and the ethics of the scientific community.

The newly emerged types define such fields as engineering and journalistic ethics, bioethics. The emergence of these areas of professional ethics and their gradual updating are associated, first of all, with the constant increase in the role of the so-called “human factor” in a specific type of activity (for example, in engineering) or the increasing level of influence of this professional area on society (a striking example is journalism and the media as the fourth estate).

Code of Ethics

The main document in the regulation of the specialized ethical sphere is the code of professional ethics. What is this?

Or simply a “code of ethics” is a published (written) statement regarding the system of values ​​and moral principles of people belonging to a certain type of professional activity. The main purpose of developing such codes, undoubtedly, is to inform specialists in a given field of activity about the rules that they are obliged to comply with, however, there is a secondary purpose of their writing - educating the general public regarding the norms of behavior of specialists in a particular profession.

Codes of ethics are included in official professional standards as part of them. They are traditionally developed in the system government controlled and are intended for specialists various types activities. In a more general and understandable sense, codes of ethics are a certain set of established norms of appropriate, correct behavior, which is certainly considered appropriate for a person in the profession to which this particular code relates (for example, the professional ethics of a notary).

Functions of the Code of Ethics

Ethical codes are traditionally developed within the organizations of the profession for which the code is intended. Their content is based on a list of those social functions, for the purpose of maintaining and preserving which the organization itself exists. Codes, at the same time, assure society that the functions enshrined in them will be performed in strict accordance with the highest moral principles and standards.

From a moral point of view, codes of professional ethics perform two main functions:

  • act as a quality guarantee for society;
  • allow you to get acquainted with information about the standards established within the framework of the activities of specialists in a particular field, and the restrictions for those professions for which these codes are developed.

Signs of a successful code of ethics

  1. the code is capable of providing the necessary guidance over the behavior of professionals in a particular field;
  2. this document seems to apply to many specialties that the profession includes (specific branches within it);
  3. A code of ethics can offer truly effective means of ensuring compliance with the standards it sets out.

However, it is worth noting separately that the vast majority of documents regulating professional ethics do not include sanctions. If forced standards are nevertheless contained within ethical codes, then such options become much more specific and much less close to the ideal. After all, they can no longer be perceived as normative descriptions of the desired correct behavior, but turn into something similar to real legal acts regulated and established by the state (codes, federal laws and others). It is as if they include a limited set of specifically defined and legislated requirements. In fact, at the very moment when a code of ethics becomes a description of standards of the only correct behavior, failure to comply with which leads to sanctions by law, it ceases to be a code of ethics, but becomes a code of conduct.

Ethics of hotel professions

Let's talk in more detail about some of the most well-known complexes today for the formation of professional ethics in specific areas.

Accounting ethics

To the code of ethics professional accountants several sections are included. So, for example, the part called “Goals” says that the main tasks in accounting profession are the performance of work in accordance with the highest standards of accounting professionalism, as well as full provision best results professional activities and maximum respect for social interests. These goals have four requirements necessary for fulfillment:

  • confidence;
  • professionalism;
  • reliability;
  • high quality services provided.

Another section of the code of ethics for professional accountants, called the Fundamental Principles, gives professionals the following obligations:

  • objectivity;
  • decency;
  • confidentiality;
  • necessary care and professional competence;
  • behavior consistent with professional requirements;
  • technical standards.

Legal ethics

The professional ethics of a lawyer has a number of features. According to the code, a lawyer undertakes to fulfill the duties assigned to him reasonably, honestly, in good faith, in a principled, qualified and timely manner, as well as to protect in the most active manner the freedoms, rights, and interests of the client in absolutely all ways not prohibited by law. A lawyer must certainly respect the rights, dignity and honor of persons who come for legal assistance, colleagues and clients. The lawyer must adhere to business manners communication and formal business style in clothes. Professional culture and ethics are inextricably linked within the legal profession.

In professional ethics, a lawyer is obliged, under any circumstances, to behave appropriately and maintain personal dignity and honor. If a situation arises in which ethical issues are not regulated by official documents, the lawyer must follow the traditional patterns of behavior and customs established in the profession that do not violate general moral principles. Every lawyer has the right to apply to the Council of the Bar for clarification on an ethical issue that he could not answer independently. The Chamber cannot refuse the lawyer such an explanation. It is important that a specialist who makes a decision on the basis of the Chamber Council cannot be subject to disciplinary sanctions.

