Professional and Technical Writing/Ethics
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[edit] Defined
As you put together professional documents and begin jobs in the “real” world, you must understand what could easily lead to your downfall in your period of work. The Paul Anderson text claims that at work, in a professional setting, there at least 3 major “sources of guidance”: the code of ethics already developed by your field’s professionals, the ethical code set in place by your company, and your own personal ethics. Lately, some companies have decided to have employees keep their personal ethics at home. But in reality, companies that try to keep personal ethics at home find that employees are occasionally asked to perform actions that they don’t condone at home. In professional settings it seem companies wouldn't act unethically, so why should you necessarily need to pay attention?
The truth is that companies do act unethically, whether it is disposing of toxic waste incorrectly or price gouging. The same goes with writing professional documents. You should keep them clean and qualified to save yourself from damaging a possible job opportunity.
[edit] Ethics and Resumes
Resumes present a unique case in professional writing as it relates to ethics. Once in a job, it would be considered unethical or lying if you do not present all the information related to a given project, good and bad. However, when you are writing your resume, it is understood that only the good information will be included. While not including negative aspects is acceptable on a resume, including extra items that you did not accomplish is not.
When writing your resume, it is obvious that you should not lie. In today’s world, it is very easy for a prospective employer to go online or call a current or past employer or reference to find out what kind of work you did, finding out for themselves if your resume is not honest. Lying in your resume will hurt you. Not only could you be rejected for a job, you could also be selling yourself for a position that you’re not actually prepared for and your possible future employer is not aware of because you lied on your resume. Therefore, if you lie on your resume and get away with it, you could find yourself in a job you are not able to do. For example, if you write on your resume that you know how to use Microsoft Word 2007 and you don’t, on the first day of your new job if your employer wants you to type up an essay using Microsoft Word 2007, you will be in for a rough first day of work and a poor performance review.
Here are some tips for keeping your resume within ethical boundaries:
- List only the jobs you have held and what you did there
- Do not elaborate your education. State only the schools you attended and the degrees you have completed
- Provide correct statistics about positions you've held. If you don’t know the actual data, give a plausible range of data.
- Do not take credit for something accomplished as a team member and not team leader
- Do not write in a way that is intended to mislead the reader (even if it isn't outright lying)
- Do not list references that have not agreed to be a reference
Possible future employers do have the right to run a background check on you, with your approval. In this background check, the company they go through will call your listed previous employers and will ask if you A) worked for them and B) what type of employee you were, if the possible future employer wishes. If you are unsure about a certain fact or number, do not guess. Instead, call your previous or current employer and ask them to clarify. For example, one of my previous jobs had a lot of different possible shifts you could work. I couldn’t remember the exact number so instead of guessing the 8 that I could come up with, I called my previous supervisor and they told me it was in fact 7. Had I listed 8 on my resume and my future employer called my previous one, my future employer might think twice because I could have either been lying to make myself sound better or I just really didn’t know my previous job. Also make sure anything you put on your resume you can back up. If I say I worked 7 different shifts in my previous job, I should be able to list all 7 of those shifts in case I am ever asked.
Do not lie on your resume because it is one of the first impressions you are able to make on a potential future employer, and you obviously want to make a good first impression. Lying on your resume or even stretching facts will not help you in the long run.
[edit] Stakeholders
When writing any document professionally, it is important to identify the stakeholders. A stakeholder is anyone who will be affected by what you are intending on writing. How you choose to word your document or even the choice to write the document becomes an ethical matter to the stakeholders. The objective is crucial to consider before writing. If you are writing a document that would be used to harm other living things (like writing a manual for a handgun) you have to weigh the implications to all stakeholders impacted by what you write. According to the Paul Anderson text, there are three types of stakeholders: direct, indirect, and remote.
[edit] Direct
The direct stakeholders are those initial impacted by what you write. For instance, if you are writing about opening a new waste disposal area, the stakeholders clearly include the company you are writing to. However, disposal companies that might use this waste area in the future are also considered direct stakeholders. Their future job will be impacted based on whether your proposal is accepted or declined.
[edit] Indirect
The indirect stakeholders are those that aren't impacted until a little later. Using the previous example of the waste disposal, citizens in the area would be indirect stakeholders. The stakeholders don't need to be people, either. The nearby eco-systems would be indirect stakeholders to this same proposal. If toxic waste is dumped there, it would harm the animals, rivers and plant life nearby.
[edit] Remote
Finally, the remote stakeholders are never affected until far into the future. One example following our hypothetical waste disposal area, would be the future generations. While it may seem far-fetched, historically, there have been instances where toxic or poisonous things have been disposed of incorrectly that with run-off into lakes and streams, have cause birth defects. While this truly is remote, it must be considered when writing a document like this.
