How to teach business communication ethics

How did you learn / are you learning what is considered appropriate communication ethics in the business setting?

For me personally, I use my previously learned communication ethics and apply it as best I can in the workplace. From there, it is mostly a trial and error learning style. For example, I might say something that is not appropriate and learn from my mistakes.

I found a scholarly article that studied if communication ethics for business could be taught in a classroom setting and then the lessons learned could be applied to a student’s future business decision. The findings of the article indicated that by showing two films and studying the ethics and controversy in them, students could take the information they learned in the classroom and apply the ethics in a business related setting.

I thought this was really cool because business communication ethics is something that does not really get discussed until you are out in the real world and you have already made some mistakes. Of course you cannot cover all of the differences that specific organizations may have but you might be able to cover the major issues. This might save you some embarrassment from your manager or boss!

Berger, J., & Pratt, C. B. (1998). Teaching business-communication ethics with controversial films. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(16), 1817-1823. doi: 10.1023/A:1005764931816