COMMUNICATION ETHICS

Ethics has become a progressively more important issue in today’s workplace. An employee

can save himself/herself a lot of headaches (and potential legal problems) if he/she follows the

guidelines below:



ETHICAL GUIDELINES



1. Maintain Candor-Candor refers to truthfulness, honesty, and frankness in

communication with other people. Although there may be times when openness is

not preferred (such as in negotiations), it is usually wise and ethical to be as open as

possible.



2. Keep Messages Accurate-Always try to be as accurate as possible when

communicating with others. Ethical communicators don’t “embellish” stories to make

them more “juicy.”



3. Avoid Deception-Intentional distortion is not only unethical; it can lead to uncomfortable

situations. Someone may “call” you on the distortion—and the worse case scenario—

may be termination.



4. Maintain Consistent Behavior-One noticeable example of unethical behavior is saying

one thing and doing another. This will quickly jeopardize your image. Consistency

between communication and action is imperative to being considered ethical in the

workplace.



5. Keep Confidences-When someone tells you something and expects you not to tell

anyone else, trust has been placed in you. If you tell someone else and make her/

him promise not to tell others, chances are the information will get back to the original

source—undermining that person’s confidence in you.



6. Ensure Timeliness of Communication-Holding back information from someone can

also be considered unethical. This is especially true when it is done intentionally. It’s

not always what you say, but what you don’t say.



7. Confront Unethical Behavior-To maintain a consistent ethical viewpoint, you must

confront unethical behavior when you observe it. Public acknowledgement of the

behavior isn’t always necessary, but confronting someone privately sends the message

that you are not tolerant of such activity.



8. Cultivate Empathic Listening-By lending a sensitive ear to those who are troubled by

unethical behavior, you can better understand and help to solve the problems associated

with these acts.