Gordon Rule- Ethics In Communication - Research Paper Example

Introduction Ethics is a very important concept for today's world. Many people get themselves into all sorts of difficulty by ignoring ethics and doing unethical things. Ethical communication is something that ensures you to communicate all the essential information honestly and openly. You do not want to hide or downplay certain facts that might affect the opinion of your audience to whom you have to convey your message. You can observe the advertising world to see this in action, though arguably there is a very thin line between the truth we are told about products and the actual reality (Brien, 110-115). Ethical communication includes being honest in all communications, keeping confidential information undisclosed, and not discussing personal or business situations of others in public or in front of someone that has got nothing to do with it. Why ethics is important in communication? Ethics play an essential role as far as communication is concerned. In order to make communication a successful one, it is important that we implement ethical principles. This encourages the communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect needs and characteristics of communicators. The importance of ethics of care and responsibility in a communication are quite clear. Applying ethical frameworks in communication contribute to the well-being of families, communities and society. Moreover, it emphasizes an ethic of caring and commit to the courageous expression of personal opinions in pursuit of fairness and justice. Implementing ethics in communication also builds a sense of care and responsibility between the communicators such as, advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing some complex situations along with respecting privacy and confidentiality (Pasquali, 32). These principles also result in effective group communication, such as teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, and diversity in the workplace. Thus, ethical communication in groups means that, group members respect and encourage diverse opinions, do not tolerate communication that degrade others. Maintain privacy if an important information is shared by a group member. Lastly, make a habit of listening and understanding the situation first before evaluating and critiquing. It is absolutely wrong to come up with a conclusion without giving a chance to person to justify himself. Privacy and Confidentiality in Communication It is very important that we maintain privacy and confidentiality while communicating with others. For example, if a patient comes to visit a doctor and request him or her that all the information should be kept confidential, the disclosed each and everything to the friends of the patient (Bynum, 135-162). This is also known as breach of confidentiality. The purpose of privacy and confidentiality between the communicators is to gain trust and assure him or her that all the matters between them will remain confidential. But when this information is disclosed in front of a third party then this is absolutely wrong morally, ethically and legally. This not only creates conflicts between them but also results in lack of trust. This is something that is not at all acceptable no matter what. If a person trusts you and shares his confidential information with you, it is your duty to respect his emotions and make sure that the information is not disclosed under any circumstances. This is what privacy and confidentiality means in communication (Behabib, 24). However, there are certain exceptions in which it becomes obligatory for people to disclose information that was shared by a person. For example, the patient requested the doctor to keep all the information confidential but later when doctor came to know that the patient is caught by a severe disease such as cancer, under such circumstances it is important for the doctor to break confidentiality and inform concerned people about the disease. An intention here was to inform the concerned people so that the patient could get moral and financial support. Only in such cases, it is acceptable if secret information has been disclosed since it is done for a good cause. Cultural Diversity and Ethics Communication When speaking to people of other ethnicities, it is best to understand something about the person's moral standards so that no kind of offence takes place. For example, if someone communicates while eating with their mouth open and arms on the table it would probably upset someone. This is why a small part of ethical communication requires being respectable to others (Berko, 10). Another example of being mannerly through communication is that it is not at all acceptable to interrupt someone while they are talking. This is important to people in different cultures. It is also important that we should not use words that may be offensive to race, gender, age, etc. Ethical communication means to respect someone who is not of your culture. It is easier to respect someone from your own culture because you may practice similar ethical principles. It can be more difficult to know and understand the morals and standards of someone with a different culture. Therefore to gain knowledge about different cultures is considered as a respectful act because it shows that you care enough about them to learn more about their culture. Trying to be ethically responsible can be an issue when communicating with people of different cultures. Due to difference in cultures, it can be hard to please everyone at the same time. In case of communicating with large groups, it is important that the speaker find what is common in the group. For example, when I did my speech in class on online marketing, I concentrated on the fact that we were all college students and why it is fruitful for us as students. By showing what a large group may have in common, it lets the group forget about the differences they have temporarily. It is still important however to be culturally aware while speaking to others and act accordingly that would please everyone at the same time. Conclusion All in all, it is important that we apply ethical frameworks while communicating with people regardless of their culture, race and religion. We should make sure that no one should get offended by what we do or say. Ethics in communication not only results in good communication but also helps to avoid any sort of misunderstanding between communicators. It has been witnessed that misunderstanding is the root of every conflict that takes place between people. Not only the people of different culture are affected by this but also the people of similar morals are found to have severe conflicts among themselves. Therefore, it is essential that we must apply ethics in communication so that we could be able to maintain a diverse environment and avoid miscommunication. Works Cited Pages Berko, R. Communicating: A Social and Career Focus. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Print Behabib, S (1992) Situating the self: Gender, community and postmodernism in contemporary Robert Beckett: Communication ethics and the internet International Journal of Information Ethics, NJ. Prince University Press. 1992. Print Brien, D. (1999). A postmodern caring: Feminist standpoint theories, revisioned caring, and communication ethics. Western Journal of Communication, 1999. Print Bynum, T. Global Information Ethics, Special edition of Science and Engineering Ethics, 1996. Print Pasquali, A.( 1997), M. Communication Ethics and Universal Values. 1997. Print Read More