Ethics in Technical
Communication
Sunil Gokhale
Definition: Ethics
Ethics is doing what is RIGHT to achieve
what is GOOD.
The key to ethical action is to behave with
integrity that is based on sound core of
personal values.
Definition: Value
A principle, standard or quality considered
worthwhile or desirable.
Value analysis boils down to the ability to
distinguish right from wrong.
Not all values are ethical.
Interest: Regard for one’s own benefit or advantage
Ethics + Values
Ethical value
A belief or a principle rooted in moral behavior,
based on a sense of what is right.
Unethical value
A belief or a principle rooted in immoral behavior,
based on a sense of what is wrong (of consciously
disregarding what is right).
Non-ethical value
A belief or a preference that is not related to right
and wrong
Value analysis: Concentric
Ring model
Core values
Honesty, Value of life, Love of family, Respect for
others, Personal religious faith
Authority values
Political affiliations, Organized religion, Corporate
loyalty, Patriotism
Peripheral values
Fashion tastes, Recreational preferences, Favorite
sports, Ice cream flavors
Ethical Conflicts
Right Vs Wrong
Conflict between clearly ethical and clearly unethical
values
Right Vs Right
Conflict among two or more values, all ethical
Wrong Vs Wrong
Conflict among two or more values, all unethical
Definition: Business ethics
Personal integrity
A person who adheres to an ethical value
system, a moral code
Social value
The sense that we should share and
cooperate, even if it means compromising
our self interest
Are good ethics good
business?
Virtue – It’s the right thing to do
Doing what’s right for its own sake out of
integrity and pride
Prudence – It’s the smart thing to do
Doing what’s right for fear of consequences
of getting caught doing something wrong
Ten Basic Values in
Technical Communication
Honesty
Our duty to tell the right
Legality
Our duty to obey the law
Privacy
Our duty to respect the rights of others
Quality
Our duty to provide quality products and
services that will best serve the user
Ten Basic Values in
Technical Communication
Teamwork
Our duty to work together to meet mutual
objectives
Avoiding conflict of interest
Our duty to be loyal and to observe fair play
Cultural sensitivity
Our duty to reflect the growing diversity of
the workplace in our technical
communications
Ten Basic Values in
Technical Communication
Social responsibility
Our duty to preserve and protect the public
good
Professional growth
Our duty to maintain and develop our skills
Advancing the profession
Our duty to respect and assist our
colleagues and enhance the reputation of
our profession
Honesty: The best policy?
Honesty is telling the truth. It’s right.
Dishonesty is lying. It’s wrong.
Are you honest? – Well, basically I’m
honest.
Communicating honestly is more than just telling
the truth. It’s more than not telling a lie.
Price for (dis)honesty
Professors may feel the pressure to
“publish or perish”
Students feels it is “pass or perish”
In business it is to serve the bottom line
Internal competition for personal
advancement is intense
Nine ways to lie in
Technical
Communication
Lying by Commission
Deliberate outright falsification or
prevarication
Lying by Omission
Technical communicator not responsible for
something that has been omitted before he
gets the material.
Lying with Language
Deliberate Vagueness
Weaving a verbal tapestry of verbal generalities to
disguise the fact.
Circumlocution
Verbally talking around the issue
Euphemisms
Nice word used to sugar-coat an unpleasant reality
False Generalization
Logical fallacy
Loaded and slanted language
Terms that carry strong emotional connotations
Lying with Statistics
Misuse of numbers for purpose of deception – by
commission, omission or circumlocution
Statistics is like a bikini – it reveals the necessary but
conceals the essential
Surveys
Percentages
Averages
Lying with Graphics
If one picture is worth thousand words, then one lie in
the graphics is worth thousand lies.
Lying with Photographs
Since the digital file can be subtly – or not so subtly –
altered without a trace, it will become almost
impossible to know whether a photograph is genuine
or retouched.
Lying with Multimedia
If still photographs can be altered with major
consequences, consider the staggering impact of
deceptive or inappropriate use of video footage,
sound and animation.
Lying with Logical Fallacies
As trained linguistic specialists, technical
communicators may be assumed to understand the
logical fallacies; it’s therefore hard to imagine how
they could use them without intent to deceive.
Lying with Propoganda
Techniques
Cousins of logical fallacies used mostly in
advertisements and politics but they crop up in
marketing communication.