Chapter 4: Weighing the Ethical Issues

• Appreciate the role of ethics in technical communication
• Things can be technically accurate but also misleading
• Legal does not always mean ethical
• Identify workplace pressures that lead to unethical communication
• People exaggerate their credentials or experience
• People negotiate huge sales by downplaying the faults with a product
• Managers write strong recommendations for friends over someone more qualified
• Workers may
• Yield to social pressure
• Mistake groupthink for teamwork
• Recognize common workplace examples of hiding the truth
• Suppressing knowledge the public needs
• Biotech industries don't want genetically modified ingredients identified
• Science journals won't publish studies on chlorine and fluoride in drinking water causing cancer
• Airlines don't call attention to near misses and safety lapses
• Hiding conflicts of interest
• Research-related financial ties
• Drug review pieces with financial links to drug companies
• Exaggerating claims about technology
• Falsifying or fabricating data
• Using visual images that conceal the truth
• Stealing or divulging proprietary information
• Misusing electronic information
• plagiarism of electronic sources
• copying digital files
• failing to protect personal information of website visitors
• selling prescription medications online 
• offering inaccurate medical advice
• Withholding information people need for their jobs
• Exploiting cultural differences
• Use critical thinking to help solve ethical dilemmas
• How can I know the best action?
• What are my obligations, and to whom?
• Consider obligations to yourself, clients, your company, coworkers, your community, and society
• What values or ideals do I want to represent?
• What will happen if I make this decision?
• Anticipate some hard choices
• What do I report and to whom?
• How much should I reveal or conceal?
• How do I say what I have to say?
• Do I have any misplaced obligations that could be causing harm to others?
• Differentiate between ethical practices and legal guidelines
• Legal doesn't necessarily mean ethical
• Never depend solely on legal guidelines
• Misleading Statements
• Promises you know you can't keep
• Assurances you haven't verified
• Credentials you don't have
• Inflated claims about your commitment
• Laws
• against deception
• against libel
• protecting employee privacy
• copyright
• against software theft
• against electronic theft
• against stealing or revealing trade secrets
• against deceptive or fraudulent advertising
• liability
• Avoid plagiarism- either intentional or unintentional
• Give credit to those who have done the work
• Between paraphrasing and entire paragraphs- always cite your sources
• Determine when and how to report ethical violations on the job
• Make sure you get your facts straight
• See if the company has an ombudsman to help employees file complaints
• Check hotlines for advice on ethics problems and reporting misconduct
• Determine if there is a formal code for personal/ organizational behavior
• No employer will tolerate a public statement that makes the company look bad
• Some states protect employees who blow the whistle- you should know the potential consequences for whistle-blowing