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Alternatively, it studies the standards of groups or societies. Regardless of the distinction, there are three main ways to think about ethical obligations.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
eHow Business Business & Society Business Ethics What Are Key Principles of Ethical Communication?
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct.[1] The term comes from the Greek word ethos, which means "character"
Although some ethical dilemmas are more easily solved than others, all involve making evaluations and judgments about what is morally right and wrong, what is fair and what is not fair, and what will cause harm and what will not cause harm. What is Ethical Communication? Ethics in small groups refers to the moral aspects of group interaction. The National Communication Association (NCA) states: "ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and other." Thus, ethical communication in small groups takes into account caring and responsibility for oneself and the other group members. Ethics in Communication NCA recently adopted a Credo for Ethical Communication. It is included here, although some principles are more applicable than others to small group communication. - Truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason are essential to the integrity of communication. - Endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society. - Strive to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and responding to their messages. - Access to communication resources and opportunities are necessary to fulfill human potential and contribute to the well being of families, communities, and society. - Promote communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique needs and characteristics of individual communicators. - Condemn communication that degrades individuals and humanity through distortion, intolerance, intimidation, coercion, hatred, and violence. - Commit to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice. - Advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing significant choices while also respecting privacy and confidentiality. - Unethical communication threatens the quality of all communication and consequently the well being of individuals and the society in which we live. - Accept responsibility for the short- and long-term consequences for our own communication and expect the same of others. In reading over these principles, you can note the two ethical communication themes of caring and responsibility. Some are obvious, such as: "Promote communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique needs and characteristics of individual
communicators," and "Accept responsibility for the short- and long-term consequences for our own communication and expect the same of others." Other principles are not as obvious in their representation of these themes, yet the importance of ethics of care and responsibility are still clear. For example, "Access to communication resources and opportunities is necessary to fulfill human potential and contribute to the well-being of families, communities, and society," emphasizes an ethic of caring and "Commit to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice," stresses an ethic of responsibility. Others integrate both caring and responsibility, such as, "Advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing significant choices while also respecting privacy and confidentiality." In following this last principle, communicators must take responsibility for encouraging all participants to share information, and at the same time, communicators must care for others by respecting others' wishes. These principles also apply to important aspects of effective small group communication, such as teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, and diversity. Thus, ethical communication in small groups means that group members respect and encourage diverse opinions, do not tolerate communication that degrades and harms others, balance the sharing of information with a respect for privacy, and listen for understanding and empathy before evaluating and critiquing. Applied Ethics Ethics are more easily discussed than put into practice. However, a recent article in the San Jos Mercury News demonstrated the increasing trend in organizations to integrate a code of ethics into their daily activities. Propel , a start-up software company in Silicon Valley, recently hired Tom Shanks, an ethicist from Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics . According to the article, CEO and founder Steve Kirsch (Infoseek founder) is determined to make the organization's philosophical guidelines a natural part of how the company does business. These 13 guidelines, developed in organization members' discussions and posted on the company's website in two places (FAQs) and About), are: 1. Think and act like an owner. 2. Have fun. 3. Recognize accomplishment. 4. Keep a balance in your life. 5. Teach and learn from each other. 6. Communicate without fear of retribution. 7. Require quality beyond customer expectations. 8. Improve continuously.
9. Go the extra mile to take care of the customer. 10. Play to win-win. 11. Act with a sense of urgency. 12. Make and meet commitments. 13. Give back to the community. Here we can see how Propel has taken many of NCA's ethical principles and applied them to the organization. For example, " Communicate without fear of retribution" parallels NCA's principle, " Commit to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice." In addition, the two themes, ethics of caring and responsibility, are interwoven in Propel's 13 guidelines. Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics offers extensive information on the pragmatics of ethics. The Center serves as a resource for the campus and community. The Center's informative website includes a section on "A Framework For Ethical Decision Making." http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Centers/Ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html This framework is particularly applicable to small group members who face many complex decisions in achieving the group's objectives and goals. The Center suggests that competent communicators should: - Recognize a Moral Issue - Get the Facts - Evaluate the Alternative Actions from Various Moral Perspectives - Make a Decision - Act - Reflect on the Decision For each step in the framework, individuals or group members need to address questions such as: - Does the issue go deeper than legal or institutional concerns? What does it do to people as persons who have dignity, rights, and hopes for a better life together? (Recognize a Moral Issue) - What individuals and groups have an important stake in the outcome? (Get the Facts) - Which option will produce the most good and do the least harm? (Evaluate the Alternative Actions from Various Moral Perspectives)
- If you told someone you respect why you chose this option, what would that person say? (Make a Decision) - How did it turn out for all concerned? If you had to do it over again, what, if anything, would you do differently? (Reflect on the Decision) Ethical communication requires effective critical thinking skills, recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives, respect for the well being of self and others, taking responsibility for individual and group actions, and reflecting on the choices group members make. REFERENCES
Every business is dependent on effective ethical communication. It's what makes new policy in government, raises money for nonprofits and strengthens a business. Business communication occurs any time a message is given or received, whether it's verbal or nonverbal, between two businesses, a business and its employees or a business and the public. The messages sent and received by a business need to follow ethical norms that don't offend or make individuals feel uncomfortable.
