An Ethical Organizational Communication Analysis Of Microsoft Essay Example

Introduction Business ethics is a disposition of cultural values that is often concerned with moral principles that administrate human behavior in an organization. Organizational cultural value analysis provides means of determining the legitimacy of the suitability of their primary effective standards of truth and justice in communication practices. The current global village of business requires robust articulation of communication-based on ethical principles to survive. Microsoft is the world number one company that has previously provided grounds of case studies on ethical communication of organizations. Microsoft Corporation is the world chosen software company that controls an overwhelming share of operating systems for computers in the global market. Besides, the company supplies the global market with various products including, video game console Xbox, Office Software Suit, Zune, and CRM Applications (Microsoft Corporation, 2014). Referencing to communication, Microsoft Company has had acquisitions to bulk its presence in the global markets using various platforms of communication to the customers including mobile services communication, online advertising, and enterprise software. The company works based on its cultures of core competencies, innovative breakthroughs, strategies, and dynamics that is intertwined with robust communication strategy that is responsible for its universal leadership in the software industry. Microsoft Corporation, initially founded by Bill Gates in 1975, began as a company that was selling a version of programming language BASIC, according to (Thibodeau, 2011). The company began developing software in 1979 that would write programs, thus lead to the invention of the modern computer in 1980 when IBM chosen Microsoft to write its new machines using Microsoft operating systems. The technological strategy services used by Microsoft provide avenues for business innovation and assists in developing a competitive advantage of a company. The company has a technology strategy that helps improve organization’s information technology service excellence, build competitive advantage and lower costs. A core competency of the company is considered more than a core technology, and as Thibodeau (2011) reports, the core competencies of the company lies in its products such as Windows, Business Solutions, MSN, Windows Mobile, and Developer tool. As such, the company delivers the right services to the market at the right time through its strengthened technology that offers a competitive advantage. The literature of Microsoft has gone down in history as one of the most innovative corporations that has promoted innovative approaches in the way people go about their daily lives. The company has come a long way to become the most dominant software company globally (Thibodeau, 2011). Owing to its innovative technology, Microsoft has proven the giant of technological powerhouse over the years.Ethical Communication Assessment of Microsoft In today’s dynamic market, effective communication is the slogan of business success. Communication is a process that works to deliver information to a particular audience. Through communication, people can share ideas, thoughts, emotions and feelings about a given product. Ethical communication, according to Appiah (2006), refers to the procedure of inculcating moral values in delivering or exchanging information between the business and its stakeholders. As such, ethical organizational communication entails facets of cultural value systems made to be operable, in conducting an activity or intentions based on the realm of goodness. Traditionally, business is based on profit and performance in the global market. The dynamism in the current workforce has obligated businesses to open the communication up to the recognition that mentions robust ethical communication and moral decision-making. As such, this section of the paper focuses on the overall ethical communication assessment of Microsoft Corporation using Steve May’s framework questions. Microsoft Corporation has long supported effective communication through the use of available resources to move, convey information, persuade, inspire, connect, and enlighten its stakeholders. Boss, (2003) writes that analysis of communication of an organization requires historical investigation of evolution of ethics in a company. Microsoft has throughout the history employed ethical communication based on obligations, rights, duties, and responsibilities of its stakeholders. Within the institutional context, ethical communication has been used to discourage corruption and greed and oppression. Historically, the company has used communication in sparking ad justifying employee relationships, economic justice, and truth, justice, wisdom, and peace in its operations. According to Boss (2003), communication has powers to heal and hurt, inspire and repress, uplift and betray, and to comfort and oppress. Therefore, Microsoft has established direct link between ethics and communication instrumental in fulfilling its communication constructive potential alongside addressing numerous challenges associated with such efforts. Trust and cooperation is one of the most consistent and robust findings of sociological literature, according to Thibodeau (2011). Trust building and cooperation are essential for changing the nature of management and overall communication of the organization, May (2013) reports. Primarily, Microsoft Corporation has relied on voice communication to that has established a powerful effect on the tendency of the employee’s to trust and cooperate with the management and with one another. Most currently, the company has implemented citizenship reporting review that consists of web links. The current reporting of the company has shifted to web that has made the readers of the information to receive charts and info-graphs for communication (Thibodeau, 2011). Microsoft has made a difference in changing the world through technology. Indeed, living in a mobile business means asking the organization stakeholders to trust Microsoft though information and idea. Microsoft recognizes