Business Communication and the

Ethical Context

Chapter # 04

By: Saif Bukhari

Business Communication in Ethical Context
 Background to ethical Contexts
 Ethical Situation
 Ethics As a Communication Issue
 Ethics in Corporations An Historical View

 Influences on Personal Ethics

 People
 Culture
 Philosophy
 Law
 Religion

 Communication and Ethical Issues

 Legal Issues
 Key Areas for Ethical Communication
 Ethics and Organizational responsibility
Definition of Ethics
 According to Tomas Paul and Linda Elder of the
Foundation for Critical thinking, "most people confuse
ethics with behaving in accordance with social
conventions, religious beliefs, and the law", and don't treat
ethics as a stand-alone concept.
 Paul and Elder define ethics as "a set of concepts and
principles that guide us in determining what behavior
helps or harms sentient (conscious) creatures".
 The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy states that the
word ethics is "commonly used interchangeably with
'morality' ... and sometimes it is used more narrowly to
mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group,
or individual."
MEANING OF ETHICS :
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of Philosophy that involves
systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong Conduct

The word “ethics” is derived from the Greek word “ethos”, which refers to character.

Some years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does
ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following:

1."Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong."

2."Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs."
3."Being ethical is doing what the law requires."
4."Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts.“

These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to
pin down, and the views many people have about ethics are shaky.
 What is ethics?
 The nature of ethics :
 Ethics the inner guiding ,moral, principle, values and beliefs that
people use to analyze or interpret a situation and then decide what
is the “right "or “wrong "appropriate way to behave.

Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what
humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society,
fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that
impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from stealing, murder, assault,
slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of
honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards
relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and
the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because
they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.
 Ethics in business are nothing but the do’s and don’ts
by the business users in the business. In other words it
could be referred as set of principles a business man
ought to follow. ”There should be business ethics”
means that the business should be conducted
according to certain self recognized moral standards.
 Few unethical elements in the present day business
are cheating, stealing, lying, bribing, corrupting etc.

 According to the rogene “business ethics refer to right

or wrong behaviour in business decisions.”
 OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this study is to identify the vital few concerns of
business which influence the ethical status of a business and to identify
the necessary measures.

DEFINITION:

The study and examination of moral and social responsibility in relation

to business practice and decision making in business is known as
“Business Ethics”.

The term “business” is commonly referred to the commercial activities

achieved at making profit. But gradually there is a substantial change in
the way in which people viewed the business.
 Ethics and morality

In brief ethics is the code of conduct developed by

proper testing to guide the human behaviour, whereas
morality is concerned with generally accepted conducts
and conventions of the society.

Ethics and law : law is concerned with the

minimum regulation necessary for public order
while ethics examines both the individual and the
social good in all dimensions.
“Good ethics promotes good business”

Arguments in favour :

Robert day has said that good ethics not only

promotes professionalism in management, but
purity the inner mind of every businessman.
 Some important arguments

1. satisfaction of sub-conscious mind

2. Goodwill of business and businessman
3. It increases mutual trust and confidence
4. Protects each other
5. Helps in professionalization of management
6. Greater zeal and productivity
Importance of ethics in business

1. Ethics corresponds to basic human needs

2. Values create credibility with the public
3. Value give management credibility with employees
4. Value help better decision making
5. ethics and profit ethics and profit go together
6. Law cannot protect society, ethics can
Ethics and related concepts

Ethics and morality : the terms ‘ethics’ and

‘morality’ are not synonymous terms. Ethics is the
principle that guide the human behaviour.
Morals are related with the traditional
believes,norms,moral judgments, ideas and
existing social formalities by which the man
regulates and guides his social behaviour. Ethics
do not accept these things.
 Arguments against the view of “good ethics
promotes good business

1. No reward for ethical conduct

2. No resistance from officers
3. demand of the day
4. Difficult to decide in a situation in dilemma
Ethics……
 The application of general ethical
concepts to the unique situations
confronted in business.
 It asks what is right or wrong behavior in
business and what principles or rules can
be used as guidance in business
situations.
Background to Ethical Context
 Making ethical decisions is relatively easy when
all the facts, the events are unambiguous, and
the choices are clear. But it is different when
evidence is missing, and multiple point of view
conflict.

