Ethics research by Elspeth Tilley
Public Relations Inquiry. 4(1)
A qualitative thematic analysis of data from a 13-organization research study focusing on public ... more A qualitative thematic analysis of data from a 13-organization research study focusing on public relations ethics identified five main themes: first, that ethical dilemmas were frequent, widespread, and often handled in ways that practitioners themselves were uncomfortable with; second, labels and stereotypes about public relations practitioners as unscrupulous exacerbated the problem; third, hierarchies and silos of power in relationships within organizations, between organizations, and with clients contributed to the problem; fourth, there were barriers to, and inadequate channels or opportunities for, candid and forthright discussion about these hierarchies and silos, this lack typically manifesting as senior staff self-censoring or parroting optimistic organizational orthodoxy about ethics and junior staff feeling unsafe to criticize organizational processes; and fifth, practitioners used multiple coping strategies to deal with their sense of powerlessness including blaming others (particularly journalists), fatalism, reductive framing, and intentional blocking of awareness and evaluation of ethical issues. While it is possible these themes could be interpreted as evidence of public relations practitioners’ individual moral inadequacy, a broader analytical lens, taking into account the organizational and global power structures the practitioners described, suggests otherwise. Taking its cue from the power-attuned approach of feminist poststructuralists, this article argues that the data should be read as symptomatic, not causal, and that it is to the overarching operating power structures of global capitalism that public relations ethicists could most productively turn their attention if they want to identify loci for change.
Gender in Management. 29(3), 2014
Purpose: The literature is divided upon whether a gender difference occurs with respect to ethica... more Purpose: The literature is divided upon whether a gender difference occurs with respect to ethical decisions. Notable researchers Tannen and Gilligan demonstrated gender difference while subsequent researchers indicate that gender differences are becoming more neutralized. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes the gender demographic and intercultural influences on ethical decision-making by undergraduate students from New Zealand and the USA through four scenarios. Findings: Overall for the USA and New Zealand, this research demonstrates this split as well, since two scenarios showed significance while two did not. The two that demonstrated a significance dealt with personnel issues and a past client relationship. These two scenarios suggested that a relationship orientation and relativistic nature among women may influence their decision making. The two scenarios without significance were less relationship orient ed, involving dealing with a customer (a stranger) and a subordinate (implying a professional supervisory responsibility). In addition, the neutrality exhibited in the latter two scenarios may reflect Tannen's illustration that there is a cross-gender influence on decision making. With respect to the geographic location, the USA, when compared with New Zealand, and the gender demographics, only the USA reported significant differences for two scenarios. Originality/value: Undergraduate students in the USA provided situations and discussions that resulted in the development of a number of scenarios. Additional research and evaluation of current events, led to a total of ten scenarios with four scenarios yielding business related situations
Communication and Power: The 102nd Annual Convention of the Eastern Communication Association, 2011
This paper examines the individualism vs. collectivism and power-distance cultural influences on ... more This paper examines the individualism vs. collectivism and power-distance cultural influences on ethical decision-making by undergraduate students from New Zealand and the United States through ten scenarios. Both countries are considered individualistic (Hofstede, 1980) and participants chose similar courses of action on issues with family or kindred relationships. But significant differences were detected between the U.S. and New Zealand, with regard to the power distance of business relationships. Overall no group of respondents appeared more ethical than another. In fact, when asked if they were willing to deceive a regulatory agency, almost half of the respondents, regardless of location, indicated that they would be willing to do so. Findings are consistent with the literature on two of Hofstede⿿s (1980) dimensions and add some insight to the difference between the role Hofstede⿿s individualism dimension plays versus the role of power-distance where supervisory personnel are involved. Implications are discussed for educating various student cultures in ethical decision making.
