The other day, Christina Dziak one of my course mates said she wanted to work for an ethical organization. But which fresh PR professional won’t want to? I asked. But I know that in the real world people end up compromising.
Every organization has its own corporate culture and when someone is employed, the person gets indoctrinated into it. Where does the value system of the individual professional come in then? From what I’ve heard from professionals, the best way to deal with it is to get out if you can’t deal with it. Most of us know how far we can stretch ourselves. If you think that you can’t work with company A because you’re aware they utilize sweatshops for maximum profit, get out!
Ethics as we all know has to do with struggling to make a decision between two rights. For most people, ethics and morality are synonymous. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics has a little caption on its website which reads ‘morality requires regular reflection on the day-to-day decisions that confront us.’ When we find ourselves in ethical dilemmas, we usually have no one but ourselves to figure out what to do. Can we strike a balance between the two sides? This reminds me of a song in one of Ama Ata Aidoo’s plays; The Dilemma of a Ghost. Here’s how best I remember the song…
I find myself at a crossroad
Between two towns
Shall I go to Cape Coast or to Elmina?
I don’t know
I can’t tell
Obviously we all find ourselves in similar situations in our everyday lives. What do you do? Call your friends, family or professor to ask what to do? Most of the time, we handle them ourselves. The decisions we make are as a result of our value system. How we were brought up, what we deem moral or immoral. These often unconsciously affect the ethical decisions that we make. How do we apply the everyday ethics that we’ve acquired over the years to PR?
As PR professionals, we’re bound to face ethical dilemmas; our ability to make sound decisions will make us better counselors. Corporate executives will find us valuable enough to include us in valuable decisions making.
When you find yourself in a dilemma, ask yourself the following questions.
- Will my mother be proud of my decision?
- Will I sip a glass of wine to celebrate my success when I think of my decision in my quiet moments?
- Who will my decision affect?
- Will it make me happy if they were family?
- Is my conscience clear?
- Does it affect the bottom line of the organization or agency I work for?
As you can see, at the bottom of the list is your organization. I believe that by the time you work your way down the ladder to your organization, you will have made an ethical decision. Try out these tips and let me know how they worked for you.
MyPRethics 
I’m glad I could help you out with your blog post this week.
I liked the points you made about after making an ethical decision and I find it interesting you had at the top of the list, will my mother be proud? I think as individuals, as we grow and get older, we still want to make our parents proud. People change and often times become self-absorbed and can lose their sense of self which can come out of being unethical. If people ask themselves, will my mother be proud of my decision, more times than not, the answer would be no. Taking in the current financial crisis and and the grime of politics, I think the mother’s of those people would be very disappointed in their children.
By: Christina on October 22, 2008
at 5:42 pm
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to help you out with any of your blog but I find it very interesting. I think you make great points on how people make decisions everyday (ex: asking your friends for help, professor, etc.) Also, I think the point you make about if you need to make a decision in the workplace is good. I would not of thought to think about some of your questions you say to ask yourself. Putting a work dilemma into your everyday life and how your family would view your decision about the ethical problem is a great way to think when trying to figure out what to do.
I agree as well if you are in a job that you don’t agree with some of their ethical values to leave that job. I think it would make it very hard for a person to work with a company especially with the PR department if you find yourself not agreeing with some of their values. I know that I could not work with a company that was breaking labor laws because I don’t find that right so I could definitely find myself having some conflicting issues with companies.
By: Katherine on November 24, 2008
at 2:44 am
I found your blog very interesting and I think you made some very good points. But I feel that ethics are different for many people due to the way they were raised. Some people may ask their selves “Will my mother be proud of my decision?” And the answer will be yes, but what if they were raised in a household that had a different viewpoint on life? For example, when I was 17 I started working for this company. And one of my co-workers was raised in a household where it was unacceptable to date African American men. And me being a African American woman felt that it was fine because everyone has their own preference and their own beliefs. But my co-worker would also make inappropriate racial comments all the time, and as a young girl, and also as the only African American at my job, I didn’t know how to react to my co-worker’s comments. I knew that what she was saying was wrong and unethical, but do I stand up for myself and fulfill the so called “angry black woman stereotype” that is placed upon me at all times? Not only was I the only minority, but I was also the youngest. I talked to my mom about the issue and she told me to just ignore it and if it got out of hand to pull the girl to the side and talk to her. And if that didn’t work to speak to my manager. It was hard for me to go through all this because I never really was faced with a problem like this, but everything did work out for the best in the end.
I feel like my personal experience is a good example of how being ethical isn’t the same for everyone. And although I felt it was unethical for her to say all those racial comments, all my managers heard her, and did nothing about it. So does that mean they were unethical as well? And for that matter does that mean that the whole company was unethical because the company had a ethics plan as well. I just think that sometimes its easier said then done. Yes I could of stood up for myself, which I eventually did, but I was still looked down upon because no one understood what the big deal was. As for P.R. professionals, I feel that they can come into a company and make all the ethical changes they want , but that doesn’t mean all the employees will follow those guidelines. The company I worked for was a major retail company with a P.R. department, but they were still unethical.
By: Alicia Robinson on November 25, 2008
at 3:05 pm
Thanks Christina for your comment. My mother guides my sense of morality eventhough she is so far away. I hope that everyone’s mother can play a similar role.
By: Josephine Zagbuor on January 2, 2009
at 8:12 am