Originally titled "A Vexing Conundrum:
Bribery and Public Relations,"this article first appeared in The
Challenge of Change: Managing Communications and Building Corporate Image in the 1990s.
Proceedings of the Second Conference on Corporate Communications, May 24-25, 1989.
Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, V1-V20.
Abstract
This paper examines bribery as a
moral, legal, cultural, and socio-economic phenomenon. For public relations practitioners,
who, by the very nature of their work, often confront bribery, this paper clarifies the
dynamic of the bribing situation, focusing in particular upon the definition of bribery,
the obligation between a bribe-giver and a bribe-taker, and the difference between a bribe
and a gift. The last half of the paper examines the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to
demonstrate the difficulties involved in legislation designed to curb bribery. The paper
concludes that bribery, especially international bribery, should be recognized as merely
symptomatic of deeper underlying political and socio-economic causes. Laws and corporate
codes of behavior, while often effective in combating the symptoms of bribery, are largely
ineffective in eliminating its fundamental causes.
Introduction
Given the elusive nature of bribery,
it is entirely fitting that a conundrum (a riddle with a pun for an answer) introduce this
paper. The chief purpose of a conundrum is to tease the wits. A really good conundrum is
puzzling and tricky. But if you think enough about the riddle, and probe it, and look at
it from many different sides, you can learn a great deal. The ancients, in fact, used
conundrums to tease themselves into wisdom. Hoping for some portion of that, let us pursue
this vexing conundrum:
In the marriage of heaven and hell,
what has the potential to make the gift-giver a taker and the gift-taker a giver?
Answer: The "bribe-to-be."
(Forgive the pun. It's essential in
a conundrum.) To amplify: the gift-giver is a taker when he "gives'' bribes, for then
he "takes'' another's integrity. The gift-taker is a giver when he "takes''
bribes, for then he must "give'' future obligation.
Let us pursue the riddle further.
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William J. Buchholz