National Communication Association 97th Annual Convention - Voice., 2011
Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Creating Space in the Fifth Estate., 2016
University ethics committees presently mandate a complex array of documents for use when undertak... more University ethics committees presently mandate a complex array of documents for use when undertaking research with human participants, including communication research. Detailed documentation has been developed over the years for individual researchers, their academic units, and for research participants to implement. An important part of the purpose for this documentation is to ensure that all those involved in the research have a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities and rights. However the documentation that has evolved over the years seems to assume that readers possess a high level of literacy that research in a series of community-based literacy assessments over the years suggests is not always the case. Further, in industrial settings which are largely ‘non-reading’ in character, much acquisition of knowledge, decision making and many forms of workplace behaviour are mainly collective in nature rather than individualistic. Literate and individualistic assumptions about solitary, secluded learning, and about thinking, decision-making and consequent practice that might apply to some forms of literacy learning, do not necessarily apply in the collective industrial settings being studied. This paper argues that university ethics documentation needs reform so it aligns better with the reality of potential research participants’ literacy. It also proposes that such documentation also needs rethinking so that it is better focused on the collective ways in which many people undertake learning and decision making in their everyday lives. The paper explores how Foucault’s four components of ethical analysis (ethical substance, mode of subjection, ethical work and telos) signal ways in which university ethicists might approach restructuring their documentation to make it more user-friendly. When ethics is seen as something intrinsically dynamic and as process, not end state, then the documentation associated with ethics could similarly be viewed as tentative and conditional, to be reworked each time according to a fresh analysis of the needs of current research participants. Foucault’s components of ethical analysis may assist researchers to scrutinise any extent of power they may have over other people, most notably those with distinctly less agency than others, such as those with liminal literacy, and to 2 reflect on ways in which they might equalise power disparities. The ethical analysis explored here may also trigger researchers’ own radical re-imagining and reframing of their approaches to their work with individuals in community for whom academic assumptions and dense prose may comprise unknown territory. Yet as well as offering some hopes for better university-community relationships, Foucault’s insights also imply a re-empowering of individual researchers in clarifying that the locus of control over and responsibility for research ethics belongs with the researcher, not with university research offices
Public relations and communication management: An Aotearoa/New Zealand perspective., 2009
An introduction to public relations: From theory to practice., 2009
An Introduction to Public Relations addresses the theoretical and practical needs of students. Wi... more An Introduction to Public Relations addresses the theoretical and practical needs of students. With an Australian focus and real-life examples, this approach engages students, pointing out ways to extend their knowledge, to gain local and international perspectives, to understand the wider perspectives of the profession and its possibilities.
An Introduction to Public Relations and Communication Management., 2012
An Introduction to public relations and communication management addresses the theoretical and pr... more An Introduction to public relations and communication management addresses the theoretical and practical needs of students.
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. 4(4), 2014
This paper examines the power-distance cultural influences on ethical decision-making and communi... more This paper examines the power-distance cultural influences on ethical decision-making and communicating responses by undergraduate students from the United States, New Zealand, and Germany through six business oriented scenarios. Significant differences were detected on two of the six scenarios between the U.S. and New Zealand, with regard to the power distance of business relationships. Overall no group of respondents appeared more ethical than another. In fact, when asked if they were willing to deceive a regulatory agency, almost half of the respondents, regardless of location, indicated that they would be willing to do so. Findings indicate a weak link with the literature on (Hofstede, 1980) power distance dimension and adds some insight to the difference between the role Hofstede’s power-distance and when supervisory personnel are involved. Implications are discussed for educating various student cultures in ethical decision making and appropriate communication
strategies.
… Media: Information, Social Norms, and New Media …, Jan 1, 2011
Email: e.tilley@massey.ac.nz 2 Dr Elspeth Tilley (senior communication lecturer, Massey Universit... more Email: e.tilley@massey.ac.nz 2 Dr Elspeth Tilley (senior communication lecturer, Massey University) has been researching public relations ethics in New Zealand since 2004. In 2005 she developed an applied ethics system, the ethics pyramid, and has since conducted a longitudinal, consultative action research programme to develop and modify the ethics tool in workplace situations and explore the real-world barriers to ethical action. Her research on public relations, new media, and ethics topics has appeared in refereed conference, book chapter, and journal publications. Elspeth is also editor of the online refereed public relations and communication research journal, PRism (see http://praxis.massey.ac.nz/prism_on-line_journ.html). Author bio note: New media have changed the parameters of public relations, multiplying audiences and altering the nature of relationships. Practitioners' ethics approaches have been slower to adapt, frequently proving inadequate to the changes. McLuhan's theory of technological determinism predicts this lag in conceptualising and adapting to technological evolution: with awareness of the problem, however, practitioners have an opportunity to consciously shift to using the potential of new media proactively for ethical guidance, rather than continuing to allow ethics processes to lag behind technological capacity. Abstract 3
Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Jan 1, 2005
J To move from the realm of good intent to verifiable practice, ethics needs to be approached in ... more J To move from the realm of good intent to verifiable practice, ethics needs to be approached in the same way as any other desired outcome of the public relations process: that is, operationalized and evaluated at each stage of a public relations campaign. A pyramid model-the "ethics pyramid"-is useful for incorporating ethical reflection and evaluation processes into the standard structure of a typical public relations plan. Practitioners can use it to integrate and manage ethical intent, means, and ends, by setting ethics objectives, considering the ethics of each campaign tactic, and reporting whether ethical outcomes have been attained.
