Logan Barragan
lb589416@ohio.edu
Public Relations Professionals go into their profession for a plethora of reasons. The most insignificant one being that they did not want to study anything having to do with mathematics in college. They believe that they are best suited to express the true meaning behind a company, a brand a person, etc. to the public. The capability of taking the message and translating it to the public as clearly, organically and concisely as possible is a skill that requires a substantial amount of education and training to be done correctly.
Business leaders are well aware that leveraging their social responsibility and using it as a tactic to gain public appreciation and trust is necessary in having a lucrative company. To reference an article from The New Hampshire Business Review by James C. Hood, titled, "Social Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship" we find that social responsibility is "inescapable in the global corporate environment." The article notes that companies must recognize the shareholders, communities, and their employers personal needs in an effort to have a successful market. If tragedy were to strike within a community that said company does well in, it is vital that they help the community the best they can so the public builds a relationship of sorts with them. The public will always remember the support the company had in a time of need.
What were to happen if young PR professionals did not know to do this, what if they lacked the ethical instruction it takes to execute social outreach projects or projects in general, the right way? Well, there will be the potential of significantly damaging a career that has hardly started. According to PRSA.org. an article titled "Are Millennials Equipped to be Ethical PR Leaders," by Marlene S. Neill and Nancy Weaver, a study of 1,500 individuals in the new professionals section and those with less than five years of experience had troubling results. Only 41% reported they were familiar with the PRSA Code of Ethics. Less than half said they were likely to even consult the code of ethics if an issue were to arise. One-third felt prepared to offer ethics counsel. Why these statistics are so concerning is that hypothetically, if senior positions within a PR company were to operate the business corruptly, something should and must be said to fix it. Which means the young professionals need to be aware of what even constitutes wrong from right. To build on this, they must have the courage and confidence to come forward and express their concerns with the proper ethical training they gained at a collegiate level to back it up.
The bottom line is that credibility within a company is essential. Credibility for a singular Public Relations professional is predominant. It can be tedious at times to consider ethical training in every aspect of one's work in every single project, but it is a matter of how far and successful one wants their PR career to be.
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