About Ethical Communication in Business

About Ethical Communication in Business thumbnail
Practice appropriate communication in business.

Every business is dependent on effective ethical communication. It's what makes new policy in government, raises money for nonprofits and strengthens a business. Business communication occurs any time a message is given or received, whether it's verbal or nonverbal, between two businesses, a business and its employees or a business and the public. The messages sent and received by a business need to follow ethical norms that don't offend or make individuals feel uncomfortable.

  1. Significance

    • Ethical business communication holds great significance on three main fronts: business to business, business to employees and business to the public. An example of the first type is between a business and its suppliers or distributors. The second is organizational communication within the business itself, how the leadership communicates with the employees. Lastly, communication with the public is how the business develops its public image. Maintaining high ethical standards on each front is essential to success in business.

    Function

    • Ethical business communication's primary function is to send and receive messages in a neutral, non-offensive manner. Ethical effective communication skills in business strengthen its corporate culture, resulting in a more attractive bottom line. When communication does not adhere to ethical standards, the consequences can include unhappy employees, a poor public image and a decrease in the bottom line. Ethical business communication is intended to care for the emotional and perceptive needs of its employees and customers.

    Misconceptions

    • A common misconception concerning ethical communication in business is that most unethical communication is obvious and overt. True unethical communication is based on perception. If a person or people group perceive or interpret certain actions or words to be discriminatory or offensive, the communication can be considered unethical. The same is true with interpersonal interactions between employees. If a particular form of communication or gesture is offensive to another employee, it can be categorized as unethical.

    Purpose

    • The purpose of ethical communication in business is to protect, respect and maintain a good public image. The communication in any business is for the purpose of maintaining order and the proper image with its employees and society. For example, if an accusation was to arise against a particular company, the public relations representative will arrange a press conference to verbally address the issue at hand. The company may also change a policy pertaining to the issue that non-verbally communicates the same message.

    Consequences

    • There are many consequences to unethical business communication. A business may have an outstanding product or service, but if it doesn't communicate well with its customers, they will not be satisfied, and this can weaken the business/customer relationship. Everything in business rises and falls on communication. When ethical communication is lacking, moral, corporate image and motivation will lack as well. Each of these elements affects the spirit of the employees, which in turn will reflect to the customer and result in a decrease in revenue.

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  • Photo Credit business colleagues preparing for business meeting image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com

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