The two main points for this week's readings are:
1) PR practitioners often have to adopt the roles of a "corporate monitor" or "corporate conscience" when advising their companies.
2) There are some guidelines and even diagrams (the Potter Box) to help PR practitioners make ethically tough decisions.
Being an ethical monitor or watchdog is not easy for a PR practitioner, as they have to balance between the interests of their company's objectives and the practitioner's own individual values and principles. Even if a practitioner advises the company against making an unethical decision that may have severe repercussions, the company may still insist on it. Ethical issues can be quite complicated, and often result choosing between "equally undesirable alternatives" (a lose-lose situation).
The textbook mentions three categories, or doctrines of ethics. I find this interesting because these doctrines are an attempt to make ethics more "scientific" to understand, as opposed to just a philosophical or socialogical aspect of human nature. The Potter Box is also an interesting (yet highly plausible) way of making ethically complex decisions, almost similar to a Mathematical equation: weigh each factor against one another and see if they meet the overall sum or requirement.
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hello! (:
ReplyDeletei certainly agree with you that PR practitioners have a hard time trying to be ethical. such a dilemma but i guess the Potter Box helps PR practitioners visualize issues in a more systematic way. so, it kind of helps in their decision making. you think so? (:
well, interesting entry here! (: enjoyed reading.