Business and Ethics: Teamwork, Communication, and Ethical Practices

This report delves into the crucial interplay between business ethics, teamwork, and communication within an organizational context. It begins by defining teamwork and its benefits, emphasizing how collaborative efforts enhance efficiency and foster creativity. The report then explores the significance of effective communication within teams, highlighting its impact on team performance and the importance of open dialogue. The analysis extends to ethical communication principles, such as truthfulness and advocacy, and examines communication ethics at individual, group, and environmental levels. Key aspects like adapting diversity and avoiding bias are discussed. The report concludes by underscoring the advantages of teamwork, including improved work effectiveness and enhanced interpersonal relationships, thus reinforcing the necessity of ethical practices in fostering a productive and harmonious work environment.

Running head: BUSINESS AND ETHICS
Business and Ethics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Reviewing team work................................................................................................................2
3.0 Reviewing communication at work...........................................................................................4
4.0 Linking teamwork and communication with ethics...................................................................6
4.1 Ethical communication in teamwork.....................................................................................6
4.2 Communication ethics...............................................................................................................7
5.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................8
6.0 Reference List..........................................................................................................................10

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1.0 Introduction
Teamwork refers to a situation where all the subordinates work collaboratively utilizing
their skills, knowledge and constructive feedback. Shockley-Zalabak (2014) stated that the prime
benefit of team work is that the desired organizational goals and objectives can be accomplished
efficiently. Killen and Dahl (2016) furthermore depicts that teamwork fosters creativity and
learning, blends individual strength in order to boost creative thinking. Team work also helps in
building trust and teaches conflict resolution skills and promotes a sense of ownership among all
the team members. On the other hand, communication among them should also be maintained
properly. Rebore (2013) depicts that effective communication enhance the probability of taking
sudden actions and creates understanding. In some cases, cultural diversity becomes a benefit but
Samovar et al. (2014) argued that difference and workplace harassments are also created through
this difference. Thus, proper business ethics should be followed that can address both the team
work and communication at work effectively. In this business report, the concept of team work,
team effectiveness, team performance and team communication will be represented. In the
second part of the assessment, the detail about communication component of team work and
relationship between communication and team effectiveness is also presented. Moreover, the
concept of ethical communication in teamwork and communication ethics will also be addressed.
The link between team work, communication and ethics will also be illustrated in the assessment.
2.0 Reviewing team work
The importance of teamwork has never been felt so strongly as in the past few decades.
With the changing era, every organization, institution, firm or company knows the value and

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importance of teamwork. However, one must be acquainted with the term teamwork in order to
proceed with its importance in the workplace or anywhere else.
Teamwork is the collective action of a set of people. However, teamwork is successful
when each individual in the team utilizes his or her potential to the maximum. A good team
player is the one who possesses exceptional interpersonal skills and a positive attitude. In
addition, he or she also has to understand the influence of the size, composition, background and
construction on the group dynamics and has to realize that it alters over time (West 2012).
Team effectiveness heavily relies on the performance of a team as a whole. To say that one
member of the team performed brilliantly but others failed to reciprocate and that is why the
team failed would be invalid. It is because teamwork involves not only individual performance
but also how each member is encouraged to perform better. An effective team is the one, which
is a combination of skilled members who know their roles and responsibilities clearly. In almost
all the organizations today, management follows different models of team effectiveness to ensure
best performance (Cooke et al., 2017). The model comprises various stages starting with the
goals of the team, roles and responsibilities of each member, procedures, relationships and bond
shared by the team members and leadership (Uvic.ca, 2017).
Success of an organization depends on the success of a team and a team cannot achieve
success unless each individual member performs. The performance of an individual in a team is
directly proportional to the performance of the team as a whole. The role of the team leader
becomes crucial in this regard as he or she is the one who needs to motivate the team members to
perform well. In a large number of organizations today, team performances are also measured
systematically assisted by data and statistics. When a team member fails to perform, the team

