Chapter 2:

Business Communication in Cultural and Ethical context

1. Ethics

Ethics are the set of principles for the conduct of an activity, such as our moral principles, which
determine what is right and what is not. American author and philosopher Aldo Leopold said
“Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one is watching – even when doing the wrong
thing is legal.”

2. Ethics as communication

We communicate our values, beliefs via verbal and non verbal communication. There are certain
things that influence an individual’s ethics

2.1. Influences on personal ethics

5 things influence and shape our ethic: People, Culture, Philosophy, Law and Religion

 People: Our family members and friends exert strong influence on our ethics; similarly,
our parents and other family members shape our ethical value system early on; e.g.
Family, friends, teachers, leaders, players, scholars, celebrities, etc.
 Culture: Culture includes learned values, perceptions, wants and behaviors from family
and other important institutions. Our culture teaches us certain ethical values; if you grew
up in a city you may have different values from someone who was raised in a small town.
Ideas, customs and social behaviors of people in society constitute its culture
 Philosophy: Philosophy is a study of logic. There are two major philosophical inquiries:
Descriptive ethics, normative ethics.
o Descriptive ethics reflect facts about moral judgments or beliefs of a person or
group of people fundamental moral principles
o Normative ethics involve discovering, formulating, and defining
 Law: Acting ethical means following the law. Laws represent the minimum standard of
behavior. Some people view ethics from a legal perspective.
 Religion: Religion determines the Dos and Don’t’s for us. Religion throughout the world
is a major foundation for ethical behavior among followers. Using religion as the
grounding for your ethical behavior means you act according to what you believe God
wants to do.
3. Ethics and Organization

Workplaces are mixes of many ethical values where each person brings a personal view of what
is ethical. A code of ethics within an organization is a set of principles that is used to guide the
organization in its decisions, programs, and policies. Corporations are only as good as the people
working within them. Organizational behavior is individual behavior collectivized.

4. Ethical Communication

Ethical communication constitutes as thoughtful decision making through responsible thinking.

Ethical communication requires an individual to accept the responsibility of message conveyed,
along with accepting the short and long term consequences of the message. An important aspect
of ethical communication is to not mislead the listener or your audience.

4.1. Principles of Ethical Communication

Following are the basic principles of ethical communication:

a) Communicating fact based messages with utmost honesty and accuracy is integral part of
an ethical communication
b) It is important to value the freedom of expression of all the parties involved, accept and
respect the diversity of views with tolerance
c) Although, honesty, straightforwardness is vital for ethical communication, it is also
imperative to ensure that your message shouldn’t be provocative for any parties involved
whatsoever. All the while, condemn the communication that degrades or provokes others
involved in the communication process
d) The source of information you are sharing should be made accessible to the audience. For
example, if you are communicating the information about stock performance in the
meeting, you are obligated to provide your audience with the annual reports
e) Although it is important to promote the access to communication resources, one must
also respect the privacy and confidentiality of certain material while sharing information.
Do not share information or material which may violate somebody’s privacy or
confidentiality of certain sensitive data or information
5. Key Areas for Ethical Communication

It is important that you focus on ethical communication in three key areas:

5.1. Personal Written and Spoken Messages

Our messages, both written and spoken demonstrate not only the message we intend but also
a message regarding our values and integrity. There are certain guidelines that should be
followed to evaluate your written and spoken messages:

a) First step before preparing any message is to determine the purpose of your message.
Your message’s content will depend on the purpose of your message. As far as ethical
communication is concerned, the purpose of your message should not only be in your
best interest, but it should be in best interest of your audience. The goal of your
message should be ethically sound.
 b) After determining the purpose, you select certain research methods, in order to collect
information or data required in order to prepare an effective message. Furthermore,
your research material matters a lot too. For ethical communication, it is imperative
that your research methods and materials are recent, reliable and unbiased.
c) The next step in preparing any message is the development of an idea. Based on the
data and information collected, you develop the main idea of your message that you
intend to convey. You must pay special attention to the fact that the information that
you choose should reflect and communicate your idea clearly and fairly. Ethical
communication requires you to stick to logical reasoning rather than relying too
heavily on emotions in order to send your message across.
d) Use of language is of utmost importance. Make sure to use the language that is fairly
and easily understood by your audience. If you’re preparing a message in a language
which may not be your audience’s first language, try to gauge the level of their
language proficiency.
e) As far as ethical communication is concerned, while preparing a written or spoken
message, do keep listener’s or reader’s values, feelings and attitudes under
consideration
5.2. Cross Cultural Messages

It is natural that misunderstandings occur in workplace. Many people from different cultures
live and work together. Our world has become a global village and our workforce reflects
that diversity. While preparing an ethical message, keep the cultural context of your receiver
in mind. Try to avoid the misunderstandings that may be created due to cultural ticks. If it is
difficult to learn all the acceptable things about a specific culture, learn the things that are
unacceptable or offensive, so you may avoid those. Even if you pay special attention to
language and other cultural factors, there is always a possibility that some
misunderstandings may occur; in that case, accept the responsibility of the message
conveyed and hold yourself accountable.

5.3. Advertising Messages

It is unethical to advertise products in ways that confuse the audience. In order for your
communication to be ethical, it is imperative that you don’t misrepresent your product and
don’t manipulate language in order to create a false impression. Some other points that need
to be kept in mind while preparing an advertising message are as follow:

a) Your advertising message should be truthful. Do not communicate anything which

isn’t true. For example, do not talk about certain features of your products which are
false or do not exist in order to sell it
b) Make sure you maintain the dignity of the human resource involved in your
advertisement. Do not objectify or harm the dignity of the people involved by
showing something which may not be ethical.
 c) Use of language and graphics in your advertisement should be paid special attention.
Do not use any language or graphics that may disturb the audience. You language
and subsequent graphics should be your target audience specific.
d) Accept the responsibility and accountability of your message conveyed, in case you
do not get the desired results from your communication.
6. Ethical Communication in workplace

There are different forms of communication at workplace, among different parties.

Conventionally, communication at workplace takes place between supervisor and
employee, manager and supervisor, executives and employees, etc. Like in any other
situation, while communicating at a workplace, one must always stay truthful and
honest. For example, when a manager is providing a performance appraisal to his/her
employees, be truthful and honest. If an employee in question is a high performer, keep a
balance between praise and improvement suggestions. Similarly, if you’re giving a
feedback to the poor performer, considering the principles of ethical communication,
point out the weak areas, additionally, provide guidance and coaching required to
improve the performance.

Similarly, any messages delivered by top management to the middle managers, line
supervisors and staff, must be transparent and truthful.