The online Master of Business Administration program with an Emphasis in Strategic Communication at Southeastern Oklahoma State University explores the fundamentals of ethics. This all-important facet of communication permeates the curriculum, and employers expect graduates ready to put ethical concepts into practice.
A key course, Principle-Centered Leadership and Ethics, will serve you well in a field that requires balancing a personal moral code with meeting client needs. The course emphasizes the individual as decision-maker and focuses on ethical dilemmas facing leaders in organizations. The course helps students place moral issues within a management context to improve the ability to reach a satisfactory resolution.
Part of what makes the course so compelling is that when values come into conflict, the right decision is not always immediately evident. It takes a process to consistently get ethics right. Yet this is a responsibility communication management professionals, employers and clients take seriously.
In the cluttered marketplace of ideas, it can be tempting to skirt the truth and profess views that make an impact just to satisfy objectives. Clients’ viewpoints must be promoted in a fair way, using accurate and honest information that benefits both the client and the public.
An Industry Committed to Improving Ethics
Critics often compare communications and PR to propaganda, and indeed there have been practitioners who crossed ethical boundaries. In politics, campaign workers have been known to deceive and derail. Corporate crises brought companies like Exxon Valdez, Tyco, WorldCom, and Enron under intense scrutiny. However, the industry has made great strides improving political and corporate responsibility and governance, especially through courses in ethics at the university level.
Applying ethics to message creation and management is important to maintaining an organization’s integrity and gaining the trust of its stakeholders and its various audiences. To this end, Southeastern’s online MBA focused on strategic communication equips managers to resolve ethical dilemmas in business contexts. The program’s emphasis courses — Strategic Communication and Crisis Communication — further prepare managers to lead communication initiatives and tactics, be it in the boardroom, marketing or public relations.
A long-term strategic management approach to ethics holds that integrating what is best for the public has trust-building benefits to organizations. Raising ethical standards involves universities, professional associations and especially the employers of managers who oversee communications.
Learn more about Southeastern’s online MBA program with an Emphasis in Strategic Communication.
Sources:
LibreTexts – Strategic Communication Ethics