...Ethics and Credibility in Business Communications Kristen Barnes COM/295 March 27, 2016 Randi Barnes-Plante Ethics and Credibility in Business Communications Social Media can be an effective form of communication for business to consumer relationships. Not only does it allow the business to keep everyone up to date on the latest developments within the company, but it also allows the consumer to reach out to the business without having to make a phone call. We all lead busy lives, and being placed on hold for thirty minutes, just to have a simple question answered, can be somewhat of an inconvenience. With social media, that inconvenience is replaced with a few clicks of a button. After visiting Toyota’s Facebook page, the overall presence was mixed, for me. The company made multiple posts throughout the day; some were just for fun, and some were factual. After reading some of the replies, from consumers, those were mixed, as well. Some posts showed pictures of old Toyota’s, and how they’ve always been loyal customers. Others, were full of complaints. I believe that with any company, this is going to happen; but it’s up to the company to communicate and try to make it right. I noticed that Toyota was fairly prompt in replying to the negative comments, and would refer them to the customer service number. While I’m not certain what happened from there, they at least made the effort to let the customer know that their complaint was not something to take lightly. I...
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...Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications: WMATA Rail System Gwenda Woodland COM/295 August 10, 2015 Sandra Norris Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications: WMATA Rail System The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (“WMATA”) has been plagued with various problems within its system and on the Metro rails lately. These issues are causing Metro riders much grief and they do not feel safe or find the Metro to be dependable at this time. The problems that the Metro rail has been experiencing are rails smoking due to electrical arcing, derailment of trains, and the constant malfunction of the Metro escalators. Metro riders are concerned that whenever there are serious issues taking place in the Metro system WMATA does not have things under control, or notify the riders in a timely manner so that things do not get out of control. Electrical Arcing Accident On January 12, 2015, there was an electrical arcing accident at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station which caused the station and two trains to fill with smoke. Panic was definitely in the air because the Metro riders were not notified immediately of an emergency evacuation plan or how quickly the situation was going to be resolved. Unfortunately, there was one passenger fatality and two passengers were hospitalized in serious condition. (National Transportation Safety Board, 2015) Train Derailment On August 5, 2015, a derailment of a non-passenger train at the Smithsonian Metro...
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...Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications COM/295 October 5, 2015 Dr. Lodessa S. Washington Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications Volkswagen is the latest car manufacturer to be caught in the act of purposely manipulating emissions tests results in some of their vehicles. Over the years, several other manufacturers including General Motors, Ford and Honda have also been exposed for the same unethical behavior (Biesecker, 2015). In Volkswagen’s case, the long-term impact to their brand, reputation and credibility is further compounded because their cheating was actually uncovered in 2014, but the organization continued to manufacture cars with the faulty software, and intentionally withheld their trickery from consumers who thought they were buying environmentally friendly vehicles. It wasn’t until the scandal became public last month that Volkswagen finally came clean (Plungis and Hall, 2015). In the United States alone, Volkswagen will have to endure both state and federal investigations, as well as the additional scrutiny of congressional hearings, but the greatest cost Volkswagen will have to pay is the long-term impact to their brand, reputation and credibility. Volkswagen is one of the top automobile manufacturers in the world, with worldwide sales reaching 5.04 million vehicles, from January to June of this year, surpassing Toyota who regularly has held the top sales position (Harrison, 2015). The company now finds itself in the...
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...Ethics of Facebook Study Questioned COM/295 July 16, 2015 Ethics of Facebook Study Questioned I have chosen a recent newsworthy that talks about a study being questioned on ethics of Facebook in San Francisco. The company conducted an experiment using users’ posts in a manipulated way. They gathered news feed posts from users and reposted them as a positive post to one group and a negative post to another group. The purpose of doing that was to see how it affect others responses. The company posted a blog stating how sorry they were on how the paper was described and may have caused any anxiety to others. According to Abc7 News (2015), "I don't think there's any way to overstate this -- you just simply do not play with people's emotions without asking their permission first," said consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow (6). I believe there should have been a better way of doing this research for the sake of all people and their feelings. Facebook’s ethical obligation in their communications to the general public is to be truthful, respect privacy, deception and the right to be informed. Facebook gives individuals the power to share as part of their mission to make connections with others. However, Facebook has not yet responded to the general public nor the researchers due to allegations being made. There is a policy that states how information is collected and how it is used and shared. Due to the way ethics of Facebook...
