Traditional and feminist organizational communication ethical analyses of messages and issues surrounding an actual job loss case

Abstract

The difficulties of studying organizational communication ethics often deter researchers and practitioners from addressing ethics in the workplace. In this article, we present an actual job loss case then analyze it from both traditional and feminist organizational communication ethics approaches. Although Redding's (1996) classification of unethical messages offers a useful starting point for ethical analyses, our discussion displays the ways in which his system is incomplete and aligned with managerial biases. We develop a feminist organizational communication ethical approach by adapting Steiner's (1997) broad outline of feminist ethical concerns to messages and message‐related practices. By contrasting these two ethical systems, we offer a more coherent and illuminating framework for problematic issues and future courses of action.