Ethics is always an interesting debate, there is no correct answer as your values and ethics are entirely yours. You can argue your side until you’re blue in the face but that doesn’t mean you’ll change opinion.
The Cambridge Online Dictionary defines ethics as ‘a system of accepted beliefs which control behaviour, especially such a system based on morals’. But where do we develop our ethics? Is it through our parents? Through the media? Through friends? From life experience? The typical nature vs nurture debate.
Personally I think it is a combination of all of the above, nature and nurture. We begin life following our parents perceptions of right and wrong, and this is developed as we make friends and begin school. The media, the programmes we watch and the magazines and books we read all affect the things we value. Life experience changes the way see the world and the values we have. Many people agree that your ethics change throughout your life, the things you value when you’re young and single are likely to be different when you have a family to think of. So are your personal values the same as your professional values? Do your values affect the work you do?
In PR you may be asked to do things which conflict with your values, for example in today’s seminar we discussed working on a campaign relating to bearskin hats, would you refuse if you were vegetarian or against wearing fur? Or as a professional do you believe you have to put your personal ethics aside?
In PR we aim to follow the Pillars of Public Relations (I say aim because people do seem to miss occasionally!).
- Veracity (tell the truth)
- Non-malfeasance (do no harm)
- Beneficence (do good)
- Confidentiality (respect privacy)
- Fairness (be fair and socially responsible)
Although these pillars work as a useful guideline for PR practitioners they can also cause conflict. Take the scenario we looked at in today’s seminar, It has come to light at the hospital where you are the PR team that one of the breast screening machines is faulty, In this scenario 1,000 women need to be recalled to the hospital to be re-screened. This situation would be difficult to manage as the pillars of Veracity, Non-malfeasance, and Confidentiality all come into play. You need to do no harm and tell the women affected whilst at the same time protecting their privacy from the media, to whom you should tell the truth. As you can see this is where following an ethical guideline becomes difficult and you need to use your own integrity to best resolve this problem.
It looks as though working in PR will definitely test your moral compass!
This is very interesting. As a social worker, values and ethics play a large part in my social work practice. Although social work and PR are very different fields, it is interesting to see that the ethics displayed in the pillars of public relations are very similar to the professional ethics held by the world of social work. I assume this is because one similarity between social work practice and PR is making positive working relationships with individuals and groups in the community. This asks the question, that without said values and ethics would such relationships be possible?
ReplyDeleteMy personal and professional values are generally quite similar, however there are times that I have experienced a clash of personal and professional values. I believe that I am professional enough to manage this in an appropriate way. I feel it is important to identify and be conscious of your persona values to ensure that these do not influence practice. It is through use of reflection, supervision and critical analysis that I ensure personal values do not prevent me from achieving best social work practice.
Hi, thank you so much for your comment it's so valuable to hear from people in other professions. I can see how ethics must be a massive part of your job. I guess that you have to have certain personal values and ethics to get into a profession as challenging as social work, which is probably why you find your personal and professional values rarely clash.
ReplyDeleteOnce again thank you for your comment, it's really nice to hear from new people. Hopefully you'll have some thoughts on my next few posts.
Amy
Really great example regarding the faulty machinery in a hospital. The NHS is certainly an example of when a code is not straight forward. But then again when is it in life either?
ReplyDeleteThis is true Rhiannon, ethics are such a controversial subject. I think in PR we will always be looking at conflicting ethics.
ReplyDeleteas always thank you for your input,
Amy