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...Ethics and Credibility COM/295 Ethics and Credibility When social media are used for professional purposes, teams can communicate more efficiently; companies can interface more responsively to customers, clients, and suppliers; customers and other interested individuals can be directly involved in the development of products and services; and anyone with shared professional interests can communicate easily. 1. How would you rate the effectiveness of Toyota's Facebook presence? Do any posts make you feel more positively or negatively included toward the Toyota brand? Explain why? Toyota's Facebook presence is effective. The posts by the company shows new vehicles and or new ways of using the vehicles. They post success stories and encourage likes and shares from consumers. I feel more positively about the company because they are willing to share their information. 2. Did you find any evidence of communications to the general public? The entire Facebook page is evidence of communications to the public. There are no requirements for access to the page. Anyone can go to the site and read and or post. There are numerous likes and shares to Toyota's postings. There are many celebrities and well-known individuals that are liking or sharing on the page. 3. How effective was the communication in terms of establishing credibility? If not, what approach would you suggest the company take to communicate to the public to gain credibility...
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...During her day-long orientation that focused mainly on ethics, she was instructed what to do if someone had an idea that there was something unethical going on. Lowry now finds herself looking for a job so that she can continue to support her two children. This is not the first time Wal-Mart has been under scrutiny for controversial Ethics Violations or Defamation of Character suits. She should not be forced out of her position. According to "To Whom Does an Ethical Business Owe a Responsibility" (2004), four groups of people are generally responsible for the success of a business: Employees, customers, the community, and shareholders". In Wal-Mart vs. Lowry, Wal-Mart has an obligation to their employee. Why send her through the process of having to apply for a position in another department when she is already and employee? This is not only unfair to their employee but unjust. This unethical matter is now a public matter. Knowing how Wal-Mart has treated their own, who was only looking out for the company, does not look good to dedicated consumers. Wal-Mart has an obligation to prove to consumers, their current and future employees, and shareholders that they not only care about their employees but can make smart business decisions. Wal-Mart has yet to prove this to anyone. This causes one to question their credibility. Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in. Credibility is convincing the employees and customers that you are...
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...Collaborative Activity: Ethics & Business Credibility in Business Communication Collaborative Activity: Ethics & Business Credibility in Business Communication Kevin Robinson University of phoenix In this paper I am going to be talking about yelp and an even that questioned the ethics of the company. Yelp is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It develops, hosts and markets Yelp.com and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd source reviews about local businesses.” While watching the video attached to the article I see that people use yelp for everything to finding a restaurant to eat but also to find places to shop in my opinion it seems pretty interesting to use. In this article yelp has basically threated companies to pay them in order to get reviews to bring customers but if business would refuse then a business would get a lot of bad reviews and lose customers and mess their business up and business are saying that the situations is like blackmailing them out of money. They have filtered reviews which means that they personally edit reviews which give them opportunity to blackmail the business pay them in order to keep the customers coming when they don’t have to. Some evidence I found about communication to the public would be when yelp decided to use the filtered reviews that gets to the public because of the fact that people use yelp to find places to eat and shop and when a place has a bad review then people...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Main Issues 4 3. Ethics Policy and its Development 5 3.1. Proposed Ethics Policy 5 3.2. Rationale of Ethics Policy 6 3.3. Policy Development 6 3.3.1. Virtue Ethic 7 3.3.2. Utilitarianism Ethic 7 3.3.3. Kantianism Ethic 8 3.4. Corporate Social Responsibility 8 4. Implementation, Effectiveness, and Limitations 9 4.1. Implementation of Ethics Policy 9 4.2. Effectiveness of Ethics Policy 10 4.3. Limitations of Ethics Policy 11 5. Conclusion 12 6. Reference List 14 1) Executive Summary The Coca-Cola Company was founded in 1892. The company, till date, offers a wide range of products to meet different demands of customers all over the world. Coca-Cola not only produces and sells soft drink and non-carbonated beverages; they also distribute bottled waters around the world. Increasing shareholder values would be any major company’s target, likewise Coca-Cola’s, having to keep costs low but yet selling the customers their trusted quality products. Coca-Cola operates in a very competitive environment being in the beverages industry. In 1893, Coca-Cola’s greatest competitor, Pepsi-Cola, came into the market, and rivalry has been going on from then till now. Competition leads...
