Ethics_in_Communication

susan B Mrs. Disney Business and Communication Thursday, September 09, 2010 Ethical Communications Being ethical in a corporation or political situation is no easy task but it’s an important one. It’s easy to look at the statistics, put some bias into it and spin it to work your own way but the bottom line is that it’s not the right way to do business. Honesty is always the best policy. When someone is coming to you whether it is a coworker, customer, or friend they are asking for an honest answer, not one that makes you feel better about lying. When making a deal whether it’s buying a car or your boss giving you their word you expect them to be straightforward and honest with you. If everyone was a liar no business could progress. Without the trust of your peers, customers, and cowers a business would be nonexistent. Take for example the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Within the first few hours of the incident BP said there was very little oil in the gulf and it came from the rig and not the well. And again lied when they said there was only about 2,000 barrels of oil that was leaking into the gulf daily when in fact it was anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 barrels leaking daily. And now BP is looking at huge fines and even prison time. Not only that but once loyal BP customers are now shunning them are turning to other gas companies. The point is that the public or anyone does not like being lied to and it leads to extraordinary bad business once caught. Promoting ethical behavior in a business environment is important to everyone. It’s important to your coworkers, your company, the customers, and the public. But even do it as a favor to you. You’re going to start hating yourself if you constantly spin the truth and spin even deeper to avoid trouble. Learning this information I’m going to carry on what my mother told me, “treat others the way you would like to be treated.” It sounds so easy but it can be so hard to do especially with your back against the wall. But the truth is the truth will always be the right thing to do. It’s better to be yelled at for telling the truth than getting into deeper trouble and even possible hatred to you for lying.