This document discusses business communication and ethics. It provides background on how ethical situations arise and how ethics relate to communication issues. Personal ethics can be influenced by people, culture, philosophy, law, and religion. Communication and ethics issues include legal matters like defamation and privacy, as well as ethical concerns around written/spoken messages, cross-cultural communication, and advertising. Organizations have a responsibility to address ethics both formally through policies and mission statements, and informally through individuals and management behavior.

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!