DQ Responses

Ethical Organizational Communication

Rachel Danner

12/3/2013 4:33:25 PM

The three governing principles of ethical communication are honesty, equity and avoiding harm (Kreps, 2011). All three are very important in ensuring that communication through advertising and marketing. Honesty means that there is truth in the information given out during interorganizational communication. This means there is no intentional deception in the information that is being given to the customers, regulators or competitors. It is very important for companies to be honest in their advertising so that customers get what they are expecting. Advertisements draw in customers, but if they get there and find there experience is different than what was advertised, they are likely to lose trust in the company and may never use them again.

An organization must also be equitable to be ethical. This means that the company practices fair and impartial practices (Kreps, 2011). Companies that are equitable do not exhibit unfair trade practices or create monopolies. This is important in interorganizational communication because it ensures that companies are fair in advertising and marketing. This means that in an ideal world there would be no unfair advertising that blames or puts down another company. Personally if I see a company that advertises unfairly like this I avoid using their products and their company as much as possible. If a company use fair advertising I use their products and promote them by word of mouth and through my social media connections.

The last ethical principle of communication is avoiding harm. This means that it is a businesses responsibility to ensure that they do as little harm to the environment and the public as possible (Kreps, 2011). This is important, especially in today’s world because of the threats of global warming and climate change. A company has a responsibility to promote environmentally friendly products and reduce the spread of harmful chemicals that may be used in manufacturing. This is important in ensuring the long-term health of the people and the planet.

Reference: Kreps, G.L. (2011). Communication in organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Week 5 Discussion 2

Matthew Morganfield

12/3/2013 8:46:29 PM

The three principles of ethical organizational deal with honesty, equity, and avoiding harm (Kreps, 2011). When you look at these three principles their nothing that wasn’t taught to you as a young kid within your culture. Honesty requires you to be truthful and be morally sound. Equity asks for you to be fair and impartial in your decision making. Lastly, avoiding harm ask you to validate the processes you are responsible for are not harming or hurting others. How can these be applied in external organizational communication?

When a corporation lobby’s to build relationships with other corporations or customers it would be ideal for a corporation to apply all of the three principles to show they are committed to having a healthy working leadership without any alternative motives. Sadly, this has not always been the case with some big corporations of the past that have not followed the three principles of ethical organizational communication at the cost of employees losing retirement plans and corporations losing revenue.

When I look at the military that I have served in for many years, I asked myself has the United States Air Force followed these principles of ethical organizational communication. I have to say yes they have. When it comes to lobbying with the United Nations during times of aggression, the U.S. is usually the one lobbying for support to help defend those being denied basic rights and freedoms we all can appreciate in the United States. The Air Force also markets top recruits in joining the military family that’s helps promote freedom and democracy. There’s no mistake if a person was to join the Air Force they would have a duty to treat others fairly and equitable. Finally, the Air Force advertises by the use of mediated channels if you have core values; integrity first, services before self, excellence in all you do, you can be part of a corporation that follows ethical organizational communication worldwide.

Matt M. III

Kreps, G. (2011). Communication in Organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Week 5 Discussion 1

Matthew Morganfield

12/3/2013 8:43:07 PM

We have learned in this week’s reading “a great deal of planning and hard work goes into promoting order and predictability” in order to maintain stability within organizations (Kreps, 2011 p. 199). However, organizations cannot maintain levels of excellence by simply following these guidelines. Management is constantly looking for ways to hire employees that have the abilities and traits to take their corporation to the next level. Innovation in organizational life gives the capability for organizations to adapt to changes and meet unforeseen demands that are faced everyday by companies (Kreps, 2011). Stability and innovation is carried out every day on operations floors in the Air Force.

Air Force Space Operations Centers (SOC) are responsible for defending our great nation we live in everyday and every night. There are requirements that have to be carried out to ensure stability is maintain between all the different shifts that work on the SOC. Having that stability ensures oncoming crews have certain things in a particular order so not to disrupt the flow of operations so the mission can continue on without any adverse disruption. On the other hand operators who work on the SOC floor are constantly told to be more than just the everyday operator. It’s stress by crew commanders that operators should always look into ways of performing operations better for the unit and their crews and look for new innovated ways to defeat the enemy both foreign and domestic.

SOC’s are perfect examples of how organizations should run. You never want an employee on your team that comes to work just to earn a check. Having that employee that comes to work looking for ways to make his/her organization better and more productivity as a whole promotes by in from others to do the same and shows upper management a possible candidate who’s ready to move up in position and take the organization to higher levels.

Matt M. III

Kreps, G. (2011). Communication in Organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Week 5 Discussion 1

David Ussery

12/3/2013 1:37:59 PM

It is difficult to bring into words what organizational stability really is. Organizational stability is more or less having everyone’s task in the right order to know that what is done today will ensure success tomorrow. Stability is knowing the company will be there tomorrow. Stability is being able to predict what tomorrow will bring for the company and the employees. Having the proper rules and the proper order in place will help bring stability to an organization. Being able to know that a certain process will bring a specific result also strengthens the stability of an organization.

Innovation is being able to adapt to an ever changing world. Innovation is making changes so that the success of the company will not always depend on what has been done but what needs to be done in the future. By being innovative we can take a process that works and make it even better by attempting better efficiency or lowering cost. Innovation is basically the attempt to stay ahead of the game before the game changes. Kreps (2011) says this best by stating “Sometimes organizational goals shift, demanding the performance of new organizational activities to meet the updated goals. For example, leaders may alter the kinds of products that organizations create and market in response to changes in society, technology, and consumer demand.” (ch 9.1 par 5)

I recently read an article about Target using innovation to stay ahead of their customers’ demands. As the economy has weakened many consumers have shifted their focus from luxury items to necessities. Target has recognized this shift and began implementing a larger selection of grocery items into their new stores. Along with the normal items Target customers are accustomed to buying they are now expanding the items that customers must have such as food. Their other basic items that are sold most often will now be called high volume freight and will become high priority for their distribution and store employees. Wal-Mart not to be outdone by Target has enacted a similar strategy of being able to move their most common items into a local storage of some type as emergency supplies in case their own distribution system is slow or fails. By ensuring their shelves are stocked with the everyday necessities the consumer demands they show the stability we have come to associate with the big chain stores as well as the innovation to stay ahead of consumer demands.

Kreps, G.L. (2011). Communication in organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.