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...Building Brand Image With Ethics The Positive and Negative Effects of Ethical and Unethical Behaviors on Brand Trust Executive Summary In the market of today, businesses are faced with complex situations where they not only have to make decisions for the better of the company, but also for the better of society. In an economy and market that thrives on the competitiveness of various companies, business officials must abandon the focus on profit and focus on the needs of their consumers. Businesses cannot thrive without the support and trust of their primary and secondary stakeholders. These can include – consumers, employees, media, community leaders, etc. Businesses work to build and maintain meaningful relationships with these groups to ensure that they experience longevity and increased productivity. In order to obtain consumer preference over other companies, businesses must establish and maintain certain motives and incentives for their decision making. This will ensure two very important factors needed to maintain valuable business practices, positive brand image, and brand/consumer trust. Brand Image and Brand Identity When building a prosperous business, in the private or public sector, great focus must be dedicated to the brand’s image, equity, or value it holds. Brand image can simply be described as an impression; it is the consumers’ perception of a brand’s complete persona. Positive qualities, shortcomings, scandals, poor or effective...
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...personnel administration in the 1980s and 1990s to a strategy-focused extension of the organization in the 2000s (About SHRM, n.d.). HR management is driven by several business principles, particularly the "Ten C" collection of HR management principles developed by HR management expert Alan Price, author of "Human Resource Management in a Business Context." Price's 10 principles are "comprehensiveness, credibility, communication, cost effectiveness, creativity, coherence, competence, control, change and commitment (About SHRM, n.d.)." Based on these principles, they seem to tie directly in to the same principles as Operations Management. In Operations Management you have to have credibility to be effective in your role, communication is a must to make the business run smoothly and properly, you would need to be cost effective so that your business is being profitable, many times you need to be creative in completing tasks to get to your final objective, you need to be competent in what you do, have control over all complications that may arise, be open to change, and be committed to the business that you are working for (Russell, 2013). In the businesses that I have worked for in the past, the Human Resource Managers partner with the Operations Managers frequently to compare their budgets to make sure that the business is falling in line with them and being profitable or in the “green”. They tend to cross many paths between budgets, training and development,...
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...Thesis Statement The combination of Ethics and Social media is complicated. What people say online is considered their written word. Professionals often struggle with befriending clients or co-workers. Subordinates sometimes feel pressure when their bosses request friendships. The Social Media frenzy has given professionals the opportunity to communicate with clients online but the rules of confidentiality are sometimes vague. Mass media and ethics in today’s society raises many concerns as decisions are made daily involving ethics and such decisions possess the ability to impact the lives of millions of people, whom read, watch, listen, or browse through a media source outlet. To prevent a formal code of ethics from being broken through mass media, in this case-social media, it is important to understand ethical compliance, especially in the workplace. I. Legal and Ethical Issues associated with Social Media A. Privacy Policies 1. Copyright, Piracy and Libel are all issues directly associated with the ethics of social media. Using someone else’s words or speaking negatively about someone in a way that harms their reputation presents a gray area for social media users. 2. Websites are often constructed to defame someone’s character. There is virtually no way to keep people from going live with these sites. Minimal judgments have been issued mandating the removal of defaming information from websites. II. Social Media and Educational Facilities A. Student Confidentiality...