 How should one handle ambiguities and make

the right ethical decisions when the issues are
unclear?

 Ethics is about making right and wrong decisions.

Background to Ethical Context

 Ethical principles center around fairness, service, quality,

integrity, excellence, compassion, honesty, and dignity.

 Ethical Situations
 Ethics as a Communication Issue
 Ethics in Corporations as historical view
Ethics vs. morals
The words "ethics" and "morals" are frequently used
interchangeably.

 Morals refer to behavior customary in our culture or

society. Morals may change as a person moves from one
society to the next.

 Ethics refer to personal standards of right and wrong.

Ethics do not change as a person moves from one
society to the next.

 Moral, Concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.
Right versus right
 A simple, practical view is that ethics balances "right
versus right": if there's a dispute we care to hear, then
each side must have some right on it. However, this
presupposes some instinctive moral core of the individual
that must recognize right and wrong, else we do not have
two individuals asserting "right" and requiring ethical
help: if either in fact secretly believes themselves "wrong"
then they are engaging in tactics to reduce the chance of
getting caught or alerting others to it, neither of which is
studied by ethics.
Background to Ethical Context
Ethical Situations
An Ethical dilemma is a complex situation that
often involves an apparent mental conflict
between moral imperatives, in which to obey one
would result in transgressing another. This is also
called an ethical paradox.
Making ethical decisions is relatively easy when all
the facts of a situation are known.
Ethical Situations
 You make ethical decisions every day, you build on a
concept of right and wrong, you establish certain ethical
principles. Consider the following situations.
 How would you react.
 During a campus interview
 Students cheating during exams
 A firm invites you a second interview at its corporate
office.
 Context of a situation influences the ethicality of a decision.
 Context (Background, Circumstance, Environment)
Ethics As a Communication Issue
 We communicate our values and beliefs to other via
verbal and nonverbal behavior.
 We are defined in the eyes of others according to the
way we behave.
 We also need to communicate to others the importance
and necessity of good ethics.
 It follows, then that we have responsibility to act in ways
that promote honesty and fairness to maximize the
personal worth of each person in the organization.
 We are not human beings a spiritual experience. We are
spiritual beings having a human experience.
Ethics As a Communication Issue
 We don’t only transfer words.

 Ethical leader speak out when something is wrong;

ethical people influence others by acting in line with their
personal values.

 We also need to communicate to others the importance

and necessity of good ethics.
Ethics As a Communication Issue
 Foremost, the corporate leaders and managers set
corporation’s ethical tone.
 Leaders actions demonstrate corporate values, whether
the organization is honest, open and willing to admit
possible failures.
 Observing other people making the right choices inspires
us and supports others to do the same.
Background to Ethical Context
 Companies have long fought the battle of corporate corruption.
Because corporations are run by people and no human being is morally
perfect, ethical issues are bound to arise. How these issues are handled
is the best indicator of a corporation’s ethical commitment. Establish
ethically moral behavior in your corporation by taking the task
seriously.

 When company executives behave unethically, that behavior often ends

up in the news. While most companies have ethics policies, they don't
necessarily enforce or even follow them. By incorporating ethics into
the very heart of the business and reinforcing the idea of ethical
behavior, businesses can run efficiently, legally and ethically.
Ethics in Corporations
 Rightly or wrongly, the public has doubts about the ethics
of corporate America.

 Nineteenth Century “ Robber Barons” were ruthless

in driving out competition to build Monopolies.
(unfeeling)

 They often exploited immigrants laborers, children and

minority workers as cheap labor.

 Publicity via the news media often alerts the public to

corporate ethical crises.
Ethics in Corporations
 We are constantly faced with ethical issues. You will find
it difficult to study, work, or live in an environment free of
ethical decisions.

 How you handle each ethical issue reflects your values

and communicates critical messages to others.

 Our organizations, both profit and nonprofit, need

individuals with strong ethical values to lead us into the
twenty-first century.
 INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Everyone young student, older teachers makes ethical
decisions.
 Have you returned every thing you found?
 Have you kept information from someone who would also
benefit from the knowledge?
 Where you quit when you were aware that facts were
omitted?
 How did you react to the above questions; what
influenced your final decision?
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
how these five areas influence your personal ethics
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Your personal ethics are shaped by five major influences.
 Your personal ethics are shaped by five major influences:

 (1) influential people in your life (family, dose friends, or a role model);

 (2) cultural norms;

 (3) philosophical positions.

