Explain why each of the following is ethical or not ethical:

Keeping quiet about a possible environmental

hazard youve just discovered in your companys processing plant Overselling the benefits of instant messaging to your companys management; they never seem to understand the benefits of technology, so you believe its the only way to convince them to make the right choice

 Telling an associate and close friend that shed

better pay more attention to her work responsibilities or management will fire her
Recommending the purchase of excess

equipment to use up your allocated funds before the end of the fiscal year so that your budget wont be cut next year

Accepted principles of conduct Define the boundary between right and wrong Knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is the right thing to do. US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart

Includes all relevant information

Is true in every sense Is not deceptive in any way

The costs of unethical conduct are high

Good people like to work for good organizations There is a correlation between financial performance and social performance

Every Communication Decision has an Ethical Dimension:

Speak

Listen
Remain Silent

Communication Ethics Involves both Motives and Impacts Fundamental Principles Should Guide Discussions of Ethics

Knowing that you have numerous friends throughout the company, your boss relies on you for feedback concerning employee morale and other issues affecting the staff. She recently approached you and asked you to start reporting any behaviour that might violate company policies, from taking office supplies home to making personal long distance calls. What should you do?

Secrecy
Justifiable Unjustifiable

Dissent
Managers concerns (creating ways to express

concerns, and ways of responding to them) Employees concerns (should they voice concerns, and if they should, to whom?)

Power of Resolution

Recipients of Dissent

Low

High

External Audience Internal Audience

Family and Friends (Venting) C0-workers (Grousing)

Government Agencies (Whistleblowing) Supervisors or Company Officials (Voicing Objections

Leaks
Alternative to

Euphemisms
Consideration fee (bribe) Permanently borrowing

whistleblowing Feelers

(stealing)

Rumour and Gossip (Grapevine)

Events and Information People

Ambiguity
Intention Interpretation

Apology
Reform (denying) Transform (aberration) Responsibility

Lying
Stark lies White Lies

Your company plans to reduce local staffing by as much as 50 % over the next 5 to 10 years, starting with a small layoff next month. The size and timing of future layoffs have not been decided, although there is little doubt more layoffs will happen at some point. In the first draft of a letter aimed at the community, you write that this first layoff is part of a continuing series of staff reductions anticipated over the next several years. However, your boss is concerned about the vagueness and the negative tone of the message and asks you to rewrite it as this layoff is part of the companys ongoing efforts to continually align its resources with global market conditions. Do you think this suggested wording is ethical?

Code of Ethics/Values
Distribution Reinforcement

Your supervisor has asked you to withhold important information that you think should be included in a report you are preparing. Disobeying him could be disastrous for your relationship and your career. Obeying him could violate your personal code of ethics. What should you do?

What information should the organization gather? How should the organization gather the information? ( about employees, about competitors)
How should the organization use the information? (Who has access? When can it be released? When should it be destroyed?)

Organizational Policy
Information Possessed By Employee Employee Information Desired By Organization Medical records Purchasing patterns Marital status Off-job behaviours Personality tests Social Security No. Drug abuse history Personnel Files Appraisals Salary Projections Promotions Professional and ethical standards Legal rights Competitor strategy Government policies Forthcoming media stories External Groups Corporate misconduct Trade secrets Corporate strategy Policy disputes

Organization

Employee performance history Product information Personnel directory Customer databases

External Groups

Discretion
Relevance Accuracy

Fairness
Timeliness

You and a coworker are members of the same marketing department in a Fortune 500 company. You have worked closely with this coworker for the past 8 months and have developed casual relationship outside of working hours. However, you have started to feel that your coworker doesnt share information essential for you to be an effective department member. In fact, you suspect s/he occasionally withholds information (changes in meeting time and location, feedback from field visits, etc) so that you dont look good in the eyes of the supervisor. You have asked to meet with your coworker to talk about the issue.