Ethics of business communication: necessary skills for a modern person

The work of a successful team is always based on the laws and principles of professional communication. Only relationships built on the laws of business dialogue will create an atmosphere of comfort, positive, trust, goodwill and high efficiency in the organization. It is necessary for all participants in a business dialogue to know and apply the main laws of business communication.

Ethics is defined as a science that studies the fundamental positions, norms and essence of morality in society. Experts distinguish the following principles of ethical behavior:

• set and fulfill only long-term tasks and goals;
• solve problems only honestly, openly and in good faith;
• support and develop mutual assistance in the team;
• not violate the law, which contains minimum ethical standards;
• not violate the rights of members of the team;
• increase profits only based on knowledge of legal norms;
• not violate the rights of a subordinate;
• not interfere with the intellectual and creative development of others.

Business communication is such a concept, the essence of which lies in the predominance of business interests over personal differences. Ethics of business communication is a set of norms, rules and principles for both managers and subordinates involved in professional and business activities.

The main task is the cooperation and interaction of different people to achieve a result in solving one problem. Experts identify several types of ethical standards that guide people's behavior, namely:

• honesty;
• integrity;
• justice;
• respect;
• a responsibility.

Basic principles of business communication:

• the principle of personality;
• the principle of professionalism;
• principle of citizenship.

Etiquette is an integral part of business communication. Etiquette is a set of unspoken and specific rules of conduct for members of a team in a traditional society, in which the official status of the interlocutor is initially taken into account.

The main rules include the following:

• culture of treatment;
• observance of subordination;
• application of greeting norms;
• colleague introduction rules;
• the presence of a mandatory attribute - a business card;
• the use of gifts as a mechanism for reflecting a benevolent attitude towards the interlocutor;
• correct communication over the phone.

Ethics of business relations consists of mandatory elements of direction, namely:

• organization philosophy;
• service relationships;
• leadership style;
• conflict resolution.

Stages of the maintenance of ethics of communication in a team:

• setting up a contact;
• studying the situation;
• discussion of the issue;
• choosing the right solution;
• end of contact.

The communication process includes the following stages of contact:

• need for information;
• understanding of the situation and goals of the dialogue;
• determination of the personal qualities of the interlocutor;
• planning, building a dialogue and a line of conduct;
• choice of speech turns and phrases;
• assessment of the achievement of the results of the dialogue;
• choice of communication method.

When conducting business communication, the following types are distinguished:

• benevolent;
• hostile;
• neutral;
• dominant;
• horizontal communication;
• subordinate.

The moral principles of a leader in a top-down relationship are as follows:

• the desire to rally the team and instill moral standards of behavior;
• the ability to understand the causes of the conflict and make an objective decision;
• prevention of conflicts and disagreements;
• increasing the importance of orders among subordinates and monitoring their implementation;
• strict observance of ethical standards when issuing reprimands and comments;
• assessing only professional qualities without switching to personality criticism;
• the ability to end any conversation with positive emotions;
• detached attitude to the personal life of subordinates;
• equal treatment of all employees of the institution;
• orientation in any situation will increase respect in the team;
• fair distribution of rewards, which will increase the efficiency and morale of the team;
• concealing one's own mistakes is a sign of weakness and dishonesty;
• the ability to defend not only their own interests, but also those of subordinates;
• choose the form of the order in accordance with the tasks, the situation and the personality of the subordinate.

The moral principles of subordinates in a top-down relationship are as follows:

• help in creating friendly relations;
• expressing one's own opinions and comments tactfully and with respect;
• offer their assistance in solving difficult situations, even in extreme conditions;
• choose the appropriate tone of communication;
• be a reliable and loyal member of the team.

There are the following types of dialogue ethics:

• open - a complete expression of one's idea, taking into account the opinion of the opponent;
• closed - inability to conduct a conversation with a clear expression of one's thoughts;
• monologue - one-sided statement of tasks and requirements;
• role - taking into account the social significance of the individual.

To achieve the goals of business communication, specialists working in the field of psychology have deduced the basic principles and categories of moral business ethics.

• Confidentiality. Information about the activities of the institution, functional duties and personal life of employees should not be transferred to unauthorized persons. Leakage of information can harm and cause damage to the organization, as well as officials.
• Attentiveness. Attention to colleagues, subordinates and managers will help create a friendly and cohesive team. Understanding the problems of others, the ability to objectively understand the current situation even in extreme situations, the perception of criticism and advice will help to avoid and prevent quarrels and conflicts in the team.
• Goodwill. A polite, friendly attitude in the team is the key to a calm and harmonious work of the organization. A way out of stressful and problematic situations must be found without raising your voice and insults, with the desire to conduct a constructive dialogue.

