This document discusses ethics in business communication. It outlines Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, including the pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional levels. It also discusses individual ethical frameworks like utilitarianism, moral rights, and justice approaches. The document covers corporate social responsibility and ethically-based communication styles like utilitarian, moral rights, justice, universalist, and relativist. It concludes by discussing possible ethical communication conflicts between these different perspectives.

1. ETHICS IN BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
Presented To:
Prof. Hasnain Rashid
Presented By:
Aima Masood (0030)
MCOM
Punjab College Of Commerce

2. IMPORTANCE OF ETHICAL
COMMUNICATION
Learning Ethical models
Helps you discover and make explicit your ethical positions and standards
Enables you to diagnose the ethical position of your interlocutors.
Provides you with a conceptual framework that will guide you towards
becoming a consistent ethical business communicator.

3. KOHLBERG'S STAGES
Pre-conventional level
Stage 1: The punishment and obedience orientation
Stage 2: The instrumental purpose orientation
Conventional level
Stage 3: The "good boy-good girl" orientation
Stage 4: The social-order-maintaining orientation
Post-conventional level
Stage 5: The social-contract orientation
Stage 6: The universal ethical principle orientation

4. PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL
Punishments and rewards dominate the sense of
right & wrong
Morality is externally controlled
Rules of authority figures must be respected.
Behaviour that results in punishment are bad
Behaviour that results in rewards are good

5. STAGE 1: THE PUNISHMENT AND
OBEDIENCE ORIENTATION
Ignore people's intentions; focus on fear of
authority and avoidance of punishments as
reasons for behaving morally

6. STAGE 2: THE INSTRUMENTAL
PURPOSE ORIENTATION
Can understand that two people may have
different perspectives in a situation
Believe that satisfying personal needs determines
moral choice
Very concrete understanding

7. THE CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
Needs of Laws and society are the defining features.
“Don't steal” because it is against the law
Good behaviour is motivated to maintain the affection
and approval of friends and relatives
Understand that standards are set for the current social
system, not getting that there is self-interest involved
(e.g., no such thing as a bad law)

8. STAGE 3: THE "GOOD BOY-GOOD
GIRL" ORIENTATION
Morality of interpersonal cooperation
People obey rules to promote social harmony
You will be judged for breaking the rules it isn't
just the druggist who will think that you are a
criminal, everyone else will and you will feel bad
afterwards
Justifies moral conformity

9. STAGE 4: THE SOCIAL-ORDER-
MAINTAINING ORIENTATION
Each member of society is duty-bound to uphold
rules as rules are vital for ensuring societal order

10. THE POSTCONVENTIONAL
LEVEL
Personal moral beliefs and values

11. STAGE 5: THE SOCIAL-CONTRACT
ORIENTATION
Laws and rules can be flexible
Can understand the alternatives to social order
and emphasize fair procedures

12. STAGE 6: THE UNIVERSAL ETHICAL
PRINCIPLE ORIENTATION
The correct action is defined by self-chosen
ethical principles of conscience that are valid for
all humanity, regardless of law and social
agreement
Values are more abstract and internal

13. STAGES IN ETHICAL DEVELOPMENT: LAWRENCE KOHLBERG (1973)
Level Stages Orientation Justification
Pre-conventional • Fear of punishment Self • Obedience to Authority;
• Desire for rewards, as well Punishment avoidance
as fear of punishment • Greed (Reward seeking)
Conventional • Desire for approval Others/Group • Societal norms of a
• Sense of duty to obey the good person
law • Law & order
Post- • Regard for standard of Universal & • Truth, Fairness,
conventional society: utilitarianism humankind Justice (Social
• Respect for universal Contract)
principles of justice & • Conscience & moral
welfare rules guiding actions

14. INDIVIDUAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORKS
A. Utilitarian Approach
Focuses on whether the decision made will
deliver the greatest good to the greatest
number of people affected.
Recognizes that decisions made by people can
have both positives and negative
consequences.

15. INDIVIDUAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORKS
B. Moral Rights Approach
Recognizes that human beings are born with
fundamental rights and privileges.
Stresses the importance of respecting and
protecting the fundamental rights of all human
beings.

16. INDIVIDUAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORKS
C. Justice Approach
Focuses on how the costs and benefits of
an action are distributed and whether the
distribution is fair and equitable.
Three types of justice approach are:
distributive, procedural, and compensatory
justice.

17. INDIVIDUAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORKS
1. Distributive Justice Approach
Rewards and punishments should be fairly
distributed based on how much individuals
contribute towards, or deviate from the
given organizational goals.
Discrimination (e.g., race, gender) is an example
of the lack of distributive justice.

18. INDIVIDUAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORKS
2. Procedural Justice Approach
The policies, rules, and procedures relating to
decisions and behaviors should be applied
fairly and consistently.
The criterion is whether the rules and processes
governing the distribution of the rewards and
punishments are fair.

19. INDIVIDUAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORKS
3. Compensatory Justice Approach
Involves compensating someone for a past wrong
decision or action.
Requires that hurt parties be compensated for
past injustice.

20. CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY (CRS)
Corporate social responsibility refers to:
Obligations of a corporation.
How it acts in terms of its own corporate
interests and profits in relation to the interests of
its external stakeholders.

21. CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY (CRS)
Corporate social responsibility includes
concerns about:
Green and environmental protection issues
Community service
Employment practices
General corporate philanthropy

22. CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY (CRS)
Effects of corporate social responsibility on
organization
Examples:
Johnson and Johnson —Tylenol case in the 1980s
Vita Soy—Soybean Contamination case in 1997
The Coca-cola—The recall of drinks after poisoning of
a consumer in 2006
Nike—Inappropriate labor practices in the 1990s

23. ETHICALLY BASED
COMMUNICATION STYLE
A. Utilitarian Communication Style
Believes that the decision should benefit the
majority.
Utilitarian's compare alternative options and are
open and receptive to exploring different
viewpoints.

24. ETHICALLY BASED
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
B. Moral Rights Communicating Style
The advocates believe that decisions and actions
are either right or wrong.
People holding a moral rights perspective focus
on analyzing or explaining why a decision or
action is either right or wrong, rather than the
consequences of the decision or action.

25. ETHICALLY BASED
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
C. Justice Communication Style
Justice advocates are interested in how and
whether the costs and benefits of decisions
and actions are distributed equitably.

26. ETHICALLY BASED
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
D. Universalist Communication Style
Ethical universalism believes that ethical
principles are universal and should be applied to
all cultures.
Universalists stress on conveying universal values.

27. ETHICALLY BASED
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
E. Relativist Communication Style
Believes that ethical behavior is influenced by the
cultural context.
When in Rome, do as Romans do.
Relativists focus on the different values between
cultures.

28. POSSIBLE ETHICAL
COMMUNICATION CONFLICT
Utilitarian versus Moral Rights
Communication Conflicts
The utilitarians may not be interested in the
rights or wrongs of a decision, whereas the
moral rights adherent is not interested in the
pros and cons of the proposed actions.

29. POSSIBLE ETHICAL
COMMUNICATION CONFLICT
Universalistic versus Relativistic
Communication Conflicts
While universalists do not recognize that certain
rights and traditions of a culture need to be
respected, relativists fail to recognize that certain
fundamental rights are applicable to all cultures.

30. POSSIBLE ETHICAL
COMMUNICATION CONFLICT
Justice Communication Conflicts
Communicators taking the justice approach have a
shared perspective and a basis for successful
communication.
Communication conflicts can still arise among
individuals holding differing views about what
constitutes justice (e.g.
distributive, procedural, compensatory justice)

31. ETHICS AND DECISION MODELS
A. Rational or Classical Model
The decision maker selects the best option
among alternatives to reach an optimal goal.
It encourages ethical communication by
promoting extensive information flow and
promotes an open process of
communication.
This method is most costly and time consuming.

32. ETHICS AND DECISION MODELS
B. Behavioral Model
The decision maker identifies one alternative at a time
and selects the first satisfactory alternative
identified.
It is often adopted by managers who are constrained by
information, costs and time.
This model may carry with it a greater possibility of
unethical decision making and unequal
communication.

33. ETHICS AND DECISION MODELS
C. Retroactive Model
The decision maker chooses a favorable alternative
early in the decision making process but carries
it through the sequential steps of the rational
decision making process with other alternatives.
A favorable option is considered along with other
alternatives, but a change of intention is lacking.

34. DEALING WITH ETHICAL DILEMMAS
When encountering ethical dilemmas in dealing
with “borderline” or “gray” area
situations, individuals tend to rationalize their
inappropriate behavior. The individual may
believe that:
their misconduct is not really illegal; or
the result is in everyone’s best interests.

35. SUMMING UP
In this whole chapter you have learned
Kohlberg’s six stages of moral
development, individual based ethical approaches.
This knowledge will help you to align personal
ethical views with written or unwritten rules of
organization regarding its corporate social
responsibility.