Within the world of strategic communication, public relation firms often face a tremendous amount of backlash from the public at large. Mark Grabowski claims that 70 percent of the public distrusts public relations specialist, and two-thirds of journalist believe that those same specialists, spin facts too often. Spin refers to the idea of being crooked or manipulating facts. In some firms, those theories have been proven to be true, but on the contrary many public relation firms strive to not mislead, but also not make a mess.
Some may consider that statement within itself a manipulation, but it does not have to be as long as certain criteria is followed. PR firms who stay true to their corporate social responsibility will not participate in activities that create ethical conflicts; they will not portray misleading images or fall short in transparency, that could lead to “astroturfing.” This being said, how do PR firms avoid conflicts of interest, and more so, how do they encourage corporations to uphold an excellent ethical and moral standard?
PR executives have responsibility to communicate with news and media organizations, employees, shareholders, government agencies, and occasionally, customers and suppliers. They must find out the entirety of what happened and where else the problem is coming from. This is a necessity because, when representing an organization during a press conference, simply saying “no comment,” implies guilt. The same could be said for making speculations compared to presenting actual facts.
An organization’s cultural and ethical standards trickle down. Meaning, in most cases, employees will act the way that management allows and/ or expects them to. In an article called “Follow the Leader: Ethics and Responsibility,” by Virgil Scudder solutions were provided to prevent ethical conflicts from both a company and their PR executive.
Step one, know your role: CEO’s should create, foster and communicate the culture of an organization and PR executive should communicate and explain that culture both inside of that organization and to the outside world. Step two, ask key questions: does the organization applaud addressing problems and taking action to fix them or does it reward cutting corners as long as particular goals are met? Step three, hold your organization accountable; there are factors that can contribute to ethical conflicts within decision making: pressure to meet an unrealistic goal, demands to beat competition, willingness within management to overlook small, but consistent things as long as the job is done, and the fear of job loss. However, there are instances when these factors don’t contribute and a singular employee or a small set can stray from an established set of moral and legal boundaries, to achieve personal gain.
This highlights the importance of creating an ethical and morally sound environment within an organization. If all ethical bases are covered, it will be much more rewarding when public relations executives are successful.
Keisha Brewer conducted a TED Talk that presented a four-part process for success in strategic communication. She described strategic communication as “communicating with purpose, while showcasing value in order to achieve a goal.” She assured that this is not a manipulative process when four things are involved: identifying the goal of both parties, understanding your audience, communicating value, and expressing a need. This ensures transparency, holistic understanding of a topic, and mutual benefits.
 |
| Picture source: Outlook Money |
These four parts work together to provide a high success rate, but if one of the four parts are withheld, it can create resistance. This is essential because these four parts can work as an outline for ethical decision making within strategic communication, but removing one creates resistance, just as ethical issues do within the public toward PR firms. Overall, meeting particular goals and upholding ethical and moral standards are both imperative for true success. It’s not only about what you say, but how you say it and what you you do to ensure that everything you do say is true and constructive for everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment