Public Relations to Whistleblowers: The Real Troublemakers?

The effect of whistle blowing to a company may vary depending on the situation of the problem itself. It could do bad, horrible things to a company’s image but it could also do good, or even, no affect at all—if, only if, the company’s PR team is the master in handling mishaps, especially whistleblowers.

But what exactly is a whistleblower?

Apparently, the definition that most researchers like to use is that whistleblowers are the people working within an organization to disclose an illegal, immoral, or illegitimate unethical activity to persons inside or outside the company that may be able to do something to the situation. It may sound to be the right thing to do, but it can be real depressing for the public relation people in handling these kinds of issues, especially if the information shared could harm the company’s image—which some whistle-blowing cases are mostly controversial.

Generally speaking, having someone within a company to disclose information of the business is already an issue to be dealt with. So how does Public Relation supposed to react to such problems? They are the ones who should jump in to the root of the crisis and handle it for the company’s sake, not just for its prestige, but also for the sake of the actual employees that are working in it. Public relation officers should be the ones who are responsible to make sure the communication shared between a company and the public is going through effectively, and the ones who should avoid all possible miscommunication to happen in the future. 

It might have been a nightmare for any PR officer to encounter such issues like whistleblowers to erupt within a company, especially if it could put that company’s reputation at risk. If we are talking in worst possible situations, not only the business is at stake, but it could also cause a tremendous consequences to the company’s economical progress, and putting them to a sudden exposure to the media could also put the company's image at harm.

So what can PR do? In any given situation, they need to make sure that the condition wouldn’t go worst than already is, especially to the public’s eyes. No matter how bad the circumstances, PR people need to stand behind the company’s back, and fight for them to protect, or even “rescue” its reputation from crumbling down. They need to put aside everything else and try to suppress the situation from getting out of hand. Even a few scholars have stated whistle blowing is an act of communication because of the concerns shared between people in the organization, and as communication officers, PR need to ensure that these messages are being transmitted efficiently and dodge any problems to occur.

If you think about it, the PR team is all the company has, the ones who could actually save them from going downhill. Whistleblowers may look like the savior or “the angel” from unveiling the unethical actions within an organization, but to the eyes of the company itself, in some cases they may be dubbed as the troublemakers, and they need to be taken care of before they can cause problems to the whole business.

The Fine Line Between Creating Shared Value and Corporate Social Responsibility

At first, identifying the thin line between CSV and CSR could be tricky, not to mention with their purpose is almost equivalent to each other (the two works in a concern to satisfy the society). Although I am familiar with both terms, I still wouldn’t be too confident to jump into the act of explaining my own description of the dissimilarity between Corporate Social Responsibility and Creating Shared Value. The way I see it those two operations may go hand-in-hand because of their similarity by revolving it around the community—or simply just ‘to do good’.

But as I took a little closer of their definitions, their benefits, even the examples of both actions, now I can officially say that those two are, in fact, very much different. Though both may correspond with each other, and they basically ‘look’ identical at first glance, but it is safe to say that each of them serve an entirely different purpose. But, still, very important for every company to conduct if they want their business to survive.

Now, before we can do a differentiation between Creating Shared Value and Social Corporate Responsibility is only logical if we know what both terms actually are. Creating shared value could be identified as a strategy to develop—or, even reinforce—the company’s future market with also, at the same time, could build up or strengthens the economy of the company, the relationship with the communities/stakeholders, and their marketplace. So basically CSV is a long-term plan for a business in order to maximize their profit and also to satisfy their communities. And how do they do that? This is where CSR comes in.

CSR is a “voluntary activities undertaken by a company to operate in an economic, social and environmentally sustainable manner.” Mainly saying that CSR is one of the ways for those companies that undertake CSV for the sake of their business’ future, especially if they operate under socially, environmentally, and economically responsible manner, CSR would be essential for them to undertake.

In order to create value (CSV) you need to do CSR. The main goal of CSR is not actually to gain profit for the business. It is simply to do well towards the community/society with a philanthropic activity. And with that, it supposed to lead onto creating a strong value or bond between those parties involved, or simply, ‘joint value creation for business and society’, which is exactly CSV’s beneficiary. As in for CSR, the benefits would be something along the lines of citizenship, sustainability, and philanthropy.

In simple terms, the one true goal of CSR is to do ‘noble’ things to the society, such as undergoing a friendly environmental activity or just simply doing a volunteer work. It is entirely separate from profit maximization, while CSV is a complete vital part of it. We can see that now if companies are doing some CSR is wouldn’t exactly be beneficial for the society only, in fact, the whole thing is merely a strategy for the company to gain more profit in the future by looking good to the eyes of the communities or their other stakeholders so they would carry on supporting the company to continue their business. Now we may think that it is almost sneaky, but then I guess that’s just how business works.

Reference:

Corporate Social Responsibility. (n.d). Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/topics-domaines/other-autre/csr-rse.aspx?lang=eng

Epstein-Reeves, J. (n.d.). What is 'Creating Shared Value'?. Forbes. Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/06/04/what-is-creating-shared-value/