How Social Responsibility of Corporations Relates to Business Ethics - Assignment Example

How Social Responsibility of Corporations Relates to Business Ethics Corporate Social Responsibility is internal to an organization; it dictates the manner in which it has to plan about the courses of action it has to carry out with respect to the society. This term basically deals with the organization’s set of operations that it carries out for the welfare of the society while existing within itself. It helps the humanity in more than one ways, to train and educate them and to ponder upon issues, which can really change the fate of coming civilizations. It all comes under this heading of Corporate Social Responsibility. The Government must play its role in harnessing the skills attached with the corporate sector in finding out the better means in which it can benefit the society. For that certain loans and grants can also be fixed for a certain company depending on its market level in the business world. Extensive research has found that corporate responsibility is becoming an essential part of any company’s day-to-day undertakings. Thus, the responsibility played by the Government as well as the citizens in this regard should be quite eloquent and expressive. Their voice is given due value by the company and it does just about everything to get more and more customers and consumers which in turn excites it to search for better means to get the very same people. This, in turn, attracts the company to sponsor big events and sports galas, competitions as well as come towards social welfare works, which really benefits the society in more than one ways. Mr. Higgins, who completed a research on the local community, was not that enthusiastic about the role played by these companies in the social sector. People, according to him, were of the view that these companies filled in social responsibilities to a certain limit and not beyond that extent where other large organizations jumped in and took the lead. For the small business owner, CSR means a different thing altogether. He sees it in a different attitude encompassing his own business and its responsibilities fulfilled for the betterment of the society or let alone none at all. Corporate Social Responsibility helps as a survival agent for any business in the new atmosphere of economy. By that it means whenever the economical climate changes, it favors the CSR that has been initiated by a business with respect to its role in fulfillment of the social responsibilities. This can be regarded as an advantage of CSR whereby the business gets a slight edge as opposed to the other ones in the corporate world who haven’t actually started with the idea of investing with consideration to the society in the forms of different sponsors, helping of non-Governmental organizations and the like. The major disadvantage that CSR possesses within its fold is that it doesn’t have any profits in the short-term duration but hope can certainly be placed on the longer ones. This can be regarded as a short-term con, which can banish with the changing times of the business situation. The basic purpose of having any business is to earn a profit (or revenue); however this is not stated as the mission or vision statement of the organization ever. The organization strives to bring value to its customers, stakeholders and create an encouraging environment for the employees and workers. The aspect of learning is tied in closely with the organization since it has to seek future business activities, tasks and processes in line with the already completed research and surveys. Learning has to be the basic outcome of its activities and on those very learning principles, does the business survive. Now the imperative point to understand here is the fact that learning can not only be at the highest level, rather the knowledge management can even take place at the middle cadre and the special trainings help at doing their best as far as the lower level management is concerned. An organization which can learn can understand what are its responsibilities with regards to the society, the environment, its stakeholders and customers, its functions and different processes which have to be looked down up at with a legal and ethical perspective. This means that the organization emancipates its working methodologies in line with its already set values and moral principles. Moreover, it knows what are its obligations and compulsions towards all the above-mentioned. The organization is always willing and eager to learn from its mistakes, ready to bring in newer and fresh processes within its folds and always encouraging its stakeholders and employees to invest more money and time, respectively. Managing an organization is also an important function which comes under the learning principles. It has case studies and best case scenarios to look up to whenever there is a problem or trouble at hand and it knows who the right person is to contact whenever there is some discrepancy within the system. Add to that the organization tries to keep its contacts, no matter in which capacity they are, at a maximal point and always keeps on increasing so as to become a socially active player within the relevant industry. The management aspect also stems from the fact that its knowledge base is intact and knows what is required of it. This knowledge base has the role of continuously improving the systems and working methodologies. It also has the best available middle management employees who know the technical basis of running the organization and whose potential can largely benefit the sound workings of the company. Thus it is very important to understand that an organization which is willing to place the knowledge base at level with the top management when it comes to calling the shots (taking the decisions), is willing to experiment in a very proactive manner; one that can reap rich dividends in the near future. Learning within an organization can also be an intrinsic entity when there are special trainings and in house courses and seminars for the employees and stakeholders. By this process, these people come to know of the industry norms and what new activities are taking place in the world of relevant business paradigms. Also it helps to improve the understanding and knowledge levels of these people who are tied in closely with the very organization in the first place. An organization which is willing to learn is such that can create value for its customers and provide more investment opportunities as far as its stakeholders are concerned. What this does is that it creates a competitive environment and spirit within the organization and each entity that functions within it, is ready and willing to give in their very best so that the eventual goals of the organization could be met in a positive and safe manner. The steps that the organization takes all this while are proactive which indeed works as a positive sign and the same should be the case at all possible times as well. We can easily summarize that an organization which is open to learning is a winner and can have all sorts of benefits and revenues up its sleeves, no matter when we speak of the short term activities or the long run processes. Corporate Social Responsibility can be applied to a business in a very innovative way. The company can invest in the social arena with much return in mind, not in the short-term but of course in the long run. Such is the example of Shell, which has introduced education programs for children all over the globe thus acting as a consumer-friendly company. People in return like to buy products of Shell because it gives them the pleasure that some proportion of the money earned by Shell would be spent on its different social and literary programs. Culturally, CSR can prove to be a very vital agent that can really highlight the problem areas of different people within a particular society and then go about correcting and reforming them in the best manner possible with the aid of funds and grants. This is the basic way in which CSR has been acting to do something for the sake of community welfare. The companies from the economic aspects can earn a due share with arranging all sorts of cultural activities in the name