Learning Outcomes
It’s not enough for a communicator to craft a message that’s clearly understood by an audience, the goal should be to leverage the seven principles of business communication. Here is the list of the seven pillars about communication:
Figure 1. How might ethics affect the decisions you make as an employee? In reality, if you adhere to the seven principles, you will communicate ethically. For instance, if you craft a message that is not clear and concise, and you use tricky language that manipulates your consideration for your audience’s knowledge, then you are not being ethical. If you’re not being objective, and you are trying to communicate your opinion (or the opinion of others) as fact, then you are not being ethical. If you purposely do not disclose complete information, then you are not being ethical. You don’t have to look too far today to see examples of unethical communication; they’re all over the media. “Fake news” media sites abound, even though social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are making efforts to prevent them from being posted and shared. Is fake news ethical?
Daily World Update is a fake news site that posted an article called “Black Woman Who Won Georgia Primary Arrested for Election Fraud” in 2018. The story talks about Michelle Agabobo Willford, running for governor of Georgia, who paid for “tens of thousands of votes” by promising free welfare. This story runs parallel to a real-life story of Stacy Abrahms. Abrahms recently won a primary elections as a candidate for Georgia governor (without paying for votes). Her success made news, because, if she wins, she will be the nation’s first black female governor. Now, the Daily World Update claims to be a satirical site, and this article about Michelle Agabobo Willford fake, but if this news story is shared on social media, people just see the headline and jump to their own conclusions about what happened in Georgia. Is this ethical communication? Does it meet those seven business communication objectives above?
General Motors now admits that over 100 people died because of faulty ignition switches that were not recalled. In an article in Forbes magazine, reporter Carmine Gallo claimed that “Two Misleading Words Triggered GM’s Catastrophic Communication Breakdown.” The article discusses that the ignition issue was mis-labeled as a “customer convenience” issue and therefore didn’t get the attention it needed. Data about the issue was buried in the back of a 72-page PowerPoint deck. These were communication choices made by human beings. Was it a mistake, or was it unethical? The seven principles of business communication should be enough to keep your messages ethical. But if you want further guidance as to what is and is not ethical in business communication, the International Association of Business Communicators outlines a code of ethics for all its members:
If you have any question regarding the ethics of a particular message, these guidelines should serve you well. Betraying the trust of your audience is lethal to effective communication. Principles of Ethical Decision MakingAfter ethical intensity, a thoughtful manager will consider the principles that might apply to an issue. There is no one set of principles to check off, but the seven listed here are common to most people.
Watch the following video for an overview of the ethical decision making process: Contribute!Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input. Improve this pageLearn More 38. Unethical communication can distort the truth or manipulate audiences in a variety of ways.Plagiarizing involves using someone else's words or other creative products and ideas andclaiming them as your own.Omitting essential informationthe audience needs to make anintelligent, objective decision is unethical.Selective misquotingoccurs when damaging orunflattering comments are omitted, in order to paint a better (but untruthful) picture of you oryour company.39.Misrepresenting numbersinvolves manipulating data by decreasing numbers, alteringstatistics, or omitting numerical data.Distorting visualsinvolves making a product look biggeror changing the scale of graphs and charts to exaggerate or conceal differences. Finally,failing torespect privacy or information security needsis unethical and it may be illegal.The widespread use of social media has exposed the issue oftransparency. In this context,transparency involves a sense of openness—of giving everyone involved in a conversation theinformation they need to process a message accurately. A key aspect of transparency is knowingwho is behind the message. |