 (4) Local, state, and federal laws that govern individual behavior, and

 (5) your personal religious views,

INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 People

 Culture

 Philosophy

 Law

 Religion
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
PEOPLE

 Family

 Friends

 Teachers
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
People

 Your family played a large part in shaping your personal ethics.

 Your family member and friends exert strong influence on your ethics.

 Teacher, especially when you were younger, may have laid the
foundation for ethical decisions.

 Personal ethics is strongly influence people around him including

,parent ,family ,teacher etc.
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Culture
 Myths
 A traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or
explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving
supernatural beings or events.

 Stories
 An account of imaginary or real people and events told for
entertainment.
 Legends
 A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not
authenticated.
 An extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Culture

 Culture is an integral part of every society.

 It is a learned pattern of behavior and ways in which a person lives his

or her life.

 Culture is essential for the existence of a society, because it binds

people together. In the explicit sense of the term, culture constitutes
the music, food, arts and literature of a society. Culture is way of life.

 A culture is a way of life that is based on beliefs and values, such as art,
food, dance, rituals, religion, etc
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Philosophy

 Descriptive Ethics

 Normative Ethics
 Two Key Branches of Ethics

 Descriptive ethics involves describing, characterizing

and studying morality
 “What is”

 Normative ethics involves supplying and justifying

moral systems
 “What should be”
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Philosophy

 Theories of philosophy have long been concerned with ethical and

moral issues.

 Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems

concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice,
beauty, validity, mind and language.

 A personal philosophy statement serves as an introduction to you,

focusing more on your beliefs and values than on life experiences and
biographical data.
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS

The 4 Concepts of Ethics

 Theologism
 Teleology
 Utilitarianism
 Deontologism
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Philosophy……
 Theologism

 A moral Perspective that attempt to pattern actions

according God’s Will“
 what would God have me do in this Situation?”
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Philosophy……
 Deontology

 Derived from the Greek word for Duty

 Actions are not justified by their consequences. Factors

other than good outcomes determine the rightness of
actions“
 They believe that you should always tell truth”.
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Philosophy…….
 Teleology

 Consequence driven approach

 “They believe that the singular duty is to maximize good
consequences”
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Philosophy…..
 Utilitarianism

 The morality of an action can be determined by its

consequences

 An action is ethical if it promotes thegreatest good for

the greatest number
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Philosophy……
 Example: A deranged Gunman is holding five people
hostage at gunpoint in a lobby of bank. He asks if any
other customers or employees are in bank you know
that three customers escaped to backroom along teller.
Do you tell them truth?
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
 Deontologism

 Derived from the Greek word for Duty

 Actions are not justified by their consequences. Factors

other than good outcomes determine the rightness of
actions
INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Law

 Laws, some argue, represent the minimum standard of behavior.

 Law is a set of rules in society set by the government in order to

maintain control.

 Law of state has much and more influence one personal ethics.

 Acting ethically mean following the law.

INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL ETHICS
Religion

 Religion is belief in super natural and divine power or powers and how
we relate to them. It comprises of belief and practice.

 Religious traditions give instructions to followers about what's right

and wrong. That is, belief systems define what is or isn't ethical. In
some religions, unethical behavior is punished and ethical behavior is
rewarded. In other religions, teachings provide guidelines for ethics,
but leave latitude for the believer to interpret what is ethical and what
isn't.
 Communication and Ethical Issues
Communication and Ethical Issues
Legal Issues

Key Areas for Ethical Communication

Ethics and Organizational Responsibility

Communication and Ethical Issues
 Communicating ethically in the business arena challenges
you on several levels.
 Legal issues have an impact on you personally and on the
organization to which you belong.

