| Ethics: Professional Fundamentals | |||
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Professionalism and Illegal Behavior Inside Out 'Inter-inspection' of our own agent affiliation is the responsibility of each agent, and it is the responsibility of each agent to approach this with comfort and confidence. Otherwise, others outside the ethical agent framework will make the policy of professionalism for us and enforce it. It is always better to have the professionals themselves create the measures to be followed so that there is no need for outside intervention. As professionals, protecting our reputations for honesty and trustworthiness is something of concern and importance to uphold. We all desire to be part of a system that pays attention and values this and has a process in place to deal with it positively. We may be called upon as a consultant or expert witness, arbitrator, or other legal body participant and be privy to knowledge about an agent through that involvement. An agent may have participated in a competitive situation and wanted to arrange things to beat the competition. It's human nature to want to win a competition, whether in sports or other areas in general; and that seems to flow over to business situations as well. Even though many of us may have tried to position ourselves to win no matter what before we became agents, it is important now to consider that we are professionals providing services to the public. As agents, we have pledged and committed to uphold the principles and rules for the benefit of our own practices. And because we see the value of professional dealings for the benefit of all agents, taking the high road is not only important, but also imperative. And, as professionals, it also feels great to perform business with ethical standards, as opposed to "just getting the business". For most of us, this is not something that we are freely willing to admit. But, we have a great respect for doing the right thing. May agents have also found that taking that tack was a lot easier than taking the low road. There is plenty of good business out there and invariably more of that will come to each and all of us if we go about it in line with the agent's personal code of ethics. Professionalism and Illegal Behavior What do we do if we become aware of knowledge that we suspect is an indication of illegal activity on the part of another agent? In that situation, an agent will do the right thing by going to the person's superior within their organization directly and making them aware of the situation so they can take the necessary steps to deal with their representative quickly, take the necessary investigative steps, and to take appropriate action. This is a situation where the action goes first to that person's supervisors, partners, or co-owners so immediate and appropriate action can be taken. This brings attention to the area of the laws that we, as agents, must abide. We must observe and comply with all laws and regulations applicable in the course of providing our services. These include the laws of governmental agencies and all other authorities that apply to the specific areas of activity. All these go along with the commitment that we should make to ourselves: that we will not be involved in anything that reflects negatively on ourselves, our industry, or our profession as a whole. It's actually pretty simple and straightforward, isn't it? Professionalism also comes in the form of simple things like making sure to take action quickly to return any papers, forms, documents, and records to our clients. This should be done in a timely manner, especially when we promised to have them back in our clients' hands or when the client requests for their return. Sometimes the little things are the big things in the overall spectrum of professionalism. To follow through on this a bit more, it is a good reminder note that we should not be involved in any professions or provide any services that we are not fully and currently licensed for and/or fully qualified to perform. |
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Not only are policy forms, clauses, rules and court decisions constantly changing, but forms vary from company to company and state to state. This material is intended as a general guideline and might not apply to a specific situation. The authors, LunchTimeCE, Inc., CEfreedom, and InsuranceEthics101.com, and any organization for whom this course is administered will have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of information contained in this course.
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