Putting "Relations" in Public Relations

Eric Steere

es581519@ohio.edu

When you think of making an ethical decision, you also think about making the right decision, or a good decision. Ethical decisions are made both because people have truth and honesty in mind, and they are able to set personal thoughts and ideas aside. These thoughts should remain in mind during all decision making processes, especially when dealing with large-scale organizations, like the world of public relations. 

Source: www.mckreview.com

The definition for Public Relations is essentially the internal management of information from an organization or public body to present to the public. The word "internal" is the the specific word for this situation. 

Where ethics in public relations starts is within the company's employees themselves, more specifically how they treat each other and how the ranks communicate. PRSA's article "Follow the Leader: Ethics and Responsibility" states that it is one of the most important roles as a CEO to create and communicate the culture of an organization, done through words and actions. This is in the best effort for the relationships within the company and maintain a healthy productive environment.

PRSA's article also states how to create a more ethical environment, listing steps such as bringing in outside firms to check for ethical practices, or simply promoting the practices of the new organization. These said practices hold people accountable for each other without the potential from corruption. 

These standards are highly valued among many organizations, however many may be surprised with how little it is actually seen in the real world. A post by Ethical Voices featuring Marlene Neill states that ethics is ranked in the top three things employers want to see in PR, but the skill was hard to find in reality. 

Within Neill's study on expectations for workers in public relations, a list was created for the main issues encountered by public relation employees, some of which include transparency, selective truth telling, confidentiality, conflict of interest, etc. All of the items on the top 10, however, list are supposed to be expectations for these workers. What Neill suggests to all workers in the field is reaching out to mentors and each other for guidance. 

This again ties back to the relationships within the company and between the employees; developing these standards for each other can improve the quality of work put out as well as the quality of the actual workspace. Not only do the employees need to hold themselves to these standards, but the employers and higher ups as well. It is as PRSA's article states, that things happen from the top ranks down to the lower ranks.