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72 Chapter 3 ● Communication EthicsHOW TO MAKE ETHICAL STATEMENTS WORK Murphy offers a series of seven imperatives tofollow when writing and living out the principles of a corporate ethics statement, code, or credo.• Write it. Writing down the guiding philosophy or values of the firm makes it possiblefor management to communicate those ideas to all stakeholders, especially to theemployees. A written document also signals to everyone concerned that the company isserious about its ethical views.• Tailor it. Tailoring a statement of ethics to an organization’s industry or line of businessoffers managers an opportunity to place special emphasis on those issues mostlikely to arise in the course of ordinary business and to address those matters that itregards as especially important.• Communicate it. This step may be most important in ensuring that all stakeholders,external as well as internal, are aware of and understand the behavior that the companyexpects of them. Many authors note that this process must be ongoing for every company.• Promote it. It is not enough to simply communicate the ethics document. It should beactively promoted at every opportunity through as many publications, events, and channelsas possible.• Revise it. Revising the document every few years will help to keep it current, reflectingchanging worldwide conditions, community standards, and evolving organizational practices.• Live it. The litmus test for any type of ethics document, according to Murphy and others, iswhether members of the organization follow it on a daily basis. Top management must makea concerted effort to reward employees who follow the principles listed in the statement.• Enforce/Reinforce it. For those who refuse to live by the principles, managementmust exact punishment. Sanctions and penalties must be enforced in a fair and evenhandedmanner so that all stakeholders understand how they will be treated and exactlywhat will be the consequences of their behavior. 44For an ethics code to work, top management must convince employees that the company isnot simply using the code to sidestep recent events and—even more important—they must act onwhat they say they value. Linda Klebe Trevino, a professor of organizational behavior atPennsylvania State University, said that outlining appropriate or inappropriate behavior in a codewith the intention of avoiding future problems “can be a healthy response. But if you create a code,especially in response to some problem, and it’s inconsistent with the culture as employeesperceive it, then it appears to be only window dressing and hypocritical,” she added. 45“When management disciplines somebody, they’re sending a very powerful signal,” saysProfessor Trevino. “Most people are going about their business trying to do the right thing. Whenthey see somebody engage in highly inappropriate behavior that everybody agrees is inappropriateand management doesn’t do much about it, it devalues the norm and, in a sense their own status.” 46THE “FRONT PAGE” TESTIn judging whether its policies or its actions are fundamentally sound, managers might simplyapply what’s come to be known as the “front page” test. Would you be pleased if the policies inyour organization or the behavior of your employees were to appear in a story on the front pageof the Wall Street Journal or, perhaps, your hometown newspaper? If not, then you might askyourself, “Why not?” What are we doing wrong that I wouldn’t want others to know about?Do the methods and means of communication in your organization hold up to that test?Does your company deal honestly with its customers and clients, treating each of them fairly andwith respect? Do you honestly and accurately disclose to regulatory agencies and governmental000200010270582216Management Communication: A Case-Analysis Approach, Fourth Edition, by James S. O'Rourke, IV. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2010 by <strong>Pearson</strong> Education, Inc.
Chapter 3 ● Communication Ethics 73organizations all that they are entitled to know? Are your relations with the press and news mediabased on openness, honesty, and candor? If not, what can you do to improve them?Are the rituals, ceremonies, and formal activities of your organization planned andconducted with a sense of inclusion, honesty, and equality? Do people in your organizationknow how they will be evaluated, by whom, and against which set of standards in their hopesfor promotion or advancement?Day in and day out, do you and others in your company speak, write, listen, and act witha sense that others will appreciate and respect? Do you treat people not simply as they mighttreat you, but in a way they prefer to be treated? In many ways, ethics and communication arenot simply inseparable but are essential to the success of any business and at the heart of howhuman beings interact with one another. Striving for ethical perfection, both as you communicateand as you manage your business, is probably pointless. Striving each day to observe thebest of ethical principles, to demonstrate a level of conduct that others can aspire to, and tolead by example, however, is not only possible but unquestionably worthwhile.For Further ReadingAllen, L. and D. Voss. Ethics in Technical Communication:Shades of Gray. New York: John Wiley &Sons, 1997.Donaldson, T. and P. Werhane. Ethical Issues inBusiness: A Philosophical Approach, 8th ed.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007.Ferrell, O. C. and J. Fraedrich. Business Ethics:Ethical Decision Making and Cases, 7th ed.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.Fritzsche, D. J. Business Ethics: A Global and ManagerialPerspective, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill,2004.Gardner, H. “The Ethical Mind,” Harvard BusinessReview, March 2007, pp. 51–56.Hartman, L. P. Perspectives in Business Ethics. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 2001.Lancaster, H. “You Have Your Values: How Do YouIdentify Your Employer’s?” Wall Street Journal,April 8, 1997, p. B1.McCarthy, M. J. “Virtual Morality: A New WorkplaceQuandary,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 1999,pp. B1, B4.Murphy, P. E. “Creating Ethical Corporate Structures,”Sloan Management Review, Winter 1989, pp. 81–87.Paine, L. S. “Managing for Organizational Integrity,”Harvard Business Review, March–April 1994,pp. 106–117.Seglin, J. L. “In Ethics, It’s the Thought That Counts,”New York Times, December 19, 1999, p. BU-4.Thomas, L. “On Wall Street, a Rise in DismissalsOver Ethics,” New York Times, Tuesday, March29, 2005, pp. A1, C4.Trevino, L. K. and K. A. Nelson. Managing BusinessEthics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right,4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.Van Lee, R., Fabish, L., and McGaw, N. “The Valueof Corporate Values,” Strategy + Business, Issue39, Summer 2005, pp. 52–65.Velasquez, M. G. Business Ethics: Concepts andCases, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PrenticeHall, 2005.Weiss, J. Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and IssuesManagement Approach, 4th ed. Cincinnati, OH:South-Western College Publishing, 2005.000200010270582216Endnotes1. Efrait, A. and Randall Smith. “Auction BrokersAre Charged,” Wall Street Journal, Thursday,September 4, 2008, p. C1. Copyright © 2008 byDow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reservedworldwide. Reprinted with permission.2. Story, L. “Former Executive to Pay $200Million to Settle S.E.C. Fraud Charges,” NewYork Times, Friday, June 10, 2005, p. C3.Copyright © 2005 by The New York TimesCompany. Reprinted with permission.3. Truell, P. “An Employee on Wall St. IsArrested,” New York Times, November 7, 1997,p. C8. Copyright © 1997 by The New YorkTimes Company. Reprinted with permission.4. Byrne, J. A. “After Enron: The Ideal Corporation,”BusinessWeek, August 26, 2002, p. 68.Management Communication: A Case-Analysis Approach, Fourth Edition, by James S. O'Rourke, IV. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2010 by <strong>Pearson</strong> Education, Inc.
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