Communication Ethics: Distinguishing Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Lapses [LO-5] Briefly explain why you think each of the following is or is not ethical.

a. Keeping quiet about a possible environmental hazard you’ve just discovered in your company’s processing plant

b. Overselling the benefits of workgroup messaging to your company’s managers; they never seem to understand the benefits of technology, so you believe that a bit of hype is the only way to convince them to make the right choice

c. Telling an associate with whom you are close friends that she needs to pay more attention to her work responsibilities, or management will fire her

d. Recommending the purchase of equipment your department doesn’t really need in order to use up your allocated funds before the end of the fiscal year;

this will help ensure that your budget won’t be cut next year, when you might have a real need for the money