Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:05:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGEMENT in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / This study investigates ethical communication practice in the professional practice of Public Relations in South Africa. Using Public Relations professional bodies (PRISA and IABC) and Public Relations firms based in Cape Town, the study sought to understand how ethical communication is conceptualised and practised by public relations practitioners. Literature reveals that ethical communication in Public Relations has been shaped by two dominant views. The early, simplistic paradigm conceptualised ethical communication as dialogic and symmterical communication. It views ethical communication as counter-argument. This paradigm has been critiqued in favour of a more contemporary paradigm that regards ethical communication in terms of dialogic values such as honesty, openness, loyalty, fair-mindedness, respect, integrity and forthright communication. Using dialogic, symmetrical communication and a reflective paradigm of public relations as its theoretical framework, this study analyses how Public Relations practitioners and professional bodies conceptualise ethical communication. Results from the study reveal that ethical communication as a phenomenon is still subject to various interpretations. The study reveals that fostering ethical communication by professional bodies is often hampered by the existence of untrained Public Relations personnel. This study seeks to make a theoretical contribution towards the understanding of ethical communication amongst Public Relations and professional bodies. It shows that there is need for Public Relations professionals to develop a more holistic understanding of ethical communication in order to raise the quality of Public Relations practitioners’ ethical behaviour and increase the legitimacy and value of public relations studies to society.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:05:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Este trabalho tem como objetivo refletir sobre ações que possam contribuir na criação de mecanismos de defesa para o meio ambiente no processo de desenvolvimento de projetos de pesquisa em Instituições de Pesquisa, especificamente, o Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares IPEN. Para tanto, parte de valores éticos aplicados ao processo de desenvolvimento científico durante os períodos antigo, medieval e moderno, desvendando a cisão dos princípios éticos na natureza, bem como percorrendo o caminho da criação dos códigos de ética em pesquisa. Além disso, apresenta critérios que possibilitam preservar o meio ambiente durante a execução de projetos de pesquisa, por intermédio de diretrizes que contribuirão na elaboração de um código de ética ambiental. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

M.Ed. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Philosophy) / Imagine a hypothetical couple, Jane and John Smith. The Smiths have been together for a couple of years, and they both have good jobs with a solid income. They are both physically healthy and happy, and have a good relationship built on mutual trust. The Smiths feel ready to take, what so many call, 'the next step' - they want a child. This sounds like a commonplace scenario in any middle-class society around the world. But let me add to their considerations the one about the existence of orphans - almost 145 million of them worldwide (UNICEF 2009). A dilemma now occurs for the Smiths: Should they have their own, biological child, or should they adopt an orphan? Like most people, they would like to have their own child, but realise that there are so many children already in existence who need a home. They consider that, instead of having a biological child for no other real reason than their own desires, they can really change one (or more) child's life by adopting her. There simultaneously exists an inherent dilemma for any state: Should the state interfere in people like the Smiths' option to reproduce naturally in order to increase the adoption of orphans? There are millions of orphans who will never be adopted, and yet every year millions of babies are born. The existence of orphans is therefore a socio-economic problem for any country, especially third world countries that cannot provide the orphan with adequate care and education. In this thesis, I examine how the existence of orphans in the world should influence anybody's decision to reproduce and what the state's role should be therein. The millions of orphans in the world raise serious moral questions for those people planning to have a biological child. Difficult questions arise like, if there are so many children already in the world who are in dire need of parents, is it ethical to bring another human being into the world? What duties, if any, do prospective parents have towards orphans? Do orphans deserve moral consideration above people's yet unborn 'flesh and blood'? Additionally, questions arise about the role of the state: Can it be just for a state to interfere in people's decision to reproduce? Will it be permissible to punish people if they do not adopt? Is the existence of orphans ultimately the responsibility of the state or also of the citizens within the state?

In recent decades, individuals as well as businesses – mainly those living and operating within advanced capitalist systems – have become increasingly aware of the social context of production and, thus, of the impact consumption has on the environment, animals and other fellow humans. Such reflexivity is echoed both in spheres of production (e.g. corporate social responsibility policies) and consumption (e.g. labelling schemes such as fair-trade and organic). Under these conditions the ‘ethical consumer’ was born. While, however, the concepts of ethical and political consumption have been around for some time now, our understanding of what it really means to be ‘ethical’ as a consumer today is still very fuzzy. In contrast with previous studies which ascribe a priori certain meanings and criteria to the ethical consumer concept, this study follows a bottom-up approach that provides space for individuals to express their own views on ethical consumption. To cater for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under investigation, the research is designed as a case study within a specific geographical location; Partick, Glasgow. This study makes use of primary data generated through 20 in-depth interviews with self-identified ethical consumers, 10 interviews and 15 questionnaires with managers of grocery shops operating in the area, as well as 112 questionnaires completed by the public in a street survey. The findings challenge our conventional understanding of ‘ethics’ in the context of consumption; being ethical as a consumer extends beyond simply purchasing ethically marketed products and services, to include various lifestyle choices. Consumers raised concerns about the degree and nature of change that conventional ethical consumption can achieve. Utilising insights from this research, the study draws a conceptual distinction between the “ethical Shopper” (representing the side of ethical consumption that is hegemonically market-driven) and the “ethical Consumer” (representing its creative, pro-active, agency-driven counterpart). It is suggested that the latter allows consumption as a tool for social change to reach its full potential, since it escapes the fabricated ‘ethics’ of the market. Feeding back to the theoretical frameworks of ethical and political consumption, this study highlights the class and taste bias built into the (very expensive) idealized model of ethical lifestyle and, thus, calls for the inclusion of different types of consumer action such as downshifting, file-sharing, or even collective shoplifting, which have been –until now – neglected.

