Ammattietiikka

Ammattietiikka (professional ethics) refers to the set of moral principles and standards that guide the conduct, decisions, and responsibilities of professionals in the course of their work. It addresses how professionals should balance duties to clients or patients, employers, colleagues, and the wider society, and aims to promote trust, safety, and quality in professional activity.

Core elements commonly included are confidentiality and privacy, competence and due care, integrity and honesty, independence and avoidance of conflicts of interest, accountability for one’s actions, and fairness and respect for individuals and communities. Professional ethics also covers reporting misconduct and handling whistleblower information, as well as social responsibility and sustainability in some fields.

Professional ethics are often codified in codes of ethics or conduct issued by professional associations, licensing bodies, or employers. Breaches of these codes can lead to sanctions, loss of license, or reputational harm, but ethics involve normative judgments in complex situations beyond purely legal compliance.

Ethical decision-making in professional settings frequently relies on established frameworks, such as value-based reasoning, principlism (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice) in health care, virtue ethics, or duty-based approaches, and it often includes risk assessment and stakeholder analysis.

While the specifics vary by field, Ammattietiikka is a cross-disciplinary discipline that informs education, practice, and governance across professions, guiding professionals toward responsible, trustworthy, and accountable work.