Framework for analysis of conflicting loyalties

Abstract

Just as the social trends of the past quarter of a century have created an increasing need for strategic communication between organizations and their publics, so too have these trends resulted in increasing focus on ethics in practice. Emphasis on social responsibility of organizations has resulted in communications programs designed to adjust to the demands of the marketplace often placing the public relations practitioner at the interface between the organization and its responsibility as a good corporate citizen. All of these factors have conspired to generate conflicts between the loyalties now faced by practitioners. Ethical decision-making involves not only values clarification and application of appropriate principles, but the choosing of priorities between conflicting duties to specific parties. This article identifies and discusses four loyalties of the modern public relations practitioner—self, organization, profession and society— in the context of the increasing emphasis on the “common good” in North American society. Further, it presents a framework which may be used in discussions of ethical decision-making among public relations students and applied in practical situations by the practicing public relations professional. Patricia Houlihan Parsons is assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.