Thursday, August 07, 2008

Business ethics

I write about honesty and business ethics in this article:

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/08/business-ethics-%e2%80%93-honesty-while-making-profits/#comment-16764

posted in
www.theonline.citizen.com
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3 comments:

zhummmeng said...

Ethics,honesty and conscience, they are dirty words and they are not found in insurance agents' vocabulary. The agents hate these words because they stifle their business.They shackle their freedom to apply their dubious and unscrupulous modus operandi to manipulate and fleece the consumers.
All because of money and commissions.
MAS can learn from the Commission Competition's recommendation to the property agents to allow the parties to a sale to freely negotiate the fees
and commission.Commissions have been the root of all evils and should be nipped in the bud in order for honesty and ethics to take the rightful place again and to be at the centre of of all dealings.
Commission should be a payment for
real financial work done and not some unnecessary services to justify the commission, like many insurance salesmen are doing.
Fees and commission or any mode of remuneration should be decided and negotiated at the outset of any advisory relationship and this depends on the scope of services to be provided by the agent.The consumers will then have a clear idea of the services, the cost and can expect what they are receiving.
This model is in fact in practice by independent financial advisory firms and I find this is the most equitable and commensurate with work and advice provided and not for forms filling, brochures reading exercise or computer demo and other unnecessary so called 'without agents cannot claim or do' services.
Ethics, honesty and competence should be central to the process and not gifts, shopping vouchers to induce and to justify the huge commission.
MAS is the body to handle this and it is in their court.
I remember reading the warning by MAS to LIA to brush up their act so that consumers' insurance adequacy should not be determined and driven by the agents' commission.Let's watch if it is serious about the malpractices caused by commissions
to the insurance agents.
Ethics,honesty and competence should the underpins of the insurance industry.

August 07, 2008 12:19 PM
siewkhim said...

Dear All,

Have you ever been dishonest and unethical during your lifetime?

I in the name of God have been dishonest and unethical during my lifetime. I was caught and punished but most of the time I was excused or was not caught till today.

So you guys out there, do you have the guts to disclose your level of honesty and ethic during your lifetime.

To me all this talk about honesty and ethic is a lot of academic bullshit.

August 07, 2008 1:12 PM
zhummmeng said...

Siewkim, you have the courage and candour to own up to some dishonesty in your life and so had I. But does this mean we have to look dishonesty differently from its true perspective. Does this mean we have to accept dishonesty as part and parcel of our life and a way of life and miss the point that this the value that has also been guiding us most of the times together with conscience. Once in while we might have yielded to dishonesty because of weakness and circumstances but to be dishonest consciously and willfully is blatantly down right despicable. Worse wilefully dishonest.
To err is human does not mean we have to make mistakes always to show our imperfection.As humans we have been given will power to resist.This will power together with conscience have helped us to live our lifves and to relate and stay away from committing dishonesty.
Of course there are people who have lost the conscience and who have given it up for money and fame and they have willfully and wilefully committed all those crimes against our fellow human beings. This is the point that I have trying to drive home that there are many insurance agents who sold themselves to evil.
Hope during this seventh month of the ghosts the ghosts who were victims of insurance agents will find their predators for old scores that because of the agents' greed and dishonesty the victims had left a family with nothing and inadequately. The law of attractions says the evil begets evil and reap what they sow . or put in another way the law of cause and effect will be brought to fruition for those who have wronged their fellow human beings.

August 07, 2008 3:30 PM

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