Ethics

Today many businesses are involved in unethical activities. In the event industry employees cross their ethical boundaries from time to time, either deliberately or because of ignorance. Often event managers are faced with situations that could be harmful for the company, for his client and himself as well. If a company does not have a code of ethics to guide event managers, the ethical boundaries will be crossed easily and frequently (extracted from Silvernail, 2009).

Employers, who value ethics, do not want their employees to get in to trouble for unethical behavior or be caught accepting bribes and other perks. Employees are also conscious of their reputation and want to make sure that they are not perceived as people who can be swayed easily by some personal benefits like a gift or vacation. If the employee selects a venue for an event it should be for the right reasons and not because he had received some gifts from the venue owner, the same goes for selecting an airline or hotel for the client or when selecting suppliers like caterers and photographers (extracted from Allen, 2004).

The cost of accepting free lunches and gifts can bear heavily on the company if the event doesnt turn out to the clients satisfaction, or does not deliver the required return on investment for the company because of the favors done in return for the gifts that the employee got. So if an employee knows the companys code of ethics and how to respond to bribe givers than such situations can be avoided.
While negotiating and dealing with contract disputes, clients should make sure that they dont jeopardize future business because of the compromises that they ask of the event company.  Often the client may ask the company to do something as a favor, like change the date on the contract or show on paper that the event was cancelled before they are charged with a higher penalty. The event manager needs to check before doing a favor for a client or a colleague that the request does not go against your own and the companies ethics, also you need to be sure that what you are asking someone else to do is ethical.   There is a fine line between concessions and bribe that the manager should never ignore.

Often the event management companies forces employees to make false statements to clients or suppliers, in such a case the employee should take a stand and refuse to comply with the request because the employees reputation and credibility is at stake. At one occasion an employee of an event management company had made a costing mistake of 100,000, he had forgotten to include some major cost figures, the company asked the employee to lie to the client that the costing mistake was the hotels fault and not that of the company (extracted from Allen, 2003). The employee refused to comply and instead left the company.

Before getting involved in unethical activities a manager should consider the cost of the extra gain that a company makes by unethical activities. Also cancellation and penalties should be clearly mentioned in the contract and the calculation must be done before cancellation to ensure that the correct amount is charged to the client (extracted from Winifred, 2008).

Often employers are able to get a better price of the food to be served on the event by ordering the same menu for two or three events, this enables them to get a discount on bulk buying from caterers. However, if later on the ordered quantity is reduced the employer may charge the whole amount to the client. This is an unethical practice, as the hotel will have to bear some extra cost for the whole order that was made. But as the food was not consumed it is not right to charge the entire amount to the client.

Some companies conduct their business very ethically as well. For example some hotels may have cancellation charges for rooms that have been booked, however if the released room is taken by some other client than the penalty of that particular room is given back to the client. However a penalty is charged for the rooms that are not booked. This is only fair as the company might have turned away other guests because the rooms were full (extracted from Allen, 2003). These ethical companies increase their profits not by conducting unethical practices but by being known as ethical event managers who do not take advantage of their customers ignorance.

Event planning is a business that has suffered due to the economic downturn, 911 attacks, war in Afghanistan and bankruptcies of other support funds. Corporations are cutting down their budgets as activities like training and HR events are seen as wasteful by stakeholders. The competition in the event industry is getting tough and firms are finding it difficult to compete on low margins and budgets. Ethical boundaries are crossed frequently and easily as different competitors try to acquire a greater share of the market (extracted from Rajeev, 2009).

Some hotels are going ahead and contacting clients that had been booked on by event management firms for many years and asking them to book rooms directly instead of through the event firm as this means grater margins for the hotel. Some suppliers are taking orders from clients as event planners although previously they have only supplied invitations for event management firms. Some clients have been involved in unethical behavior as they go ahead and show quotes to a company of a competitor firm without any hesitation, or they may take ideas from event companies which they use themselves without taking the services of the event company. These kind o unethical activities are being done all over the world and these activities are harming the reputation of the event industry as a whole.

Now the time has come for the event industry to make things right. Soon we are likely to see professional behavior replacing unethical one. Event managers will try and position themselves in the, mind of their consumers as ethical. They will try to set up strict code of ethics and guidelines to help them deal ethically with their clients, suppliers etc, in terms of how they deal with people and what kind of behavior is expected from them (extracted from Vick, 2004). Event planners will now choose not to work with clients and suppliers who make unethical requests instead they will make a list of people who have worked with them in an ethical manner in the past.

To conclude if the event industry is to succeed, if event manager want to receive a fair price for their knowledge and expertise, they need to prove themselves as professionals who adhere to ethical practices no matter what. Event management companies need to train their personnel on what to expect and how to deal with unethical requests by clients, suppliers or peers without offending anybody. Everybody in an event management firm has to take responsibility to shun unethical behaviors to protect the interest of all parties involved. The company also needs to make sure that the code of conduct or policies regarding ethics need to be implemented with rigor and effectiveness and a constant check should be kept on employees in order to make sure that they are adhering to these policies.