The professional personal sovereignty of a lawyer is a necessary condition for the client’s trust in him. That is, under no circumstances should a lawyer act in such a way as to in one way or another undermine the client’s trust both in himself and in the legal profession in general. The first and most important thing in lawyer ethics is maintaining professional secrecy. It directly provides the so-called principal immunity, which is officially granted to the person by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

In addition, a lawyer can use his client’s information only in relation to the client’s case and in his interests, and the client himself must have the maximum degree of confidence that everything will be exactly like this. That is why we understand perfectly well that a lawyer as a professional does not have the right to share with anyone (including family members) the facts that were communicated to him as part of his interaction with his clientele. Moreover, this rule is in no way limited in time, that is, the lawyer must comply with it even after fulfilling his immediate professional obligations.

Maintaining professional secrecy is the unconditional priority of a lawyer’s activities and its main ethical element. According to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the defense attorney of the accused, suspect or any other participant in the case cannot be invited to the police to testify as a witness. Agency employees do not have the right to ask a lawyer about those points that became known to him as part of his own activities or during an independent investigation.

The main value for every lawyer is the interests of his client; they should determine the entire path of professional cooperation between the parties. However, we know very well that in the territory Russian Federation the law is supreme. And in this case, legislation and immutable moral principles in the professional activity of a lawyer must rise above the will of the client. If the client’s wishes, requests or even instructions go beyond the current legislation, then the lawyer does not have the right to fulfill them.

Ethics of a public servant

The professional ethics of an employee is determined by eight basic principles:

  1. Impeccable and selfless service to the state and society.
  2. Strict compliance with current legislation.
  3. Protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens, respect for human personality and dignity (otherwise called the principle of humanism).
  4. Bearing legal and moral responsibility for your decisions.
  5. Fair treatment of everyone and “smart” use of the powers with which the employee is endowed.
  6. Voluntary compliance by civil servants with established rules of conduct.
  7. Having the loud name “outside politics”.
  8. Absolute rejection of all corruption and bureaucratic manifestations, adherence to the requirements of integrity and honesty.

Journalistic ethics

The professional ethics of a journalist is not a completely universal phenomenon. Of course, there are uniform documents regulating the work of the media environment as a whole. The fact is that each individual editorial office, as a rule, develops its own professional ethics requirements. And this is logical. We will still try to consider some general features of the professional ethics of a journalist.

  1. Following the facts and fact-checking (checking them). In this case, following the facts also means impartially communicating them to the audience, without exerting any type of influence on the mass consciousness.
  2. Creating content that meets the needs of the audience of a given periodical who is able to bring some benefit to society.
  3. Analyzing facts and writing an article as a search for the truth.
  4. A journalist only covers events, but cannot himself be the cause of them (for example, causing a scandal with a star person).
  5. Obtaining information only in an honest and open way.
  6. Correcting your own mistakes if you make them (refuting false information).
  7. Non-violation of agreement with the source of any facts.
  8. Prohibited use own position as a means of pressure or, especially, as a weapon.
  9. Publication of material that can cause harm to someone only if there are irrefutable facts confirming the information.
  10. Content as complete and absolute truth.
  11. It is prohibited to bend the truth for the purpose of obtaining any benefit.

Unfortunately, today not only many journalists, but also entire editorial offices neglect these ethical requirements.

1

One of the criteria for the effectiveness of training at a university, the graduate’s readiness to perform professional responsibilities may be the level of development of professional culture, the formation of professional ethics.

Ethical standards are determined by the specific features of professional activity, which are aimed at a person in certain conditions of his life, activity, relationships with society, the team, and other people. Moral standards are largely determined by the value orientations of students.

Value orientations are elements of the personality structure and characterize the direction of its activities. As a result of directed human activity, new personality traits and other mental formations arise. The basic values ​​of life and culture turn into a person’s own values. The latter in his inner world are transformed into moral standards ( ethical standards, ethical culture) and guide the work of the individual’s conscience.

