United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"

The history of public relations is littered with confirmations and allegations of unethical behavior demonstrated by coaches and athletes. The latest firing of Indiana University's notorious Bobby Knight and the suspension of baseball's John Rocker are two recent cases that involved poor decision making on the part of Knight and Rocker. Professionals? One often wonders from what moral foundation do participants in the world of sport chose to make their decisions and subsequently act (1). Their ethical conduct was in question and steps were taken to remedy the situation.

Ethics means more than being honest and obeying the law; it means being morally good (2). Every athlete, every coach has to face the ethical dilemma of "What is ethics and what criteria should I follow ?" Knowing what is right and what is wrong defines the boundaries of ethics. Those involved in sport organizations need to be their own public relations expert and make decisions on what is best for them and their organization. But how many of those involved in sport know how to deal with a controversial issue, the public, etc? Coaches and athletes need to be educated in public relations and situations such as Bobby Knight and John Rocker could possibly be avoided. Managers must help their employees decide what is right and what is wrong. But how and where do we begin?

The bottom line with regard to ethics rests within the "Golden Rule": Treat others in the way you would like to be treated. This concept is not new. The principles that shape ethical conduct have remained constant while people have chosen to manipulate those principles in ways which foster self-promotion and self-aggrandizement (3). Coaches and athletes should 1 be the most ethical persons in an organization. The public and all of its people are constantly observing and scrutinizing sport organizations. Sport organizations are in the public eye and the public should demand nothing less than professionalism from its athletes and coaches.

Everyone knows that athletes and coaches are role models. Any prospective coach or athlete should be aware of and strive to produce positive images and public relations for the sake of the sport organization and the community. How a coach proceeds in developing a relationship with the media and the public is vital. High profile athletes and coaches should realize that public relations is a major part of their job. Literature points to the fact that coaches need to communicate their role in society with various groups. Standards and tenets should be used as a guideline to help develop ethical behavior.

"What is ethics" and how a coach should go about developing a sound ethical sports program poses a dilemma to any rookie coach or manager. Whose ethics to follow is often in question. How does one choose? Mark McElreath has identified five factors that one should consider in developing ethical behavior. Sound ethics can enhance one's athletic program and give a solid foundation on which to stand and build.

Ethics is defined by Mark McElreath as "a set of criteria by which decisions are made about what is right and what is wrong." The most ethical person in a sport organization should be the coach. How a coach should develop ethical behavior begins by looking at five factors:

1. Tradition Ways in which the situation has been viewed or handled in the past.
2. Public Currently acceptable behavior according to the majority of one and Opinion their peers.
3. Law Behaviors that are permissible and those that are prohibited by legislation.
4. Morality Generally, a spiritual or religious prohibition. Immorality is a charge usually leveled in issues on which religious teachings have concentrated.
5. Ethics Standards set by the profession, an organization, or oneself, based on conscience-what is right or fair to others as well as to self (6).

The world of sports is bound by rules and is very fragile in the face of the moral quest for betterment. Those people in a position of sport leadership must possess a strong sense of priorities, purpose and ethics for themselves and their programs. The sport participants and the sport should begin with looking at the coach and the five moral obligations a coach should possess:

1. To ourselves-to preserve our own integrity.
2. To our athletes-to honor their contracts and to use our professional expertise on our athletes behalf.
3. To our sport organization-to adhere to organizational goals and policies.
4. To our profession and our professional colleagues-to uphold the standards of the profession and, by extension, the reputation of our fellow practitioners.
5. To society-to consider social needs and claims (7).

Moral obligations could be considered controversial, yet they are the basis for beginning to establish a noble and virtuous career as a coach. The explicit goal of all competitive sports is to win within the rules. When athletic participants engage in competition for its inherent pleasure, generally very few problems based upon ethical conduct emerges (8).

Any derivation from the inherent pleasures of simple participation intensifies the pressure to win therein influencing the ethical constraints in decision-making, risking the loss of important "teachable moments" which make sport the educational tool it can be. Lumpkin (1990) states: When winning becomes the primary objective, other potential outcomes are lost.

Coaches are usually the ones initially caught up in this win-at-all cost attitude. To fulfill their own ego needs, coaches too often pressure their young players to play while injured, to violate the rules to their advantage, and to quit if they are not good enough (9).

When the outcome becomes so highly significant that some or all of the participants employ whatever means possible to achieve success, then the questionable behavior is covertly or overtly employed, to the detriment of values and sound character, and the ideals of sport.

Today's interscholastic sport managers and coaches are faced with more and more difficulty in making ethical decisions and appear to be distancing themselves away from a solid foundation for making ethical decisions.

A solid foundation begins with building the five factors for ethical behavior and moral obligations. The adoptions of these five factors could be the beginning of something positive for sports. If moral and ethical values are to result from athletic programs then coaches must emphasize them.

