Module 3A.

Ethics in Communication

Subject: GEC102 (Purposive Communication)

Lesson Title: Ethics in Communication

M3A. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

• discuss how ethics affect the effectiveness of communication;

• analyze communication scenarios for ethical standards in communication; and
• use these standards to become an ethical and effective communicator.

M3A. ACTIVITY
Tone

Ethically communicating assumes the speaker will avoid rudeness, be polite and professional, and have tact. The
ethical communicator knows that it’s not only important what you say, but how you say it. Tone is one of the most critical
facets of communication. A listener may miss the meaning altogether if the tone is wrong, which can lead to unnecessary
confrontations that decrease business productivity.

Controlling one’s tone goes along with self-control, a soft skill that allows one to know how they wish to reply to a
terse business message (for instance) versus the most effective manner for replying. Essentially, keeping the tone positive
or neutral is best, as the tone of a written message – or of one’s voice – is always picked up by the receiver, and can alter
how the message is received and/or understood.

Additionally, while it is acceptable to be honest and open, tact – and professional maturity – means knowing when
it is inappropriate to speak up, and when it is crucial to. Tact also means knowing that being completely honest does not
equate with being rude or negative – it is possible to be completely honest and open with one’s thoughts and feelings while
still remaining polite and respectful.

M3A. Analysis

Question:

Consider Jam Magno's comment on Maria Ressa's Nobel Peace Prize award. Can we consider her
remarks to be ethical?

a) Yes
b) No

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 1

 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication

M3A. ABSTRACTION
Ethical Principles

Communication becomes effective if certain standards in a given situation are met. These standards are
what we call ethics and they follow certain principles that give life to effective communication. How we consider and
give importance to ethics while communicating is what distinguishes a good and effective communicator from the
rest.

What is ethics in communication?

According to Velasquez et al (2010), “Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that
prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific
virtues.” In communication, ethics is what maintains the balance between speaking and listening. It ascertains the
presence of fairness, integrity, and completeness of the information while communicating. It avoids undermining
culture, gender, race, social class, age, disabilities, idiosyncrasies, and opinions through politeness and turn-taking.

Ethics follow certain codes that are guidelines to assist people in making decisions, to tell the difference
between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, and to utilize this understanding to make ethical choices. These ethical codes have 3
levels; 1) Code of ethics (social issues); 2) Code of conduct (influence to behavior an individual); and 3) Code of
practice (professional responsibility).

When conversing with groups of people, it can be very difficult to know and consider what language to use.
However, this is a necessary step to establish ethical communication. A communicator can consider politeness and
turn taking as primary tools while keeping in mind that humans cannot help to categorize each other by their
differences in terms of gender and sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity, social class, age, and disabilities.

Politeness

Being one of the central features in communication, politeness is a human phenomenon expressed
differently in different cultures. It means to take other people into consideration, to take care. Politeness is
communicated both verbally and nonverbally.

One of the well-known classifications of linguistic politeness is that of Brown and Levinson (1978). They
talk about positive and negative politeness.

Positive politeness refers to an atmosphere of inclusion and mutuality created by linguistic means such as
compliments, encouragement, joking, even the use of “white lies.” Small talk is one expression of positive
politeness; that is, creating linguistically a connection to other people.

Negative politeness involves respecting the privacy of other people and leaving a “back door” open, that is,
showing some reservation. The use of distance-creating linguistic devices (e.g., passive forms), irony, or general
vagueness is characteristic of this kind of linguistic politeness.

Eventually, in order to develop the linguistic classifications of politeness, Scollon & Scollon (1995)
distinguish two kinds of linguistic politeness strategies: involvement strategies and independency strategies. These
strategies reflect the general human social needs to be connected to other people, yet to be independent and
unique (Salo-Lee, 2006).

Some examples of involvement strategies include:

• Paying attention to the other person or taking care of him/her (e.g., “You have a beautiful dress”; “Are you
feeling better today?”).
• Being optimistic (“I believe that we will make it”).
• Being voluble (speaking as such already indicates a willingness to participate).
• Using the other person´s language or dialect.

