SLEEPING WITH... THE ENEMY?

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY?

Students often come up with the most interesting cases all by themselves . One year, in an assignment requiring senior public relations students to develop and test a strategy game based on public relations principles, one group developed an amazing prototype called ˜PR Ethicmania. One of the key requirements for the game was for players to solve ethical dilemmas. The proposed solution would then be judged by a consensus of opposing players in an attempt to arbitrate all those grey areas in ethics. One of the cases they presented went something like this:

You have just landed your first public relations job after graduation. Your boss seems pleased with your work so far and invites you to attend an out-of-town seminar with him. You're delighted and infer that you are indeed doing well. Once away from the office together it becomes clear to you that his interest in you is less than professional, indeed, he's pressing for a more personal relationship, suggesting that you'll be very well rewarded within the organization. Do you (a) politely put him off and just go back to work forgetting about the whole thing; or (b) return to work and go to his boss with a sexual harassment complaint? (This case works whether you're a man or a woman , by the way.)

What seemed to me to be missing from this was yet another option: (c) go along with him and take the perks.

This whole case brought up a series of unanswered questions about the personal and professional relationships between public relations practitioners and their superiors, peers, clients, potential clients , competitors , media people, investors ”the list seems to be endless.

In the case presented in the game situation, added on to the potential for a conflict of interest situation is the reality of a power imbalance.

This issue of carrying on a sexual relationship within what is otherwise a professional one is a dilemma that has plagued a number of other professions . The medical profession has been grappling with this one since Hippocrates said, ˜ Whatever house I enter I will stand free from any voluntary criminal action or corrupt deed and the seduction of females or males, be they slaves or free, in his famous Oath.

And while the issue seems to have been clearly defined for doctors ”they are not permitted to carry on any kind of sexual relationship with current patients (although when a patient stops being current is hotly debated) and by definition it is considered to be sexual abuse ”the issue is unclear for other professions, including PR. Relationships between public relations professionals and their clients or employers , for example, although different in some ways from that of a doctor and a patient, are nevertheless riddled with problems, both ethical and practical ones.