The Role of Communication in Organizations: Ethical Considerations

Abstract

Communication plays a distinct role in the ethical behavior of managers. This paper proposes a theoretical framework of ethics, power, and communication in the workplace. First, a model of conceptual ethics is developed to provide a backdrop for viewing ethical decisions. Second, ethics in the workplace is discussed by showing how managers are often caught in a dilemma between the pressures of the job and their own personal code of ethics. And last, communication is proposed as the means to foster more ethical behavior in organizations. Although communication safeguards such as a code of ethics can and should be established, it is the managers themselves through more receptive communication who establish the norms of ethical conduct.

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