I have been the editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Business Ethics for a little over a year now. So what are the implications of this in terms of editorial intent for the African Journal of Business Ethics specifically.
Introduction
Early researchers claimed that the vagueness of the definition confounds the measurement of impact and therefore reduces the attractiveness of this investment strategy. More training and information sharing is needed to encourage wider adoption of this responsible investment strategy.
What constitutes impact?
Definition, motives, measurement and reporting considerations in an
African impact investment market
- Impact investing
- Methodology
- Findings and discussion
- Summary, conclusions and recommendations
Impact investing is defined in the following section, followed by discussions of the dual motives of impact investors and the ambiguity surrounding social and environmental impact identification, measurement and reporting. Definitional ambiguity regarding the impact outcome of impact investing has been highlighted by several researchers (Clarkin & Cangioni, 2016; Höchstädter & Scheck, 2015; Jackson, 2013a). In the research instrument, section A, biographical details were requested, followed by open-ended questions about the definition of impact investing (section B), investor motives (section C), and challenges in defining and measuring impact (section D).
A ‘moral compass’ of the organisation during a crisis: Exploring the ethics roles
Ethical behavior has long been a subject of the strategic communication discipline, but in South Africa there are so far few empirical studies on ethical practice. Using a qualitative methodology, this study examines what constitutes ethical communication and how strategic communication practitioners from diverse organizations perceive their role as a. The study indicates that ethical principles of communication are used, but practitioners still find themselves in conflict with telling the truth.
Overall, the results show that respondents identify more with types of ethics advisors than with types of advocates. In terms of the types of ethics of counsellors, they were authentic, empathetic, truthful, honest, admitting mistakes, being open and transparent, and being sensitive to the pressing needs of stakeholders. Based on this study, although marked by issues of legal challenge, as well as leaders and clients who often want practitioners to compromise on their ethical conscience roles, practitioners insisted on fulfilling the role of ethical advisor in their organizations.
This study contributes to the strategic communication discipline by providing insights into ethical communication and provides a foundation from which future research can draw. As communication practitioners evaluate the prevalence, effectiveness, and outcomes of existing ethical principles in the field of strategic communication, the role of ethical communication as the moral compass of.
The obligation to interact as morally responsible agents
Most strategic communication professionals who offer public relations services provide guidance on the consequences of the decisions and activities of an organization (Fitzpatrick & Gauthier, 2001). For competitive advantage, management and staff consider ethics essential, as the double or triple bottom line is directly related to healthy earnings (DeMars, 2017:21). Brunner (2017) says that public relations will find a moral compass to explain its intent and pursue the public interest only by identifying its values.
The literature has recognized the importance of promoting multifaceted professional expertise, values and an ethical mindset among communication practitioners (Bowen, 2016). Brunner (2017) argues that the discipline of ethics focuses on ethics regarding the way people do their work, with emphasis extended beyond professional codes of ethics to include general morality and citizenship. The organization's management must set the tone in the organization in order to use the moral compass.
Given the complexity of working within an organization, communication practitioners often face multiple stakeholders who may consider jeopardizing the organization's values during a crisis, which must be taken into account when making ethical decisions. However, the responsible exercise of moral action requires careful consideration of the circumstances, especially from the point of view of all relevant stakeholders; it is the duty of moral agents to foresee the possible consequences during their deliberations.
Stakeholders’ interest in crises
Ethical decision approaches
Theoretical framework
Critics of responsible advocacy theory propose a postmodern lens and reflexive approach to ethics that rejects the 'metanarrative' of the ethical guardian and advocate archetypes (Holtzhausen, 2012). Grunig (2014:7) explains that “asymmetric practitioners who see their social role as conservative or radical typically choose organizations whose partisan values are similar to their own.
Methodology
Such practitioners can then passionately defend or promote the interests and values of their client organizations. First, all data were read to gain a holistic understanding of the themes while initial notes were taken. Second, the information was repeatedly re-read to form preliminary codes, which were grouped and placed into more meaningful categories or themes, merging to avoid repetition.
Our analysis of such data represents ontological and epistemological assumptions that are consistent with a constructivist inquiry (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). During the analysis and coding process, the researchers remained reflexively aware of their personal biases and their effect on the interpretation of the data. To address this, the researchers engaged in member checking with selected participants and often took notes during the analysis process (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
To ensure reliability, researchers used two key techniques: (1) member control (testing themes, interpretations, and conclusions through follow-up interaction with respondents, as well as respondents' comments after interviews); and (2) thorough clarification of context and explanation (Creswell, 2013; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Researchers work through the findings in the next section, grouped by the two broad themes of the RQs, and describe subthemes where they occurred.
