communication and ethics

1. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND
THE ETHICAL CONTEXT
RAHILA KHAN
LECTURER ENGLISH
GGPC QUETTA CANTT

3. Overview
• Background to Ethical Context
– Ethical Situations
– Ethics as a Communication Issue
• Influences on Personal Ethics
– People, Culture, Philosophy, Law, Religion
• Communications and Ethical issues
– Legal Issues
– Key areas
– Ethics and Organizational Responsibility

4. Background
• Facts are important to make ethical decisions
• In different situations you decide the right and the
wrong.
• Decision making is difficult when facts are missing.
• Ethical principles centered around fairness, services,
quality, honesty, integrity, dignity help in making
decisions

5. Ethical Situations
EXAMPLES
• During an on campus interview a recruiter asks you why he
should hire you over your friend? You have negative
information about him, would you share it?
• You witness another student Cheating during an important
exam. Do you confront him? Do you tell other students or
examiner?
• A firm invites you for a second interview at its distant office.
They will pay you the travelling fair. You are generally not
interested but decide to go because you want to meet a friend
staying there. Do you accept to go?

6. Ethics as Communication Issue
• We are not human beings having spiritual experience; we
are spiritual beings having human experience.
• Car fraud example;
• Communicate correctly

7. Influence on Personal Ethics
• People
• Culture
• Philosophy
• Law
• Religion

8. People
• Family
• Teachers
• Close friends
• Relatives
• Peers

9. Culture
• City/ town
• Country to Country
• National/ international heroes
• Norms/ Myths
• China return a penny; its government property
• America  good luck

10. Philosophy
• Descriptive Ethics  facts about moral judgments of people
• Normative Ethics discovering, formulating and defining
fundamental moral principles
• Theologism  what would God have me do in this case
• Deontology  always tell the truth
• Teleology maximize good consequences
• Utilitarianism  type of teleology (Max good for max
people)

11. Law
• Not always right
• E.g. taxes for war

12. Religion
• Always a major foundation for ethical behavior
• Many of the mainstream religions provide the ethics
about ones duties towards God, other human beings and
all other living things on earth.

13. Communication & Ethical Issues
• Organizational Challenges include developing a
productive company culture with employees having
diverse background, values and beliefs
– Legal Issues
– Key Areas for Ethical Communications
– Ethics and Organizational responsibility

14. Legal Issues
• Defamation  statements that damage persons name
and reputation, involve false statements
– Libel  written defamation
– Slander  oral defamation
– Legal as well as ethical issue
• Privacy
• Discrimination & harassment
• Plagiarism
• Copy Righting (CR)  legal protection of ones creative
efforts

15. Key Areas for Ethical
Communications
• Ethical treatment takes time, thought and preparation
• Written and Spoken messages
• Cross Cultural Messages
• Advertising Messages

16. Written and Spoken
messages
• Message purpose (are there any hidden agendas, will it be in favor of
receiver)
• Research methods (are the resources recent, reliable and unbiased)
• Selection of materials (is anything imp omitted)
• Development of ideas (use of reasoning & logic, propaganda
techniques)
• Use of language (overloaded, abstract)
• Ethical context
• Self analysis (how would I feel)

17. Cross Cultural Messages
• Don’t take advantage of misunderstandings of different
cultures
• Cultural Context
• Misunderstandings
• Language
• Accountability

18. Advertising Messages
• Gaining customers through false advertising is both unlawful and
unethical
• Don’t confuse consumers
• E.g.
– “White Christmas”
– “fat free”, “low-fat”, “healthy”
– “100 % natural fruit juice”
• Avoid showing negativity to a specific group
• Language (no exaggerations)
• Graphics/Print (small print)
• Omissions (any imp statement omitted/ would it have been affected
if included )
• Truth
• Accountability (would I be satisfied)

19. Ethics and Organizational
Responsibility
• “Organizations are stronger than individuals”
• Formal Vs Informal Ways of Communicating Ethics:
– Companies must determine whether the ethical values
should be suggested from top down or bottom up.
– Formal ways
– Informal ways

20. Formal Ways
• One of the companies considered as the leader in
ethically responsible companies has ensured that the
highest paid salary is no more than seven times the
lowest paid salary.
• For top down approach the ethical standards are
expressed in three ways:
• Public messages
• Employee manuals and policy statements
• Mission statements and ethical codes

21. Informal Ways
• Imported through individuals
• Organizations own value system
• Behavior of managers

23. THANK YOU!