 Organizational challenges include constructing a

productive company culture with employees who have
diverse backgrounds, values, and beliefs.
 In all these challenges, your personal system of values
will influence yours and others' behavior in business
Communication and Ethical Issues
 Legal Issues
 Legal considerations such as defamation and privacy
are concerns in all organizations. Statements that
damage a person's name or reputation, are
communicated to others, and involve false and
malicious statements that may be defamatory
(offensive).
 Our laws protect individual privacy, of major concern
are the large data bases credit, marketing research
firms, and medical companies.
 The proliferation of computerized data has greatly
increased the chances that our private information can
become public.
Communication and Ethical Issues
 Legal Issues
 When organizations or individuals violate the privacy of a
person by passing information to a third party, they can
be found guilty of invasion of privacy.

 Legal issues in business communications become more

complex with the advancing improvement to technology.
Use of new devices increases efficiency and allows for
more productivity, but it also raises legal concerns.
Communication and Ethical Issues
 Legal Issues
 Other issues with both ethical and legal implications are.
discrimination and harassment.
 Discrimination is unethical because it seeks to
segregate individuals on the basis of race, sex, ethnic group, or
national origin.
• Harassment involves irritating or tormenting another person on a
repeated basis, It can occur between coworkers, between supervisor
and subordinate, between persons of different cultures, or between
people who have grown together.
• Employees are granted legal protection from it.
Communication & Ethical Issues
Legal Issues
Discrimination and Harassment

 Plagiarism
 Plagiarism is also an ethical issue. It involves taking
the ideas or written material of another person and
using it as one's own.

 Copyrighting
 A copyrights is granted to an author, publisher, or
distributor for the exclusive publication, sale, and
distribution of an original work.
 Violating copyright is both unethical and illegal;
originators of work may sue to reclaim any losses
caused by copyright violations
Communication and Ethical Issues
Key Areas for Ethical Communication

 Ethical treatment of a subject takes time, thought, and preparation. As

a manager. It is important for you to focus on ethical communication in
three key areas:

 Personal Written and Spoken Messages

 Cross-Cultural Messages

 Advertising Messages
Communication and Ethical Issues
 Key Areas for Ethical Communication
 Personal Written and Spoken Messages
 Your messages, both written and spoken, demonstrated not only the message,
you intended but also a message regarding your values and integrity.
 Use the guidelines to evaluate your purpose and motives in each situations.
 The guidelines are:
1. Message purpose
2. Research methods
3. Selection of material
4. Development of ideas
5. Use of language
6. Ethical context
7. Self-analysis
Key Area for Ethical communication
Personal written and spoken Messages
 1. Message Purpose
 2. Research methods
 3. Selection Material
 4. Development of ideas
 5. Use of language
 6. Ethical context
 7. Self-analysis
Communication and Ethical Issues
 Key Areas for Ethical Communication
 Cross-Cultural Messages
 Never before have so many people from different cultures lived and worked
together.
 The world has become a global village, and the work force reflects that
diversity. Because we have such different customs and ways of communicating,
it is natural that misunderstandings occur in the workplace.
 The cross-cultural ethical outline will help you assess your ethicality in
multicultural situations.
 Cross-Cultural Ethical Guidelines:
1. Cultural context
2. Misunderstandings
3. Language
4. Accountability
Communication and Ethical Issues
 Key Areas for Ethical Communication
 Advertising Messages
 It is ethically wrong to advertise products in ways that confuse. Whether
promoting a college jazz event, a gateway weekend, or a line of products for a
multimillion dollar company, the rule for ethical advertising is consistent:
 Tell the truth, don’t misrepresent , and don’t manipulate language to create a
false impression.
 Ethical Guidelines for Advertising:
1. Language
2. Graphics/print
3. Omission
4. Truth
5. Accountability
Communication and Ethical Issues
Ethics and Organizational Responsibility
 Business corporations exists for one reason: to make money . Today,
however, corporations are careful of their corporate social
responsibility, or CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), also known as
their "triple bottom line," which includes a concern for profits, but also
an ethical treatment of people and the world in which we live.
Proponents of CSR models say that businesses are actually more
profitable when they employ high CSR standards, but that idea is still
disputed by some corporate and financial analysts.

 Environment
 Human Rights
 Community Development
 Employee Welfare
 Ethics & Organizational Responsibility
 Formal Communication
 ♦
 Public messages
 ♦
 Employees manuals and policy statements
 ♦
 Mission statement and ethical codes Informal
Communication

Wish U all the Best