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leader is held accountable, as the entire team has to suffer (Dyer and Dyer 2013). This results in
the poor performance of the organization thus making it vulnerable in the competitive market.
Communication is undoubtedly the best way to create, improve and enhance a team and
its performance. It is in fact the basic element of interacting with others not only within a team.
A team that encourages open communication yields the best results (Shultz and Adams 2012).
Teamwork is largely dependent on communication. Interacting with team members helps boost
strong relationship in the team.
Teamwork in the workplace has received prominent importance especially with the
emergence of technological era that demands nonstop result. Organizations are discovering ways
to create an atmosphere where teams can perform and deliver the best for them. It is evident from
the latest developments in the world of business where recruiters demand exceptional qualities of
working in a team from the prospective candidates. Teamwork has now become a qualification
and individuals aspiring to compete in the market have to demonstrate this skill.
3.0 Reviewing communication at work
As already mentioned in the above segment, communication is an integral part of
teamwork. Without communication, no team can achieve success. It however has to be
understood that communication can affect teamwork either in a good or in a bad way. A team
comprises different individuals who might have different ways to communicate; some might be
introvert, some may be extrovert while some can be soft spoken or hard spoken. This can be
realized or learned by the leader through the team effectiveness model where every member is
given a chance to introduce them.

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Communication involves wide range of aspects. Listening and speaking are of course the
two most basic components of communication. The one who listens carefully is the one who can
speak fluently and convincingly. In a team, one might be a good listener or a good speaker. It is
essential for an individual to be assertive and clear in what he or she wants to communicate
especially in a team. Communication within teams also depends on the history shared by the
team to its members within an organization. To have a smooth flow of communication, there
must be transparency within the team and the leader has to ensure that no information is hidden
from the team members (Schellwies 2014).
Communication has been the most emphasized factor in studies that cover teamwork,
team effectiveness or team performance. Most researchers have found that communication
affects team performance or effectiveness largely. It is evident from the structure and functioning
of reputed organizations as well, that communication has been given prominence in teamwork.
Illustrations from real life could also be given where communication and teamwork
played a vital role in the company’s success. The biggest example can be of Google, a company
that revolutionized the concept of teamwork and communication. Created by Sergey Brin and
Larry Page, Google has led the list of companies that give prominence to employee satisfaction,
open communication and teamwork (Lahti 2015). Apple Inc too is not far away, as it also boasts
of outstanding results every year owning to its exception teamwork. These companies, along
with other renowned and successful organizations prove with their success rate that
communication is and has always been an integral part of teamwork. Effective teams are made
effective only through effective communication.

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Teams can communicate on a regular basis or the communication might be limited. It has been
found that while some teams perform better by communicating often, others have done well with
limited communication (Eprints.qut.edu.au, 2017). This indicates that although communication is
an essential part, the nature of teamwork or situations may influence the rate of communication.
To say it simply, sometime, regular communication works in favor of teamwork and at other
times productive but limited communication yields positive results. However, in either case,
communication is needed to produce effective team results.
4.0 Linking teamwork and communication with ethics
4.1 Ethical communication in teamwork
Tubbs (2012) furthermore depicts that ethical communication refers to the moral aspects
of group interaction. The importance of ethical communication is to enhance the human worth
and dignity by addressing the fairness, personal integrity, truthfulness, responsibility and self-
respect. Thus, caring and responsibility for oneself illustrates the ethical communication in small
groups (Killen and Dahl 2016.). There are some principles that can be applicable in a team
communication. These principles are illustrated below:
Truthfulness- Rebore (2013) depicted that in order to attain the integrity of communication,
accuracy and honesty along with truthfulness is required. This shows that every member shared
accurate information and they are working collaboratively for attaining the organizational
objectives.

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Adapting diversity- Communication ethics also allow everyone to express their perspective
without any hesitation. Ulrich and Sarasin (2012) argued that in this case, some organization
faces adversity for harassment and discrimination due to difference in cultural and traditional
beliefs and those people are not allowed to share their perception. However, according to ethical
communication, every individual is free to express their thoughts tolerance of dissent so that the
organization and managers can attain responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society
(Leeuwis 2013).
Advocacy- Each team member are liable to promote communication climates for enhancing
mutual understanding and respect the unique needs. Killen and Dahl (2016) depicted that these
members should advocate sharing information and feelings when facing significant choices
along with respecting the confidentiality and privacy.
4.2 Communication ethics
Rebore (2013) stated that ethics in workplace involves in three levels- individual group
members and group environment. Moreover, it can also be said that moral dimension relevant to
interpersonal communication also refers ethics of communication. In context of a team, all team
members should maintain correct balance between speaking and listening, the degree of criticism
and praise and between the fear and emotional appeal. There are some fundamentals of
communication ethics- responsible thinking, decision making and development of relationships
and communities. Stacks and Salwen (2014) furthermore highlighted that a team member should
respect all their team members and suggest them ways so that they can prosper in their working
approaches. In some cases, heterogeneity also leads to conflict among each other. In such cases,
the members should respect their perceptions and not shared the conflict stories with other

