Response Time & Responsiveness

Response Time/Due Diligence

Service providers such as mechanics, plumbers, carpet cleaners and the like often charge by the hour instead of quoting a fixed bid. The idea of formally writing ethical codes for business is to set standards of what constitutes a billable hour. If an attorney charging $300 an hour does not work with due diligence to thoroughly research his clients case he or she is working for their own self-interest and not the interest of the client. This is because the attorney is offering the symbol of service to the client and not the substance of hard work, (see incompetence). But business people are rarely aware that some of their actions constitute incompetence. They make easy excuses for their oversights and inefficiencies. If an attorney is working on a case they are interrupted throughout the day. For example going to the restroom, going to lunch, talking to friends on the phone, chatting with people in the office and so forth. Every time the lawyer stops he or she must start up again on a project. In other words they must reboot to do the task getting their focus back and remembering where they were. Everyone has interruptions but only good workers can reboot immediately without forgetting where they were. A poor worker diddles around getting going at every turn. The production output is less than a worker moving forward on a project with due diligence. When a worker gets sick or is upset emotionally, their response time falls behind, but this is only a temporary. A poor worker finds the casual easygoing pace of inefficient starting and stopping somewhat a relief from work. In other words those who do not proceed with due diligent and are inefficient in their actions are tactically avoiding the pain and pressure of work most people endure. Moreover, if they are chatty and use up the production time of others they can make working enjoyable. But, work is not enjoyable and demands a certain degree of focus and effort. In an ethical sense one worker is putting out work in an amount that an average person in his occupation would do while the other person is not and getting paid the same amount of money.

Responsiveness to the client

When a person engages a business for a product or service there is an expectation that the business owner or staff will communicate problems, price increases, and delays that might occur. It is how business is done. For instance you take your car for a tune up and you expect to pick it up the next day. When you arrive you are told that the alternator was defective and the shop will not complete the job until you approve the extra work. No one called you, and you wasted time driving to the shop. The next day you call to see how the work is progressing but cannot get a hold of the person overseeing the repair. You leave a telephone number but no one calls you back. You drive to the shop to get the car but the work has not been completed ostensibly because the mechanic had to leave work early. Literally what is transpiring here is "care-less-ness." It is customary to keep customers informed, but the business arbitrarily "defects" from the custom because it easier to do so. While it difficult to see that any ethical rule has been broken the shop is nevertheless being unprofessional.

Where ethics enters this issue is that the customer has been led to "the false expectation" that the repair shop was staffed by professionals who would honor ordinary commitments of a business. These expectations originally arise in the customers mind as they initially engage the shop to set up a repair appointment.

Passive Aggressive Behavior
Unresponsive business people will sometimes fight back if a customer presses them for accountability. The delays get longer and the price gets higher. Here the business is totally disconnected socially and emotionally from the client. There is nothing a person can do to change their ways.

Discrimination
Here people are treated badly because they are not smart enough, hip enough, or sufficiently elite to command the attention of the business.

• Mismanagement
• Fraud
• Discrimination
• Defecting
• Cattle Call

Passive Aggressive