ABSTRACT
This chapter is an exercise in model buildmg in public relations. Its purpose is to suggest theoretical statements for a theory of public relations ethics. This model building exercise clarifies how the corporate communication function—sometimes called public relations, public affairs, or issues management—can be seen as playing a critical role in ethical organizational conduct. The model suggests that business ethics can be studied as a series of questions about how a business organization communicates with the individuals, groups, and other organizations with which it has relationships. Business ethics is a question of communication ethics, and the chapter argues that ethical communication is closely related to the idea of dialogue. Public relations, to the extent it plays the central role in corporate communication, also plays the major role in managing the moral dimension of corporate conduct.
