English 365

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Chapter 2 Overview: Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations

A brief introduction to ethics
Your ethical obligations
Your legal obligations
The role of corporate culture in ethical and legal conduct
Understanding ethical and legal issues related to social media
Communicating ethically across cultures
Principles for ethical communication

What is ethics?

Ethics is the study of the principles of conduct that apply to an individual or a group.

In thinking about ethical dilemmas,
four standards are useful:

Rights—individuals’ basic needs and welfare
Justice—how the costs and benefits of an action or a policy are distributed among a group
Utility—the positive and negative effects that an action or a policy has on others
Care—the relationships we have with other individuals

You have three sets of ethical obligations:

to your employer
to the public
to the environment

You have five obligations to your employer:

competence and diligence
generosity
honesty and candor
confidentiality
loyalty

Four bodies of law are relevant
to technical communication:

copyright law
trademark law
contract law
liability law

Courts consider four factors
in disputes over “fair use”:

the purpose and character of the use, especially whether the use is for profit
the nature and purpose of the copyrighted work
the amount and substantiality of the portion of the work used
the effect of the use on the potential market for the copyrighted work

Adhere to these four guidelines when
you use material from another source:

Abide by the fair-use concept.
Seek permission.
Cite your sources accurately.
Consult legal counsel if you have questions.

It is ethical to reuse information already produced at your company. Ask your supervisor if you have concerns about doing that.

There are two kinds of trademarks:

Trademark—a word, phrase, name, or
symbol that is identified with a company
Registered trademark—a word, phrase, name, or symbol that the company has registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Use four techniques to protect trademarks:

Distinguish trademarks from other material.
Use the appropriate trademark symbol
(TM or ®).
Use the trademarked item’s name as an adjective, not as a noun or a verb.
Do not use the possessive form of the trademarked name.

Contract law recognizes
two kinds of warranties:

Express warranty—a written or oral statement that the product has a particular feature or can perform a particular function
Implied warranty—a warranty that is not written or spoken explicitly but inferred by the purchaser

Follow these ten guidelines
for abiding by liability laws:

Understand the product and its likely users.
Describe the product’s functions and limitations.
Instruct users on all aspects of ownership.
Use appropriate words and graphics.

Follow these ten guidelines
for abiding by liability laws (cont.):

Warn users about the risks of using or misusing the product.
Include warnings along with assertions of safety.
Make directions and warnings conspicuous.

Follow these ten guidelines
for abiding by liability laws (cont.):

Make sure that the instructions comply with applicable company standards and local, state, and federal laws.
Perform usability testing on the product and on the instructions.
Make sure users receive the information.

Four elements of an organization’s culture
encourage ethical and legal behavior:

ethical leadership
supervisor reinforcement
peer support
reinforced and embedded ethical values

An effective code of conduct
has three characteristics:

It protects the public rather than members of the organization or profession.
It is specific and comprehensive.
It is enforceable.

Follow these nine ethical guidelines for using social media in the workplace:

Keep your private accounts separate from company-sponsored accounts.
Read the terms of service of every service to which you post.
Avoid revealing unauthorized news about your own company.

Follow these nine ethical guidelines for using social media in the workplace (cont.):

Avoid self-plagiarism.
Avoid defaming anyone (making statements that are false and harmful).
Don’t live stream or quote from a speech or meeting without permission.
Avoid false endorsements.

Avoid impersonating someone else online.
Avoid infringing on trademarks by using protected logos or names.

Follow these nine ethical guidelines for using social media in the workplace (cont.):

Companies have obligations
when communicating across cultures:

They must not reinforce patterns of discrimination in product information.
They are not obligated to challenge the prevailing prejudice directly.
They must adhere to other countries’ federal and regional laws when exporting goods and services.

Follow these ten principles
for ethical communication:

Abide by relevant laws.
Abide by the appropriate professional code of conduct.
Abide by your organization’s policy on social media.
Take advantage of your employer’s ethics resources.

Follow these ten principles
for ethical communication (cont.):

Tell the truth.
Don’t mislead your readers.
Use design to highlight important ethical and legal information.
Be clear.
Avoid discriminatory language.
Acknowledge assistance from others.

Avoid four common types of
misleading technical communication:

false implications
exaggerations
legalistic constructions
euphemisms