Week 3 ethics

PUBLIC RELATIONS ETHICS

STAMFORD COLLEGE

DMC 115PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

PREPARED BY : MS GOMALA SUKUMARAN

WHAT IS ETHICS

• Standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues.

• Ethics are the values that guide a person, organization or society- concepts such as right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, honesty and dishonesty.

• A person’s ethical construct and approach depend on numerous factors- cultural, religious and educational.


WHAT IS ETHICS..

• Ethics is the branch of study dealing with what is the proper cause of action for a man.• It answers the question, “What do I

do?”• It is the study of right and wrong in

human endeavors.PREPARED BY : MS GOMALA SUKUMARAN

CONTINUED..

• Ethics is concerned with how we should live our lives.

• It focuses on questions about what is right and wrong, fair or unfair, caring or uncaring, good or bad, responsible or irresponsible and the like.

(Jaksa and Pritchard cited in Wilcox, p.182)


PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ETHICS

The law is often interpreted in black and white. Ethics fall into a gray area because we have different standards, perceptions, values.


WHY IS ETHICS IMPORTANT IN PR

• The practice of public relations is all about earning credibility.

• Credibility, in turn begins with telling the truth.

• Public relations, then must be based on ‘doing the right thing’- in other words, acting ethically.



Public relations professionals make ethical decisions that must satisfy:• Their employer• The public interest• Their professional organization• Their personal values



A PR professional’s job is to:• Advocate• Influence• Communicate• Promote• Move others to action


ETHICAL ISSUES IN PR

• Many people perceive public relations as something less than respectable – as clever strategies to convince the public that what’s wrong is right.

• Some see public relations professionals as manipulators of the public mind, rather than conveyor of truth.


ETHICAL STANDARDS IN THE INDUSTRY

• ‘Public relations people must adhere to a high standard of professional, with truth as the key determinant of their conduct.’

(Seitel,p.111)• ‘Ethics in public relations begin with the individual and is

directly related to his or her own value system as well as to the good of society. Although it is important to show loyalty to an employer, practitioners must never allow a client or an employer to rob them of their self-esteem.’

(Wilcox,p.185)


THE ROLE

The PR practitioner serves as an intermediary between the organization that he or she represents and all of that organization’s publics

Consequently, the PR practitioner has responsibilities both to the institution and to its various publics


THE TWO ASPECTS

COMMUNICATION: receiving information from the ‘publics’, advising management of their attitudes and responses, helping to set policies that demonstrate responsible attention to them and constantly evaluating the effectiveness of all PR programs

MANAGEMENT: the function of public relations involves responsibility and responsiveness in policy and information to the best interests of the organization and its publics

RESPONSIBILITIES TO PUBLICS

Most professional PR practitioners recognize that they and their organizations have ethical responsibilities to at least 10 different publics:

– clients

– news media

– government agencies

– educational institutions


CONTINUED

Consumers

Stockholders and analysts

Community

Competitors

Critics

Other public relation practitioners


… in practice

ethical problems that must be resolved in public relations research include:

how to collect data (maintain certain standards toward the subjects used in research)

how to accumulate and store information

how to use research


The essence of the code is that honesty and

fairness lie at the heart of the public relations practice.

Advocacy

Honesty

Expertise

Independence

Loyalty

Fairness

CODE OF ETHICS


CODE OF ETHICS

6 values vital to the integrity of the professional as a whole

ADVOCACY: PR professional serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for clients and provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas to aid informed public debate

HONESTY: PR professionals adhere to the highest standards of truth and accuracy


CONTINUED…

EXPERTISE: PR professionals have specialized knowledge and skill and maintain that knowledge and skill through continued professional development

INDEPENDENCE: PR professionals provide objective advice to their clients and are accountable for their actions

LOYALTY: PR professionals are loyal to their clients but continue to serve the public interest

FAIRNESS: PR professionals treat fairly all public, including clients


PR RELOADED

• PR can represent the needs, interests and desires of the organization’s various publics to management and then back from management to them, explaining management’s perspectives; it opens a dialogue between an organization and the publics it affects

• PR focuses on society in the broadest sense and should work in the greater interest of society, rather than the narrow interests of the organization it serves


OVERALL PR helps management formulate, advocate and teach

objectives that are more sound

the principles of PR reflect the basic cooperative natures of people, and thus PR people earn their reputation as problem solvers

being socially responsible means upholding obligations


CONTINUEDsocial responsibility once ignored by most

institutions, now is viewed as being an essential ‘cost’ of doing business

still, the ethical, responsible practice of public relations is a personal choice

… the PR person who loses the public’s perspective has foregone public responsibility



Ethics experts agree that there are three systems of ethics:DEONTOLOGY OR ABSOLUTIST: every decision is right or wrong -- black or white. Consequences don’t matter. This system depends on the inner-based, self discipline of each individual.



TELEOLOGY OR EXISTENTIALIST: the ends justify the means.

GOLDEN MEAN OR UTILITARIAN: each situation is judged on what would cause the most good and the least harm -- what’s best for the majority, the greatest good or the greatest number.



A public relation practitioner serves five masters:

1. The client2. The employer3. Your colleagues4. Yourself5. Society



The most common dilemmas faced by PR professionals are:

1. Gifts2. Misleading Information3. Promotion of Inferior products4. Gain at the expense of others5. Political Action Committees6. Promotion of illegal products abroad


PERSONAL ETHICS• Be honest at all times• Convey a sense of business ethics based on your own

standards and those of society• Respect the integrity and position of your opponents

and audiences• Develop trust by emphasizing substance over triviality• Present all sides of an issue• Strive for a balance between loyalty to the

organization and duty to the public• Don’t sacrifice long-term objectives for short-term

gains


PR PROFESSIONALISM: ACT LIKE A PROFESSIONAL IN THE FIELD, BY HAVING:

• A sense of independence• A sense of responsibility to society and the public

interest• Be concerned about the competence and honor of

the profession as a whole• A higher loyalty to the standards of the profession

and fellow professionals than to the employer/client of the moment.

• The reference point in all PR activity must be the standards of the profession and not those of the client or the employer


• Disseminating inaccurate or false information• Disclosing client information• Hiring and firing practices– Stealing employees– Taking accounts from employer– Employees offering company information via social

media• Intentional billing errors• Making undeliverable claims to clients

ETHICAL ISSUES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS


• Poor treatment of local community– Polluting environment

• Poor treatment of employees– Requiring long working hours, unreasonable

demands• Poor treatment of customers– Selling harmful product– Lying about product benefits– Not honoring claims and promises



• Lying to company shareholders• Salary discrimination• Sexual harrasment• Home-work balance issues• Conflicts of interest



THE REWARDS OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

• There is satisfaction in doing the right thing.

• Successful leadership is based on strong ethics.

• Ethical behavior may lead to an organization’s financial success.

• Bad ethics can lead to financial disaster.


ACHIEVING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

• Ensure that ethical behavior starts with top management.

• Conduct periodic ethics audits.• Integrate an awareness of values and

ethics into the public relations process.• Use a system for analyzing ethical

challenges.


CONCLUSION


• WHAT IS ETHICS• PR AND ETHICS• WHY ETHICS IMPORTANT IN PR• ETHICAL ISSUES IN PR• CODE OF ETHICS• PERSONAL ETHICS• PR PROFESSIONALISM• ACHIEVING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

Date post:	11-Jan-2015
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Week 3 ethics

Business