1. Chapter 3 Public Relations and Transparency Rise of Transparency Defining Transparency Transparency as a Process Motivation and PR in Transparency

2. It’s Everywhere Transparency seems to be everywhere. It is more than a buzzword. Seems to be a factor in many aspects of society.

3. Related Concepts Public sphere – Space where people communicate about issues and exercise influence – Develops when people talk about an issue in public Marketplace of ideas – People can hear multiple voices (ideas) – People then select the best voice (idea) – People are convinced an idea is the best

4. Related Concepts Transparency adds “products” to the marketplace of ideas. Transparency facilitates the development of a public sphere. Generally transparency is about information availability for constituents.

5. Satisficing People have bounded rationality. Do not consider all options when making a decision, just a limited number. Seek a viable answer. Important to make voice/idea stand out and public relations can help with that.

6. Transparency Questions What is it really? What should it look like in action? Why is the term used so much?

7. Rise of Transparency Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 – Sought to improve reliability of corporate reporting of financial information – Would increase financial transparency Transparency International – Exposes corruption in governments – Bribe Payers Index for governments Need to verify CSR information

8. Summary of Rise Many societal forces pushing for accountability. Answer is transparency or more information for constituents. Transparency can reveal truth or lies.

9. Meaning for Public Relations Focus on full disclosure of sources – Creators of video news releases – Sponsorships of front groups – Authors of online messages – Proper identification of employer

10. Definitions Transparent Quality of being transparent. Transparent means sheerness, the property to transmit light so that objects lying beyond are clearly seen, free of pretense or deceit. We can consider sheerness as the ease in which constituents can collect information about the organization.

11. Quality of an Organization Full, accurate, and timely disclosure. – Too vague Openness. – Difficult to judge – How can we really know? – Pressures for withholding information Defensive competitive intelligence Cloaking Greenwashing and bluewashing

12. Quality of an Organization Transparency as a quality is problematic because control and power still rests largely with corporations. Too limited. Emphasis on financial transparency.

13. As Respect Transparency occurs “when a corporation respects the integrity of all its stakeholders and does not seek to manipulate them by controlling access to information” (Gower, 2006, p. 92). Both naïve and impractical, ignores power. Corporations decide their level of transparency on social and environmental concerns.

14. Roots in Communication Transparency is at its roots communicative— what information does the corporation provide constituencies. A group has power when it can control the communication process (Mumby, 1988).

15. Power Management free to decide on what social and environmental information to disclose. Full disclosure both overwhelming and impractical. Information is not value neutral, it is released strategically to influence constituents. Management must be motivated to disclose social and environmental information.

16. Transparency as Process Can be deterrent to illegal and unethical behavior. – Less likely to engage in bad behavior if you will be caught and punished. – Do not do anything they would not mind seeing on the Internet that day. Transparency as control mechanism.

17. Gold Mining Example Company has choice in how to mine gold: environmentally friendly or destructive. Destructive practices are cheaper but can trigger constituent churn/opposition. More likely to use environmentally friendly practices if management believes constituents will learn about their practices and create churn.

18. Transparency as Process Transparency is more than something an organization has. Transparency is a tool constituents use to inspect the organization and to “regulate” the organization. Transparency is not just the sheerness of corporations but the efforts of constituents to examine what rests beyond.

19. Transparency as Process Resources and power matter. Constituents decide what information is necessary and sufficient not management. Constituents need to force organizations to disclose the necessary information.

20. Constituent Intelligence When constituents “look inside” the organization for information. Cloaking occurs when organizations “hide information in plain sight.”

21. Constituent Intelligence Constituents must be able to find and analyze the desired information. Constituents must be motivated to engage in intelligence gathering. Constituents need power to induce corporations to disclose information they prefer to withhold. Public relations can help to create leverage for disclosure.

22. Constituent Intelligence and Transparency as Process 1.Desired information must be found. 2.Desired information must be analyzed. 3.Results communicated to others.

23. Hegelian dialectic Thesis or idea Conflicting idea or antithesis Synthesis reconciles the conflict Represents a process of inquiry. Can apply to transparency as a process.

24. Transparency as Process and Dialectic Corporation’s initial information is the thesis. Pressure from the constituents for additional information is the antithesis. Resulting information disclosure (transparency) is the synthesis. At times, constituents must leverage their power to pressure corporations to release information.

25. Guides for Reporting Social Issues Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). – Has categories – No specific standard for reporting UN Global Compact has reporting guidance. Socrates, the corporate social ratings monitor, examines social reporting.

26. Transparency as Process Active view of transparency, not passive. Constituents do not wait to see what a corporation might show. Active constituents (not all of them) seek information and demand relevant information that is not released. Emphasizes multiple channels for transparency information.

27. Active Nature Transparency is an active process that ideally is driven by constituents. Constituents drive transparency by identifying the types of information they need and want from corporations. Transparency as process is consistent with our view of public relations as mutually influential relationships.

28. The Search for Information Constituents will seek missing information. Organizations should provide it or risk consequences. – Churn – Information gathered from other sources – Severing ties with the organization Benefits from disclosure.

29. Information Disclosure Information disclosure is the lynchpin of transparency. Must disclose relevant information, as defined by constituents. Relevant information is necessary but not sufficient for transparency to establish accountability, motivation matters.

30. Motivation Constituents must be motivated and/or care enough to act on the information. Actions can be praise or quiescence when the information is favorable or punishment when the information is unfavorable. No amount of transparency (openness of information) will matter if a critical mass of constituents is not motivated to respond to the information.

31. Role of Public Relations: Listening Corporations can benefit from listening to ideas from constituents, even marginalized ones. Public relations is a natural mechanism for listening since they are connected to constituents. Part of public relations is advocating for constituent interests.

32. Danger of Spin Spin involves simply presenting only the positive information. Transparency runs counter to spin. Public relations must hold true to its values and not become spin.

33. Reflection Points Why is it limiting to treat transparency as a quality of an organization? What demands does transparency as a process place on constituents? What demands does transparency as a process place on public relations?