that trust building is paramount, and their business operation with individuals, governments, and companies depends on trust building and maintenance through shared commitment to ethical communication behavior, honesty, and integrity. As a result, Microsoft is dedicated to high ethical standards that the employees live up to through complying with the law and policies of the company. Microsoft employees, Thibodeau (2011) reports, are devoted to high ethical standards and conduct based on integrity in communication with the customers. Therefore, through their policies and guidelines for Standards of Business Conduct, the company provides an extension of values that reflect sustained commitment to compliance with ethical communication as required by the law (Thibodeau, 2011). Microsoft through robust communication advocates for privacy rights. The wide use of internet has made the right of an individual to move beyond private property. Therefore, Microsoft Corporation is in alignment with personal and professional privacy rights among the stakeholders. Notably, most Internet-based institutions track the personal information of the subscribers as they navigate through the site. As such, the company ensures ethical communication by advocating privacy rights to serve their users better. The development of Web sites, Arneson (2007) deliberates, provides health information to the customers of the company that develops the potential of sharing with third parties. Ethical communication requires privacy protection legislation that protects the consumers against exploitative advertisement. As such, the company has made tremendous efforts in addressing the online security concerns that have provided the customers with the ability to actively ensure privacy to their information not shared with third parties. For instance, the company has developed observation software that when loaded onto the hard drive, it can be sent to company stakeholders as an email attachment. The company has increasingly expanded their cloud for storing personal information and relies on the free flow of online information (Arneson, 2007). Therefore, the company ensures cloud protection of customer privacy that enables trust in their technology. The company has vigorous policies and guidelines of communication between the organizational parties based on standards. According to Lockett, Moon, and Visser, (2006), Microsoft uses policies and principles supplemented by ethical standards to govern the company. Effective use of communication resources among the employees provides guidance to answer client questions. Besides, the managers of the company apply the communication standards to foster and reward a culture of integrity and accountability within the organizational groups, Lockett and colleagues reports. Microsoft family is committed to core values, ethical, and legal behavior that offers high integrity in all their operations. One of the most outstanding policies of communication inculcated in the culture of Microsoft is dialogs. Despite the reports that dialog differs from other forms of communication, it is characterized by communicating with others (Lockett, Moon & Visser, 2006). The company recognizes that ethical and effective dialogs require supplementation with other skills. Therefore, the company has been keen on observing qualities of listening abilities for their employees. Notably, as Lockett et al. (2006) writes, communication is thwarted by the tendency of human to blame, judge, or defend in response t others; therefore, the c company has opened various possibilities of dialogic connection between the stakeholders to promote mutual understanding. The employees at Microsoft, according to Lockett and colleagues, demonstrate a communication approach with an open mind and heart that are helpful for ethical and effective dialogs. The culture of mutual recognition of values developed by Microsoft fosters interactions based on informed decision-making and mutual understanding. The management at Microsoft is committed to creating self-awareness through acknowledging and recognizing the standpoints of the stakeholders and their influences on various developmental perspectives (Henschen, 2010). Ethical and effective communication that promotes professional and personal growth through the development of capacity to imagine the sensibilities and experiences of others are essential for ethical decision-making. Moreno and Capriotti, (2009) indicates that development of moral imagination requires the willingness and ability to challenge one’s self-centered perspective. Therefore, the management of the Microsoft has been open through receptiveness and responsiveness to the multiplicity and diversity of perspectives characteristic of the Microsoft family (Moreno & Capriotti, 2009). Primarily, Microsoft has implemented Test of Publicity that has been fruitful resource for attending to well-thought decision-making. It is established that ethical communication necessitates assortment of intellectual values, dispositional traits, and related dialogic skills and virtues (Moreno & Capriotti, 2009). Microsoft has significantly intertwined these resources in their communication strategies, and while there are occasional challenges, they have been successful in ensuring communication ethics. Corporate social responsibility, Moreno et al. (2009) writes, is a fashionable management concept with reference to communication theory and practice. