Guidelines, Codes and Principles-What’s the Point?
CEO
Richard Edelman delivered a speech entitled The Battle Ground is Trust, at the National Press Club on Wednesday October 18,
2017 where, he deplores the people’s loss of trust in industries, institutions
and governments. He then calls for a new set of ethics principles for the PR
industry.
I
find it very remarkable and encouraging that the CEO of the world’s largest PR
firm addresses, head on, the issues of ethics in the practice of the
profession. He says: “Every company and brand has the responsibility to behave
ethically” and that “organization individual guide lines do not safeguard
ethical behavior.”
He
is right. No guidelines, codes or
principles will ever safeguard against wrongdoing.
We’ve
had the Ten Commandments
for thousands of years, yet people still break those commandments systematically
and universally. Should we abandon them completely?
God
forbid!
Many
PR firms and most trade organizations have their own codes of conduct or
ethical guidelines. Codes and principles are necessary. They serve as a
reference and a guide in making the right decision when confronted with ethical
issues.
However,
codes and principles have very little value if they are not applied.
Enron
had 2-inch-thick corporate ethics code and listed in its 2000 Annual Report “integrity,
respect and excellence” as its core values! None of this was taken seriously,
it was not part of the culture. The
leadership turned a blind eye to employee’s wrong doing. In fact, many were
encouraged, if not pressured to bend and sometimes break the rules if the
financial goals were met. The culture was one of “do whatever it takes” as
opposed to “do the right thing.” We know the rest of the story.
The
Bell Pottinger scandal
and its ultimate demise could have been avoided if the company had followed the
UK-based Public Relations and Communications Association ethics guideline or,
for that matter, the PRSA ethics
code which states:
“We
adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the
interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.”
What
we need is for more people to apply these codes and principles in their
actions. We need PR professionals to “walk the talk” and to demonstrate ethical
behavior.
We
need an ethics culture in the PR industry. Corporate culture can be defined by its
stated values confirmed by its practices.
As
Patrick Lencioni, the founder of the Table Group, wrote in his article Making Your Values Mean Something, published by the Harvard Business Review, “Core values are
the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company’s actions.”
It
is what a company does, not what it says it does that really matters. If a company does not stick to its values by
the action it takes, then these values are meaningless and the company is being
hypocritical.
As
the author and Vegan activist, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau once said:
“What’s the point
of having beliefs and values
if we don't stand
up for the former and live by the latter?”
Emmanuel Tchividjian
The Markus Gabriel Group -Ethics
Consulting
The article was published by CommPRO.biz
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