MKTG 123 CH. 6

PR Society of America (PRSA)

PR Society of America (PRSA)

Professional organization investing in revamping its code of ethics.

Ethical Behavior

Doing the right thing based on values like honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness.

Ethical Violations

Instances like Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and R. Allan Stanford's actions that breach ethical standards.

What is Ethics?

Right vs. Wrong

Religious Beliefs

Acceptable standards of behavior

Utilitarianism

greatest good for greatest number

deontology

do what is right though the world should perish

Public relations professionals are expected to

do the right thing

What is the cardinal rule of PR

to never lie

What are the 6 PRSA Code of Ethics

advocacy

honesty

expertise

independence

loyalty

fairness

Ethics definition by Josephson Institute

standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues

What are ethics?

values that guide a person, organization, or society — concepts such as right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, honesty and dishonesty. depends on culture, religion, education.

Professional/Applied Ethics

suggests a commonly accepted sense of professional conduct that is translated into formal codes of ethics

Code of Conduct

a formal statement of the values and business practices of a corporation. Can be short mission statement or a sophisticated document that requires compliance with articulated standards and that has a complicated enforcement mechanism.

Corporate code of conduct

dictates the behavioral expectations that an organization holds for its employees and agents.

Formal codes of conduct can help accomplish:

to increase public confidence, to stem the tide of regulation, to improve internal operations, and to respond to transgressions.

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society.

This implies that any social institution, from the smallest family unit to the largest corporation, is responsible for the behavior of its members and may be held accountable for their misdeeds.

Social Responsibility

touches practically every level of organizational activity, from marketing to hiring, from training to work standards.

Social responsibility categories

product lines,

marketing practices,

corporate philanthropy,

environment activities, external relations,

employment diversity in retaining and promoting minorities and women, and

employee safety and health.

Journalist Code of Ethics

1. The news media should not communicate unofficial charges affecting reputation or moral character without giving the accused a chance to reply.

2. The news media must guard against invading a person’s right to privacy.

3. The media should not pander to morbid curiosity about details of vice and crime.

Code of Ethics and Principles

1. we adhere to the highest standards of ethics in the public relations profession.

2. we protect the integrity of client information

3. we honor our role in society.

attorney/adversary model (Jay Barney & Ralph Black)

compares the legal profession to that of PR in that (1) bot are advocacies in an adversarial climate and (2) both assume counterbalancing messages will be provided by adversaries.

Barney and Black suggest practitioners have no obligation to consider the public interest or any other outside view beyond that of their client.

two-way communication (jim gruning)

based on collaboration, working jointly with different people, and allowing for both listening and give-and-take.

Grunig suggests that the practitioner balances his or her role as a client advocate with one as social conscience for the larger public.

enlightened self-interest model (sherry baker)

based on the principle that businesses do well by doing good.

Baker suggests that companies gain a competitive edge and are more respected in the marketplace if they behave ethically.

Responsible advocacy model (kathy fitzpatrick and candace gauthier)

based on the ideal of professional responsibility. It postulates that practitioners’ first loyalty is to their clients, but they also have a responsibility to voice the opinions of organizational stakeholders.

the practitioner’s greatest need for ethical guidance is in the reconciliation of being both a professional advocate and a social conscience.

PRSA’s six core values

Advocacy

Honesty

Expertise

Independence

Loyalty

Fairness