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in management and communication implies that businesses have responsibilities beyond profit-making. While there are numerous critics of the CSR communication concept, Moreno and colleague argues that it entails an epistemological perspective deeply rooted in social constructionism that is necessary for temper theoretical tendencies of naïve realism. Microsoft decision-making process is based on effective communication where ideas are either accepted or rejected, and the truth is unearthed. The institution works under the principle of language is power where communication is the facet of modification and construction of social conditions, reality, and relationships. Reports by Moreno et al. (2009) assert that, through its public relations department, Microsoft has been important in implementing effective and ethical CSR to achieve the organizational goals. Internal communication in the company provides the potential to assist in constituting stakeholder participation alongside ethical business practices. Referring from the communication theory, the models for stakeholder collaboration and communication discourages manipulative intent while promoting consensus perspectives (Moreno & Capriotti, 2009). Therefore, Microsoft ensures effective and ethical communication based on CSR concept that ensures accountability and response whenever necessary. Henschen, (2010) finds that Microsoft Corporates is a global leader in effective and ethical communication. According to the report, the company advocates accuracy in the information, truthfulness, and honesty as essential and the integrity of communication. The company stakeholders are free to express their ideas, and the company has endorsed the culture of tolerance and diversity perspective of dissent to achieve the responsible and informed decision-making significant for the software business subscribers. Besides, Microsoft strives to understanding and respects other communicators before proper evaluation and response to the messages. Through a robust communications platform, the company has invested in a multi-billion customer service center where the employees communicate with the customers. The customer service communication center promotes communication climates of mutual understanding and caring that respects the unique characteristics and needs of the individual communicators (Appiah, 2006). Also, Microsoft strongly condemns communication that degrades humanity and individual through distortion, coercion, and intimidation. The company has a robust policy and principles that guide the employees to ensure ethical standards essential for effective communication. The company has a well-structured decision-making process that is based on horizontal and vertical communication policy guidelines. Notably, Microsoft is committed to courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of justice and fairness in services. As such, there is a well-established information sharing center where the customers and other stakeholders share opinions and feelings about the products while also ensuring confidentiality and privacy principles. The company speech communication department has previously given attention to ethical concerns of communication. For instance, the company has published a bibliography on ethics approved by the management. The bibliographies fundamental explores the need for development o ethical standards for the professionals and speeches aired must present code of ethics applicable to all members in their professional roles. Various organizational forces at Microsoft combined to produce a policy document on freedom of speech that indicated the intent of clear ethical import of communication. As such, the company recognizes essential place of responsible and free communication in a democratic society and acknowledging the freedoms of the legal system based on standardized guidelines. Microsoft communication guidelines require the present of warrant before disclosing any customer information and data to law enforcements. While the communication system of the company has been described as robust and ethical, there are challenges based on the diversity and the dynamism of the market. Thibodeau, (2011) indicates that ubiquity and power of mass communication establish valuable opportunities to ensure justice, shared understanding, facilitate peace and serve humanity. However, Microsoft has experienced challenges of controlling news sources that has increasingly been driven by commercial interests. Therefore, access to new information has ben difficult and speed of information transformation has prevented the kind scrutiny and reflection. Response to communication crisis has been a key challenge due to enhanced tools for manipulating messages as this has previously undermined the ability to discern differences between propaganda and truthful information. Furthermore, ethical dilemmas have arisen in ensuring ethical communication in the organization. For instance, the development of employee monitoring program has faced challenges of the restrictions of the elements to monitor. The desire for more freedom and less monitoring of employees and customers poses a challenge in ensuring adherence to ethical communication principles and guidelines.Conclusion Ethical issues are bound to arise in human communication when factors such as communicative behaviour makes significant impact on other parties, can be judged by standards of wrong and right, and involves conscious choice of means and ends. Organizational communication is a multi-faceted concept that has yield endless debates in the public discourse. The dimension of ethics is required in all processes of communication, and the exploring ethical communication in an organization is the ultimate procedure of succeeding in the current dynamic market. The above literature has discussed the various principles, guidelines and policies implemented by Microsoft to ensure ethical communication between its stakeholders. It is essential to note that Microsoft has been the leading software company since its inception in the 1975 and continued to dominate the software market. Therefore, it is justified to assert that the use of robust communication based on effectively and ethical standards has been the key pillar for the success of the organization.

References

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Lockett, A., Moon, J., and Visser, W. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in management research: Focus, nature, salience and sources of influence. Journal of Management Studies, 43 (1), 115–136.
Moreno, A., and Capriotti, P. (2009). Communicating CSR, citizenship and sustainability on the web. Journal of Communication Management, 13 (2), 157–175.
Appiah, K. A. (2006). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a world of strangers. New York: W. W. Norton.
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