Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which servant leadership and ethics of care are being practiced by public relations leaders. This study provides in-depth insights on how public relations leaders define and practice servant leadership. The study involved in-depth interviews with 21 public relations leaders working in a variety of organizational settings in the United States. We found evidence of an “other oriented approach” to leadership that involved prioritizing the needs and concerns of employees and a genuine concern for the wellbeing of others. The findings are consistent with characteristics associated with both servant leadership and ethics of care. The public relations leaders were able to provide specific examples of how these perspectives affected their decision-making. The leaders also discussed specific examples of how they demonstrate that they care about their employees.
Topic: ethics of care
Tracing the Caring Relationships Found Within Three Virus Outbreaks: A Public Health Communications Perspective
Abstract: The world is subject to many an affliction and pandemic, as seen most recently with COVID-19. This study, in an attempt to better understand the trends and workings of the past, conducted deep-dive narrative and trend analyses of three prominent virus afflictions: the 1918 Flu, Polio, and HIV/AIDs. Through the lens of public health communicators and public relations practitioners, the communications about each virus are explored and later analyzed through a lens of Nel Noddings’ ethic of care–examining the supposed cultivation of caring relationships developed between those communicating (or not communicating) and those who desperately need the message (the cared-for).
Taylor Voges (Grady PhD Student), LaShonda Eaddy (Grady PhD Alum), Shelley Spector, and Yan Jin.