Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Public relations professionals encounter ethical problems as individuals who make decisions about their professional lives. They also serve as ethical counselors to organizations, a role in which they help organizations behave in ethical, responsible, and sustainable ways. This introduction defines ethics and social responsibility and discusses the possibilities and obstacles that public relations professionals face in the role of ethical counselor. Seven research problems in public relations are discussed : personal ethical decisions ; relationships with clients and other practitioners ; loyalty to organizations, publics, and society ; choice of a client or organization, advocate and counselor roles, secrecy and openness, and digital media. The introduction ends with a discussion of the need for ethical theories of public relations and describes several promising theories.
Author: James E. Grunig
Institution: University of Maryland, College Park
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W653400576