The role of law and ethics in developing business management as a profession

Currently, business management is far from being recognised as a profession. This paper suggests that a professional spirit should be developed which could function as a filter of commercial reasoning. Broadly, management will not be organised within the framework of a well-established profession unless formal knowledge, licensing, professional autonomy and professional codes of conduct are developed sufficiently. In developing business management as a profession, law may play a key role. Where the idea is that business management should be more professsionalised, managers must show that they are willing to adopt ethical values, while arriving at business decisions. The paper argues that ethics cannot survive without legal regulation, which, in turn, will not be supported by law unless lawyers can find alternative solutions to the large mechanisms of the official society, secured by the monopolised coercion of the nation state. From a micro perspective of law and business ethics, communities can be developed with their own conventions, rules and standards that are generated and sanctioned within the boundaries of the communities themselves.

Doctor-Patient Knowledge Transfer: Innovative Technologies and Policy Implications

The aim of this study was to empirically investigate the barriers in doctor-patient communication and knowledge transfer and the role of innovative technologies in overcoming these barriers. We applied qualitative research methods. Our results show that patients extensively use information sources, primarily the Internet before the visits. Patients regularly apply a self-diagnosis regarding their diseases. This implies several risks as many of them are not able to properly interpret the found information and at the same time the information might not be reliable. To overcome these risks efforts are required within the fields of technology developments for making web sites more reliable and improvement of the health culture of patients, as well. Our research identified the most significant barriers of doctor-patient communication including limited time, the patients’ distress, inadequate health culture and prior knowledge, as well as poor communication skills of some clinicians. Technology might help clinicians to use their limited time more effectively. In the long term, innovative technology solutions might take over some tasks of the health care personnel if they provide reliable health information adapted to the patient’s health, emotional and psychosocial status. Barriers of access to the new technology should be identified and addressed otherwise it would increase the already existing knowledge gap between patients and doctors.