Abstract:
This work focused on examining whether Ethical Corporate Communication has any
relationship with business productivity and to what extent this has impacted the Nigerian
business environment. The trigger was the observable decline in ethical values in business
dealings and the seeming craze for immediate personal benefits and profit margins which
have become the focus of business transactions in corporate entities. This is in spite of several
attempts at ethical reorientation. Integrity and loyalty no longer seem to matter. The work
was anchored on Classical Management and Norm theories; a survey of four public service
institutions was carried out through random administration of questionnaires to more than
410 employees. Findings showed that although there is widespread awareness of the role of
communication in business productivity as well as the essence of Code of Ethics in the
integrity of organizational perception, ineffective ethical corporate communication and lack
of adherence to ethical codes have become impediments to efficiency, with attendant
negative impact on business productivity in the organizations surveyed. Given the potency of
ethical codes in defining the way things should be done in any corporate situation, it was
recommended that both the government and body corporates should emphasize integration of
ethical values in everyday practice across board. Another recommendation is that Ethical
Corporate Communication should be adopted in directing employee attitudes towards
business productivity in Nigeria and sanctions must follow any breach for effectiveness and
deterrence.
