We may accept special favors or outright kickbacks and rationalize that any misconduct was on the part of the offerer. We may label supplier surcharges deceptive and unfair, yet justify the same practice in our own organization as the most practical means of offsetting spiraling costs. Assessing our own ethics is an uncomfortable and often difficult process says psychologist and ethicist Dr. Daniel Boland. Boland has been teaching industry ethics for over 25 years for industries ranging from the Internal Revenue Service and U. S. Department of Defense, to the American Bar Association and the International Exhibitors Association. His work reveals that although most of us feel ethics are important, putting that notion into practice means different things to different people.
Rationalization is only one roadblock in ethical decision-making.
While most agree that business ethics are defined by honest and fair practices, competition and the fight for economic survival may affect interpretation. But ethics should be reflected by the larger universal law called morality. This ambiguous formula may help comply with the universal morality Boland recommends, but does little to address specific ethical situations commonly confronted by show managers. Most of the temptations are not illegal, but personal incentives for choosing one supplier over another. Dobson believes the industry's perception of ethics is changing.