Ethics week looks at issues in workplace
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ISSUE: 09/13/07 > News > Ethics week looks at issues in workplace
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While unethical business conduct has become a major newsmaker in today’s world, there’s also an emphasis on strong ethics that’s getting attention.
The Belmont chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America, in conjunction with the national organization and local professionals, will present a weeklong educational forum about ethics in the workplace beginning Sept. 24.
Pam Parry, public relations program director said, “I got the idea to do this two years ago during an annual assessment, I realized that I wanted to train students in ethics.”
While recent ethical violations are a problem, raising awareness is a key to combating issue.
“I don’t see ethics as a problem, rather it is an issue that we should be aware of on a daily basis – something we think about routinely when making decisions,” said Aileen Katcher of Katcher Vaughn and Bailey Public Relations. “Events like Ethics Week at Belmont make sure it stays at the top of mind.”
Last year the PRSSA organized a half-day ethics seminar and won several ethics awards, placing second in the national ethics competition. Parry and Dr. Bonnie Reichert, PRSSA adviser and public relations faculty member, decided based on the success of last year’s half-day seminar that they should extend it and make it an annual event.
“Last year was a stimulating experience and Pam and I decided to extend it to show the Belmont community about the practice of ethical PR,” Reichert said.
Public relations played an integral part in Ethics Week, creating ideas for topics.
“Last spring students wrote a paper in ethics class and parts of it were used in Ethics Week,” Parry said.
Although ethics week is geared toward PR majors, the department encourages all majors to attend.
“Ethics week was designed to provide focus on the ethics of PR, to remind people of the code of ethics, and to raise awareness beyond just PR majors,” Reichart said.
During the week there will be three convocations and a pizza and movie night, aimed to draw interest among the non-majors. “To start people thinking about ethical practice is important in any field,” Reichert said.
