Communication is a fundamental human activity that allows people to interact with others for discernment, mobilization, and completion of various goals. Ethics is the engagement of acumen that people make about the felicity, good or bad of laws and actions, whether social, political, or communicative (Pearson, 2017). To make ideal judgments in communication, there is a need to regard the fashion we use to communicate. While communication is a duo process, the nature of influence an addresser can have on the addressee largely depends on their attitudes. In contemporary society, an ethical communicator is conscious that the recipient has innate dignity and worth.
Balanced communications in a fast-paced modern environment demand an ethical communicator who exhibits some level of authority after acquiring adequate information. For instance, medical experts have formal grades if knowledge and professionalism that ought to be satisfied before becoming a practitioner. Ethics is vital in this case as it diminishes the chances of falsehood and demands legitimacy on the matter at hand. In light of accurate information, and ethical communicator understands that information is meant to make people react in a particular way. When inaccurate information is passed, there is a likelihood of breeding problems for the recipients (Pearson, 2017). Thus, ethics allows individuals to consider applicable, updated, and timely information that addresses the apparent situation appropriately.
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Ethics also allows each subject to realize that others have a right to access and secure information. For that matter, ethics allows people to access significant information that can be useful in their goals. For instance, in an automobile dealer shop, the seller will always be inclined to hide some important information about a vehicle, oil leakages, or other mechanical issues that require repair. This form of deception will allow the dealer to sell the vehicle promptly, disregarding the extreme repercussions that may emanate from being economical with the truth. Ethics will blend a respective perception of its audience, a regard to the repercussions of the communication and appreciation for honesty.
Empathy and Compassion
Assuming their disastrous rail accident, the first thing the management would do to restore passenger confidence is to empathize with them. The organization ought to immediately empathize with their clients’ position to develop a bond so that they know that their concerns are understood. This may include apologizing genuinely to increase customer satisfaction. It is important to understand the public’s needs and be able to represent it properly in the decision-making process and supply the necessary information. For instance, crisis managers ought to familiarize with customer’s attitudes, needs, and perception of the crisis to determine how well they respond to instructions. Thus, feedback from the public is fundamental to understand the absorption of information and the degree of trust in their service provider. Without this information, it will be difficult to restore customer confidence. Secondly, the organization must develop a positive attitude (Thayer, 2015). Customers want to feel they are with respect and sensitivity to generate a feeling of fairness and justice for the company.
Approaching them with compassion goes a long way in increasing customer satisfaction and fortifying their loyalty in the company. An excellent way to accomplish this is through compensation in the form of discounts, coupons, refunds to cover for the failure in service delivery. Lastly, the organization ought to treat the crisis with urgency. A swift response enhances the client’s perspective, which impacts loyalty rather than the resolution itself. Justification is a very vital but often discarded element. It allows the organization to explain to the clients how the crisis transpired and ultimately re-establishing trust (Thayer, 2015). Communication managers should focus on fortifying their customer’s reliance, disseminating life-saving information, satisfying the need for assertive leadership, and helping the passengers make sense of the disastrous reality around them.
Contemporary Examples
In late 2016, Wells Fargo was involved with a saga that appalled the public. The company had its employees secretly opening new bank accounts for customers without their consent, which yielded an overdraft and had over 5000 employees losing their jobs over the same matter (Stanwick, 2017). While this unethical conduct aimed at propelling financial gain for the employees and the company, one can observe that the workers were striving to attain combative sales goals (Gr-eight initiative). This agenda was aimed at aiding the bank to raise the number of financial products maintained from six to eight.
From the Wells Fargo scenario, one would argue that their unethical behavior is linked by their identity crisis and pressure from work. Regardless, morality is fundamental to us all and explains why the memory of past mistakes fades with time resulting in repeated dishonesty. In addition, there is the aspect of moral muteness that infers to the inability of individuals to communicate their moral position in a work environment. Customers in the modern world want to associate with transparent and responsible businesses that focus on sustainable measures. A fraudulent company will always suffer losses, hence the need to promote an environment that fosters communication and guarantees the safety of those who speak up.
Recommendations
In workplaces, leaders and managers should strive to create a culture that values honesty and nurtures relationships across diverse cultures, media, and contexts. Ethical communication involves accepting liability for the messages delivered to others and must be consistent and truthful. There is a need to value diversity and freedom of expression. This means that when disseminating a message to a diverse audience, it is key that the listening preferences and languages of everyone are accommodated. Lastly, the executive leadership can fully support an organization’s vision by being transparent with middle management and staff who are always willing to support the good practices that benefit the majority.
Works Cited
Pearson, R. (2017). Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.
Stanwick, S. (2017, July). Wells Fargo: A Runaway Unethical Cover Wagon. In Proceedings of International Academic Conferences (No. 4607587). International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
Thayer, L. (2015). Communication: Ethical and moral issues . Routledge.