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members. This arises to the adversity of unhealthy competition and aggressiveness in the
workplace. Samovar et al. (2015) also highlighted that in communication ethics, best practices
should be considered. The mangers should also listen to all the queries of each subordinate and
suggest ways for improvement rather than imposing their self-thinking based on the situation.
Thus, biasness should be avoided in context of communication ethics. Shockley-Zalabak (2014)
also depicts that team members are allowed to speak their own experience and perspective that
can be utilized by other team members as a solution of they will face the same situation. Thus,
members should be allowed to express their knowledge and suggestions to others. The
communication ethics also suggests that the managers or organizational leaders should avoid
speaking for others and universalize their opinions, beliefs and values. They should also avoid
interrupting and side conversations and adopt ways like implementation of textual
communication like social media conversation. This approach will allow those members to
express their thoughts who face difficulty in speaking in front of others. Team members on the
other hand should encourage their colleagues to speak and support their thoughts in workplace.
5.0 Conclusion
Thus, it can be said that, team work provide many advantages to the organization like
improved work effectiveness and efficiency, quick accomplishments of business objectives and
enhances interpersonal relationship among the team members. It can be concluded from the
assessment that in a workplace, there are many employees working together and they have to
communicate with each other for obtaining their work goals. The important principle of team
communication that is identified in this assessment is truthfulness, adapting diversity and
advocacy. These members should seek to understand others and respect their thoughts. In some
cases, there might be cases of violence and harassment as some employee does not encourage

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thoughts of people, who belong from other culture and tradition. Team members are also
encouraged to Think and act like an owner, keep a balance in their life, communicate without
fear of retribution and make and meet commitments. In such cases, the manager should
implement process for textual communication so that everyone can express their thoughts freely.
This concept expresses the communication ethics of freedom of expression. The managers n this
case also suggested that they should recognize a moral issue, get the facts, evaluate the
alternative actions, make a decision, taking actions and reflect on the decision.

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6.0 Reference List
Cooke, N., Hilton, M., Science, C., Board on Behavioral, a., Education, D. and Council, N.
(2017). Overview of the Research on Team Effectiveness. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available
at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310384/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].
Dyer, W.G. and Dyer, J.H., 2013. Team building: Proven strategies for improving team
performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Eprints.qut.edu.au (2017). [online] Available at:
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/30311/1/Stacey_Hassall_Thesis.pdf [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].
Killen, M. and Dahl, A., 2016. Moral judgment: Reflective, interactive, spontaneous,
challenging, and always evolving.
Lahti, M., 2015. Communicating interculturality in the workplace. University of Jyväskylä.
Leeuwis, C., 2013. Communication for rural innovation: rethinking agricultural extension. John
Wiley & Sons.
Rebore, R.W., 2013. The ethics of educational leadership. Pearson Higher Ed.
Rebore, R.W., 2013. The ethics of educational leadership. Pearson Higher Ed.
Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E., McDaniel, E.R. and Roy, C.S., 2014. Intercultural communication:
A reader. Cengage Learning.
Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E., McDaniel, E.R. and Roy, C.S., 2015. Communication between
cultures. Nelson Education.

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Schellwies, L., 2014. Critical Situations in Multicultural Teams. Challenges for Multinational
Companies.
Shockley-Zalabak, P., 2014. Fundamentals of organizational communication. Pearson.
Shultz, K.S. and Adams, G.A., 2012. Aging and work in the 21st century. Psychology Press.
Stacks, D.W. and Salwen, M.B. eds., 2014. An integrated approach to communication theory and
research. Routledge.
Tubbs, S.L., 2012. Human communication: Principles and contexts.
Ulrich, P. and Sarasin, C. eds., 2012. Facing public interest: The ethical challenge to business
policy and corporate communications (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.
Uvic.ca (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.uvic.ca/hr/assets/docs/od/teammodel.pdf
[Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].
West, M.A., 2012. Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. John
Wiley & Sons.