Critical Essay Example on Ethics
Critical Essay on Ethics
Communication in Organizations 425
Thursday 23, 2009 Ethical communication is an important prerequisite for effectiveness for both individuals and entire organizations (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009 p.114). I believe that ethical communication is most effective when individuals and organizations respect and encourage diverse opinions, do not tolerate communication that degrades and harms others, and balance the sharing of information with a respect for privacy, and listen for understanding and empathy before evaluating and critiquing ideas. Thomas Nilsen describes communication he believes to be morally right as that which provides the listener with the information needed to make a choice and the reasoning that would make rational decisions possible; it must then help the listener to make the most reasonable choice. The National Communication Association (NCA) states: "Ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and other." Regardless whether ethical communication is described as supporting informed choice making or valuing the innate worth of human beings, individuals must take responsibility for personal behavior and how it affects their organization.
Additionally, there used to be a time in corporate America when gender discrimination was very easy to find. A respected female executive would lose a promotion to a male colleague with less experience, for instance, or a talented female manager would find herself demoted after her maternity leave. Today such blatant cases are rare; they’ve been wiped out by laws and by organizations’ increased awareness that they have nothing to gain, and much to lose, by keeping women out of positions of authority. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC) in Fiscal Year 2008 received 28,372 charges of sex-based discrimination. They resolved 24,018 charges and recovered
Communication in Organizations 425
Thursday 23, 2009 Ethical communication is an important prerequisite for effectiveness for both individuals and entire organizations (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009 p.114). I believe that ethical communication is most effective when individuals and organizations respect and encourage diverse opinions, do not tolerate communication that degrades and harms others, and balance the sharing of information with a respect for privacy, and listen for understanding and empathy before evaluating and critiquing ideas. Thomas Nilsen describes communication he believes to be morally right as that which provides the listener with the information needed to make a choice and the reasoning that would make rational decisions possible; it must then help the listener to make the most reasonable choice. The National Communication Association (NCA) states: "Ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and other." Regardless whether ethical communication is described as supporting informed choice making or valuing the innate worth of human beings, individuals must take responsibility for personal behavior and how it affects their organization.
Additionally, there used to be a time in corporate America when gender discrimination was very easy to find. A respected female executive would lose a promotion to a male colleague with less experience, for instance, or a talented female manager would find herself demoted after her maternity leave. Today such blatant cases are rare; they’ve been wiped out by laws and by organizations’ increased awareness that they have nothing to gain, and much to lose, by keeping women out of positions of authority. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC) in Fiscal Year 2008 received 28,372 charges of sex-based discrimination. They resolved 24,018 charges and recovered