It's been considered that the notion of a relationship between two parties adds complexity to their interactions, and that in its most basic sense, a relationship arises from a series of interactions (11/28) that create individual periods of obligation that overlap, giving the sense of an ongoing commitment between two parties. However, the notion that a relationship is something "more" than a series of transactions is not uncommon.
I'd like to explore this notion further, though at the same time to isolate it from the broader sense of relationships. The "relationship" between members of a community is of interest to ethics in a political sense, but is largely out of scope in the context of business (except in the relationship between business and community), and domestic and social relationships also seem to be beyond the scope of business ethics.
It's also my sense that any party who interacts with another party in the context of business could be said to have a relationship (stockholder, employee, executive, competitor, etc.), and these may merit separate consideration. For the present, I'll focus on the ongoing relationship between vendor and customer.
Not all commercial transactions take place in the context of a relationship. There is the notion of the one-time sale, in which the obligation of the buyer and seller end at a specific time, and the lack of a repeat purchase leaves both parties with the impression that they are "done" with the other.
Granted, there are various stipulations and expectations inherent in such a transaction, which may vary according to the nature of the good or service that is purchased, and there are instances in which a buyer may be dissatisfied with the transaction and seek redress. But provided that all goes well and both parties are satisfied, the transaction is completed.
One of the chief indicators of transactional satisfaction is the willingness of the buyer to repurchase from the same supplier (and conversely, the willingness of the seller to enter into a transaction with the buyer). While there may be some argument that satisfaction does not have to be complete in every way for this to occur, and that one or both parties may be accepting some compromises for the sake of convenience, it would be difficult to assert that parties who seek to repeat a transaction are significantly dissatisfied with their previous encounter.
The significant difference between an initial purchase and a rebuy transaction is that the latter implies a degree of trust. Each party assumes that the repeat transaction will be essentially the same as the one before, and has a reasonable expectation of the other party that the repurchase will be essentially the same as the initial purchase.
In this regard, it is reasonable to assert that the expectations of each party constitute an obligation on the part of the other party to undertake the responsibility to ensure the uniformity of the transaction to previous experience, or to provide information to the other party if it is foreseen that it will be different than before. To withhold or conceal information that would make the other party aware of a difference is a form of deception.
To some degree, the same can be said of the initial transaction, but the responsibility to provide information is not as compelling, as there is no previous experience between the parties. As they are unknown to one another, each assumes a certain level of risk in entering into a transaction, and should things go awry, there is no established trust to be violated. However, once this transaction is completed, it is reasonable for each party to assume future transactions will be measured against this standard.
It seems to me that this is what is meant by the notion of "trust" among parties who are in a relationship. In some situations, it may be arguable that trust creates additional obligations, but at the minimum, trust is based on consistency of transactions between two parties that routinely interact.
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