A Moral Compass of the Organisation During Crisis: Exploring the ethics roles of Strategic Communication practice

  • Dr Abyshey Nhedzi University of Johannesburg
  • Ms Cleopatra Gombarume Cleopatra Gombarume (Honours) Affiliated with the Department of Strategic Communication, School of Communication, University of Johannesburg, Cnr Kingsway Avenue and University Road Auckland Park 2006, B Ring 617 Johannesburg, South Africa.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15249/15-1-275

Abstract

The ethical behavior has long been a subject of the strategic communication discipline, but in South Africa, there are scarce empirical researches of ethical practice to date. In this paper through interviews with ten South African strategic communication practitioners in diverse organisations. We examine what constitutes ethical communication and the roles of practitioners in guiding the organisation toward considering ethics during a crisis. Findings reveal ten moral compass roles which are categorized into ethical counsel and advocacy role types. Although marked with legal, leaders/clients who want practitioners to compromise on ethical counsel roles, practitioners were defining organisation's ethics role.

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Author Biography

Ms Cleopatra Gombarume, Cleopatra Gombarume (Honours) Affiliated with the Department of Strategic Communication, School of Communication, University of Johannesburg, Cnr Kingsway Avenue and University Road Auckland Park 2006, B Ring 617 Johannesburg, South Africa.
Cleopatra is a final year Masters student at the University of Johannesburg majoring in Strategic Communication. As an emerging practitioner, Cleopatra is eager to establish herself as passionate about connecting authentically with all stakeholders to create business-changing content. Cleopatra’s professional ambition centres on the need to embed and sustain ethical conduct in all forms of strategic communication. Her research interests include ethical strategic communication in organisational and digital contexts. During her free time, Cleopatra likes to read, hanging out with friends and travelling.
Published
2021-09-17
Issue
Vol. 15 No. 1 (2021): AJOBE 15(1) 2021
Section
Articles

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