Lying Discussion

        FINAL ASSIGNMENT

Lying is an interesting topic to discuss. It is a common wrong act that everybody does quite often in their lives regardless of good lies or bad lies. I’ve never spent times to think deeply about lying until I joined Business Ethics of my MBA program. What I remember most about lying from when I was a child is that lying is not always bad and if your lies do not leave bad consequences, and it does not harm anyone, then it is fine. Recently, I have done some research on articles about lies, and it changes my perception about lying.

I found an interesting blog about “Categories of Lies - White Lies, Grey Lies, and Black Lies”, Truth Lies Deception and Coverups Blogger 2015 (TLDCB). So what is the definition of a lie? According to BBC – Ethic Guide, “lying is a form of deception, but not all forms of deception are lies.” I agree with this definition, not all forms of deception are lies, and all lies are not the same. To me, sometimes lying is appropriate and necessary in some circumstances. However, to have a better judgment of information receiving every day, we should constantly be concerned with all of our communication.

The article I’ve read about categories of lies clearly defines “the major distinguishing factors between the major categories of lies are intent, consequence, and public acceptability”. I reckon those are undeniably correct. Before going to details of the analysis, from the article, we will look at the classification system of lying. There are two types of lies: lies of commission and lies of omission. And there are three categories of lies: white lies, grey lies and black lies.  As stated in the article a lie has three main features: “A lie communicates or hides information. The liar knows the truth. The liar intends to deceive in order to influence the audience to believe something that is not true - so that subsequent impressions, decisions and actions on the part of the victim or others will be in the liar's favor.” (Truth Lies Deception and Coverups Blogger 2015)

First, we will define what lies of omission and commission are. According to Steve Gillman’s article “How to tell when someone is lying”, “a lie of omission is when a person fails to include the relevant facts that the listener reasonably expects to be included in an answer. And a lie by the Commission is an entirely false statement.”  An example of a lie of omission, I asked my subordinate, “How’s the E-commerce report going on, the deadline is tomorrow?” He answered, “I am still reading the report from the Internet, it’s too long.” He did answer the question that he’s doing it, but he leaves the fact that he had been in the very first step of the report, and it’s likely that he couldn’t submit it on time. An example of a lie of commission, I designed a certificate for my company’s education program, the design was rejected, my boss asked my to change all the font type based on his interest, I did change it accordingly and send back to him. He approved and asked me, “Do you think it looks better than the previous version?” I answered, “Yes, it is.” I do not like the new version, but I tell something rather than the truth.

Second, we will go through three different categories of lies. As stated in the blogger’s article, “White lies are primarily focused on protecting the recipient of the lie, or to entertain - and are socially acceptable.” They are the most common types of lies since we do and face it in our daily lives. In my opinion, I encourage using white lies in social communication. As explained in the article, “White lies may in some instances be tactful but inaccurate statements intended to be beneficial to the recipient's self-esteem, or to foster positive interpersonal relationships (or avoid hurt feelings). Sometimes white lies are used to encourage good behavior.” Since most consequences of white lies are not negative and harmless but help to maintain good interpersonal relationships, especially in business. I am a quite straightforward person; sometimes this makes people doesn’t like me because I usually tell the truth straightly to the recipients. If I do not like the disrespectful way one’s behavior treats me, I will talk to them directly my feeling, if not, I would reduce my communication with them because I can’t hide my feeling. However, in business, white lies help to enhance the relationships between partners. For instance, my client asked me, “Do you think my company’s new website looks good?” I would answer immediately, “Yes, it’s much better.” Even I do not like the new one; I still answered yes because it is the answer my client’s looking forward to listening. It is a white lie, and it’s harmless to her. Some people may say telling her the truth would help her have better website design. However, in my opinion, people have different aesthetic senses, it might be not a good design to me, but a nice design to her. I wouldn’t try to debate to protect my ideas as she’s the decision maker, and she wants to keep her face.

Next, what are grey lies? “Grey Lies are primarily focused on protecting the interests of the liar, and may or may not be socially acceptable.”  What differentiates grey lies and white lies are usually protect the interests of the liar. “While the intent behind grey lies is self-interest, grey lies are not intended to cause malicious or serious harm to the victim and don't incidentally cause this. However, if the truth is discovered, there are often negative repercussions for the liar of grey lies. This motivates such liars to hide the truth.”  To me, grey lies should not be encouraging, and I don’t like to tell grey lies. Its consequences may not be negative or harmless to the recipient, but it is still a lie. According to Josephine Hart, “A concealed truth, that's all a lie is. Either by omission or commission we never do more than obscure. The truth stays in the undergrowth, waiting to be discovered." I like this quote much, yes, I believe, any lie is always be soon discovered even it’s harmless to anyone, especially if it’s intended to bring “benefits” to the liar. An example of a manager in my previous company, she seems to stay late at work every day. It left a good impression to the whole company that she’s laborious. Until one day when her colleague said goodbye to her and went home before her. Then after 20 minutes, he realized he had left something at office and went back to the office to pick up; the manager’s already gone back home. He then joked her in the office, and everybody realized she lied, just pretending to stay late at work but in fact; she wanted to take credit to the boss only. In this case, her lies are harmless but it leaves a negative impression to all her colleagues.