Ethical behavior can best be fostered by addressing problems that are systemic to our organizations, cultures, and communications modes. In most cultures, oral communications skills are highly valued in the work place and written communications skills are substantially discounted. Talking a good game is more important than delivering the goods. This is disappointing but not surprising. It is also reflected in the distinction between implicit or tacit knowledge versus explicit knowledge as evidenced in records.
Cultures vary in the degree of specificity in their verbal messages.
In the United States, for example, effective verbal communication is expected to be relatively explicit, direct, and unambiguous. In Hall's conceptualization of high-context cultures most of the message is embedded in the physical context or internalized in the people, while relatively little is in the explicit, coded portion of the message. Communicators use restricted codes and rely on contextual cues, demonstrating inexact, implicit, and indirect communication patterns. Conversely, low-context cultures rely on elaborated verbal messages and precise, explicit, and straightforward communication patterns. By definition, technology embeds knowledge and thereby frees human beings from having to assimilate it within the confines of their skulls.