Results
- Being authentic during a crisis
- Being empathetic and truthful on how the organisation is handling the crisis
- Being honest and owning up to mistakes and being ready to give an apology when things go wrong
- Being open and transparent about what happened during a crisis
- Being sensitive to stakeholders’ urgent needs in a crisis even at the expense of profits
- Being truthful and not misleading the public
- Being available to update or communicate useful information
- Being proactive as the eyes and ears of the organisation through boundary spanning
- Being sensitive to secrets on copyright information
- Communicating verified information
For one communications manager, this meant "being honest, admitting mistakes and apologizing." In some cases, SCPs' desire to please their bosses and get a promotion can affect their judgment and lead them to be complicit in lies. You need to be a visible and approachable company because you need to understand where the other parties are coming from in terms of looking for closure, looking for information that will better inform them.
You will be dealing with people – some with high emotions, some with anxieties – to be part of your crisis communication. When it comes to the role of being available to update or communicate useful information, there seems to be some recognition. Be available to the media and other key stakeholders who need to be kept appraised of what has happened and its impact to correct any inaccuracies that may be prevalent.
When pointing out how practitioners should be available to update the public, establishing consistency is important as it helps build trust, commitment, satisfaction, control with reciprocity and community with stakeholders (Bowen, Hung-Baesecke & Chen, 2016). As communications practitioners, one of our roles is to be the eyes and ears of the organization you work for.
Discussion
What can be created is a level of social impersonality that ignites the passion and moral responsibility of individuals. One of the results of media practice is the normalization and multiplicity of ideas and thoughts, which further alienates the practitioner as an individual from his own ethical responsibility (Holtzhausen, 2015). Farmer (2018:4) argues that “complexity manifests itself in ethical decision-making in at least three areas: including sorting consequences by impact and uncertainty, balancing interests, and managing truth and reputational risk”.
Telling the truth is a concern for practitioners who fear investigative journalists, who further question the organization's statements about the crisis. Investigative media and new technology offer more space to increase their openness and effect on unethical practice and information, which is deliberately distorted or hidden. Despite the smaller sample, the findings of this study can be compared with some of the recent studies of codes of ethics in public relations.
Jackson and Moloney (2019) drew three main themes from perspectives and interpretations of PRP ethics in the UK: social responsibilities, truth and lies, and PR ethics and professional bodies. The findings reflect that participants were deeply involved in defining the social role of an organization.
Conclusion
We find that, in relation to commercial and organizational managers, many PRPs strive for ethical advocacy but lack action. Lessons for social media crisis communication: A systematic review of what research tells practice. Unsettled lies the head that wears a crown.’ A qualitative study of ethical public relations practice in the UK.
How the theory of information and journalism ethics contributes to the ethics of public relations: Six principles from the dialogue between ethical codes and the legacy of Luka Brajnović. PR Ethics: Senior PR professionals tell us how to speak up and keep your job. Moral dilemmas, trials, and gray areas: Exploring on-the-job moral development of public relations professionals.
The purpose of this article is to understand emotional organizational responses, especially empathy towards employees in the context of the Covid‑19 pandemic. By 'organizational responses' we mean the policies and practices adopted by human resource management in the presented organizational empirical case.
Holding space: Shaping organisational empathy through a collaborative
Using a collaborative autoethnographic (CAE) approach, we assess a South African public university's empathic response to the challenges of integrating employees into work life at the height of the pandemic. In doing so, we offer an empirical account of how we, as practicing scientists, have helped shape an organizational response to work-life integration and the opportunities and challenges involved. Methodologically, CAE is of limited use in South African management studies and our example acts as a call to management scholars to further develop its methodological applications for theory/conceptual building.
By "performative" we mean that these claims are superficial and are not based on an authentic practice of empathy, but rather on performance or a simulacrum of empathy.
- Organisational empathy
- Genuine empathy
- Research methodology
- Negotiating the proposal Emails, Zoom meetings and WhatsApp messages to each other to discuss the proposal from HRM
- The webinar series – Context
- Findings and discussion
- Conclusion
For Wander (2013), empathy and compassion should be part of the social fabric of organizations. Applied to organizations, this implies that the affective state of the organization is similar to the affective state of employees. The design of the webinars therefore had to reflect the themes we felt were missing from the university's response to staff during the pandemic.
An ethic of empathy, care, community building and trust is needed to permeate the design of the webinar. The three of us were both researchers and research participants under a very specific context (context awareness) of the Covid-19 pandemic at a public university. We reflected on things that happened to us personally and professionally in the first months of the crisis.
Pilot of the first webinar series with invited attendees who provided oral and written feedback. The middle of the webinar structure created the link between each sequence and then introduced theoretical frameworks. The end of the program consisted of further honest and real-life sharing of personal pain points of the facilitators and the webinar participants.
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased our health literacy as a tool to prevent the virus.
