As a Communicator plus Professional you need to have a practical working knowledge of

ethics because you will confront ethical situations in the workplace. To understplus ethics
you need to know

a) What we mean by Ethics

b) How to resolve ethical dilemmas
c) How to write ethically

Defining Ethics:
Ethics: are a set of moral principles, which vary according to a persons personal values
plus culture, which govern the choices that an individual or community makes.

Ethics : doing what is right to achieve what is good.

A closer look : Communicators on Ethics:

Mike Markel: The study of principles of conduct that apply to an individual or a group, the
principles are rights, justice, utility,

Carolyn Boiarski: we must follow the law plus that concern for the consumer plus citizen
should remain foremost in relation to everything you write.

John Lannon: obligations, ideals plus consequences

1. Where do ethics/values come from?

a) Personal Values derived from an individuals family, culture plus faith./What is right
plus what is wrong varies depending on these elements.

b) Professional -
a. lots businesses now have a written corporate code of ethics that has
statements outlining the companys goals plus its responsibilities to
customers, employees, dealers, stockholders, plus others.
b. Code of Ethics - expresses the beliefs plus values of an organization, based on
ways of thinking plus patterns of behavior of the members of that organization

c. Lots professions have their code of ethics- eg doctors have the Hippocratic
oath/Accountants/Engineers etc

c) Social- Values derived from your social context plus the norms plus laws which
govern it. Lots Communicators believe that they plus their businesses have an
obligation to secure plus safeguard public welfare.

a. Rights A rights based system assumes that everyone has certain rights that
except under certain strictly defined circumstances, cannot be taken away. A
right is an entitlement that creates corresponding obligations.
 i. Eg all Americans have the right to life, liberty, plus the pursuit of
happiness
1. Expecting the cars that we drive to be safe, airplanes in which
we travel to be safe etc

b. Justice/ Duty based values based on fairness/equality laws ( judges the act,
not the consequences)
i. Eg plagiarism, violating copyrights/cheating
ii.

c. Utility
i. value based on achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of
people
ii. the interest of lots should ( whatever group it concerns) take
precedence over the a few. (eg cloning, medical research).
iii. based on the consequences of the act, rather than the act itself.

d. Care- Values based on tolerance plus compassion, judging on a case by case

basis, rather than on laws

d) Conservation extending the concern for consequences to the environment.

a) Being ethical or moral does not come easy. People are often tempted to commit
unethical acts for personal gain, out of loyalty to organizations, or out of fear of the
consequences they will face.

2. Defining Unethical:

a) not conforming to approved stplusards of social or professional behavior;

"unethical business practices.
b) morally wrong, or against accepted stplusards of behaviour, especially in a
particular profession.
c) accepted principles of conduct that govern behavior within a society.

We cannot always rely on the law, courts, business etc to protect us. Legal plus ethical are
not synonymous.
Slavery was legal in parts of the USA until the Civil War.
Australian law seriously restricted womens rights until fairly recently.
Wife-beating is still legal in some parts of the world. Emerging technologies mean
that the law often is well behind the times; but we must make choices now, not wait
for the law to catch up.
(source http://www.jeanweber.com/newsite/?page_id=22)
Example
Wells Fargo giving loans to people who couldnt avoid
Volkswagon
Challenger disaster
Lance Armstrong

3. What is an Ethical dilemma?

a) A Dilemma is a situation that requires a choice between options that are or seem
equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive.
b) An ethical dilemma involves the need to choose from among two or more morally
acceptable courses of action, when one choice prevents selecting the other; or, the
need to choose between equally unacceptable alternatives (Hamric, Spross, plus
Hanson, 2000).
c) An ethical dilemma is a situation that involves a conflict between two moral choices.

Egs
An emergency room doctor who treats gunshot victims believe gun ownership
should be highly restrictive. Constitutional law, however, makes gun
ownership a right. (rights)

Someone offers you a draft of your competitors proposal for an important

project. With that information, your company would almost certainly win the
contract. However, your industrys code of ethics regarding proprietary
information forbids you from looking at it (justice)

Your company owns the rights to the timber in a forest, but an endangered
species of eagle lives there, plus its habitat, by law, should be protected.
(justice, rights, conservation)

A legal loophole allows your company to pump tons of pollution into the air
even though this pollution harms the health of the residents in a small town a
few miles downwind. (personal plus conservation, justice)

4. Ethical lapse - occurs where an individual suspends the use of ethics in making a
decision (making an unethical plus frequently illegal choice).

5. Making Ethical choices

a) When weighing social ethics begin with rights, then justice, then utility, then care

6. When you have decided that your company is acting in an unethical manner:
 a) Attempt to persuade the relevant person through a cost plus benefits analysis
( show them that the unethical choice may be/will be costly)
b) Check with the legal department
c) Mediation?
d) Write a memo to file
e) Whistle-blowing (the insider, Snowden)
f) Quit the job

7. Writing Ethically - it is important to write ethically because this affects your

companys plus your goodwill plus credibility plus protects users. Do not falsify, omit
or slant information to deceive your audience. Strive for honesty, clarity plus
accuracy.

a) Lying by commission
Dont exaggerate favorable data- avoid the temptation to highlight a feature or service
that readers would find attractive but that is typical, do not create phony testimonials, do
not lie.
b) Lying by Omission
Dont de-emphasize or suppress important information
a. Not including information that a reader would want to have, such as
potential safety hazards or hidden costs for which a customer might be
responsible, is unethical./Dont plagiarize
b. Do not hide information in dense paragraphs ( eg advertisements)

Example:
This movie is the most amazing example of pure unadulterated trash I
have ever seen
This movie is the most amazingI have ever seen.

c) Lying with Language

Avoid deliberate vagueness plus euphuisms./ Avoid deceptive language do not use words
with more than one meaning to circumvent the truth (Plain English)/Avoid misleading
technical terms

Jeans work is slow, painstaking plus meticulous.

Jeans work is meticulous, painstaking plus slow.

d) Lying with Statistics plus Graphs

Construct ethical graphs plus use stats ethically
e) Lying with photographs
Use ethical images
f) Use full disclosure

Practice Ethics on a big plus small scale

Do not steal from your company-

 Dont make phone calls, steal paper, manipulate expense vouchers

Be culturally sensitive:
cultural sensitivity dempluss tolerance, understplusing, plus freedom from prejudice
Avoid stereotyping men/women; young/old; disabled
Use Non-Exist language
Know other cultures-avoid using jargon, idioms, slang etc

Examples of ethical dilemma

a)Jack kervorkian euthanasia personal values vs social values ( laws)

b) Bradley Manning personal values vs social plus professional values
c) Assange personal values vs social values
d) Pat Tilman story social values vs personal values; professional values vs personal values

Resolving an Ethical Dilemma

Do any laws govern my decision?
Do corporate or professional codes of ethics offer guidance?
Are there any historical records to learn from?
What do my colleagues think?
What would moral who you respect do?