Introduction

Chapter 1 dealt with the meaning of professional ethics as an intersection between norms of morality and norms of a role, where that role is socially perceived as a professional activity. It argued, inter alia, that this encounter creates general ethical norms that apply to all professionals. This chapter examines that argument in depth. It will establish, as part of a general theory of professional ethics, the ethical obligations of professionals toward four major groups – clients, the profession, the public, and employers or principals – that legitimately expect professionals to conduct themselves in particular ways. This theory, I argue, is suitable for any professional who occupies a trust-based role, but since the book focuses on the ethics of mediators, I intend to defend the theory only insofar as it applies to persons occupying the role of a mediator.

The reader should note that as the ethical duties of professionals are relative, it is inevitable that one duty will sometimes clash with another. For example, professionals have an ethical obligation of confidentiality to their clients, and that duty might conflict with their ethical obligation toward the public to report a client's intention to commit a crime. Professionals in such an event will have to weigh the conflicting obligations, balance them, and make a reasoned choice. This weighing and balancing will not be dealt with in the present chapter because it deals with the general ethical obligations of professionals, and cannot offer a general balancing equation that applies to all professionals in any event of conflicting duties. A balance between conflicting duties can only be struck with respect to a particular professional role, after an in-depth examination of the nature of that role. Parts II and III of the book illustrate how this balancing can be done with respect to mediators.

Duties toward clients

Introduction

A person performing a professional role has a special relationship with those for whose benefit he or she acts. We shall call them “clients” for convenience, and they could be, for example, the patients of a doctor or psychologist, persons who hire an engineer for engineering services, clients of a lawyer, or mediation parties. They are persons or bodies who approach the professional for a certain service and rely on his or her abilities to provide that service.