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CrisisCommunicationChapter11.pptxEffective Crisis Communication
Chapter 11
Responding to the Ethical Demands of Crisis
Ulmer, R., Sellnow, T., and Seeger, M. (2019). Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA.
ETHICS – Right and Wrong
Ethical judgments are based on specific values we have learned.
Help inform our behaviors and choices
Not easy to make ethical judgments
Decisions are complicated
Values and morals are not universal
Situational
Corporations as moral agents
Big debate: We often look at individuals acting moral or immoral – Can we look at corporations the same way?
When organizations do wrong, it must be traced back to the responsible individual.
Is the “responsible individual” just a scapegoat allowing the corporation escape?
Both should be held accountable?
Principle IV of the Nuremberg
“The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”
International Committee of the Red Cross. (n.d.). Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nüremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, 1950. Retrieved from https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=854DDAACFDE285E4C12563CD002D6B95
Values and Crisis
Values are the larger lesson we have learned that inform our attitudes, beliefs, and ethical judgments.
PRSA – “Advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness”.
Not everyone agrees on the same set of values for the same situation.
Flint, MI debate was between public health and cost.
Crisis creates the need to balance competing values.
Crisis creates victims
Crisis disproportionally hits those already vulnerable
Leads to 3 ethical standards – Responsibility & accountability, access to information, and the ethics of humanistic care.
Opportunity #1: Responsibility & Accountability
Responsibility – broad, ethical concept stating individuals and groups have moral duties to others.
Responsibility also deals with causation.
Accepting responsibility for actions is ethical.
Includes taking action to help victims, provide support and resources, alleviating and containing harm.
Avoiding or denying responsibility for actions is unethical.
Includes denying harm occurred, shifting blame, refusing to help victims on the grounds it may increase liability.
Ethical responsibility before crisis occurs.
Make good decisions
Maintain equipment
Proper training
Monitor for warning signs
Communicate realistically about risks
Opportunity #2: Access to Information Means Openness and Honesty
Ethical obligation to provide people with information so they can make informed choices.
Lies, omission, delay are all unethical.
Reputation of honesty before crises aids in trust.
Opportunity #3: Organizations that care before a crisis are those better able to enact values during a crisis
Humanism is about the uniqueness and inherent worth of human beings.
Requires organizations to be sensitive to the harm they can cause to others. Ethical duty to avoid harm and support others when harm happens.
The Good Samaritan.
Crisis creates the opportunity for organization and people to respond ethically and in a caring way.
The 1st obligation in crisis is to help.
Opportunity #4 Organizations with core values will be better able to respond to crisis.
Consider the organization’s core values when responding.
Establish a practice of Virtue Ethics – those who respond will act out of habit.
A reservoir of goodwill means a positive reputation.
Summary
Opportunity 1 – Organizations are better able to respond if they accept responsibility for their actions.
Opportunity 2 – Organizations who are open and honest are better prepared to manage and recover from crisis events.
Opportunity 3 – Organizations who make humanism a priority before crisis are better prepared for enacting these values during crisis.
Opportunity 4 – Organizations with a reservoir of goodwill and habits of core ethical values will be better prepared to handle crisis ethically.
