ABSTRACT
The six case studies in this chapter provide hypothetical and actual examples of ways practitioners, clients, associations, and corporations have struggled to ethically balance conflicting loyalties and values in their work settings—often in the glare of ongoing media coverage or social media exchanges. The managers and practitioners in these cases—from Coca-Cola Inc. to Toyota to an international communication firm—contend with multiple loyalties to key stakeholder groups such as employees and their families, customers, clients, vendors, sponsors, and their own governments as they make decisions and take action. Cases pose questions such as: in complex professional environments, how does a practitioner emphasize the values that lead to mutual benefit with key publics, rather than personal or one-sided partisan values within the daily workplace? To whom are primary duties owed? During periods of crisis, whose values should take precedence as practitioners adapt to changing scenarios? Various ethical principles are applied in the case analyses.
