CHAPTER FOUR: Public Relations Ethics

Ethics is a word that is very easily and commonly used not only in public relations, but in businesses, politics, conflicts and our everyday lives. But is the concept of ethics really as simple as how some people and organizations make it sound?

Ethics concerns mainly behaviour, with the focus being on "good" behavoiur. It's about doing what is "right" and this concerns the morals and values of both, individuals and society as a whole. Theories on ethics revolves mainly around three schools of thought;

Virtue Ethics

Deontology

Consequentialism

Each of these theories focus on different aspects of ethics and morals, as I shall explain in greater detail.

VIRTUE ETHICS

Virtue ethics emphasizes on the development of personal character and values that would guide an individual to decide what is right and what is wrong. This enables a person to have his or her own "bottom line" when it comes to deciding if something is within ethical boundaries.

However, this school of thought has a gaping weakness - virtue ethics are extremely individualistic and subjective as the basis of what is ethical and what is not stems from an individual's set of morals and values. Something that is ethical or good to one person may be deemed as unethical or evil by another individual.

Therefore, virtue ethics is the most subjective and the least clear-cut school of thought regarding ethics.

DEONTOLOGY

Deontology zooms in on the aspect that there is a certain absolute list of morals and principles that have to be followed when deciding if something is ethical. Examples of such lists would be the law, the rules of a game, the required nettiquette of an online forum or even The Ten Commandments.

Deontology is the school of thought which involves the least amount of uncertainty and "gray areas" when determining what is right and wrong. As it focuses on set rules and laws, making "ethical" decisions would be simple and clear cut. However, the main problem with this would be the lack of flexibility. Rules cannot possibly apply to every single situation that arises. Furthermore, there will always be cases where rules, when followed to the letter, results in an "unethical" action rather than an ethical one.

Therefore, deontology presents a very rigid and narrow-minded view on ethics.

CONSEQUENTIALISM

Consequentialism bases itself on the utilitarian principle on taking the action which results in the most positive and beneficial outcome. According to this school of thought, the most ethical solution is the one that would make "everyone happy" in the end.

One advantage of this theory is that it forces the individual (in this case, a PR practitioner) to think ahead and plan for what might happen in future if certain actions are taken. It encourages them to be visionaries, which is an important quality to posses. The downside to this method, though, is that sometimes, in order to achieve the best possible outcomes, undesirable and unethical approaches and actions are taken. Since this school of thought places heavy emphasis on outcomes, such actions are often overlooked.

After reading the chapter on ethics from the textbook, doing my own research and looking through a few examples and case studies, I find that the topic of ethics is an extremely debatable one. It is difficult to make ethics and morals something clear-cut without crossing the line and becoming unforgiving, rigid and inflexible.

Thus, in my opinion, the best way to approach the concept of ethics is to address issues and problems with considerations from all three school of thoughts and then decide the best possible action to take based on careful scrutinizing and analysis. Of course, having said that, I am fully aware that such a statement is much more easily said than done. But I feel that PR agencies and practitioners should at least consider the most ethical options instead of ruling out the concept of ethics altogether just because it is subjective and open-ended.