Chapter 4: Public Relations Ethics
What is ethics? Our text from Chia and Synnott (2009) gives us many theoretical perspectives on the term "ethics", and certain tools to guide us through the ethical decision-making process. Several examples of unethical PR behaviour were given to us in the early stages of the group, and it mostly dealt with misleading the public into thinking that the perpertrators were actually more famous than they were.
That said, I would like to reflect upon the three schools of thought as covered in the textbook:
1. Virtue ethics - It is about the strong sense of ethical values that lie within one's character. In relation, the Golden Mean method was raised, which to me seems like a glorified effort at fence-sitting. Although it is as such, this style of ethics has its appeal to me since a lot of issues is about finding a middle ground and mutual consensus, thus maintaining a balance at all times. However, it would require one to be quite the virtuous person of which I believe I am not. And even so, the concept of "virtue" is subjective, and the whole decision-process might take too much time to go through.
2. Deontology - This is about the concept of "duty". Duty to fellow humans, to clients, to the public, et cetera. They are heavily steepled in following codes and laws, and has resulted in national public relations agencies developing codes of conduct. Looking like it as it is, I guess one good thing that comes out from deontology is that it gives PR practitioners a framework of ethical values to work with so it isn't so subjective any more. We can be on the safe side of the law and thus soothe our own and everyone's consciences. That said, blindly following the law is inflexible and doesn't guanrantee 100% ethical behaviour all the time (Chia & Synnott, 2009). A particular example mentioned in page 109 of our textbook highlights this point, about breaking laws/civil disobedience to bring attention to an issue (likely to be used by activists, protestors and the like) (Cordingley, 2007 as cited in Chia & Synnott, 2009).
3. Consequentialism/Teleology - As it name implies, consequentialism is contingent on the consequences of actions as a deciding factor as to whether an act is ethical or not. Also known as utilitarianism (or in simple terms, "the ends justify the means"), it offers a very flexible approach to ethical behaviour. Evaluating how each situation favours the greater good on a case-by-case basis offers what seems like the perfect solution, however, there are times when going for the greater good might mean sacrifices on a lower level, even the sacrificing of lives, for that matter. So this school of thought is not without its problems. I have added in the term Teleology because the description of it, on Amanda Holt's website, does seem to fit in with what we know.
Ultimately, I suppose, any one PR action that strives to be ethical has to consider a wide range of perspectives from the stakeholders involved. And the best way to do it is through dialogue. Sometimes, however, unilateral decisions do have to be made so it falls back to us ecaluating the "correctnesss" of our actions.
In ending, I would like to offer two sets of quotes here from two different textbooks regarding ethics and public relations. These sum up how one can be ethical, and how it is relevant to us PR practitioners.:
"Aim to bring ethical considerations... in terms of character virtue, relevant rules, and outcomes, and... demonstrate to others your actions were taken in a considered, responsible, inclusive and accountable way, with reference to credible guidelines." (Chia & Synnott, 2009, p. 118).
"...if more practitioners begin to bring a genuine professional approach to public relations, then (it)... will not be something 'out there' with which the practitioner is only abstractly concerned. Instead, public relations practitioners will understand that professional ethics interacts with professional conduct and is part of an overall search for which in no way neglects 'the bottom line', but instead humanises it." (Johnston & Zawawi, 2004, p. 130).
In our previous module IRHR 1001, that the only concern of a business is to make as much money for the clients. If all business do this, we probably live in a toxic wasteland. Unethical people do exist, sometimes tempted by bribes, how can a PR business run in a ethical fashion if all business are going to be cut throat? Kind of put corporate PR in a difficult position dont you think so?
ReplyDeleteA worthwhile question to debate upon, much as we have already done so in tutorial. If memory serves me correctly, what you said above was one of the older mindsets of the corporation. With greater awareness of the environment and other issues (cross-cultural, for example), not just the shareholders, but other members of the public, have an interest in seeing businesses be ethical.
ReplyDeleteWhile they can go all-out to destroy their competition, the Enlightened Self-Interest Model (Baker, 1999) does postulate that businesses will behave well because it makes economic sense. And they would need PR practitioners to help them do so.
The key is to find a middle ground, I suppose. Dialogue is very important when it comes to this aspect; not only must we produce work for our client, we also need to help them be ethical so as not to let down the public who we are responsible to. I think I just managed to espouse the three schools of thought at a go. Hah.