#pr ethics

[kirkhazlett]

Bus-ted!

Bus-ted! Ethics matters.

As Ethics Officer for PRSA Tampa Bay as well as a frequent participant in/contributor to PRSA BEPS programming, and Ethics Committee Chair for the Global Listening Centre, I try to portray the highest standards of ethical conduct practice and encourage others to do the same. I also try to convey the importance of ethical thought and action to students who are interested in the public relations…

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[leadingincontext]

Trends In Ethical PR

Trends In Ethical PR

By Linda Fisher Thornton

It is a difficult time to be in PR and Communications. The stakes are high and it’s easy to miss the mark. I spoke at the Virginia Professional Communicators Conference on Saturday, as the group celebrated its 60th Anniversary. We had lively discussions about how to see ethical nuances clearly when the issues are complex.

Today I am sharing quotes from articles about PR…

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[crisiscommunications-blog]

Situational Crisis Communication Theory - W.Timothy Coombs

Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) by W. Timothy Coombs provides a framework for organizations to practically apply crisis communications theories. It gives the organization a way to predict the threat of reputation damage due to a crisis, which in turn, assists the organization in deciding on a strategy for handling the crisis. 

SCCT is connected at to Attribution Theory, which seeks to place responsibility of crisis somewhere. Reactions to the organization range from anger to sympathy, depending on the level of responsibility the stakeholders perceive the organization of having.

The resulting amount of reputational damage incurred from a crisis can be predicted by these 3 factors. 

1. Crisis Responsibility: How much is the organization at fault? 

2. Crisis History:

3. Prior Reputation

Now, lets look at how the crisis can be framed. Framing options include communication and thought frames. Communication frames focus on the way in which the crisis is presented influences thought frames that focus, instead, on cognitive schemas for framing the crisis. 

From the three factors and how the organization and crisis is framed, crisis type clusters are formed. 

1. Victim Cluster

2. Accidental Cluster

3. Intentional Cluster (bears the most responsibility and, consequently, threat of reputational damage)

From these clusters the following reputation management strategies can be applied with a better understanding and capacity for correctly handling a crisis and the impending risk to the organization's reputation.

Deny

Diminish

Rebuild

Bolster

Reminder 

Stakeholders are #1

Coombs emphasized the first objective any organization should ethically have in a crisis management plan; to protect the stakeholders from harm. Stakeholders feels a surge for information during a crisis. The best thing an organization can do at this point is to ensure the needs of the stakeholder are taken care, to the best of the organization. By withholding valuable information organizations are missing an opportunity for corrective action. Companies like Toyota should have concerned themselves, first, with providing more information to their stakeholders rather than coming off as a secretive company. As Coombs is quick to point out, concern for an organizations' stakeholders during a crisis does not equate responsibility for the crisis. Only after the organization has helped the stakeholders should it concern itself with its own reputation management. 

Notes: 

This article was the perfect procrastination read from my crisis management plan I am making for a client as part of my independent study. Reading through, I realized that, unaware, I was choosing primarily rebuilding and bolstering strategies, with the exception of one reminder strategy for all of the possible crises I am planning for. Quite honestly, it is a difficult decision to make when you are sitting with your laptop and attempting to hypothesize on which strategy will best suit the organization and the stakeholders' needs. 

Coombs, W. Timothy. (2007). Protecting Organization Reputations During a Crisis: The Development and Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Corporate Repuation Review, 10(3), 163-176. Retrieved March 27, 2012 from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1337538591). 

[richblog-blog]

Social Media and Ethics

The ethics for PR people managing a social media channels are important to consider.  Whilst interning at a top 5 global PR agency, I attended a training seminar where managers were offering advice on the guidelines for promoting products or brands through social media in a responsible way.  They demonstrated that the regulations surrounding things like name-dropping products or brands on Twitter are unclear and that employees should err on the side of caution when using Twitter to promote a PR event or product they were working on.  The CIPR have issued a set of Best Practice Guideline http://www.cipr.co.uk/sites/default/files/CIPR%20social%20media%20best%20practice%20guidance%202011_0.pdf but it is only advisory and not enforceable.  PR people need to make important judgements regarding social media messages.

Why are ethics important anyway?

A study of 3000 companies by Ethisphere (2011) found that ethical companies benefitted from a 20% and 30% increase in revenue.  This is also true with investors as well as customers.  Mark Moody Stuart of Shell Transport and Trading (UK arm of Shell) stated he does not agree that institutional stakeholders are not interested in issues such as social responsibility, “our investors want the best possible returns but in a way they can be proud of” (Tench and Yeomans, 2008).

An example of a campaign with possible ethical considerations:

The Burger King campaign ‘Sacrifice Ten Friends’ proved hugely popular on Facebook where users were encouraged to ‘defriend’ 10 people for a free Whopper.  The idea created a buzz and soon 200,000 ‘friends’ had been traded for burgers.  The campaign attracted immediate controversy and was shut down by Facebook citing ‘privacy concerns’.  The campaign was a success and the controversy didn’t really harm the Burger King image but the ethics of online marketing campaigns have to be carefully considered.