 The categorical imperative is Kant’s famous

statement of this duty:

“Act only according to that maxim by which you

can at the same time will that it should become
a universal law.”
 Explain why each of the following is ethical or
not ethical:
 Keeping quiet about a possible environmental
hazard you’ve just discovered in your company’s
processing plant
 Overselling the benefits of instant messaging to
your company’s management; they never seem to
understand the benefits of technology, so you
believe it’s the only way to convince them to make
the right choice
 Telling an associate and close friend that she’d
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
won’t 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?
 Ends (What one hopes to achieve through
communication)

 Means (How one chooses to communicate)

 Consequences (The real world outcomes of

communication)
 Four Traditions of Ethical Theory:

 Principles or Standards of Conduct

 Character or the Person or Company

 Consequences of a Particular Action

 Care Extended within Relationships

 To function effectively, societies as well as
organizations must have shared standards of
conduct
 Fosters detached and legalistic approach.
 Key questions:
 What SOC are relevant to this Case?
 How do SOC help clarify the moral tension I feel in
this case?
 Is there a diversity in the SOCs in this case?
 Focuses on Virtues and Vices

 Virtues have to be seen in context

 May induce us to make too much of ourselves.

 Key Questions:
 What do the choices in the case say about me?
 What would a person of my character do in this case?
 How can I act to clarify what I stand for?
 Focuses on Purposes and Outcomes

 Can make us ignore SOC and character

 Key Questions:
 Which stakeholders will be affected by my action?
 For whom value will be created or destroyed?
 Which stakeholders are likely to oppose me?
 Focuses on stakeholder relationships

 Can be costly and can lead us to ignore other

priorities

 Key Questions:
 Which relationships are most important in this case?
 Which relationships are at risk in this case?
 What can I do to protect and/or repair relationships
affected in the case?
 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 Family and Friends Government Agencies

Audience (Venting) (Whistleblowing)

Internal C0-workers Supervisors or Company

Audience (Grousing) Officials
(Voicing Objections
 Leaks  Euphemisms
 Alternative to  Consideration fee (bribe)
whistleblowing  Permanently borrowing
 Feelers (stealing)
 Rumour and Gossip  Ambiguity
(Grapevine)  Intention
 Events and Information  Interpretation
 People  Apology
 Lying  Reform (denying)
 Stark lies  Transform (aberration)
 White Lies  Responsibility
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
company’s 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 Information Desired
Possessed By By
Employee Organization External Groups
Employee Medical records Corporate
Purchasing patterns misconduct
Marital status Trade secrets
Off-job behaviours Corporate strategy
Personality tests Policy disputes
Social Security No.
Drug abuse history
Organization Personnel Files Employee
Appraisals performance history
Salary Projections Product information
Promotions Personnel directory
Customer databases
External Groups Professional and Competitor strategy
ethical standards Government policies
Legal rights Forthcoming media
stories
 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 doesn’t 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
don’t look good in the eyes of the supervisor. You have
asked to meet with your coworker to talk about the
issue.