Some examples of independency strategies include:

• Giving the other person the possibility to retreat (“It would have been nice to have a cup of coffee together
but you must be busy”).
• Speaking in general terms (“The rules of the company require…...”).
• Not speaking much.
• Using your own language or dialect.

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 2

 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication

Turn-taking

A turn is the time when a speaker is talking and turn-taking is the skill of knowing when to start and finish a
turn in a conversation. It is an important organizational tool in spoken discourse.

There are two guiding principles in conversations in the process of turn-taking:

• Only one person should talk at a time.

• We cannot have silence.

The transition between one speaker and the next must be as smooth as possible and without a break.

We have different ways of indicating that a turn will be changed:

• Formal methods: selecting the next speaker by name or raising a hand.

• Adjacency pairs: a question requires an answer.
• Intonation: a drop in pitch or in loudness.
• Gesture: a change in sitting position or an expression of inquiry.
• The most important device for indicating turn-taking is through a change in gaze direction.

Violations of the turn-taking process oftentimes occur in a conversation and they are called:

• Interruption: where a new speaker interrupts and gains the floor.

• Butting in: where a new speaker tries to gain the floor but does not succeed.
• Overlaps: where two speakers are talking at the same time.

Questions:

In a normal conversation among friends, a person who is not speaking much is most likely exhibiting negative
politeness.

a) True
b) False

The following are examples of turn-taking violation except:

a) interrupting
b) overlapping
c) butting in
d) gesturing

Gender and Sexual Orientation (Sexist Language)

Sexism is a language which excludes one’s sex or the other, or which suggests that one sex is superior to
the other. While it is primarily women who are affected by sexism, it can be used to discriminate against either men
or women (Klein, 1993).

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 3

 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication

Sexist language happens so often, especially in written language, that we tend to disregard it. Thus, it is
necessary to know the types of sexism so we can avoid them. Below are the types of sexist language and their
solutions/alternatives:

1. Language that excludes ‘women’ or renders them invisible

SEXIST ALTERNATIVES

• Mankind human kind, human beings

• forefather ancestors
• layman layperson
• manpower human resources, staff, personnel
• man-made synthetic, artificial
• early man early people
• manning staffing, working, running

2. The singular masculine pronouns (he, him, his)

SEXIST ALTERNATIVES
If a customer has complaint, send him to the Customer with complaint should be sent to
service desk. the service desk.

The handicap child may be able to feed Handicapped children may be able to feed
himself. themselves.

3. Terms ending in ‘-man’ to refer to functions that may be performed by individuals or either sex

SEXIST ALTERNATIVES
• businessman business executive, business owner, retailer
• cameraman photographers, cinematographers
• chairman chairperson
• fireman firefighters
• policeman police officer
• salesman salesperson
• spokesman spokesperson

Question:

Which of the following is not considered sexist language?

a) chairman
b) himself
c) human resources
d) manning

Race and Ethnicity (Racism)

“Having different cultures because we come from different races should not prevent us from
understanding and communicating to each other.”

Racism is the use of derogatory terms to label people outside of (the group). It is the language that
denigrates a person because of race (Allan, 2018). A study by Riley (2014) entitled, “Do Racial Perceptions Affect
Communication in Conflict?” showed that the level of influence that the difference in race plays a major component
in communication. So, if either of the communicators thinks that his/her race is superior over the other,
misunderstanding and conflict is sure to happen. Thus, avoiding racist language, which is listed below, is one of the
vital components to establish good communication:

Don’t laugh at racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, and other stereotypical jokes or assumptions.

• Make an effort to get to know people different than you.

• Learn about other people and their culture.
• Think before you speak.
• Be a role model.
• Don’t make assumptions.
• Work on projects with members of groups different from your own.
• Explore the unfamiliar.
• Support anti-prejudice and anti-racist campaigns and organizations.

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 4

 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication

Remember that language is evolving and context-dependent. When unsure what language to use, consult
your professor, classmates, and current academic readings in the discipline.

