Codes of Conduct

I’ve spent the whole day browsing through the Institute of Public Relations and the Public Relations Society of America’s web site, and I have analysed their codes of conduct. It has been easy to spot the different principals of each one.
The Institute of Public Relations principals are: integrity, competence and confidentiality, whilst the principles of the Public Relations Society of America are: free flow of information, competition, disclosure of information, safeguarding confidences, conflicts of interest and enhancing the profession.

I’m going to give a brief description on how the codes are structured in each institution:

In the PRSA, the regulations are much more accessible, in the way they are written. Firstly, they enclose a statement of professional values, and then they divide their regulations into six different principles. The first phrase after the principle is used to clarify what it means. Secondly, they give a guideline for the members to follow, and the last and the most important part is that they illustrate the principle with one or two examples of improper conduct under each of the different provisions in the code. The last part is probably the most important and valuable because, in case a member is not clear about what is exactly meant in the principle, it will always be helpful to clarify it with an example.
(PRSA, http://www.prsa.org/aboutUs/ethics/preamble_en.html).

The Charted Institute of Public Relations, unlike the PRSA, starts off its code with a list of points on which every member has to agree. Then they have decided to explain their three principles and what is included in each principle. The explanations are clear, although there aren’t many examples of unprofessional conduct. As a difference from the PRSA, the IPR´s code contains the complete normative in how to act legally in each of the different situations a practitioner can be involved in.
(IPR, http://www.cipr.co.uk/Membership/conduct/index.htm ).