The Role of Ethics in Effective Business Communication

Ethical communication is a critical component of business management that significantly enhances the quality and integrity of organizational services. This paper discusses how businesses can improve their service delivery by practicing ethical means of communication within teams, considering audience mental states and backgrounds in two-way communication processes. By integrating ethics into communication strategies, organizations not only comply with professional standards but also build trust and credibility among stakeholders. The analysis underscores the importance of team members' adherence to ethical communication practices as a vital part of business operations.

Running Head: ETHICAL COMMUNICATION FOR BUSINESS
Ethical Communication for Business
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1ETHICAL COMMUNICATION FOR BUSINESS
Introduction
Communication in a business is the most important aspect of business development and
success. There is a direct relation between god and ethical communication within an organization
which determines the quality of team work which can be obtained. The following essay is about
the importance and dynamics of ethical communication in an organization and its implications in
the business world. The essay discusses about the effective communication in business which is
practiced to maximize the benefits of the organization and to develop a work culture.
Communication is the exchange of information between two entities which makes work easier
and meaningful.To work in a team the proper method of commination is highly important. There
are list of rules of communication which are to be complied in different situations.
Ethics is the right way to do things. It denotes the most appropriate way of
communication in this context. The following essays discusses the types of communication
methods used for a team work and which is the most correct way to communicate and in which
situation. Keeping ethics in mind when formulating a communication plan and structure makes
the plan more concrete and well defined. All the communication practices must follow the
ethical guidelines to make them farfetched and sustainable in the business environment. The
essay also traverses through the needs of ethical practices in the process of communication in the
business environment. These needs will justify the importance and significance of ethics in
communication and will portray how ethics is necessary in communication.

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Communication and Team Work
Ethics in communication actually refers to the considerations of ethical nature in the
practices of communication. Both the terms “ethics” and “communication” have very different
and subjective meanings when kept in different contexts. The literal meaning of communication
is the exchange of thoughts, information and feelings through the process of speech, behavior,
signals or through writing (Aßländer and Gössling 2017). In the same way ethics is defined as
the correct method of doing something, or the principles and guidelines with which the work can
be done. In this context both these definitions of ethics are relevant and when mixed with
communication it gives a proper structure of practices which are adopted for a team work.
There is a lot of scope of induction of ethical practices of communication in a team work.
In a team of workers in an organization there are many ethical dilemmas which a worker has to
face and those can only be resolved when there is a strong sense of ethics (Bishop and Lee
2017). Since a team is comprised of many workers who have different work cultures and
ethics.In the context of communication there should be certain ethical principles which need to
be kept in mind. These principles may be selecting the best and most ethical practices for
interacting with the team members. It is an ethical practice to listen to the others when they speak
and not interrupt them in between. When working in a team a person should not judge the tone of
voice or the manner of speaking of other team members (Brooks and Manias 2017). Whenever
there is any discussion in the team, a person should always speak from the perspective of their
own thoughts and experience which appeals to the needs and thoughts of the team.
While communicating a person should keep in mind that the conversation should be
focused more on understanding than to making a point and to prove themselves right even by

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offending other team members. Another ethical practice to be kept in mind when practicing
communication in a team is that one should not speak for others. This means that a person should
not characterize things aid by others without knowing the real background of the matter
(Bunniket et al. 2017). One should also not universalize their own opinions, values beliefs and
perceptions and draw conclusions on the basis of that.It is a very ethical practice to manage
boundaries of self-involvement in a discourse. A person when taking part in a conversation
should be confined to itself and should not express its feelings in totality. It is very important to
share only those things which cannot be used against the person who is saying which can damage
its reputation among its team members. In the same way a person should respect the personal
boundaries of other team mates when communicating and should be aware of the things which
may offend the other person (Engleberg et al. 2017). In the practice of communication a person
should keep in mind that all the team members should get equal time for speaking so that they
should not feel that they have been left out.
Team Work Communication and Ethics
It has been seen in general sense that a team works to achieve targets and goals which are
given to them and the communication is determined by the type of job they do. It is implicit for a
team to practice ethical methods as they are more goals oriented and believe that the work should
be done in time whatever may be the practices (Jondle and Ardichvili 2017). There are three
levels in each team which has an individual ethical requirement in context of communication.
The first one is the most basic unit of a team which is an individual team member. It has its own
needs of communication which is followed by a different ethical code. For Example, when a
group member is not able to complete the job assigned to him on time he starts thinking of an
excuse which he can make to him team lead to get an extension which is an unethical practice.

