Ethical and Unethical Communication-

I think it is very important to understand the concepts of ethical communication and unethical communication. In the fields of ethics, there are two areas: descriptive and normative ethics. “Descriptive ethics reflects on the moral judgment of a person or a group and normative ethics involves formulating and defining moral principals” (Roebuck, 2006). People know that it is unethical to do something that they know is wrong. That behavior usually promotes dishonesty.

To ensure communications are ethical you have to use good moral judgment and honesty. My company has a mandatory Code of Ethics training we have to take yearly. We all complain about it, but we realize that it is very important. It is very important for us to understand the rules and guidelines of appropriate behavior in the work place. “Individuals should treat everything as confidential unless told differently.” (Roebuck, 2006).

An example of ethical communication is when a person calls your job requesting some personal information about one of your clients, but you explain to them that it is against company policy to disclose such information and the person accepts that and hangs up. The company code of ethics policy explains that all client information is to be treated as confidential unless they sign a release form allowing for you to disclose the information.

An example of unethical communication is discussing a client’s financial or personal information with someone outside of the company. My company has very strict policies about disclosing client information, and if you are caught doing this it can result in losing your job or even being prosecuted.

Reference:
Roebuck, D.B. (2006). Improving business communications skills (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.