We studied the value orientations of students at the Kazan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering through a questionnaire survey at two leading faculties. 290 1st-4th year students took part in the survey. The questionnaires contained questions: about moral (decent) attitude only towards others, towards everyone or depending on the situation; about the concepts of decency and morality; about treating people as oneself; about compliance with moral standards to achieve personal goals; about attitude towards dishonest actions; on the standards of professional ethics of a civil engineer (list of standards), etc.

A significant number of survey participants (92.5%) believe that the professional ethics of future construction specialists should be formed during their studies at a university. At the same time, the list of statements about the norms of professional ethics is quite large: wisdom, conscientiousness, delicacy, diligence, punctuality, organization, commitment, tact, accuracy, attentiveness, politeness, correctness, sociability, etc. However, in most questionnaires such positive qualities of a civil engineer, such as: integrity, responsibility, professionalism.

Methods for developing professional and ethical principles, named by students, can be divided into the following groups:

1. The key role is given to the educational institute (“training”, “conducting seminars”, “special courses”, “discussions”).

2. The institution of family (“home education”, “upbringing from childhood”) is of decisive importance.

3. The principles of ethics can form professional production and university teams (“learning in practice”, “illustrative examples”, “humane and democratic relationships between teachers, between teachers and students, between students and educational support staff, between students, between students of different courses, between students of different faculties").

4. The role of moral self-education is noted (“self-education”, “self-directed education”, “self-development”, “persistence”, “perseverance”).

5. Denial of any methods (“methods will be of no use”, “nothing will help because of mentality”).

Professional ethics is part of professional culture.

Professional culture is a generalized characteristic of the culture of learning and teaching at a university, research culture, graphic, technical, design, information, environmental, economic, ergonomic cultures. Such components as the culture of speech and thinking also have a significant influence on the formation of professional culture. For its formation, the culture of relationships in the student and teaching staff, the culture of co-creation and the culture of dialogic interaction between the subjects of the educational process - the student and the teacher, which stem from the principle of unity of communication and activity, are essential. Process professional development and the formation of professional culture occurs in several stages.

At the first stage, a stable interest in one’s profession is formed. This is achieved during introductory, educational and qualification practices, organized in laboratories equipped with modern instruments, equipment, structures that ensure comfortable conditions life through play activities.

At the second stage, the intellectual and creative activity of the individual develops towards a certain type of activity when studying general professional disciplines, in the process of solving educational, creative, situational problems, using associations, cases, and didactic games.

At the third stage, increased professional activity and a communicative culture among students are formed, and the process of creative mastery of the profession is underway. At this stage of training, business games are widely used, reflecting the subject area and social conditions of the future. professional work. Effective development of professional culture in at this stage also occurs during industrial practice. The practice program provides for the study of laws and norms of behavior adopted in the organization.

At the fourth stage, during the implementation of real research diploma projects, a reflexive component of a sustainable professional culture of a civil engineer is formed, which characterizes his professional value orientation, the ability for creative self-realization, the ability to find and implement new technologies and original technological processes in their industry, the formation of an individual style of professional activity.

Bibliographic link

Safin R.S., Suchkova T.V. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL CULTURE OF A TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY GRADUATE // Contemporary issues science and education. – 2006. – No. 1.;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=104 (access date: 02/01/2020). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"

Self-test questions

1. Folk sayings, proverbs, fairy tales and myths, parables serve as the sources of psychological theories and branches of psychology.

Give examples of apt proverbs and sayings that reflect knowledge of everyday psychology.

2. Does your behavior change depending on who you communicate with?

3. Do you know how to accept a remark with dignity and respond to it appropriately?

Don’t rush to answer, think about your behavior and try to critically (as if from the outside) evaluate it.

LECTURE 1 ETHICS AND CULTURE OF BEHAVIOR. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ETHICAL CULTURE

It's easier to do something right away,

than then explain why it was done poorly.

Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet

Currently, close attention is paid to the study of ethics business relations in order to improve the level of culture of these relations. Ethics covers a wide range of issues and must be taken into account in relationships within and between organizations. Without observing business ethics and a culture of behavior, most people in the team feel uncomfortable and unprotected.

