Communication, Ethics, and a Command Decision

Part 1: Analyzing the Scenario

The ethical dilemmas
When Captain Crozier communicated his plea for assistance, he faced ethical
dilemmas around all the four basic elements of communication: sender, receiver, message,
and channel (Sandu & Grad, 2020). As the sender of the communication, the Captain, no
doubt, had the safety of his crew and the preparedness of the ship he commanded at heart and
in mind, respectively. However, he was in a dilemma about ensuring that his two concerns
were addressed with the urgency they demanded. On the one hand, as was expected of him,
he could have communicated his concerns up the chain of command and hoped that his
superiors would have acted on them expeditiously. On the other hand, hopefully, to ensure
speedy action, the captain opted to bypass his superiors and instead share his concerns with
his peers. Thus, ultimately, as his primary audience, the captain chose his fellow naval
aviators (the US Navy has three main warfare communities: submarine, surface, and
aviation). He then copied the communication to other senior aviators, effectively bypassing
his superiors, including his immediate superior, Commander of Carrier Strike Group NINE
(CCSG-9).
Regarding the message or content of his communication, the Captain must have been
confronted with an ethical choice between venting his frustrations about the situation to his
peers and upholding professionalism and focusing on the issues at hand. Ultimately, he took
the latter course of action, summarized the problem as he understood it, focused on the
mission, proposed a solution, and took personal responsibility for his actions (Malone, 2020).
As for the channel of communication, officially, the Captain was faced with a choice between
the Navy’s operational reporting (OPREP) system and the more private “personal for” (P4)

COMMUNICATION, ETHICS, AND A COMMAND DECISION 3
naval message. It would be expected that if the Captain felt that his Covid-19 infected crew
members were not receiving the assistance they needed, he would include that request in his
next OPREP update. He chose neither channel, instead opting for email.
The strengths and weaknesses of the Captain’s communication strategy
It would appear that the Captain’s communication strategy had more weaknesses than
strengths. That said, a major strength of the strategy is that the Captain adopted a professional
tone in his communication, focusing on the issues at hand as he understood them (Malone,
2020). He did not whine to his peers about his frustrations about the situation.
The over-arching weakness was the Captain’s failure to consider his organization’s
culture, which should have informed his communication strategy. An organization’s culture is
the partly explicit but largely hidden hand that influences the ways people do things in the
organization (Hynes, 2016). It is hidden because, for the most part, people are not
consciously aware of it, and it comprises assumptions people tend to take for granted. In the
case of the US Navy, three fundamental principles constitute a part of the organization’s
culture: command at sea, the significance of the chain of command, and performance in
command. Not communicating his concerns, observations, and recommendations up the
chain of command was the Captain’s main failure.
Other weaknesses of the Captain’s communication strategy were poor choices of
audience and channel. The Captain’s choice of audience was poor and deviated from the
Navy’s communication rules and structure (Malone, 2020). The Captain chose to approach
his fellow naval aviators in his chain of command for help. His action implied that the naval
aviators alone, and no one else, needed to understand what he perceived as the main issues.
The Captain’s superiors would view negatively the idea that only naval aviators could
possibly appreciate his situation or supply the assistance he needed. Another weakness of the

COMMUNICATION, ETHICS, AND A COMMAND DECISION 4
Captain’s communication strategy was his choice of the communication channel. The Captain
decided to communicate only with his peers and exclude his superiors, so the P4 naval
messaging system would have been more appropriate than email. Ultimately, the Captain’s
choice of the less secure email may have contributed to the communication leaking to the
media.
If the situation had occurred in the private sector
Had this situation occurred in the private sector, I believe the outcomes would have
been similar. Organizations, both in the public and private sectors alike, have their
established ways of doing things they expect all employees to observe. In particular, the one
area I believe organizations are unlikely to compromise is in the chain of command. Apart
from providing structure to daily routines and major decisions, for many managers and
leaders, the chain of command also reinforces and preserves their power and prestige within
the organization (Hynes, 2016). Therefore, such leaders will not take lightly anyone or any
action that threatens or undermines their position, including a subordinate who bypasses them
in making critical decisions.

Part 2: A Memo to Public Affairs Officer

To: Public Affairs Officer (PAO)
From: Commanding Officer
Re: Lessons we can learn from the communication incident involving

Captain Crozier of USS Theodore Roosevelt

Date: March 3, 2022

COMMUNICATION, ETHICS, AND A COMMAND DECISION 5
Dear PAO,
We are all aware of the communication incident involving Captain Crozier of the USS
Theodore Roosevelt. This is an incident I have been following very closely. I believe that as a
naval ship, there are several lessons we could learn from the incident to ensure we do not find
ourselves in a similar situation. I have chosen to communicate via a memo as our convention
and to ensure brevity and confidentiality.
Below I enumerate the lessons I consider the most important:
 The importance of respecting the chain of command: The primacy of the chain of
command is important to the function of the United States Navy. Our superiors have
the duty to clearly communicate orders and decisions down the chain of command
and consider subordinates’ feedback. Meanwhile, subordinates have the responsibility
to communicate up the chain of command.
 As officers of the Navy, we are all expected to communicate both fearlessly and
forcefully our concerns, observations and suggestions up the chain of command. In
the incident at hand, it would appear that for some reason(s), Captain Crozier did not
effectively air his concerns up the chain of command, instead opting to communicate
to his peers.
 When communicating official matters, we must be very careful about our chosen
channels. I believe that had the Captain have confined himself to the communication
channels provided by the Navy, his communication would have remained in a secure
environment of transmission.
I hope you can apply these and other lessons going forward.

COMMUNICATION, ETHICS, AND A COMMAND DECISION 6

References

Hynes, G. E. (2016). Managerial Communication: Strategies and Applications (6th ed.).
Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Malone, J. D. (2020). USS Theodore Roosevelt, COVID-19, and Ships: Lessons Learned.
JAMA Netw Open, 3(10), Unpaginated.
Sandu, F., & Grad, I. (2020). The Role of Ethical Factors in Organizational Communication.
Postmodern Openings, 11(1), 178-194.