Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne, course: Adv. Seminar in Corporate Development and Business Ethics, language: English, abstract: The social norms approach has been used as a foundation for various studies mainly around the prevention of youth risk behaviour and encouragement of pro-social behaviour. The approach is seen as a useful tool to explain human behaviour and actively initiate behavioural changes. This paper sheds light on the social norms approach from a different perspective, namely from the perspective of Non-Violent Communication (NVC). First, the social norms theory (SNT) is presented, referring to the larger framework of the theory and then to the study "The Constructive, Deconstructive and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms" of Wesley Schultz and his colleagues. In chapter 3, the basic assumptions and principles of NVC after Marshall Rosenberg are contoured. In chapter 4, the assumptions of SNT also drawing on the study of Schultz and his colleagues are examined from the perspective of NCV. The conclusion summarizes the findings and points towards implications for ethical culture.