The Ethical and legal aspects of Business Communication We all know the need for good words and

nice gestures in communicating with people in business and dealing with customers. These are, no doubt, essential. They are indeed a pre-requisite for ensuring effective communication and meaningful and enduring customer relationships. Yet, in todays context, businesses have to do much more than the good word and nice phrases bit. There is an imperative need to go beyond the words, and look at the spirit in which communication is effected and customer relations are sustained. This relates to the ethical dimension or the values concerning communication and customer relations that every business should consciously build up and nurture. The market place can be described as a battle ground and marketing as a civilized form of warfare in which most battles are won with words, ideas and disciplined thinking, In beating competition, businesses often do not have much choice but to use flashy words and hard-hitting ideas to penetrate markets and win over and retain customers. In as much as bottom lines are crucial for sustaining market share, the profit motive governs the rules the businesses follow in pursuing communication and customer relations. Business decisions are taken more by applying the head than the heart. It is to be well understood that businesses that really endure are those that show commitment to values, businesses where the ethical dimension coexists with the primary objectives. The spirit behind the words counts for a lot. Progressive Business organizations make it a point to articulate values and lay emphasis on the ethical aspects of business in general which is a pre-requisite for ensuring effective communication and meaningful and enduring customer relationships. Business Organizations are Perpetual Entities The ethical dimension of busi-ness assumes significance when we realize that business organisations, particularly in the corporate world are seen as perpetual entities. They exist to fulfill a specific need of people in the community. They will
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continue to thrive and survive as long as they strive to meet that specific need or a set, of needs in a manner that is acceptable to the customers or service seekers. For this, they must earn and sustain customers trust and confidence on an on-going basis. Commitment to Core Business Principles In order to earn and retain custom-ers trust and confidence, progressive organizations are value-driven and they affirm their commitment to core business principles. In their communication and customer relations they are governed by such principles to which they are committed. When it comes to advertisement or the vision document or the mission statement, words and deeds clearly reflect the value system which operates in that business organization. This set of core principles may take many forms, for example: An Organization may decide not to advertise in any politically affiliated newspaper or journal. An organization may decide not to make any adverse comments, implicitly about its competitors and their products. An organization may decide not to pass on to the customer any loss arising out of mistakes committed by their employees. Such principles can be many and varied . Beyond Caveat Emptor Value driven business organizations transcend the Caveat Emptor or the buyer beware attitude. The attempt is not to outwit the customer and make a fast buck. The attitude is not one of carrying to any customer inimical information in fine print at some corner hoping that it would miss his attention. Enlightened business managers do realize that you missed the fine print, so you suffer days are over. Good customers are hard to come by and should be given fair treatment. The sense of fair play, it is realized, is an important value that should
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permeate communication and customer relations. Business Legal Compliance Businesses have learnt hard way that their relationship with the customer extends beyond the legal aspect. Legal requirements have to be met, particularly when they are favoring the customer. Taking recourse to legal remedies and carrying on running legal battles against the customers is far from desirable, even when the legal grounds favor the business. A business can win the court case but lose the customer, and even the goodwill of a section of existing and potential customers. Customers are Not Adversaries All these arguments bring out the message that customers are not to be treated as adversaries. They are partners without whose sup-port no business can hope to survive. Among partners there cannot be a win-lose relationship. It has to be a win-win relationship. Beyond legal compliance, beyond the jargon, there should be a sincere effort to make the relationship mutually beneficial. Move Towards Corporate Governance Values relating to communication and customer relations are also to be seen in the larger context of business organizations moving towards corporate governance. The term corporate governance has a wide connotation. It supports a business ethic that shuns short cuts and unethical practices. It brings out the accountability of management to shareholders. In its broader sense, corporate governance is said to encompass the entire range of formal and informal interactions of the corporate sector with the society at large. Corporate governance strives to ensure fairness, honesty and transparency of a business organization in relation to its dealings with various stakeholders viz., shareholders, creditors, the state and employees. The
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widely referred prescriptions of the Cadbury Code in the United Kingdom deal with the role and responsibilities of the Board of Directors and its sub-committees. Among others, the code lays down that the Board report should contain a coherent narrative, supported by the figures of the companys performance and prospects and that the Board has an obligation to present a balanced and understandable assessment of the companys position. These aspects of corporate governance are particularly relevant in the context of ensuring good and proper communication and customer relations. Cardinal Principles of Communication The three cardinal principles of communication for any, good business organization are: a. Adequacy b. Transparency c. Consistency. Adequacy implies that all relevant information is made available by the business and its management to its employees, customers, investors or shareholders as the case may be to facilitate a fair assessment of the state of affairs. Transparency relates to the degree of openness in the sense that no attempt is made to cover up or hoodwink the shareholders. Consistency in a sense reflects the core principles, statements and performance-related claims, which the company stands by over a period of time. It means that there is no attempt to contradict the, statements and claims made by senior management functionaries and that they speak on the same wavelength. The Rights of Customers In the context of ensuring effective communication and meaningful customer relations, business organizations will have to take cognizance of customer expectations and their rights as they perceive them. Essentially, these relate to the right of information, the right of choice and the right of accountability.
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Right of information This right concerns the customers need to have all relevant information on the product and the company before he is in a position to decide on the transaction or relationship. The prices and rates, the terms and conditions, the incentives and discounts, the warranties and after-sales arrangements should all be made available. In the services sector, the right of information is gaining acceptance not only in the financial services and public utilities, but also in medical and such other professional services. The right of information in different areas would mean the fol-lowing: A doctor giving his patient details about his ailment, the type of medication and treatment he proposes to follow and may even involve encouraging the patient to seek a second opinion, if need be For Airlines services it means giving reasons for the delay in the flight depar-ture, the probable time of departure and the efforts being made to cut down the delay and not leaving the passengers in the dark For a bank or a financial institution it means giving to the borrower the full picture of the rates and charges involved, and not keeping him or her in the dark about any hidden costs For a mutual fund agent or salesman it means keeping the prospective investor duly informed about the implications of investing in mutual funds-that the returns may vary and even the principal amount may get eroded depend-ing upon market related factors The right of information would also cover the availability of and easy access to product and company literature. Right of Choice The second important expectation from the customer would relate-to the right of choice. Customers generally expect to have adequate choice of identical or more or less similar products or services. In fact the trend in market today is to offer abundant choice and even tailor-made products or services rather than a one-size-fits--all kind of approach.
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To cite examples, for an airline passenger the right of choice would involve different menus to choose from and for a mutual fund investor, it may involve the facility of shifting from one scheme to the other without much of a load factor. Right of Accountability Todays businesses have to be far more accountable to their customers than the businesses in the past. Through transparency, the customers and others get to know what is happening in the company and when things do not happen as they should be happening customers often make their voices heard. They resent if the costs of any inefficiency within the company are passed on to them. They expect the employees to turn out a days fair work and resent gossiping or idling. Similarly, customers expect the business managements to penalize their em-ployees for any mistakes they may commit, which result in losses, and not pass them on to the customers. To conclude it can be said that business organizations are laying particular emphasis on the ethcal part of business too. Even as they commit themselves to the core business principles, they also articulate the values, which govern their actions. People forming part of the business should make conscious efforts to reflect such concerns through communication and customer relations, so that enduring and endearing relation-ships are built up and sustained across all sections.