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Daily communication at work entails the use of different types of appeal, although most of the time, these appeals are used unconsciously. In particular, emotional appeal is one of the most common types of appeal that people most likely use, either intentionally or unintentionally. Personally, I believe that the use of emotional appeal can be ethical in the workplace when it is logically used to support an idea.
As long as the use of emotional appeal is logical and truthful, it can be considered ethical in the workplace setting. For instance, an HR supervisor noticed an increase in the rate of absenteeism in the workplace, and many of the employees also became sick more often. Initially, the HR supervisor suspected a decline in engagement, but it cannot be verified without concrete data. She decided to conduct a short survey among the workers regarding their level of engagement, and she found out that she was right. Because of the demanding work and schedule, many employees felt that they no longer have work and life balance. As a result, the HR supervisor discussed the issue to the managing director, and she proposed a project that will lighten up the mood of the employees. This proposed project will include a family fair where the employees can celebrate a day with fun and games together with their families and the families of their co-workers. In discussing the matter with the managing director, the HR supervisor used emotional appeal to sell her idea by asking the managing director to reflect his own feelings if he were in the position of the employees. Although the idea would entail an additional cost, the managing director was convinced that the project would be helpful to the overall productivity of the employees.
In the above example, the HR supervisor first seek out information regarding the cause of the employees’ behavior. Based on this set of data, she came up with an idea which she proposed to the managing director. Because this proposal is just logical in order to improve the level of engagement of the employees, the use of emotional appeal to sell the idea is considered ethical.