• Appearance. Compliance with the appearance and position will help to harmoniously fit into the structure of the new team. A neat appearance and competent selection of clothes, accessories and colors will help to create a trusting relationship with colleagues.
• Literacy. The ability to correctly draw up documents and clearly express one's thoughts, not to use swear words in colloquial speech will help in the performance of professional duties and social life in a team. Each personality has its own unique characteristics, traits - intellectual, moral, moral, which were formed under the influence of the team, family, culture.
• Punctuality. Delays and delays testify to the unreliability of a person, the impossibility of entrusting him with the performance of responsible tasks and assignments. Fulfillment of all service tasks within a strictly stipulated time frame is the basic principle of service relations.

For the ethical solution of professional conflicts, there is a clear algorithm, following which it will be possible to solve the problem in the moral and legal field. It includes the following instructions:

• search for a moral and ethical base;
• coordination for compliance of actions with the norms of the professional code;
• comparison and comparison with ethical rules;
• bringing to compliance with the rules of morality and decency;
• check on public opinion and reviews of others.

Modern society has established rules and norms of ethical behavior that allow honestly and conscientiously carry out professional activities. Real life very often shows other examples of the behavior of people who have their own characteristics and violate the principles of business communication. Among them are:

• tax evasion and honest business practices;
• committing offenses with a sense of impunity;
• attribution of professional qualities that do not correspond to reality;
• copyright infringement and plagiarism;
• withholding truthful data in order to obtain material profit;
• disclosure of corporate information or its provision to competing structures.

Achieving one's own interests while violating the rights of others is the basis of unethical behavior. The feeling of impunity and concealment of negative deeds in the modern world has become the norm of behavior and is not condemned by society. Among the main reasons for unethical behavior are the following:

• receiving material compensation and profit;
• erroneous understanding of the final goals;
• desire for career growth and inflated personal ambitions;
• impunity;
• low ethical level of the management team;
• ignorance of ethical norms and rules of business conduct.

Violation of the ethics of business communication will necessarily lead to such problems in the team as:

• ethical - inequality, injustice, the emergence of competition, deceit, concealment of information;
• managerial - distrust of leadership, lack of motivation, uncontrolled resolution of problems and conflicts;
• economic - staff turnover, lack of material interest, unwillingness to perform job duties in a qualified manner.

Business etiquette is the norms that dictate the style of conducting business relations. Business ethics has gone through a complex process of formation. There are the following factors that influenced this process:

• economic and political freedom;
• executive power;
• the stability of the legal system.

Business ethics is a mediator that helps to quickly find the right solutions, reducing the number of conflicts, barriers and mutual claims. The main tool is business rhetoric. Rhetoric is the ability to clearly and correctly express one's thoughts and desires.

In modern society, there is no single point of view on the role of ethics in business communication in professional activities. The ambiguous attitude to this concept has led to the emergence of several theories.

• Refusal to use ethical norms and rules in the conduct of professional activities, compliance with economic laws in the conduct of entrepreneurial activities in order to achieve results and make a profit.
• Application of the laws of business communication ethics only in dialogue with superiors and their complete denial in horizontal communication.
• Conviction in the destructive role of ethical norms on the economy of the institution and harmonious relations in the team.
• The use of corporate ethics as a tool for the balanced development of the organization and only as a mechanism for making a profit, in communication with the team, its use is not advisable.

For the full implementation of all the rules and norms of business communication ethics in a team, the management team needs to take care of creating special program for the development of ethics in the institution.

• Creation of an ethical code with the inclusion of the principles and rules applied in the institution with the mandatory introduction of sanctions and penalties for its non-compliance and violation.
• The introduction of special staff units in the structure of the institution with job responsibilities for conducting an ethical policy, moral assessment of the activities of employees and an objective investigation of conflict situations with the imposition of appropriate penalties.
• Implementation of hotlines that enable employees to report violations of business ethics and unethical behavior in the team.
• Conducting training courses for employees with the study of the ethics of business communication and the correct way out of a conflict situation.

A reminder for daily use includes the following ethical standards:

• address colleagues by name;
• be friendly and responsive to others;
• do not take on unbearable things;
• express your thoughts briefly and meaningfully;
• when communicating, do not get personal;
• listen to the opinion of the interlocutor;
• talk openly;
• observe speech etiquette;
• correctly select a wardrobe and its color scheme;
• comply with the rules of confidentiality;
• maintain self-respect.

In the next video, watch a lecture on the topic "Psychology and ethics of business communication."