Web Lecture 1
Ethics & Integrity
Discusses: ethics in communication, NCA Credo for Ethical Communication, ethic of care, ethic of responsibility, applied ethics
INTRODUCTION
Some ethical dilemmas are more easily solved than others, yet all involve making evaluations and judgments about what is morally right and wrong, what is fair and what is not fair, and what will cause harm and what will not cause harm. The National Communication Association Links to an external site. (NCA) states: "ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and other." Thus, ethical communication takes into account caring and responsibility for oneself and others.
ETHICS IN COMMUNICATION
As the authors of your text note in Chapter 2, NCA adopted a Credo for Ethical Communication in 1999. The principles are listed below and in your text.
- Truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason are essential to the integrity of communication.
- Endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.
- Strive to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and responding to their messages.
- Access to communication resources and opportunities is necessary to fulfill human potential and contribute to the well-being of families, communities, and society.
- Promote communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique needs and characteristics of individual communicators.
- Condemn communication that degrades individuals and humanity through distortion, intolerance, intimidation, coercion, hatred, and violence.
- Commit to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice.
- Advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing significant choices while also respecting privacy and confidentiality.
- Unethical communication threatens the quality of all communication and consequently the well-being of individuals and the society in which we live.
- Accept responsibility for the short- and long-term consequences for our own communication and expect the same of others.
In reading over these principles, two ethical communication themes emerge: an ethic of care and and ethic of responsibility. An ethic of care focuses on relationships, nurturing others, demonstrating a concern for multiple viewpoints, and expressing support. When communicators implement an ethic of care, their first concern is about process, with a secondary concern about outcomes. From an ethic of care perspective, morality primarily stems from the actions that lead up to a particular endpoint. Thus, even if the result is morally right, it's morally wrong if the process is corrupted. An ethic of responsibility focuses more on the outcomes of communicators' actions. What people do or say is morally right if the consequences are just and fair. Some of the NCA ethical principles clearly incorporate only one approach to ethics, such as: "Promote communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique needs and characteristics of individual communicators," and "Acceptresponsibility for the short- and long-term consequences for our own communication and expect the same of others."
Other principles are not as obvious in their representation of these themes, yet the importance of ethics of care and responsibility are still clear. For example, "Access to communication resources and opportunities is necessary to fulfill human potential and contribute to the well-being of families, communities, and society," emphasizes an ethic of care and "Commit to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice," stresses an ethic of responsibility. Others integrate both care and responsibility, such as, "Advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing significant choices while also respecting privacy and confidentiality." In following this last principle, communicators must take responsibility for encouraging all participants to share information, and at the same time, communicators must care for others by respecting others' wishes.
These principles also apply to important aspects of effective organizational communication, such as teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, and embracing diversity. Thus, ethical organizational communication means that members respect and encourage diverse opinions, do not tolerate communication that degrades and harms others, balance the sharing of information with a respect for privacy, and listen for understanding and empathy before evaluating and critiquing.
APPLIED ETHICS
Ethics are more easily discussed than put into practice. With the recent banking and other corporate scandals, there's been a trend in organizations to integrate a code of ethics into their daily activities. Propel Links to an external site., a software company in Silicon Valley, hired Tom Shanks, an ethicist from Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Links to an external site.. CEO and founder Steve Kirsch (Infoseek founder) has expressed his determination to make the organization's philosophical guidelines a natural part of how the company does business. These 13 guidelines, developed in organization members' discussions, are:
- Think and act like an owner.
- Have fun.
- Recognize accomplishment.
- Keep a balance in your life.
- Teach and learn from each other.
- Communicate without fear of retribution.
- Require quality beyond customer expectations.
- Improve continuously.
- Go the extra mile to take care of the customer.
- Play to win-win.
- Act with a sense of urgency.
- Make and meet commitments.
- Give back to the community.
In reviewing the list, you can observe how Propel has taken many of NCA's ethical principles and applied them to the organization. For example, "Communicate without fear of retribution" parallels NCA's principle, "Commit to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice." In addition, the two themes, the ethics of care and responsibility, are evident in Propel's 13 guidelines. For example, "Think and act like an owner" and "Communicate without fear of retribution" suggest an ethic of responsibility. "Teach and learn from each other" and "Recognize accomplishment" suggest an ethic of care. In addition, the company has integrated these ethical principles into its statement of values and culture Links to an external site.: "Propel employees are encouraged to think and act like owners, and to go the 'extra mile' to take care of customers. At Propel everyone has a chance to participate and make a difference."
Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics offers extensive information on the pragmatics of ethics. The Center serves as a resource for the campus and the Bay Area. The Center's website states:
Established in 1986, the mission of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University is to heighten ethical awareness and improve ethical decision-making on campus and in the community at large. . . . The Center promotes ethical decision-making that is guided by moral principles and values, such as respect for persons, justice, and compassion. It does not tell people what to think; but rather, tells people what to think about in making ethical decisions.
The Center's informative website includes a section on "A Framework for Ethical Decision Making Links to an external site.." The Center suggests that competent communicators should:
- Recognize an Ethical Issue
- Get the Facts
- Evaluate the Alternative Actions
- Make a Decision and Test It
- Act and Reflect on the Outcome
For each step in the framework, individuals or organization members need to address questions such as:
- Could this decision or situation be damaging to someone or to some group? Does this decision involve a choice between a good and bad alternative, or perhaps between two "goods" or between two "bads"?(Recognize an Ethical Issue)
- What are the relevant facts of the case? What facts are not known? Can I learn more about the situation? Do I know enough to make a decision? (Get the Facts)
- Which option best serves the community as a whole, not just some members? (Evaluate the Alternative Actions)
- Considering all these approaches, which option best addresses the situation? (Make a Decision)
- How can my decision be implemented with the greatest care and attention to the concerns of all stakeholders? (Act and Reflect on the Outcome)
Ethical communication in organizations requires effective critical thinking skills; recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives; respect for the well being of self and others; taking responsibility for individual, team, and organizational actions; and reflecting on the choices organization members make.