what is ethical communication?
Communication is sharing information between two people. According to the communication theorist David Berlo's communication model, the sender sends a message through a channel to a receiver who then receives the message and provides feedback. Ethical communication refers to people communicating with each other based upon their ethical principles. Let's look at some basic ethical paradigms to gain insight on how people base their actions, including communication. By studying these constructs, you will learn how people make ethical decisions and understand their perspective.
What are ethical paradigms?
Ethical paradigms are the frameworks we use to decide what is right or wrong. The five main ethical paradigms are: Utilitarianism, Deontology, Ethical Relativism, Divine Command Theory, and Virtue Ethics. Identifying these theories and knowing the differences will provide you a better perspective on how to connect with people.
Utilitarians focus on consequences. An ethical decision is one that will bring the most happiness to the most people (or prevent the least amount of suffering), not one's motives or the actions themselves. This theory is also known as "the ends justify the means". (West, 2014). Example: As an educator, I report to a board that collectively makes decisions as utilitarians. What is the best for the most students at the college? When I make a budget proposal, I emphasize the benefits a program will have on the entire student population, not just a specific group. Deontology theorists do not focus on the consequences but on the rightness or wrongness of the action itself. Philosopher Immanuel Kant said that you should "act in only such a way that you would want your actions to become universal law, applicable to everyone in a similar situation...and must be followed out regardless of the consequences" (Mastin, 2008). Example: In a Harvard Business Review blog, Francesa Gino, an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, described how a company's HR assessed the "means" of how employees accomplished their outcomes when conducting their performance evaluations, not only the results. (HRB Blog, 2011) Ethical relativists believe that decisions are relative to your own culture's values, societal norms, and personal beliefs. Since ethics are based on opinion, they will differ from person to person. They choose what is ethical based on that particular situation and what is right for you might not be right for me. Example: A faculty member would let students miss class for religious holidays. These were not holidays ton the school 's calendar but she felt it was wrong to say one culture's holidays were more important than others. Divine Command theorists believe that decisions based on the will of God are ethical and we exist because God is the creator of all things. According to author, Tim Holt, this theory provides very clear guidelines on how to make ethical decisions and answers why we are here. (Holt, 2008) Example: My co-worker was upset when we decided to travel on a Sunday to attend a pre-conference workshop. She would not fly out until Monday because it was against her beliefs to work on the Sabbath. Virtue Ethicists focus on motives when making decisions. Virtues and moral character are what are important, not the consequences of your action. If you are trying to be a good person, then you are behaving ethically. Communications Professor Nolan Sundrud at the University of Denver discussed the similarities of this theory with the ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle. Aristotle said that, "Ideal character traits make a virtuous person." (Nolan, 2014) Ask yourself how a virtuous person would act and then do the same. Example: When I worked in HR for a major hospital, one of the nurses leaked information to the media about a famous person's stay. Even though she did not talk about his medical condition, she released confidential information. Although she worked there for years, her dishonest character had caused damage to the hospital's reputation and she was fired. Citations:
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