Quote of the Week

"Communication works for those who work at it."
~John Powell

Friday, November 26, 2010

Ethical Communications -A How To Approach

What can you do to ensure communications are ethical? 
To ensure communications are ethical you must first think ethically.  The text lists the following eight rules for ethical thinking offered by Robert C. Solomon and Kristine Hanson (1985), It’s Good Business:
1.       Consider others’ well-being and avoid actions that will hurt others.
2.       Think of yourself as a member of a community, not an isolated individual.
3.       Obey-but don’t depend only on-the law.  An action may be legal yet unethical.
4.       Think of yourself and your organization as a part of society.
5.       Obey moral guidelines.  Consider them “categorical imperatives” with no exceptions.
6.       Think objectively to be sure your action is truly ethical and not rationalized self-interest.
7.       Ask, “What sort of person would do such a thing?”
8.       Respect others’ customers-but not at the expense of your own ethics.
(Roebuck, 2006, p. 421).
This list helps to avoid sending messages with the purpose of serving your own interest at the expense of the message receiver.  It also helps avoid group think that might lead to poor decisions in communication and justifying behavior that would serve a selfish purpose rather than honest communication. 
When you communicate with others it is not good enough to simply disclose information, the information must be comprehensible to the audience for whom it is intended to be considered ethical communication.  For example, if a disclaimer on a product is too technical for a consumer to understand and it puts them in danger the message is not written ethically because it does not consider the safety of its audience.  Another example of unethical communication is when research is presented to an audience that either intentionally or irresponsibly distorts information, facts, or the agenda of the message sender. 
Ethical communication presents a balanced and clear message.  Objectivity is important so not to deceive the audience intended to receive the message even when attempting to persuade.  Ethical communication presents all possible sides of a scenario, makes the message sender’s intentions or purpose for communicating translucent, and considers the audience.  An example of ethical communication would be a document that presents the results of research that supports a particular conclusion.  The presented material should support a particular conclusion not because information that might oppose the supported opinion or result was omitted, but because it is fact.  This means responsible and unbiased research is necessary for ethical communication.  The results of any research should be presented in a manner that legitimately shows evidence that supports one side or another.
Ethical versus unethical is as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said, “knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is the right thing to do” (Roebuck, 2006, p. 419).  This gives you a base for judging what is ethical.  Ethical behavior and communication starts with our own morals and principles while considering the interests of our audience.  
Reference
Roebuck, D.B. (2006). Improving business communicaiton skills. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education Ltd.

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