One example of a civil servant job in the government ministry is a public relations officer. They mainly operate the human resources of the ministry, providing them with necessary legal documents such as residence permits or IDs. Saleh Alkhayyal Alteneiji (2021) adds that “public relations entail communication of institutions with their external and internal publics” (p. 33). The social media-related ethical responsibilities of a public relations officer would include, first of all, confidentiality: civil servants should never disclose any personal information they obtain from their employees. Moreover, the public relations officer should maintain a neutral and ethically correct approach in social media, without engaging in political fights, trolling, or bullying.
A public relations officer that I have personally known used social media as a means to represent the organization she was working for. She offered her page as a first point of contact with the ministry she was employed, and thus, her profile reflected her professional persona. The officer provided consultations for the people who required it and gave them contacts of the relevant departments if needed.
The work of public relations officer is closely related to the 12 professional ethical values. According to the UAE Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (2010), a public relations manager should remain neutral during internal conflicts to be able to resolve them fairly. They must approach any issue with objectivity and alertness and be ready to research it as thoroughly as possible. Rahrouh and Alserhan (2020) add that “PR nowadays builds relationships, bridges boundaries, engineers changes in negative thinking, directs favorable behavior internally and externally, and supports stability, continuity, and profit generation” (p. 1471). Moreover, the public relations officer usually possesses strong leadership skills to be able to regulate and mediate the human resources of the organization.
During her work at the ministry, the public resource officer I mentioned earlier encountered a severe conflict between employees that she had to resolve. At the first glance, the fault was with one of the employees who seemingly violated the ethical code of the company and harassed another employee. However, after the officer committed a thorough investigation, she found out that the second employee have been misleading her about the first employee’s fault.
References
Federal Authority for Government Human Resources. (2010). Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Federal Authority for Government Human Resources.
Rahrouh, M., & Alserhan, F. (2020). Communicative Public Relations activities in Emirati national banks. Talent Development and Excellence, 12(3s), 1471–1488.
Saleh Alkhayyal Alteneiji, E. (2021). Public relations in health institutions. The Arab Journal for Media and Communication Research, 2021(32), 32–48. Web.