Business and Professional Communication Ethics

Business is involved in the continuing to exist, to serve its purpose, knowing its direction, and how to face change. The ethics of communication involve knowing the organization’s direction and purpose, and recognizing moments of change to respond to.

Once again this chapter, No. 10, looks at its questions through metaphors of communication ethics praxis, three this time:

• Business and Professional Communication
• The Dialectic of Direction and Change
• Public Testing

Business and professional communication is concerned with form and style, communication protocols. But underneath these lies the ethical good that the business exists to promote and create. How well the communication promotes and protects this good is its primary evaluation.

Direction and Change is essential for survival. The idea that a position or place can be maintained for all time is dangerous. Instead, creativity to navigate the expected future is essential. Changes in dress and forms of address are examples of change to navigate the direction business follows for survival.

Some in business confuse good communication with good manners. Instead good communication is involved with accountability to promoting the good of the business, and protecting it.It isn’t tied up in principles, but in direction. Checklist do’s and don’ts focus on what is being done, not where the organization is going.

Public accountability requires public knowledge of what the company is doing, providing a map to people of its intentions.

The public testing occurs in the marketplace.  Meetings in the marketplace demonstrate and test the direction and change of the company. The good needs to be specific, not general, to provide the direction.

The direction needs to be responsive to the market, and to anticipate in accurately.

So, how is this visualized in Les Miserables? If we think of government as a business, we see the French Government changing course from the royal times, through the revolution. Test after test was made of forms of government that failed or were failing.