Contents

What is Ethics?
Definition

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Communication in Ethical Context:

Legal Issues

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Key areas of Ethical Communication:

Personal or written message. Cross-cultural and Advertising message: *

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Personal Ethics and Behavior:

People Culture Philosophy Law

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What are Ethics?

Basically, ethics are the set of rules and norms which human society and different religions have devised in order to maintain a suitable relationship between people and their organizations. Its all which suffices the idea of right and wrong. Ethics have a historical background as old as human beings. Prophet Adam (AS) brought a set of rules for his children. The first unethical act was done by Cain who committed Homicide of his brother Abel. In Islamic context, the charter of ethics was refreshed with every Prophet. Other religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism have also a set of ethics. But we cannot always claim to follow the ethics properly. At many times, we compromise our ethics. Mostly in times, where ethical options might lead to unpleasant circumstances but sometimes just for fun. Now, the question arises, is avoiding an unpleasant situation through unethical options ethical or not. The question is hard to understand. Philosophers throughout the history have given ideals about this question. The old English Proverbs says, Two wrongs dont make a right. While Sheikh Saadi says, If a truth can bring malice, than it is better to tell a lie. These paradoxical ideals and the proverbial values are quite confusing at times.

Communication in Ethical Context: Impacts of Legal Issues on an Individual and on the Organization: Legal Issues: there are certain legal issues that also involve ethical values. These
involve defamation and privacy. Defamation can be both written and oral. Written defamation is libel while oral defamation is slander. A person or an organization victim of libel or slander can sue the defamer. Although there are legal consequences of these actions however, they are unethical as well. Every person and every organization has a right to their privacy. In well organized society, individuals take care not to invade the privacy of their fellow beings. In certain hospitals and educational institutes the medical reports or transcripts of the patients and alumnae are not disclosed without their permission. Disclosing personal information might have legal implications but they are also unethical. Harassment means irritating and tormenting another person on a repeated basis. Trying to scare someone or abuse them or using inappropriate communication is included in harassment. Harassment is also an unethical issue that prevails in different organizations. And now harassment in work places, on roads and in public places is about to be declared an illegal act. The bill has already been sanctioned by the parliament and is about to be sanctioned by Senate. Stalking is also unethical issue. Stalking means: to follow someone

and make them uncomfortable. Stalking is also a type of harassment and thus it is unethical. Discrimination on basis of gender and racial issues is also unethical. It is not Plagiarism means to adopt someones ideas without references. Plagiarism is not only illegal; it is unethical and can bring serious consequences. Copyrighting protects a person or an organization against this intellectual theft. If a persons work copyright protected, they can sue the thief.

Key areas of Ethical Communication: Personal or written message:

While composing a written message one needs to keep certain things in mind: Message purpose: the purpose of composing a message should be to serve maximum people. A negative message is better unsaid then said. Research methods: while composing an information message, it is important to do some research and to do research, certain measures are to be taken such as; the research sources should be recent, reliable and unbiased. Selection of material: the material which is selected for the composition of message should be relevant. It should give the information or pass the ideas fairly and accurately without creating ambiguity. Development of ideas: the ideas should not be composed under influence of emotional state or bias. Propaganda and slanting should be avoided in every case. Language: language of written message should be appropriate and comprehensible. Concrete, specific and audience-oriented language should be used in order to ensure the successful communication. Ethical context: while composing a message the feeling of the receiver should be kept under consideration. It is unethical to deliberately agonize or insult a person. 1. Self-analyses: ethics do not refer to comfort others only. The sender of message should also be also be comfortable with the message he is sending. It is unethical to make oneself uncomfortable or compromise ones ethical principles while composing a message. Because, its first grade deception.

Cross-cultural and Advertising message:

The world is becoming a global village. We have to interact with people from across the boarder and across continents. Different people have different cultures. T is unethical to take advantage of culture differences. It is ethically wrong to use miscommunication or manipulation while advertising. Statements like, you are smart enough to know our product is good, are manipulative statements. They might bully a customer emotionally to buy the product. Trying to confuse a customer by false or ambiguous statements is also unethical.

Personal Ethics and Behavior:

There are number of influences which design our Ethical values. Each person has a different concept about what is ethical and what is not. These concepts are formulated by a number of factors. People People play a vital role in our personality grooming consequently impacting our principles, values and Ethics. Family: our parents, siblings, grand parents, aunts and uncles etc. influence our ethics with great deal. Children are constantly told about what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, many people tend to avoid something unethical in front of their parents and other family relations. Teachers: The second important influence on our ethics is that our teachers, particularly for kids. For them whatever the teacher says is right. Peers: Friends and peers also play a vital role in impacting ethics. For instance, Negative peer influence can compel a child to compromise his ethics by telling him steal that thing, lying or using abusing language is fine. Mentors: Apart from our parents, teachers, and peers, we tend to take inspiration from certain other people. They might be our favorite personalities or even a mere acquaintance. These people also shape our ethics. Mentors tend give suggestions according to their experiences and ethics.

The above Fig: influence on Personal ethics.

Culture:
Every Culture influences the people who adopt it and shape their ethical values. Folk tales, tales from their lives of important people and fables told in every culture are woven round these values. For instance, American children are told that George Washington traveled miles to return penny to a customer whom he had overcharged by mistake. Chinese children are taught a song I wish a child finds a penny on the road and returns it to Police officers who praises the childs honesty. In Muslim world, the narration about Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani (RA) as a child a Dacoit is frequently told in which Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani (RA) is given money by his mother who sews it in his pocket. While going in convoy they stopped by the Dacoits who ask him if he has money and on telling them that he has check him and cant find anything so they take him to their leader who calls him a lair. He then says that he never lies and shows them the money. This makes the leader repent and thus he mends his ways. Such stories, narrations and fables are told in order to make the children more ethical and give them a a proper sense of right and wrong.

Philosophy:
On philosophy grounds, two main classes of Ethics are; Descriptive and Normative Ethic. Descriptive Ethics reflect facts about moral judgments or beliefs of a person or group of people. Normative Ethics involve discovering, formulating and defining fundamental moral principles. Normative Ethics have been a subject of contemplation from Pre-historic times. Philosophy and scholars like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the stoics that age remained exclusively dedicated to the normative ethics.

Law:
Law is the reflection of peoples minds. For some people ethics mean to follow law. Their perspective on ethics is legal. However, for certain other people, law is the command of human minds and thus they may have unjust or unethical rules. David Thoreau did not want to pay taxes from his earning for war. He thought its unethical, and Martin Luther King argued that the segregation laws for black people are unjust so they should not be followed. However the fact is that in a society where lawlessness prevails, people have much weaker ethics than those following law.

Religion:
Religion beliefs also add to the ethics perspective of its followers. Whichever God a person believes in, their religion gives a detailed intake on ethics. For instance, Muslims follow The Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) and the complete code of life Al Quran. While Christians follow Prophet Jesus (P.B.U.H) and Bible. Buddhists follow Gautama Buddha; Confucians follow the teachings of Confucius. Almost all religions base their ethics on the basic Charter of humanity. All religions hold lying, stealing and dishonesty as immoral, while they all hold services to human beings and honesty as moral. And all most all of them talk about the reward of a moral life in the after life.