2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America

Autonomy - Bowen (2006) states that “autonomy is essential to ethical decision making
because a decision cannot be ethical if it is biased by self-interest, profit, greed, arrogance, or the
like reasons that would promote personal advantage. The only decisions that can be thought of as
truly moral are those made from freedom rather than compulsion, and rational analysis rather
than subjective desire” (p. 335).
The Categorical Imperative – The categorical imperative serves as the ultimate moral
norm that society must follow – much like the “Golden Rule.” It states, in a sense, that
individuals should only act in ways that could be accepted as universal law. Kant phrased the
categorical imperative three separate ways, testing three ethical concepts, in order to promote its
understanding and accordance (Sullivan, 1994). According to Bowen (2006) the categorical
imperative “transcends cultural bias, religion, socioeconomic status, and paucity of philosophical
training in that it allows all rational decision makers the freedom to make universally acceptable
decisions or moral worth and validity” (p. 82). Furthermore, autonomy enables public relations
practitioners to make decisions based on ethics rather than subjectivity, fear of job loss, or client
and employer relationships (Bowen, 2004, p. 72).
Dignity, Respect and Duty – Public relations practitioners must maintain the dignity and
respect of clients, colleagues and themselves as human beings (Bowen, 2006). Bowen explained
that the duty and respect components of the categorical imperative give an issues manager a
“tool through which to consider the views of publics and groups involved in the decision,
possibly expanding an organization’s decision making alternatives (p. 82). Duty, according to
Wood (2008) is “the act of freely making yourself desire something and do it because you
appreciate the objective moral reasons there are for doing it. It relies on pure motives, selfconstraint,
and respect for humanity" (p. 159).
Intention – a morally good will – Kant considered intention to be the “highest ultimate
value” (Bowen, 2004, p. 75). A good will, according to Wood (2008), “adopts good principles
and sets about acting on them. It may do so when it needs to constrain itself in order to do so,
but also when it need not, because its good principles are in contingent harmony with
inclinations (empirical and non moral desires)” (p. 32). In her practical Kantian model of ethical
issues management, Bowen (2005), suggested that practitioners ask themselves “Am I
proceeding with a morally good will?” in order to examine intentions of decisions made with or
on behalf of the self, publics, society, stakeholders and organization (p. 193).
Two-Way Symmetrical Communication - Two-way symmetrical communication
prioritizes reciprocal dialogue between individuals involved in an issue. Starck and Kruckeberg
(2003) and Bowen (2005) noted that symmetrical public relations is particularly moral, ethical,
and important in furthering public relations practice and theory. According to Bowen (2005;
2006) symmetrical public relations is a key component in models of ethical decision making.
“Dialogue between the organization and the groups in the ethical consideration triangle can
construct more enduring solutions to ethical issues than the organization might be able to
construct alone” (Bowen, 2005, p. 212).
Several studies have found support for ethics based on dialogue and two-way
symmetrical public relations (i.e. Arnett, Arneson, & Bell, 2006; Bowen, 2004; Bowen & Jiang,
2007). Bowen (2004) proposed two-way symmetrical communication as a core foundation of
ethical decision making and public relations excellence. She stated that dialogue can “help avert
problems for the organization by allowing it to communicate considerations to and from publics
in a symmetrical manner.” (p. 84). In a study of an activist coalition and its ethical meaningmaking,
Bowen and Jiang (2007) found that transparency was necessary in the decision making
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