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...Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications Anya K Taylor COM/295 August 20, 2015 When conducting research on the unethical practices of doctors, research was found that physician leaders in hospitals were very concerned about the unethical violations and the business practices that was effecting U.S health services. “Ultimately the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), conducted a survey and found high percentages of physician leaders are either "very concerned" or "moderately concerned" about : Physicians refusing to accept calls on patients who don't have Insurance (79%) , Influence exerted by medical device manufacturers (79%), Over-treating patients to boost income (78%), Influence by pharmaceutical companies (76%), Board members with conflicts of interest (66%) and Non-physician executive leaders with conflicts of interest (66%).” (ACPE 2015) What was gathered from the research their ethical obligation is to uphold trust with their patients and be able to accept all that need help and be professional in their practices. This study points out the flaws for example, in the study they found that there was a high percentage of Physicians that would not help those in need if they did not have insurance. I believe in my opinion that this is wrong on so many levels, I believe that no matter if a person has insurance or not they should receive the necessary health benefits and services. The evidence of the unethical behaviors and business...
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...a common theme; customers! As is the case with just about everything in the world, the way in which businesses expand their customer base is an ever-evolving process. How does a business build a brand name with a strong reputation, and once they’ve achieved those qualities how do they spread that word for all to hear? For a long time businesses used tools such as door-to-door salesman, radio, print, and television ads as their means of spreading word about their product. And while those tools remain alive today, the explosion of the internet has broadened the horizon of the common business. With the internet came electronic commerce, or simply e-commerce. E-commerce is simply the conducting of business over the internet and it is becoming a major part of the business world today (UMSL Online, n.d.). It’s important that businesses embrace the new possibilities or find themselves at a disadvantage. “The successful adaptation of e-commerce can lead to improved efficiencies, growth in market share, expansion into new markets, or simply survival in competitive markets” (Ferguson, Finn, Hall, & Pinnuck, 2010, p. 80). The internet has also provided new methods of spreading the word of business beyond the old reliable like television and radio. Understanding these new social media tools and the ethics behind them is an important part of successful e-commerce. Social Media Tools and Uses Many people start projects without realizing many types of social media tools that are...
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...as followed: internal environment, objective setting, event identification, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and lastly, monitoring. Here we define/describe these eight components: a. The Internal Environment captures the tone of the organization and the sets the standard on how risk is viewed and addressed by the entity’s members. The entity will define such things as: risk management philosophy and risk appetite, integrity and ethical values, and the environment in which they operate. b. The Objective Setting is the objectives that exist before management identifies potential events that will affect their achievement. c. Event Identification are internal and external events affecting achievement of an entity’s objectives that are indentified, then distinguished between risks and opportunities. d. Risk Assessment is simply risks that are analyzed as a basis for determining how they should be managed. Risks are assessed on an inherent and a residual basis. e. Risk Response is avoiding, accepting, reducing, or sharing risk. Management develops a set of actions to align risks with the entity’s risk tolerances and risk appetite. f. Control Activities are policies and procedures that are established and implemented to help ensure the risk responses are effectively carried out. g. Information and communication is when relevant information is identified, captured and communicated in a form and time frame that enable people to carry out their...
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...Ethics and Credibility in Business Communications In 2009, Toyota was accused of ignoring safety concerns in regards to faulty brakes and acceleration pedals which sent the car manufacturer into a public relations crisis. Toyota continued to blame the sticking pedals on faulty floor mats, not electrical error and was found to delay the recall process in order to save money. In order to avoid a massive recall, Toyota ignored Consumer complaints and recalled limited amounts of vehicles during different times in the year while “producing new vehicles with known safety flaws and advertising their vehicles to be the safest and highest quality vehicles on the road” (“Associated Press”, 2010). Building Back Credibility As one of the largest and best selling automotive manufacturer, Toyota lost its credibility by not being forthcoming with all the Consumer complaints received. Toyota was found to have put saving money before Consumer safety. Being a large company with many Consumer’s relying on their automobiles, Toyota is obligated to give back to its Consumer’s by being honest and putting the Consumer’s at ease by letting the Consumer’s know that their concerns are being addressed. In 2010, Toyota was ordered to appear in Congress to face questions about their conduct in recalling of vehicles. During the hearing, Toyota “finally admitted to engaging in unethical behavior when it comes to investigating the safety of its vehicles” (Mack, 2010). This was the first admission from Toyota...
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