Read more: About Ethical Communication in Business | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6069676_ethical-communicationbusiness.html#ixzz2LgDKACim10 things we can do to contribute to
(9) If we are feeling upset, think about what need of ours is not being met, and what we could do to meet it, instead of thinking about what's wrong with others or ourselves. (10) Instead of praising someone who did something we like, express our gratitude by telling the person what need of ours that action met. The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) would like there to be a critical mass of people using Nonviolent Communication language so all people will get their needs met and resolve their conflicts peacefully.
Without examining the philosophical aspects of ethics, most people generally know
what is and isnt ethical. In all likelihood, ethical behavior is any action based on right intention (as Kant puts it) coupled with given cultural values of the region. For example, most reasonable people would agree that stealing, lying, and cheating is unethical. Such concepts could easily be translated into an organizational environment. For example, if a company in financial trouble lies to its employees while painting a rosy picture about the organizations future, the behavior will in most cases be considered unethical. Additionally, it would be considered unethical to misguide potential job applicants about the company benefits or stock options. Because lying seems to be a universal concept of unethical conduct, the above examples would probably qualify as an unethical communication. On the other hand, is it unethical to monitor employee email? It is unethical to monitor employee phone conversations? One could argue both ways, because the definition of these actions is not clearly defined. In such case, no one is lying, or cheating, yet over fifty-seven percent of CEOs in corporate America consider such actions unethical (PR Newswire, 2001). case. On the other side of the spectrum, there are those organizations that clearly act in an ethical manner. There are those companies, that keep employees informed even thought the information presented my be difficult to hear (Linderborg, R., 1994). For example, ethical companies communicate the truth about their poor financial status even thought concealing the painful truth would be easier. Additionally, ethical organizations trust and respect their employees while insuring that employees have a certain control over decisions affecting them (PR Newswire, 2001). While talking about ethical vs. unethical communication of organizations, one needs to understand that untimely the individuals of the organization are responsible for the organizations ethical standing. If the CEO of a company lies to its stakeholders, it would seem that the organization as a whole is unethical. It is because each employee represents his or hers organization, it is important that all employees are of good morals while it is imperative that the officers or highly visible employees excel in ethical behavior. In summary, it is rather difficult to define ethics, let alone discuss ethical vs. unethical behavior. However, because any society needs to be able to distinguish between ethical vs. unethical behavior, a certain set of norms have been formed that help people guide them on the path to morality. Thought the set of norms and values are a helpful It is because of such blurry lines that ethics remains to be an open-ended
guide, ethics remain to be discussed because many people disagree on what is and what isnt ethical. Such discussions will inevitably self-perpetuate because of cultural, moral, and individual differences between people after all, we are human. References Linderborg, R. (1994, Spring). Excellent Communication Public Relations Quarterly. [InfoTrack] University of Phoenix Online Collection. Available: http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/session/ (2001, May 2). Paul, J., Strbiak, C. (1997, April). The ethics of strategic ambiguity. The Journal of Business Communication [InfoTrack]. University of Phoenix Online Collection. Available: http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/session/ (2001, May 2). PR Newswire. (2001, April 30). CEOs in Marymount University Study of N. Va. Tech Companies Say Small Firms More Effective at implementing Ethical Practices Than Big Companies. PR Newswire [ProQuest] University of Phoenix Online Collection. Available: http://proquest.umi.com: (2001, May 2).
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options and for differentiating between more or less morally justified pathways in any given situation. Scholars ...