[edit] Ethical Writing
Once on the job, you will be assigned many documents to write throughout your professional career. Some may be simple and straight forward, some may be difficult and involve questionable objectives. Overall, there are a few basic points to adhere to whenever you are writing a professional document
- Don't mislead
- Don't manipulate
- Don't stereotype
[edit] Don't mislead
This has more than one meaning to the professional writer. The main point is clear. When writing persuasively, do not write something that would cause the reader to believe something that isn't true. This can be done by lying, mis-representing facts, or even just "twisting" numbers to favor your opinion and your objective. This is clearly different from the resume ethics. Once you are on the job, you cannot leave out numbers that show you're behind or over-budget on a project, no matter how well it may work once it is completed. While this may seem easy to read about, when the pressure is on and there are deadlines to meet, bending the truth is very common throughout business. Don't follow that norm.
The other, less frequently thought of part of misleading is plagerizing. While it may seem like this is something students are done with when the graduate, it remains a very important part of any professional's life as well. Plagerizing is mis-representing the source of facts, most commonly when you claim the ideas you are writing about when many of them were borrowed from others. When you are researching professional documents, make sure you are using material with permission. If you are writing about what you've researched, make sure you are citing the sources of your information. This rule also extends beyond writing to what is referred to as intellectual property. Intellectual property includes the following:
- Patents - Items who's credit for creation is protected
- Trademarks - Company names (WalMart), logos (the Target bulls-eye), or slogans (i'm lovin' it)
- Copyright law - Items who's distribution is protected by law (books, movies, or software)
None of these things can be used without proper recognition to or approval from the appropriate company or individual involved.
The law extends beyond the major companies, though. Any written document in your own company is copyrighted by law once produced. That means if you are borrowing a good idea from a friend at another company, you must cite them as a source. Also, although not required by law, it is a good idea to cite sources from inside your own company as well. You wouldn't want some one else taking credit for your ideas. Why should you treat them any differently?
Most notable about misleading is its legal impact. While plagerizing may give you a failing grade in a class, plagerizing in the workplace can not only get you fired, but could result in a costly lawsuit or possibly even jail time. It is not only ethical to follow these rules, it is an enforced law. Make sure you properly document all sources so as not to mislead a reader.
[edit] Don't manipulate
If you are holding a professional job, it is understood that you have at least a fair ability to write persuasively, even if your first persuasive document was your resume. However, once you hold a job, do not use your ability to persuade people to do what is not in their best interest, but in your own. While this may not seem easy to do, a good writer with a bad motive can twist words to make something sound like it is beneficial to all parties. They may only find out too late that what you wrote only benefitted you and actual ended up hurting them. This goes back to the stakeholders. Make sure they are not only considered in when writing a persuasive document, but are cared for in the document. It is too simple to get caught up in the facts that you can forget the real people involved. Their feelings and livelihood must be considered with every appropriate document you draft.
[edit] Don't stereotype
Most stereotyping takes place sub-conciously now since work places are careful to not openly discriminate.
[edit] Addressing Unethical Practices
Many times in the professional setting, workers find it difficult to deal with unethical practices in their company. First you must begin by bringing the unethical practice to the surface, which is usually the hardest part. Paul Anderson's text reviews three ways that you can bring your company's practices to the surface. It is easiest to first start asking questions. Asking questions may be simple but it is an effective way of bringing attention to your company's problems. Ask questions about who their decisions are affecting and why they are making those decisions. What this will allow you to do is it will not put you on the spot for being the bad guy, but it will allow you to voice your opinion.
The second way Anderson describes as being helpful in bringing unethical practices to the surface is to use facts or reason, instead of accusation. Before you bring questions to the surface about your company's unethical practices, make sure you have cold hard facts instead of accusations. Many times accusations are made about situations where people truly do not know the reason those decisions were being made. If you base your thoughts around true hard facts, your company will assume you looked into the situation and will take your thoughts more seriously.
The third helpful way of bringing your company's unethical practices to the surface is to remain open to others ideas. What this allows you to do is to base a solution around many different sides instead of just your own. Since people usually have different ethical values, your own stance may not coincide with anyone else. Make sure you identify possible values of everyone else that can help with deciding on a solution.
[edit] Employing Ethical Techniques
In professional writing the ethical dimensions come to the surface especially in persuasive writing. When you are trying to persuade other people to make a certain decision or to take action make sure to stay clear of trying to mislead and manipulate. Sometimes it is not clear and you may be misleading someone by accident. Do not mislead because in persuasive writing, you must respect the readers values and viewpoints. You should not use wrong facts or argue from false premises because you may mislead the reader and cause them to make an unlawful decision.
It remains important to also no manipulate the reader. Sometimes you may already understand the readers point of view and you must make sure you don't use that against them. It is unethical to persuade readers to make a decision that benefits yourself and no necessarily benefit them. Most of the times people try to manipulate others to receive the better half of the deal.
To fix using both misleading or manipulating words it is important to open yourself to the viewpoints of the viewers. Since you sometimes already know the viewpoints of the readers it shouldn't be that difficult to be open to their thoughts. Keep your readers ideas and goals in mind and understand the basis of what lies behind their concerns. To help solve these problems it may also be good to make statements based on human values. This will allow you to become persuasive knowing the other side will take your statements into strong consideration.
