Ethics & Warranties

Reddish and Advent consultants subscribe to the following Codes of Ethics and offer the following warranties:

All speaking engagements:

• Code of Professional Ethics of the National Speakers Association
• Code of Ethics – Institute of Management Consultants
• Advent Warranty of Service
• Advent Warranty of Service For Quality Services

Code of Professional Ethics of the National Speakers Association

To establish and maintain public confidence in the professionalism, honesty, ability and integrity of the professional speaker is fundamental to the future success of the National Speakers Association, its members, and the profession of speaking.

To this end, members of the Association have adopted and, as a condition of membership, subscribe to this Code of Professional Ethics. By doing so, the members give notice that they recognize the vital need to preserve and encourage fair and equitable practices among all who are engaged in the profession of speaking.

• Article 1.
  The NSA member shall accurately represent qualifications and experience in both oral and written communications.
• Article 2.
  The NSA member shall act, operate his/her business, and speak on a high professional level so as to neither offend nor bring discredit to the speaking profession.
• Article 3.
  The NSA member shall exert diligence to understand the client's organization, approaches and goals in advance of the presentation.
• Article 4.
  The NSA member shall avoid using materials, titles and thematic creations originated by others, either orally or in writing, unless approved by the originator.
• Article 5.
  The NSA member shall treat other speakers with professional courtesy, dignity and respect.
• Article 6.
  The NSA member shall maintain and respect the confidentiality of business or personal affairs of clients, agents and other speakers.
• Article 7.
  The NSA member shall protect the public against fraud or unfair practices and shall attempt to eliminate from the speaking profession all practices, which bring discredit to the profession.
• Article 8.
  The NSA member shall not be a party to any agreement to unfairly limit or restrain access to the marketplace by any other speaker, client or to the public, based upon economic factors, race, creed, color, sex, age, disability or country of national origin of another speaker.

Members of the National Speakers Association are dedicated individuals sincerely concerned with the interests of all who come in contact with the profession. To this end, NSA members subscribe to this Professional Pledge:

• I pledge myself to honesty and integrity; to pursue my profession and education to the end that service to my clients shall always be maintained at the highest possible level.
• I pledge myself to seek and maintain an equitable, honorable and cooperative association with fellow members of the Association and with all others who may become a part of my business and professional life.
• I pledge myself to comply with the standards of the National Speakers Association as set forth in its Bylaws and this Code of Professional Ethics.

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This code applies to all consulting engagements. In order to develop and maintain confidence in the management consulting profession, members of the association and individuals who attain their Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation, subscribe to this Code of Ethics:

Code of Ethics – Institute of Management Consultants

Clients

1. We will serve our clients with integrity, competence, and objectivity.
2. We will keep client information and records of client engagements confidential and will use proprietary client information only with the client’s permission.
3. We will not take advantage of confidential client information for ourselves or our firms.
4. We will not allow conflicts of interest which provide a competitive advantage to one client through our use of confidential information from another client who is a direct competitor without that competitor’s permission.

Engagements

5. We will accept only engagements for which we are qualified by our experience and competence.
6. We will assign staff to client engagements in accord with their experience, knowledge, and expertise.
7. We will immediately acknowledge any influences on our objectivity to our clients and will offer to withdraw from a consulting engagement when our objectivity or integrity may be impaired.

Fees

8. We will agree independently and in advance on the basis for our fees and expenses and will charge fees and expenses that are reasonable, legitimate, and commensurate with the services we deliver and the responsibility we accept.
9. We will disclose to our clients in advance any fees or commissions that we will receive for equipment, supplies or services we recommend to our client.
   
   

Profession

10. We will respect the intellectual property rights of our clients, other consulting firms and sole practitioners and will not use proprietary information or methodologies without permission.
11. We will not advertise our services in a deceptive manner and will not misrepresent the consulting profession, consulting firms or sole practitioners.
12. We will report violations of this Code of Ethics.

Approved by the Council of Consulting Organizations, Inc., Board of Directors January 8, 1991.

Adopted by Advent Management International, Ltd. August 1992.

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Advent Warranty of Service

Advent warrants its services (excludes QMS and EMS services) under fixed fee consulting contracts as follows:

Notwithstanding that no one can guarantee results when providing an advisory service (as any consulting engagement represents), Advent warrants that if the client provides the resources as specified in the contract and in addition, commits itself by personally performing the work it must do to achieve each "result" sought that…

• All deliverable "results" specified in the contract will be documented and in place by the targeted final completion date of the engagement;
• Client personnel as identified in the contract will be trained in the skills needed to achieve the desired results required;
• Ongoing support, in terms of "800" help line service, will be provided throughout the implementation process; and,
• If results are not achieved as indicated, through no fault of the Client, Advent will, for no additional compensation, continue working with the Client until the result is achieved.

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Advent Warranty of Service For Quality Services

Advent warrants its services under ISO/TL/QS/AS 9000 and ISO 14000 fixed fee contracts as follows:

While no one can guarantee the results of a third party audit, Advent does guarantee that if the client provides the resources as specified in the contract to install the system in terms of personnel, financial support, information and physical resources, and in addition is committed to personally performing the work management must do in terms of developing the policy, performing the necessary reviews and encouraging enthusiastic employee participation then,

• The selected Client personnel will be trained and prepared for the registrar’s audit by the date specified in the contract;
• The Quality and/or Environmental System(s) will be operational and free from major findings as defined by the appropriate standard;
• A documented Quality and/or Environmental System(s) will be complete and in place;
• A series of Internal Audits to the appropriate standard will have been completed by Client Internal Auditors, with appropriate Corrective Actions identified, resolved, and/or be in process of being implemented;
• A Management Review will have been held affirming standard compliance; and
• All deliverables contained in the contract will have been provided.

Given the above, Advent’s experience is that our clients, in fact, routinely pass their audits. Even so, if, for ANY reason, Client fails to pass the Registrar’s Audit, Advent will for no additional fees work with the Client to correct any system defect prior to submission of proof of corrective action and/or re-Audit.

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