Question:

"Recently, an Asian lawyer representing a black man at an employment law tribunal told me that he was
taken aback when the independent barrister representing the employer indicated that ‘the allegation of racism was
unnecessary and unwarranted.' The Asian lawyer was surprised that the employer’s barrister had raised the
question of racism when the complaint was based upon disability discrimination grounds."

The above scenario violates which of the following suggestions to avoid racism:

a) Think before you speak.

b) Learn about other people and their culture.
c) Support anti-prejudice and anti-racist campaigns and organizations.
d) Don’t make assumptions.

Social Class

Sociologists defined ‘social class as a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic
system.’ These classes occur on any of the following: resources, power, and authority. Although there is an
argument on the divisions of these classes, most sociologists suggest that there are five classes:

Sociologists defined ‘social class asSo, how is the knowledge of social class applied in communication? Of
course, while conversing, you will not inform everyone what social class they belong to. In fact, you avoid creating
divisions by mentioning terms or phrases with ‘class’ or ‘status’. Instead consider their social classes to choose
what appropriate topics, style, and grammar of language to use to make sure that everyone feels equal while
conversing regardless of their socioeconomic status. By doing so, everyone would have the freedom to speak with
confidence.

Question:

To prevent conflict arising from differences in social class, a speaker should avoid mentioning the idea of
"class" or "status."

a) True
b) False

Age

Age is connected to communication. As generations aged, language evolves so it results to different

generations speaking different languages. However, it does not mean that ‘being older or younger means being
better or worse at communication; it’s just likely that your age will determine your vocabulary (both what language
you know, and what language you choose to use), the experiences that inform your communication, and the
expectations you have of the other person’ (Hunghanfoo, 2018).

It is certain that age plays a role in some communication problems between people, and that age has an
effect in conjunction with other factors that overlap and interact while conversing. For example, a younger person
may be less inclined to be assertive when speaking with an older person, but that might also be due to their culture.
Another example is that an older person may struggle to understand the serious or sarcastic intentions in how a

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 5

 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication

younger person communicates, but that might also be because of social media or technology. That is why age can
sometimes become a barrier in communication.

Question:

A misunderstanding may arise when a baby boomer communicates with a millennial as a result of

_______ difference.

Disabilities

In ethical communication, it is important to remember that disabilities are not defects but are variations
among people. While institutions can cause problems by designing services for only certain types of bodies, there
is nothing inherently wrong with bodies that do not fall within that range. In general, use language that is sensitive
to the specific context and the specific audience (Bowman et al, 2015).

Below is the General Recommendations for communicating with all persons with disabilities provided by
ACED (Advancing Care Excellence for Persons with Disabilities):

Talk to persons with disabilities in the same way and with a normal tone of voice (not shouting) as you
would talk to anyone else.

• Avoid being self-conscious about your use of wording such as “Do you see what I mean?” when talking to
someone with vision impairment.
• Talk to people with disabilities as adults and talk to them directly rather than to an accompanying person.
• Ask the person with a disability if assistance is needed; do not assume that help is needed until you ask.
• Use “people-first language”: refer to “a person with a disability” rather than “the disabled person” or “the
disabled”.
• When communicating with a person with a disability, it is important to take steps to ensure that effective
communication strategies are used. This includes sitting or standing at eye level with the patient and making
appropriate eye contact.

Question:

When speaking to a person with disability seated in a wheelchair, it is okay to simply stand in front of him/her

a) True
b) False

M3A. APPLICATION
Question:

What would be the best action to do if you witness a stranger being discriminated against because of age,
disability, gender, social class, or race? Check all possible answers.

 Videotape the incident.

 Report the incident.
 Do nothing; I might be targeted, too.
 Stand up to the bully.

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 6

 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication

M3A. ASSESSMENT
Question:

To an effective communicator who observes ethical principles in communication, ethics refers to

a) a conscious decision to invest time and energy in improving our communication with others.
b) the receptive accuracy whereby you can detect, decode, and comprehend signals in your social
environment.
c) the successful performance of communication behavior.
d) a set of standards for judging the moral correctness of communication behavior.

SY 2021-2021 | GEC102 Module 3A. Ethics in Communication 7