The most important aspect of professional behavior is business etiquette, which sets standards of behavior at work, on the street, at a party, in transport, etc. Speech etiquette, the art of conducting telephone conversations, rules of correspondence and appearance serve as signs of your good manners, respectability and self-confidence.

Remember that in business relationships there are no trifles.

As you know, a person enters into business relationships with other people throughout his life. One of the regulators of these relations is morality, which expresses our ideas about good and evil, about justice and injustice. Morality gives a person the opportunity to evaluate the actions of others, to understand and comprehend whether he is living correctly and what he should strive for. A person can make communication effective and achieve certain goals if he correctly understands moral standards and relies on them in business relationships. If he does not take into account moral standards in communication or distorts their content, then communication becomes impossible or causes difficulties.

Who created the rules of human behavior? Why is one behavior approved by society, while another is condemned? Ethics answers these questions.

Ethics - this is one of the oldest branches of philosophy, the science of morality (morality). The term "ethics" comes from the Greek word « ethos" (“ethos”) - custom, disposition. The term “ethics” was introduced by Aristotle (384-322 BC) to designate the doctrine of morality, Moreover, ethics was considered a “practical philosophy” that should answer the question: “What should we do in order to perform the right, moral actions?”

Initially, the terms “ethics” and “morality” coincided. But later, with the development of science and social consciousness, different contents were assigned to them.

Morality (from lat. moralis

moral) is a system of ethical values ​​that are recognized by a person. It regulates human behavior in all spheres of public life- in work, in everyday life, in personal, family and international relations.

“Good” and “evil” are indicators of moral behavior; it is through their prism that a person’s actions and all his activities are assessed. Ethics considers “good” as the objective moral meaning of an action. It unites a set of positive norms and moral requirements and acts as an ideal, a role model. “Good” can act as a virtue, i.e. be a moral quality of a person. “Good” is opposed to “evil”; there has been a struggle between these categories since the foundation of the world. Morality is often identified with goodness, with positive behavior, and evil is seen as immorality and immorality. Good and evil are opposites that cannot exist without each other, just as light cannot exist without darkness, up without down, day without night, but nevertheless they are not equivalent.

Acting morally means choosing between good and evil. A person strives to build his life in such a way as to reduce evil and increase good. Other important categories of morality - duty and responsibility - cannot be correctly understood and, even more so, cannot become important principles in human behavior if he has not realized the complexity and difficulty of the struggle for good.

Moral norms receive their ideological expression in commandments and principles about how one should behave. One of the first rules of morality in history is formulated as follows: “act towards others as you would like them to act towards you.” This rule appeared in the VI-V centuries. BC. simultaneously and independently of each other in different cultural regions - Babylon, China, India, Europe. Subsequently, it began to be called “golden”, since great importance was attached to it. Nowadays, it also remains relevant, and we must always remember that a person becomes a person only when he affirms the humanity in other people. The need to treat others as oneself, to elevate oneself through the exaltation of others, is the basis of morality and morality.

The Gospel of Matthew says: “So in everything you want people to do to you, do so to them” (Chapter 7, Article 12).

The moral life of a person and society is divided into two levels: on the one hand, what is: existence, morals, actual everyday behavior; on the other hand, what should be: due, an ideal model of behavior.

Often in business relationships we are faced with contradictions between what is and what should be. On the one hand, a person strives to behave morally, as they say, properly, on the other hand, he wants to satisfy his needs, the implementation of which is often associated with a violation of moral norms. This struggle between ideal and practical calculation creates a conflict within a person, which is most acutely manifested in the ethics of business relations, in business communication. Since the ethics of business communication is a special case of ethics in general and contains its main characteristics, then under ethics of business communication is understood a set of moral norms and rules governing the behavior and relationships of people in professional activities.

The norms and rules of behavior in force in society require a person to serve society and coordinate personal and public interests. Moral standards are based on traditions and customs, and morality teaches us to do every thing in such a way that it does not cause harm to the people who are nearby.

One of the main elements of the culture of business communication is the moral behavior of people. It is based on generally human moral principles and norms - respect for human dignity, honor, nobility, conscience, sense of duty and others.

