Practical models for technical communication - Shannon Kelley 2021

Ethics at work
Technical communication ethics

Professional ethics often involve your legal obligations to your employer. Everything you create while you’re being paid is an extension of the company or organization you work for. Each company will have its own standards and expectations, and you should familiarize yourself with them before you begin a new project. These standards can generally be found in your company’s code of conduct.

Ethical behavior, including ethical technical communication, involves telling the truth and providing information so that a reasonable audience can make an informed decision. It also means that you act to prevent actual harm, with set criteria for what types and degrees of harm are more serious than others. For example, financial damage to your company outweighs your own frustration or convenience. As a guideline, ask yourself what would happen if your action (or nonaction) became public. If your response could impact your job security or professional reputation—or just cause embarrassment—the action is likely unethical.

But it’s not enough to trust your gut. Experts need to confront ethical dilemmas directly by thinking about the possible outcomes and how these outcomes affect various groups of people. How much should you say? To whom? And when? As you look at the examples in this chapter, consider how you might react in a professional situation.

Client and User Conflicts

One of the first places you may encounter an ethical conflict is when your client’s needs conflict with your user’s needs. It can be tempting to go for the easiest solution—often the solution that pleases your employer (or client) the most. After all, they’re the ones paying for the work. A good point to remember is that solutions that appear easy are rarely so. What’s convenient for you or your client is not automatically best for everyone involved.

See Chapter 1 for more on users and clients.

Consider the following example. You’ve been hired to create a brochure advertising a new prescription drug. The document is a pamphlet that will be picked up and read in physicians’ waiting rooms. Your client, a pharmaceutical company, has specific needs. They want the drug to be attractive to a wide audience. They want to sell their product. They’ve communicated that they want you to focus on the benefits of the drug and minimize the drawbacks. On the other side, users want to know if the drug is safe and if it will help their condition.

Your decision in this situation can be an actual matter of life and death. If you don’t give a realistic portrayal of the drug and its interactions, people who encounter your pamphlet may get misinformation that could affect them in serious ways. You’re not the only one responsible, of course. There are doctors, FDA regulations on prescription drug ads, and your company’s legal team. But your role in creating this information is critical. Being a professional means knowing where you stand and where you draw the line.

Ethics in Action

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is a professional organization that has identified six ethical principles for its members: legality, honesty, confidentiality, quality, fairness, and professionalism.¹ STC’s board of directors adopted these principles in 1998, and they form the standard for professional activity and accountability in the field. You can find the complete code of ethics on STC’s website. Figure 2.2 gives an overview of the six principles. Consider how to put these principles into action by taking a look at the case study at the end of this chapter.

Figure 2.2. Code of Ethics. This list of six principles has been adapted from the Society for Technical Communication’s ethics statement for professional activities.