D.Litt. et Phil. / The moral tone and ethical consciousness of an organisation are often reflected in everyday spoken discourse. Discourse (both written and verbal) sends a message about how an organisation does business. Ethical discourse, in turn, sends a message about the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way of conducting business, which helps people make better decisions. When business related ethical issues are openly and honestly discussed it propels ethical awareness which in turn may inspire responsible action. Ethical awareness increases responsiveness and sensitivity to ethical issues, as well as enhanced ethical decision-making. The notion of “moral” talk in organisations, i.e. talking about ethics, or organisational “ethics talk” (OET), has however, been scantily addressed in business ethics research and literature (the exception being the work of Waters and Bird in the late 1980s). It can be postulated that OET may be a powerful vehicle for the institutionalisation of ethics in the organisations. For it to be utilised optimally, it has to be placed under theoretical scrutiny before it can be applied in organisational ethics management initiatives. The primary objective of this research was to design an appropriate conceptual framework from which to develop a substantive model for (OET) in an attempt to clarify the concept and its components. A qualitative methodology with grounded theory as a research strategy was employed to develop the substantive model. Eight ethics experts (N=8) were purposively selected to partake as research participants, chosen because of their knowledge, education and experience in the field of business ethics. The research participants’ perceptions, experience and understanding of OET were explored to develop the substantive model. The primary data collection method was semi-structured interviews, which generated rich and descriptive data. The data was systematically analysed using grounded x theory. An in-depth literature review was undertaken following the fieldwork. This was integrated with results of the data analysis once the theoretical directions had become clear. Member checking was executed throughout the research process and a focus group was conducted to verify interpretations and substantiate the initial OET model. The outcomes of the focus group discussion resulted in the drafting of the final model for OET. Based on the findings, OET was defined as intra-organisational spoken or written articulation that reflects the consideration of the ethical interests of (a) the ‘self’ (e.g. organisation, the well being of its members in particular context), and (b) the ‘other’ (e.g. other internal and external stakeholders, other organisations, society). The central elements of the model consist of the following themes: enabling contextual factors, potential catalysts, barriers to OET and effects thereof, categorisation of OET, forms of OET, purposive and unintentional OET, motivations for OET and resulting effects (i.e. outcome versus no outcome).

No description available.

This research explores methods to improve code of conduct effectiveness. Misconduct is a common phenomenon in the business environment, even in the face of increased regulation, and the adoption of codes of conduct by organisations. This impacts negatively on organisations’ reputations, results in financial loss, and has a negative impact on the sustainability of businesses. While researchers suggest that codes of conduct should reduce misconduct and improve the ethical culture of organisations, mixed research results suggest codes of conduct are not always effective. While research into code of conduct effectiveness proliferates, seldom does such research take a holistic approach to understanding effectiveness of codes of conduct. Models proposed to better research code of conduct effectiveness, such as Kaptein and Schwartz’ (2008) integrated research model, do not present guidelines for better developing and implementing codes of conduct. Therefore the primary research objective was to develop a benchmarking framework which could provide insight into factors that could influence code of conduct effectiveness, and provide guidelines on how these factors should be influenced and accounted for to improve code of conduct effectiveness. Content of codes of conduct can play an important part in code of conduct effectiveness, yet they vary enormously in terms of provisions, language, tone, style, design. Some are directional or rules based, others aspirational, or values based. Bettcher, Deshpandé, Margolis and Paine (2005) developed the Global Business Standards Codex that depicted the most commonly found provisions in organisations they surveyed. A secondary research objective was therefore to apply this codex to the evaluation of participating organisations codes of conduct, and in so doing, evaluate the suitability of the codex as a benchmarking framework for the content of the code of conduct. Adopting a grounded theory methodological approach and code of conduct content analysis, the researcher investigated nine of South Africa’s largest multinational organisations in order to understand the factors influencing their code of conduct effectiveness better. The research makes a significant contribution to the understanding of codes of conduct, their effectiveness, and provides practical guidelines on improving their effectiveness. This is achieved by 1) presenting nine formulae for an effective code of conduct; 2) detailing a multi-dimensional model that can facilitate the effectiveness of codes of conduct; and 3) improving the codex developed by Bettcher et al. (2005) on the content of codes of conduct with the proposed code of conduct architecture criterion.

In today‘s world, characterised by highly competitive global economies, organisations have realised the need for a positive approach in order to remain competitive, sustainable and to attract and retain talent. A positive approach to leadership and an organisational environment characterised by trust has been one of the fundamental tools towards achieving this goal. The main objective of the present study was to assess the existence of positive organizational approaches (authentic leadership and workplace trust) within the government of Lesotho, especially at a time when the country was facing difficulties. The study was descriptive in nature, and followed a non-experimental quantitative approach. The survey made use of a sample of 153 civil servants occupying positions from supervisory to senior management. Data was acquired through the use of an electronic questionnaire made up of two scales: one was a self-assessment instrument on authentic leadership adopted from Walumbwa and associates, and the other scale was on workplace trust developed by Natalie Ferres. The analysis of data involved descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, post hoc tests and Cohen‘s d. The results of the study provided evidence that there were high levels of the authentic leadership and trust in the workplace. Demographic variables were not found to influence the outcome of authentic leadership scores, however, education and managerial level were found to have an influence on organisational trust. The findings of the study provoked the researcher to call for an implementation of policy on positive training for management and for further research in this area.