Why don’t people know how to listen to each other, is it so difficult? This strange “deafness” has many, many reasons, the main one is the desire of the majority to speak for themselves, because only he, the speaker, has the wisest thoughts, the most accurate observations and, of course, the correct assessments. And as soon as the interlocutor stops talking to take a breath, it is important to immediately seize the initiative and continue to listen with pleasure only to yourself. We often think that our interlocutor speaks confusingly, does not clearly express a completely obvious thought, and we involuntarily want to help him, suggest - after all, the thought always precedes the word. And if the interlocutor really speaks poorly, confusingly, and stereotypedly, then we either stop following his reasoning or start speaking ourselves. It has long been noticed that those who are voiceless love to sing, those who have no education love to discuss high philosophical topics, and those who cannot speak are verbose.

Do not lose the thread of the conversation, do not get distracted and try to critically analyze what is said, especially since you have time for this - the speed of thinking is four times faster than the speed of speech;

Do not try to remember all the facts, circumstances, details from everything you hear - it is hopeless, a person is able to retain in memory no more than 5-6 basic facts from the interlocutor’s story;

It is important to be able to direct your interlocutor’s monologue in the direction you want with a short question and remember the famous Socrates method: the interlocutor must answer a skillfully posed question in the affirmative;

Make periodic comments, for example, “I understand you,” “interesting,” and use the technique of “reflection” - respond to the speaker in his own words, which confirms your attention: “You think that. "

By the way, it is very useful to master the technique of asking questions, although it seems that asking questions is much easier than answering them. But to get a clear answer, you need to be able to ask the question correctly. It is often useful to ask: “What is the reason for the difficulties, Yuri Sergeevich?” Questions of this type demonstrate your attention and respect for the interlocutor, but at the same time call for a specific discussion of the problem. There are questions that must be answered categorically - yes or no. In this case, the interlocutor always shows some nervousness, and the atmosphere of the conversation begins to resemble an interrogation. It is advisable to pose the same question softer, more delicately, and then the interlocutor can resort to explanations and motivations, which will turn a boring monologue into a constructive dialogue and seize the initiative in the conversation.

There are questions of an alternative nature (as defined by the German psychologist N. Enkelman), which give the interlocutor freedom of choice. But remember your torment in the store, when the range of goods is very wide, and skillfully help your interlocutor: “When is our next meeting - on Tuesday or Wednesday?”, i.e. limit his choices.

The ability to listen and ask questions also implies the ability to answer questions. Everyone’s experience will tell you that there are always “regular” people who like to ask questions. Most often, the simple goal is pursued - to prove oneself, to demonstrate one’s interest and erudition. It is especially difficult to answer essentially stupid questions, angry and ironically malicious ones. The best form of answer to such questions is humor, and an experienced polemicist always has thoughtful home preparations for this case, although a successful impromptu is often truly striking. Winston Churchill was a great master of such verbal sparring, remember, for example, how Lady Astor told Churchill that if she were his wife, she would pour poison into his cup of tea, to which Churchill politely replied: “If you were my wife, my lady, then I would immediately drink this tea.” It is recommended to respond to funny remarks seriously, and to serious ones - humorously.

The materials for the site have been carefully processed in order to convey all the necessary information in a clear and structured form.

To apply what is described on the site, mandatory consultation with specialists is always required.

In addition to participating in free professionally-oriented competitions, users of our portal are constantly developing in different directions, communicating with like-minded people on intellectual and professional topics in the “Blogs” section. However, on this platform, the guys not only communicate with each other - they post their works, learn to conduct discussions and argue their opinions.

Since the creation of the portal, the content in the “Blogs” section has only become better every month. Initially, the site’s moderators deleted many posts that contradicted the site’s rules, but after a while the participants understood the specifics of the portal: most users stopped copying materials from other Internet resources and began creating unique original content. Along with interesting, emotional, educational blogs came heated discussions and even intellectual debates.

Analyzing the content every month, the moderators came to the conclusion that regular practice in writing texts and creating original multimedia materials affects the development of schoolchildren’s abilities: the professional and intellectual level of the participants increases, and the skills of young poets, artists and musicians grow. Now appears on the site daily great amount a wide variety of information: from discussions of books, films and works of art to discussions on complex philosophical topics. It is precisely such publications that new users focus on, trying to post interesting and original materials on their profile.

