Every day individuals are faced with challenges that make them ask, “What is the right thing to do?”
A book titled “Do the Right Thing” by James Hoggan is about choosing the best option for your client or business although it may be difficult or uncomfortable.
One reason Hoggan wrote “Do the Right Thing,” was to address the issue of people believing public relations professionals were dishonest because of the climate science misinformation they were receiving.
The message in the title of the book may seem simple and easy to do at first, but unfortunately for many people, doing the right thing is the hardest task.
Some people are unsure of what doing the right thing actually means. According to Hoggan, we know we are doing the right thing when we are working sincerely toward a public good (p.33).
I admire this book because it demonstrates honesty as the best policy. As a public relations student, I would love to pursue a career that many people respect and view as credible. Credibility is everything in journalism. The public would not read or watch the news if they didn’t believe the information was real.
Public relations professionals work for their clients or companies, but they also have a duty to be loyal to their publics. Although the client’s needs are important, the client or company would not be able to survive without its publics.
Counseling organization leaders is a task public relations professionals must do to protect the company’s public. Some clients may have a disconnect from their publics and seek aid from public relations specialists to fill the gap.
Becoming a public relations practitioner is not easy. Some tasks such as public speaking, writing and research are all essential, but being honest and acknowledging faults are great traits to have in this field. In crisis management situations these traits are especially significant.
No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, but learning from your mistakes and doing the right thing makes a difference.
Writing is an essential component within education, and it becomes more significant once students enter college. Students are required to complete various essays, reports and research papers while traveling toward success. Much of the writing assigned in college is a result of the Gordon Rule.
The Academic Affairs section in the 2006-2008 edition of the Florida A&M University Catalog states, “The State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.30(2), commonly known as the ‘Gordon Rule,’ specifies that all state universities require in all baccalaureate degree programs, satisfactory completion of 12 semester hours of English course work in which all students are required to produce written work of at least 24,000 words…” (p. 53).
Most students cringe at the sight of the term Gordon Rule in their syllabi, because it almost always correlates with completing a lengthy research paper upon the completion of a course. I was a student who believed research papers were tedious and long.
Despite my reluctance toward research papers, I always gained a sense of confidence after collecting and completing my research. I was able to write, and earn outstanding grades on the assignments because of my research and ability to focus a paper around a certain theme and connect the dots.
Research is just as important in college as writing. The two are critical in many professions, especially public relations. However before writing, an individual must have a clear understanding of the topic they are conveying. In public relations research should be the first step before a program can be implemented and the last step after completing a program. Some programs in public relations are structured through models such as RACE (Research, Action, Communication, and Evaluation) and RPIE (Research, Planning, Implementation, and Evalution) which both begin and end with research.
Formative research is the initial study that public relations professionals use. It may include a historical analysis of an issue or client. After the program is done, public relations professionals use evaluative research to analyze the effects the program made on their client’s public and to determine whether it was a success.
Research determines whether a particular campaign will be beneficial and make an impact or not. It gives professionals a backbone that allows them to make respectable decisions and form worthy opinions. Research does the same for me. It gives me insight. I feel a sense of self-assurance when I have researched a particular topic. I have confidence in the information I explain to other people. Having knowledge is an aspect of life that will never get old. Every day there is something new to learn.
