Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
AnnaAdamus-Matuszyńska,GrzegorzPolok
1981a,1981b;Johannesen,1990;Graber,2003;
Huang,2004;Welch&Jackson,2007;Stewart,
2011;Maigret,2012).Nevertheless,therearemany
areasrequiringinvestigation,expertevaluations,
analysesordiscussions(Donsbach,2006).The
topicwhichhassofarbeenexaminedpoorlyseems
tobetheissueofethicsinthecommunication
processandcommunicationsystem.Probably
thefirst,anddefinitelythefirstcomprehensive,
bookdiscussingthisissueisahandbooktitledThe
HandbookofCommunicationEthics,published
in2011(Cheneyetal.,2011).
Theetymologyoftheword“communicating”
itselfshowsimplicitvaluesandethicalnorms.
ItisderivedfromLatinwordcommunicareand
originallymeantparticipatingandconnecting
ratherthanpassingoncontent.Todayitcombines
boththeseelements,becauseitmeansboththe
participationofthesenderandthereceiverin
thesameprocessandtheactofexchangewhich
takesplacebetweenthemaswiththehelpof
varioustechniques,asymbolictransactionoc-
cursbetweenthesenderandthereceiverofthe
message(Maigret,2012,p.35).Asignificant
contributiontotheunderstandingofthisprocess
hasbeenmadebyresearchcarriedoutbyculture
anthropologistsanddevelopmentalpsychologists,
whonotsomuchwanttolearnthewaysandforms
ofcommunicatingbutratherunderstandthereasons
fortheoccurrenceofcommunicationasaprocess
thattakesplacebetweenpeople(Tomasello,2015).
Theirresearchshowsthatcommunicationevolved
aspartofgroupventures(Tomasello,2015,
p.75);forexample,childrencommunicatewith
eachotherbyinformingandinterpretinginsuch
wayastoencourageco-operationatthesame
time(idem,p.39).Thismeansthatco-operation
wasanormwhichcontributedtotheestablishing
ofrelationshipsbetweenpeopleusingintentional
information.Thisiswhytheanalysisofrelations
betweencommunicationandethicsseemstobe
atopicenablingonetounderstandthenature
ofthecommunicationprocessbetter.
Theconnectionbetweencommunicatingand
ethicscanbestudiedatleastinfourareas.The
firstoneistheinterpretationoftheplacement
ofethicsintheveryprocessofcommunicating
(Johannesen,1990);thesecondisthetopicofethical
communicating;thethirdisthepracticalissue,
meaninghowtocommunicateethicalbehaviours;
andthefourthistheethicsofcommunicating
inindividualfields,suchasmanagement,market-
ing,publicrelations,humanresources,media,
linguisticsandeverydaysocialpractice,with
particularemphasisputonculturaldiversity.
Communicatingandethicsarethusstrongly
connectedwitheachotherthroughhumans,because
theyarethecommunicators(Johannesen,2001,
p.126)andbecauseitistheentitythatisthebearer
ofethicalvaluesandnorms.Asmanyresearchers
inthisfieldunderline,humansaremoralagents,
rationalsubjectsandcommunicatorswhomake
choices(Stewart,2011,p.18).
Oneoftheimportantquestionsthoseresearching
thecommunicatingprocessandcommunication
systemsposerelatestoanalternativechoice:
researchshouldbeadescriptionand/orexplanation
freeofnormativeassumptionsorshouldhaveaclear
normativegoalofindicatingnormsandrulesthat
peopleshouldfollowatalllevelsofcommunicating,
frominterpersonaltosocial(Donsbach,2006,
p.446).Thatiswhythegoalofthisarticleis
atheoreticalanalysisofcommunicatinginpublic
institutionswithregardtoethicalvaluesandnorms.
Inmoredetail,thegoalisanattempttounderstand
theanchoringofethicsincommunicationsystems
inorganisationsoperatingonbehalfofsociety
andforitsbenefit.
Oneoftoday’sparticularlyappreciatedsystems
ineveryorganisationisthecommunicationsystem,
becauseallorganisationsgenerate,receive,use
andmanageinformation(Graber,2003).Com-
municationisconsideredafactorprecedingtrust
(Grudzewskietal.,2007,p.113).Organisations
arethuscommunicationstructuresconstituted
bythecommunicatingprocess,sotheyexist
becausepeoplecommunicateandmakestructural
associationsasaresult(Mumby,2013,p.14).What
alsoappliestopeopleistheissueoftheethicality
oftheiractions.Ethicsisaprimaevalafterthought
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ZarządzaniePubliczne/PublicGovernance2(48)/2019
