What's really being taught about ethical behavior

Pratt, Catherine; Rentner, Terry L.

doi:10.1016/s0363-8111(89)80032-3

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Consistent with the emphasis on ethical leadership built on universal values, respondents also view ethics as personal responsibility, supporting the findings of studies (e.g., Lee & Cheng, 2011;Paluszek, 1989;Pratt & Rentner, 1989) that ground public relations ethics and ethical leadership in universal values such as truth telling and honesty rather than professional ethics. By grounding public relations ethics in universal ethics, the practitioners in this study hold public relations to the same standards as any other profession and society at large.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Ethics Management in Public Relations: Practitioner Conceptualizations of Ethical Leadership, Knowledge, Training and Compliance

Lee

Cheng

2012

Journal of Mass Media Ethics

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Little is known and understood about ethics management or the development of formal, systematic, and goal-directed initiatives to improve ethics in the public relations workplace. This study found little ethics training and written guidelines in the public relations workplace. Organizational ethics initiatives are poorly communicated to practitioners and rely mostly on punitive restraints with little reward for ethical behavior. For many practitioners, ethics is not learned through workplace ethics initiatives but rather is mostly informed by external influences including personal values, family upbringing, and professional work experiences.The management of ethics in public relations has received scant attention, as the field continues to emphasize codes of ethics. Little is known about how public relations organizations manage ethics in everyday practice beyond what is glimpsed from self-laudatory reports and the crafting of codes as overt demonstrations of a commitment to ethics.In reality, most public relations organizations adopt a reactive approach to ethics contrary to the public relations wisdom of an anticipatory, proactive management approach. Sims (1992), who discussed the challenge of ethics management in organizations, noted: "The imperatives of day-to-day organizational performance are so compelling that there is little time or inclination to divert attention to the moral content of organizational decision-making. Morality appears Correspondence should be sent to Seow Ting Lee,

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Ethics Management in Public Relations: Practitioner Conceptualizations of Ethical Leadership, Knowledge, Training and Compliance

Lee

Cheng

2012

Journal of Mass Media Ethics

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“…However, the communication manager in the organization, whether titled issues management or public relations, normally has inadequate training in ethics (George, 1988;Pratt and Rentner, 1989) and little guidance from the body of scholarly knowledge in the field (Grunig, 1992a, b;Leeper, 1996;Wright, 1996). Wright (1996) found the scarcity of research on public relations ethics ironic because public relations considers itself to be the ethical conscience (Hill, 1958;Ryan and Martinson, 1983) of an organization.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational Factors Encouraging Ethical Decision Making: An Exploration into the Case of an Exemplar

Bowen

2004

Journal of Business Ethics

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What factors in the organizational culture of an ethically exemplary corporation are responsible for encouraging ethical decision making? This question was analyzed through an exploratory case study of a top pharmaceutical company that is a global leader in ethics. The participating organization is renowned in public opinion polls of ethics, credibility, and trust. This research explored organizational culture, communication in issues management and public relations, management theory, and deontological or utilitarian moral philosophy as factors that might encourage ethical analysis. Our understanding of organizational ethics is enhanced by elucidating factors the case revealed as encouraging ethical analysis: an organizational culture that emphasizes the importance of ethics, Theory Y management, a symmetrical worldview valuing innovation and dialogue, a counseling role for issues management or public relations in the dominant coalition, rewarding ethical behavior, ethical analysis using moral philosophy, consistency between individual values and organizational philosophy, and ethics training. These factors, and perhaps others as yet unidentified, worked together to create an environment that encouraged ethical decision making at the exemplar organization.

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“…as they are about the training of neophytes who seek to join the profession. However, some argue that the focus and reliance on codes of ethics has taken away the incentive to think deeply about ethics (Pratt & Rentner, 1989) and the need to question the commonly accepted standards of practitioners. The reliance on codes and their combination of precise "thou shalt nots" and fuzzy "thou shalts" toward behavior ultimately fail to push practitioners into higher-level considerations of ethics and empathy, such as Rawls would have us contemplate when making decisions.…”

Section: Public Relations Standards and Codes Do Not Place A Direct Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Public Relations and Rawls: An Ill-Fitting Veil to Wear

Roberts

2012

Journal of Mass Media Ethics

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What's really being taught about ethical behavior

Cited by 22 publications

References 16 publications

Ethics Management in Public Relations: Practitioner Conceptualizations of Ethical Leadership, Knowledge, Training and Compliance

Ethics Management in Public Relations: Practitioner Conceptualizations of Ethical Leadership, Knowledge, Training and Compliance

Organizational Factors Encouraging Ethical Decision Making: An Exploration into the Case of an Exemplar

Public Relations and Rawls: An Ill-Fitting Veil to Wear

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