4 page analysis of ethical aspects surrounding a decision of the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt to disseminate a plea for help for his COVID-19-stricken ship and write a communication detailing lessons learned from the incident.
Introduction
You are contemplating going above your management team to bring something that you feel is being overlooked to the attention of those higher up, maybe even the press. The issue matters enough to you, and you feel your management either won’t or isn’t in a position to do something about it.
Hopefully, in your current work environment, you’re in a collaborative enough place that this kind of situation doesn’t come up. But it’s common in many different types of organizations, and it raises all kinds of questions, not just about ethics, but how you go about communicating, too.
Each assessment in this course introduces you to a different communications challenge. This assessment will help you better conceptualize the relationship between ethics and communication.
Overview
Experienced communications professionals know that credibility can be undermined if ethical norms aren’t recognized in communications. Honing your ability to navigate the complexities that often arise will prepare you to craft effective communications.
Captain Crozier, Commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, wrote and emailed a controversial letter that pleaded for help for crew members stricken by the Covid-19 virus in March of 2020. The communication was sent to several recipients and was eventually leaked to the news media. The situation became front-page news and was actively debated in the media. Senior leaders believed that Captain Crozier may have avoided his chain of command for fear that his immediate leader would suppress the issue and expose the sailors to unnecessary danger. His decisions and actions that lead up to his writing the letter are fraught with ethical dilemmas.
In this assessment, you are asked to analyze the ethical aspects surrounding Captain Crozier’s decision to widely disseminate the emailed letter.
Preparation
Explore the interactive media piece Communication, Ethics, and Command Decision.
Instructions
Consider the Captain’s decision to send the letter, the manner in which the letter was sent, and the recipients of the letter. Complete both parts of this assessment in a single Word document.
PART 1: ANALYZE THE SCENARIO
- Analyze the ethical decision that the Captain faced as it relates to how he communicated his plea and in the context of his position. Consider the sender, receiver, message, and channel.
- Analyze the primary failures and successes of the Captain’s communication strategy. Make sure to consider how the letter was distributed, the Captain’s possible intent, and the content of the letter.
- If this situation had occurred in the private sector and not the military, would the outcomes have been similar or different? Defend your reasoning.
- PART 2: WRITE A COMMUNICATION
Imagine that you were the commanding officer of another naval ship who had followed this sequence of events closely. Your ship’s Public Affairs Officer reports to you and is responsible for many of the ship’s external communications, and you are anxious to share your lessons learned from the USS Theodore Roosevelt situation.
Send a communication to your Public Affairs Officer that conveys and re-enforces the primary lessons learned from the incident on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Be sure you focus on the actions of the Captain. The medium is your choice, but it is also very important, so state the medium you have chosen within your message and the reason you feel it is the most appropriate medium to use. Address possible reasons such as confidentiality, tone, and convention.
Planning
The time it takes to complete an assessment can vary greatly. But it often takes longer than we think to explore the scope of a task, research it, write a draft, and then come back and revise it. Consider the following as rough guideposts for setting aside the time you need to do your work. You will want to adjust these as you learn more about your own pace and working style. - Research and reading: 4 hours.
- Interactive activities: 30 minutes.
- Writing: 6 hours.
- Revising: 2 hours.
- Additional Requirements
- Complete both parts of this assessment in a single Word document.
- Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA style and formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting standards. See the Campus page Evidence and APA. Also refer to the Business Academic Professional Document Guidelines [PDF], which provides basic formatting and APA guidelines you should follow to create attractive and usable documents not just within your business program but in the workplace as well.
- Font: Times New Roman, 12 point.
- Length: Part 1 should be 3–4 pages, double spaced, and Part 2 should be 1 page, double spaced. Page count does not include your cover page or reference page.
- Cited resources: Use a minimum of three scholarly sources. All literature cited should be current, with publication dates within the past five years.
- Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria: - Competency 1: Analyze business communication situations.
- Describe how a scenario might have plausibly played out in the private sector.
- Competency 2: Apply fundamental principles of organizational communication.
- Write a communication that effectively presents lessons learned.
- Competency 3: Analyze the interrelationships of communication within organizational systems.
- Analyze the outcomes of a communication strategy.
- Competency 4: Analyze the application of ethical principles in organizational communication.
- Analyze an ethical decision as it relates to communication.
- Competency 5: Communicate effectively and professionally.
- Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
- Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.