And this is one of the main achievements of our friendly team - the organizers and participants of the portal! It is especially important that teenagers also respond to complex “hot” topics that have caused widespread public outcry. By discussing with each other, children learn to correctly perceive certain situations and people’s actions, learn lessons from them, and draw conclusions. Thus, schoolchildren develop not only intellectual abilities, but also spiritual and moral qualities; cultivate worthy individuals and set life guidelines.

However, the blogs on our portal are not just online diaries, but a model of real media. Therefore, we want to draw the attention of users to the fact that they bear great responsibility for their publications. And if participants raise complex controversial topics, this responsibility increases several times. After all, in the “online publications” of schoolchildren there are no editors and proofreaders who can correct mistakes and make the necessary corrections, improving the quality of the text - the children themselves perform the functions of editorial staff. And although novice bloggers are not yet professionals, they should observe from a very young age ethical principles in any work and follow the rules of a certain moral code.

Why is it important? In many areas of activity, the morality of the employee and his personal qualities play a big role in the decision professional tasks. Thus, representatives of medical, legal, journalistic and other professions are subject to increased moral requirements, since they are responsible for the life, health, freedom, honor of people and often decide their fate.

Basically, specialists follow general standards of professional behavior, but each profession has its own specifics, therefore, many areas of activity have their own special moral requirements. For example, journalists, writers, bloggers, and speakers need to remember that the word is a very powerful tool. “Always think about how your word will resonate.” Unfortunately, we know many examples where ill-considered actions led to sad consequences and even death. A word is like an atom, it can be destructive, or it can be creative,” advises Tatyana Viktorovna Vorozhtsova, dean of the Faculty of Journalism at IGUMO, deputy head of the Gifted Children portal.

It is worth noting that we rarely encounter serious violations by users of the Internet platform, since all our participants are highly moral, well-mannered and cultural individuals who behave in accordance with the norms of etiquette not only in educational institutions, being under the control of adults, but also in public places and the Internet. However, children sometimes have difficulty choosing topics for public discussion. Due to age and lack of experience, participants raise pressing topical issues on blogs, but do not quite correctly express their thoughts and conduct discussions in the comments.

That's why we want to remind novice bloggers of some factors that need to be taken into account when publishing materials:

    Copyright. Remember that all creative results (essays, drawings, etc.) are objects of intellectual property and are subject to protection by the state. By publishing other people's materials, you violate not only the law, but also ethical standards and moral principles, since you show disrespect for the work of the author ().

    Topics for discussion. Remember that guys are registered on our portal of different ages– among them are very young users. Pay great attention to the content of materials: choose topics for discussion, taking into account the specifics of the portal and its target audience. Regulate the flow of the discussion that unfolds in the comments under your publications so that the discussion does not reach a dead end or turn into an exchange of barbs between participants.

    Reliability of published information. Remember that posting false information and distorting facts is unprofessionalism, a violation of the moral code, and a manifestation of disrespect for your readers. Take a serious and responsible approach to the collection, processing and dissemination of any information. Check all facts and use materials obtained only from reliable sources.

    A culture of speech. Remember that the most important element of culture of behavior and business etiquette is the ability to correctly express your thoughts. Try not to distort the Russian language by resorting to slang expressions, online jargon, abbreviations, etc. On the Internet portal “Gifted Children” the “Blogs” section was created so that children not only communicate on professional topics, but form their own author’s style and harmonious style.

If you have any doubts about a problem/topic that you would like to discuss publicly with your peers, you can always contact the moderators of the Internet portal. Young specialists will tell you how to present information correctly and develop a complex topic.

Create, dream, communicate, create original content, but always remember to be conscientious about your work, honesty, and decency. After all, as you know, a successful specialist can only become good man who will never violate moral principles or offend the dignity of other people.

You can develop spiritual and moral qualities and cultivate a cultural personality with the help of our competitions, which are held on the portal as part of the PatriUm project ().

Ekaterina Kudryavtseva, head of the press service of the PatriUm school

February 6, 2018