Ways to Communicate Ethically

To ensure ethical communication you should follow these guidelines:

1. Consider others well being
2. Think of yourself as a member of community
3. Obey and do not depend on the law.
4. Think of yourself and your organization as part of society
5. Obey moral guidelines
6. Think objectively to be sure your action is truly ethical
7. Ask questions whether or not someone would do such actions
8. Respect others customers-but not at the expense of your own ethics.
(Roebuck,p. 421)

Here is an example of an ethical communication and a unethical communication:



Ethical issues arising from internal and industry practices - examples

• Treatment of customers - e.g. honouring the spirit as well as the letter of the law in respect to warranties and after sales service
• The number and proportion of women and ethnic minority people in senior positions
• The organisation’s loyalty to employees when it is in difficult economic conditions
• Employment of disabled people
• Working conditions and treatment of workers
• Bribes to secure contracts
• Child labour in the developing world

Business practices of supply firms


Unethical practices in marketing - examples

• Pricing lack of clarity in pricing
• Dumping – selling at a loss to increase market share and destroy competition in order to subsequently raise prices
• Price fixing cartels
• Encouraging people to claim prizes when they phoning premium rate numbers
• “Bait and switch” selling - attracting customers and then subjecting them to high pressure selling techniques to switch to an more expensive alternative
• High pressure selling - especially in relation to groups such as the elderly
• Counterfeit goods and brand piracy
• Copying the style of packaging in an attempt to mislead consumers
• Deceptive advertising
• Irresponsible issue of credit cards and the irresponsible raising of credit limits
• Unethical practices in market research and competitor intelligence