Back to a topic I mentioned earlier in this blog about the role public relations plays in society and how exactly PR practitioners would define the term "social responsibility."
I have an answer for those PR practitioners that work for businesses and nonprofit organizations-- and that's corporate social responsibility.
In a study published in the Public Relations Review in November 2008, researchers Kim Soo-Yoen and Bryan H. Reber collected data from 173 PR practitioners about their role in society and thoughts about practicing corporate social responsibility.
The study was researched in the context of two questions I am very interested about. They are basically the exact questions I had when I started this blog, just in the researchers words:
Are there identifiable roles of public relations in social responsibility?
What do public relations practitioners see as their contribution to social responsibility?
What a golden find!
In summary, many of the PR practitioners that were interviewed believe that they can influence the corporations or organizations they work for to be socially responsible, as well a leader in the community they are part of. Those who worked in the nonprofit PR sector believe that PR is "central" in promoting social and political issues of importance that NGOs try to tackle.
Likewise, interviewees said the role of CSR directly mirrors the values and ethical guidelines of a corporation or organization that PR practitioners will follow. But we can't forget that a business needs profit. Thus, there are times where good CSR could be conducted by a corporation but is not because it is not profitable or does not improve the image of the corporation. Even if a PR practitioner has a different view, all they really have got to do is follow the Public Relations Society of America Code of Ethics, which may force the PR practitioners to just follow the guidelines but not go farther and really reach a hand out to society through CSR.
One really interesting information to note: this study also found that some PR practitioners think that PR is actually the organization or corporation's conscience. Hence, my blog name -- conscience communications!
It all sounds great until you realize the actual words in the phrase "corporate social responsibility" -- CORPORATE social responsibility, not PUBLIC RELATIONS social responsibility. The power is truly under the wings of the CEOs of these companies or managers of the organizations. If they grant their PR practitioners the power, then low and behold and watch the PR practitioners fly the corporation or organization to heaven, as the rest of the employees listen to the conscience of communications.
The good thing is that PR practitioners really can have an influence on acts of social responsibility by corporations and organizations, and channel good publicity through the airwaves of the community. If only the PR practitioners were the CEOs, THEN we would maybe really see some social change!
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