Chapter 4

Weighing the Ethical Issues

Technical Communication,
13th Edition
John M. Lannon
Laura J. Gurak

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives
Appreciate the role of ethics in technical

communication
Identify workplace pressures that lead to
unethical communication
Recognize common workplace examples of
hiding the truth
Use critical thinking to help solve ethical
dilemmas
Differentiate between ethical practices and
legal guidelines
Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives (continued)

Avoid plagiarismeither intentional or

unintentional
Determine when and how to report ethical
violations on the job

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ethics
When providing information or persuading an
audience, always ensure that your writing is
ethical: accurate, honest, and fair.

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Recognize Unethical
Communication in the Workplace
Unethical workplace behaviors are common,
but they are not always black and white. Usually
they are a result of yielding to social pressure
and blindly following the group:

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Understand the Potential for

Communication Abuse
Unethical workplace communication usually
takes on the following forms:
Suppressing knowledge the public needs
Hiding conflicts of interest
Exaggerating claims about technology
Falsifying or fabricating data
Using visual images that conceal the truth
Stealing or divulging proprietary information
Misusing electronic information
Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Understand the Potential for

Communication Abuse (continued)
Withholding information people need for their

jobs
Exploiting cultural differences

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rely on Critical Thinking for

Ethical Decisions
Keep in mind reasonable criteria (standards
that most people consider acceptable) when
faced with ethical dilemmas:

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rely on Critical Thinking for

Ethical Decisions (continued)
Reasonable criteria take the form of the following obligations:
obligation to yourself
obligation to clients and customers
obligation to your company
obligation to coworkers
obligation to the community
obligation to society

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Never Depend Only on

Legal Guidelines
Legal guidelines often do not go far enough to
measure unethical behavior. For example, the
following misleading statements are not illegal:

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learn to Recognize Plagiarism

Ethical communication includes giving proper

credit to the work of others. In both workplace

and academic settings, plagiarism
(representing the words, ideas, or perspectives
of others as your own) is a serious breach of
ethics.
Plagiarism can be either blatant or
unintentional.
The Internet has only made plagiarism easier
than ever before.
Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Decide When and How to

Report Ethical Abuses
Whistle-blowing is reporting someone elses
ethical abuses, but is tricky because it can
backfire on you and you will not always be
legally protected from the consequences. Think
very carefully about deciding when and how to
report unethical situations in the workplace.

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Review Questions
1. What is the definition of ethics?
2. What are the two major causes of unethical
behavior in the workplace?
3. What are five types of ethical abuses that
are common in the workplace?
4. What is the best way to make ethical
decisions on the job?
5. What are reasonable criteria and why are
they important?

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Review Questions (continued)

6. What are the six types of obligations to keep
in mind in order to make ethical decisions?
7. Why cant you always depend on legal
guidelines to act ethically?
8. What is the definition of plagiarism?
9. What are the two types of plagiarism?
10. What is whistle-blowing?

Copyright 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.