Week 3 ethics

STAMFORD COLLEGE

DMC 115
PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
PUBLIC RELATIONS ETHICS

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.

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

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


CONTINUED
social 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 client
2. The employer
3. Your colleagues
4. Yourself
5. Society

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The most common dilemmas faced by PR
professionals are:
Gifts
Misleading Information
Promotion of Inferior products
Gain at the expense of others
Political Action Committees
Promotion of illegal products abroad


PERSONAL ETHICS
•
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•
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•

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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:
•
•
•
•
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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

ETHICAL ISSUES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
• 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

• 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

•
•
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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

Week 3 ethics

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