Ethics and psychology as a business.

Abstract

AbstractThe present paper addresses the potential ethical difficulties inherent in psychology becoming a business. Attempts at clarifying major issues surrounding psychology as a business are reviewed and a recommendation for additional training of applied psychologists suggested.In March of 1994, a group of eminent Canadian psychologists met in Mississauga, Ontario under the leadership of the Canadian Psychological Association to map out the future direction of psychology in Canada. Following two days of intense deliberation and debate, consensus for direction was reached on wide array of values and principles. Included among the values were the following: 2. We believe these values to be essential: a. Psychology is a business as well as a profession, both from the perspective of science and the perspective of practice. b. Psychologists respond to the consumers needs effectively and accountably according to the evolving standards of our profession, and according to sound business and management practices. c. Psychologists can expect a profit as a function of their individual and collective performance. The concept of profit does preclude the provision of not-for-profit (Dobson & King, 1994, p. 34).For some in attendance, the family farm had just been sold; others had visions of pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, with no guilt. For all of us this shift in values requires a reassessment of some of our beliefs and the addition of new skills. Are we a profession or a group of professionals? Do we follow the principles of our discipline or the forces of the market? If we are going to be both psychologists and business people, what skills must we add, and do any of our existing standards need to change? The values expressed at the Mississauga conference represent a potentially profound change of direction for applied psychology. This change commands that we turn our attention to the ethics involved when a profession practises business.PSYCHOLOGY: PROFESSION OR BUSINESS?Is it possible to adhere to the standards of a profession while at the same time operating within the principles of running a business? On the surface there appears to be an inherent conflict. In a series of essays on business and the professions, Behrman (1988) clearly sees the conflict as insurmountable. What makes the different is that they are significantly delineated by and founded on ethical considerations rather than techniques or tools. Singularly, a 'professional' responds to the market and a member of a profession should not (p. 9,97). He goes on to note that common usage has recognized certain characteristics which distinguish a profession from other lines of endeavour. Among the ten characteristics he lists are the following: ...substitution of service for income and wealth as the primary motivation of members, plus high-quality service regardless of fees received; provision of adequate services for the indigent or those in extremis, generally without charge; and the application of differential fees for the same service to different clients, according to circumstances or ability to pay (p. 97). Profiting from such services would appear to be the distinction between being a member of a profession and being a professional. Designation as a is most often applied to a person with technical expertise .. Such individuals pursue their careers for as high an income as feasible (p. 104). Inherent in Behrman's position is the idea that a professional is driven by market forces over ethical principles and therefore should be accorded the status of being a member of a profession.Businesses clearly are professions in Behrman's terms. Rather, the goal of business is often the production of goods or services for the benefit of the producers, necessarily the consumers. …