One might question if ethics in sport should have principles and values. The principles speak largely to character development, not the accumulation of victories. Four tenets have been identified and linked to modern sports. These tenets intertwine sport's ideals and ethics. Each tenet sustains the inherent and traditional values of sports, reinforcing the "goodness" of the experience.

1. Athletes must always be considered ends and not means (10).
2. The competition must be fair (11).
3. Participation, leadership, resources, and rewards must be based on achievement rather than ascribed characteristics (12).
4. The activity must provide for the relative safety of the participants (13).

These four tenets draw from the fields of religion, philosophy and psychology, valuesthat serve as a foundation of a way of life. Coaches are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with certain values or moral standards. Sport ethics should concentrate on how moral standards apply to sport policies, institutions and behaviors. It is presumed that standards of ethics are not innate but are acquired or learned through models and various life experiences. If they are learnable, then they are teachable.

Ethical behavior in sport oftentimes requires incredible moral courage, meaning the resolve to cohere to one's values in unsavory times, to resist pressures from short-term actions not in the team's or institution's long-term best interests. The weight to conform to "politically correct" statements and positions outweighs the necessity to express unpopular opinions or ideas.

Numerous professional organizations provide both general principles and rules to cover most situations that need an immediate decision. A Code of ethics are a common set of values upon which coaches build their professional work. It is the individual responsibility of each coach to aspire to the highest possible standards of conduct. Coaches respect and protect human and civil rights, and do not knowingly participate in or condone unfair discriminatory practices.

Increasing the professionalism in coaching can be accomplished by following a code of ethics. The role of the coach is viewed by various groups in the public. The code of ethics not only involves dealings with athletes, but other groups as well. The coaches family, faculty, community agencies, other coaches and the news media extend beyond the gyms and fields. A positive view should be presented as a coach is a public figure. How the coach views and deals with situations is based on his ethics.

Coaching professionals must recognize that while a decision can be made alone, the effects of the decision may be far reaching and can reflect on the integrity of the individual who made the decision and on his/her organization. The professional must ask themselves questions to consider in order to maintain an ethically principle-centered perspective in a decision-making process:

• Do I/we have all the information they need? Do I/we need to speak to someone else, such as the legal staff, to obtain what is needed?
• What are possible options? Are they legal? Do they violate any federal, state,
  district, or league organizational policy or standard?
• Do the options support my/our values and personal ethics? Can I/we justify
  them in the light of my/our values and business ethics? If not, the option probably is not ethical.
• What are the short-term and long-term consequences of each option? Who or what does each option benefit? Who or what does each option harm?

• Am/Are I/we still comfortable with the options? How will they be perceived by
  others? Could they embarrass any party(ies) involved?

After professionals weigh the options against their ethical standards, they are ready to make their decision and share it with those involved. The leader or coach must make sure they conceptualize and articulate the decision so that subordinates view it as consistent with their stated shared values and ethics. The leader cannot completely protect themselves and their programs from the unethical behavior of associates and related other parties, but they can build into their programs a strong ethical foundation that will keep themselves and their organization strong in both good times and bad.

A part of becoming a professional is adherence to the highest organizational and personal ethical standards. Leaders as well as followers in any group must establish the ethical tone for the organization. If leaders at all levels, junior high to college, choose to act beyond reproach, reward correct behavior, and refuse to tolerate wrong doing, there is a much greater chance that the entire organization will behave ethically.

References

1. Reilly, R. (1995). Putting it in writing. Sports Illustrated, 82 (2), 64, p1.
2. Baskin, O, Aronoff, C & Lattimore, D. (1997). Public Relations: The Profession
   and the Practice (4th ed). Madison: Brown and Benchmark.
3. Petersen, D. (1968). The Clinical Study of Social Behavior. Englewood Cliffs,
   N.J.: Prentice Hall, p 32.
4. Staffo, D. (1989). Enhancing Coach-Media Relations. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, v60, n7,p25-27.
5. Giamatti, A. (1989). Take time for paradise. New York: Summit Books.
6. ibid 2
7. Bivins, T. (1992). A Systems model for ethical decision making in public rela-
   tions. Public Relations Review (Winter 1992) p. 375.
8. Beisser, A.R. (1967). The madness in sports. New York: Appleton-Century-
   Crofts.
9. Lumpkin, A. (1990). Physical education and sport: A contemporary introduc-
   tion. St. Louis: Times/Mirror/Mosby College Publishing.
10. Merriman, J. Hill, J. (1992). Ethics, law and sport. Journal of Legal Aspect of
    Sport, 2(2), 56-63.
11. Jones, B., Wells, L., Peters, R., and Johnson, D. (1988). Guide to effective
    coaching principles and practice. Newton, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
12. Coakley, J. (1994). Sport in society: Issues and controversies. St. Louis:
    Mosby Publishers.
13. Conn, J. (1997). Legal concepts and court finding in kinesiological settings.
    Unpublished Manuscript. Warrensburg, MO: Central Missouri State University
14. Donald, L. (1988). The media and the coach, again. Today's Coach, 10(6), 2-3.
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