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For that he needs to communicate with his senior in a manner which he seems fit and which will
accomplish his goal (Lauring and Bjerregaard 2017).
Another level comprises of the group in whole. A group is assigned the whole task which
is distributed among its members. For example a group is assigned to make a project report
which has a very short deadline and the team members have not done it in time. When
researching for it on the internet they find a similar report which they have to make. In that case
all the members of the group decide among themselves that they will present the same report
with some minor changes. In this case the type of communication between the team members is
an unethical one which is done to cover their mistakes in front of their collective seniors
(Lipschultz 2017).
The third level is of the group environment which is kept under monitoring as there may
creep up many unethical practice which may prove to be dangerous for the organization in the
long run. These unethical practices of communication can also put all the group members at risk
and can cost the organization a million of dollars. The above mentioned unethical practices of
communication are quite common which needs to be checked. There are certain guiding
principles of ethics which can be applied to rectify the wrong practices (Maria 2017).Principles
such as truthfulness, reason, accuracy and honesty which are needed to maintain the ethical
integrity of the communication. Approving freedom of expression, allowing diversity in
perspective and tolerance for other viewpoints can improve the ethical stance of communication
in a team. There should be condemnation of practices which encourages, hatred, violence,
distortion, coercion, intimidation and intolerance (McKee and Porter 2017). There should be
encouragement to the practices of personal convictions which promotes justice and fairness of
work and communication in a team. There should be a notion of understanding the reason and

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proper respect should be given to the other perspectives before judging and criticizing their
outlook. There should be an environment of sharing of information, feelings and opinions so that
all the team members feel connected with each other (Medeiros et al. 2017).
Need of Ethics in Communication
To make the best decisions in a team or in a business venture the proper ethical methods
of communication must be practiced and executed on a regular basis. There is a need for ethical
communication in managing a successful team which leads to a successful business. There are
certain specific advantages of ethical communication which has become a need for running and
managing a business venture (Oumlil et al. 2017). The reasons for the need are listed below.
Respect to the Audience: It has been observed that the ethical communicators have a positive
impact of their audience as they tend to be most respectful in their actions and modes of
communication. Since it is believed that communication is a two way process, the way in which
one person communicates have direct implications of the audience which may take it in a
positive manner or they may get offended which depends completely on the manner the speaker
communicates (Saarinen 2017).
Consideration of Consequences:An ethical communicator will always consider the
consequences of the discourse which may vary according to the manner of communication. Since
the outcomes of communication are not separate from each other there is a direct correlation
between the results which may be positive or negative. For an ethical communicator it becomes
highly imperative to keep in mind the nature and type of the audience among which the
communication is done (Sabin and Harland 2017). For example a speaker cannot discuss things
of personal life in the workplace or with their seniors as it will not solve the purpose of the

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communication. In the same way a person cannot discuss things of work with his family as they
have no knowledge and interest about the concerned topic.
Respect of Truth:Communication in ethics mainly depends on the respect among the audiences.
There should be a sense of faith and trust among the audiences about the matters which are
discussed in the communication. If a person cannot exactly judge the nature of audience and their
mentality towards the topic of discussion then the entire purpose of communication fails (Shim et
al. 2017). Therefore the element of truth is necessary in the communication so that the ethical
integrity can be maintained.
Proper Use of Information:Ethical communicators have a knack to use the most relevant and
proper information in their communication practices. There are certain professions such as
medical, law educational institutions which are based mainly on the type of information which is
rendered by them. Ethical communicators also sue accurate information in business ventures to
provide presentation and other statistical data in business analysis (Wocial et al. 2017). On the
basis of these ethical data reports are produced which are important for the accountability and the
integrity of the company.
Falsification of Information: It has been observed that ethical communicators do not
manipulate and falsify information in their discourse which enhances the integrity of
communication within a specified audience which may be in a team or in an entire organization
(Saarinen 2017).
These above mentioned points of ethical communication are needed in a business venture
and other such organizations which adds up the importance of ethics in practicing
communication.

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Conclusion
There is a very important position of ethics and its practices in communication within a
business organization. It can be concluded from the above discussion that communication is
majorly about the audience and their perspective to interpret the matter which is discussed and
the way it is said by the speaker. There is also an ethical angle to the types of communication
procedures which are to be followed. As it has been discussed, that ethics is the proper way of
doing things, it relates to the practice of communication which makes it more professional and
appropriate picking out all the negative ways and means which are applied during the process of
communication. Being very diverse terms both ethics and communication hold very vital place in
the business management techniques which enhances the quality and integrity of services
provided by an organization which practices ethical means of communication. Since
communication is a two way process, equal compliance ad importance is given to the concerned
audience and a lot depends upon their mental state and background. It can finally be concluded
that ethics is an important part of communication and should be practiced by all means in team
work and the team members.

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