Media International Australia, Jan 1, 2004
This study tests allegations that the Australian government's 2003 'terror kit' was propaganda. B... more This study tests allegations that the Australian government's 2003 'terror kit' was propaganda. Because propaganda's definition and function are contested, content analysis was trialled as a method of clarifying propaganda detection. A propaganda index was developed using both manual and computerised coding, and while each method had limits, together they produced reliable and valid results. Measured against the index, Howard's letter scored a 62 per cent propaganda rating.
Communication Research Reports, Jan 1, 2005
Journal of Communication …, Jan 1, 2012
Purpose–This article aims to report the results of an international survey (USA and New Zealand) ... more Purpose–This article aims to report the results of an international survey (USA and New Zealand) that tested relationship effects on ethical behaviour. The findings point to the impact of perceived social bonds on ethical decision-making. They also reinforce the cultural specificity of ethics. Both these findings confirm the importance of participatory, ground-up, discussion-based approaches to developing organisational ethical standards. The article discusses some implications of these findings for internal communicators involved with ...
publictimetable.massey.ac.nz
Zealand. She has professional experience in communication spanning 13 years, and has published re... more Zealand. She has professional experience in communication spanning 13 years, and has published refereed academic works on topics including public relations ethics, journalism ethics, political communication, cross-cultural communication, media relations, workplace theatre, online communication, visual communication, literacy and employment, discourse analysis, and race relations.
masseyuniversity.org
This article reports the results of an international survey (USA and Aotearoa/New Zealand) that t... more This article reports the results of an international survey (USA and Aotearoa/New Zealand) that tested age and education-level effects on ethical decision-making responses among university students studying communication. The findings point to some influence from students' age and employment status on their ethical decision-making, but suggest that their level of tertiary education is having almost no measurable impact. The article discusses some implications of these findings for educators involved in designing and delivering ethics education curricula in communication programmes. The authors suggest that while there has been some adoption of constructivist models in communication curricula to date, the apparent low impact of involvement in university education on ethical decision-making suggests that a much more sweeping and drastic adoption needs to be trialled and tested.
This article reports the results, by gender, of an international ethics survey that was tested wi... more This article reports the results, by gender, of an international ethics survey that was tested with communication students in New Zealand in 2009. The findings signal gender differences in ethical decision-making, but also that both genders change their behaviour to select more ethical options when a kinship factor is involved. This suggests that feminist ethical theories that promote the value of concepts of relational interdependence to enhancing ethical thinking are relevant for both genders. The findings also point to the importance for organisations of facilitating and supporting diverse perspectives on ethical issues, and creating a culture of equality in which both genders feel able to speak out about ethical problems. The article explores some of the main implications of these findings for public relations practice. 1
the refereed proceedings of the Australian & …, Jan 1, 2010
researches the discourses that shape postcolonial cultures, including particularly racialised, cl... more researches the discourses that shape postcolonial cultures, including particularly racialised, class-based, and gendered discourses, and their manifestations across fields including literacy, public communication, and popular culture. Her main methodological specialisation is critical discourse analysis but she has used a diverse range of qualitative and quantitative methods in her published research. Additionally, Elspeth has been continuously working as a research editor for various scholarly journal and book publications for more than a decade.
This article uses Bourdieu's field theory as an interpretive lens to examine public relations pra... more This article uses Bourdieu's field theory as an interpretive lens to examine public relations practitioners' testimony about ethical practice in their day--to--day working lives. The practitioners who participated in this research felt strongly committed to being as ethical as possible -yet they frequently answered questions about their own ethics practices with unprompted criticisms of journalists' ethics. In fact, in this research which asked questions only about personal ethical practice, PR practitioners articulated media--blame as an answer theme more than twice as often as they critically discussed ethical issues experienced in their own field. Arguably, this first resort to other--focused censure limited their engagement with the barriers to ethical practice operating in their own profession and, as a result, restricted their ability to change their profession from within. Bourdieu's field theory provides a useful way of reading the participants' dilemmas, because it draws attention to their embeddedness in professional stances. Such a focus illuminates practitioners' struggles to be ethical, and their use of coping strategies such as blame, not as individual failings but as symptomatic of their socially--constructed professional position within broader constraints inherent in the configuration of their field. It follows that addressing public relations ethics at a practitioner level will have limited ability to change the profession's ethical performance until the ways that broader structuration of the field constrains ethical self-examination are considered.
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Ethics research by Elspeth Tilley
strategies.
strategies.
Authors: Oysima-Pirini, A., Pickering, S., Taiapa, R., Williams, S., Rio, M., Swenson, V., Dewes, M., Downs, B., Ifi, J., Sidal, S., Holland, K., Taylor, N., Taite, J., Petrie, M., Fox, E., Tilley, E., & Goulter, S.