of charity that will benefit their cause and help the poor and needy. Tesco, which is a supermarket franchise, has been involved in Corporate Social Commitment ever since 1988. It formed a new team that had the mission of raising about 2 million pounds for Macmillan nurses, which was termed as the charity of that particular year. Thus, Tesco did its part in the field of community for the people and the Macmillan nurses in specific. Same is the case with Diageo, which is an international consumer goods company that highlights on the responsibilities of the corporate citizenship in its code of conduct. This policy encourages the community welfare work to its fullest from the company’s side. It has set up different programs in this very respect, one such of them is the Skills for Life program that gives the people a chance to come and discover their secret talent, attain new skills and know about themselves. Their Bartender project helps provide training and job experience for unemployed young men in Brazil. This is all community welfare work on the part of Diageo. Corporal behavior is one, which has taken its base from the dealings of the business world. As such it has no direct or indirect contact with the social norms of human life but when we talk about Corporate Social Responsibility, this mixture of both these behaviors comes in the frame. When the corporal mannerisms interact with the society and its different manners and ways whereby it helps the society in various means, call it culturally or from the community point of view then this merger comes into reckoning. The society gains quite a bit from the corporal interaction and thus gives back much in return as well. It is sort of a symbiotic relationship between the two where each benefits the other one. The business company, by helping the society in terms of different reforms and programs, gains a lot for the company’s overall standing between its competitors and all. The society, on the other hand, gets to make quite a lot as the business entity restructures the different people who are either illiterate or need help or are in distress. There are obviously many controversies whenever anything is done which involves the business doing something out of its actual set approach. The example here can be given of the company Enron for which the critics had said that considering the personal relationship between the CEO Kenneth Lay and the US President George Bush, the company would be rather listening and applying to Vice President Cheney’s energy policy process than any other single interest taking birth from within the company itself. Such kind of controversies can erupt anytime within any company that has set its mission to go about the process of carrying the Corporate Social Responsibility. Much has to be tackled whilst hundreds of obstacles come. CSR movement needs caution while promoting their achievements because there are many critics around who can question the legitimacy of a particular accomplishment and can sabotage it altogether. CSR can really get the best out of business companies and industries. When they find out that their market is in direct proportion to what they do in the social sector, they invest more and more which ultimately profits the society and the needy in particular. The citizens, no, matter what they feel about the corporal responsibilities they own to the society, must agree in principle that these business companies can really get the best out of themselves and help the society in more than one ways. Their commitment is loyal because this is the golden tenet of business, never to lie with the customer so how can they tell untruths and fool around people with false welfare works and the like. Corporate Social Responsibility can regulate the workings of the company and serve as a welfare organization for the masses of a particular society, thus boosting the market as the competition will increase between the different corporals, which will, in the long-term, only benefit the society. It would also fulfill the role due on the business companies’ part. Thus the role played by CSR with regards to the corporate world of present times is immense and cannot be denied its due place in the scheme of things. Enron was a company that rose from nowhere to being one of the America’s top ten companies in terms of its size and employees. It employed around 21,000 workers in nearly about 40 nations of the world. This company’s name is synonymous with the bi-word for corporate irresponsibility. Enron was all at ease with the CSR reporting, environmental and community programs in the society but within years this company came down to its feet. This is the same company that boasted Fortune Magazine’s Most Innovative Company in America for six successive years. The company had been estimating itself as a highly profitable one, one that had gained much of the market share. But all this was untrue. This image rapidly changed and saw the company hiding debts of a large sum. They were being concealed so that they did not show up on the firm’s account books. The company was also entailed in political lobbying whereby it had a large number of legislators close to the firm in one way or the other. This point should have saved the company from its changing image in the global market but it didn’t happen that way. People started inquiring about the degree and appropriateness of such closeness between the business and the politicians. They also asked how the company had resisted the political influence for so long. Also, the firm’s accountants were found involved in the slicing of Enron’s accounts’ documents. These documents listed a fair scale of involvement. Enron could have prevented these problems much before it actually encountered them. The company should have avoided political lobbying at all costs and should also have invested in the social sector as its primary duty to the society. The top heads of the company were more towards the political framework of the country, which really hampered the progress of Enron as a business unit. People started to question all sorts of claims made by the company that it was the most profitable one. Much was needed to be answered when the accounts’ documents were found implicated by the accountants of the company. The company, speaking from an ethical point of view, should have concentrated more on the welfare of its workers and the society but its entailment with the politics really ruined its status worldwide and nearly pulled its name out of the top American companies. It ought to have followed the code of ethics that are set to be adhered by every business company. The Government regulation body should have imposed certain restrictions on the company’s involvement with the political set up. It could also have made it obligatory for the company to follow the norms like the other business giants do, failing whereby they could be imposed upon certain sanctions legally as well as otherwise. Employee empowerment is defined as increasing the capacities of the employees who are undertaking certain tasks and activities so that they can contribute in a much more beneficial manner back to the company. Employee empowerment looks to increasing the political, economic as well as the social capacities or strengths of these employees which would in turn help in fostering their relationships with the respective communities and/or stakeholders. Empowerment is thus one entity which looks to ensure that the confidence is developed all the while and the individual capacities are built as a result of the same. Empowerment in the context of management and organizations takes a very significant role. It asks by giving subordinates or other workers the much needed freedom to display what is within them and thus portray their strengths in the wake of the pressures which are forced upon them. These could be any like time constraints, peer group resistance and so on and so forth. Workers and employees are given greater resources so that they can carry out their works in line with the available resources and thus carry out a much better task than they would have, had the same not been present. The interests of these workers is also taken into consideration so that they do their bit without getting bothered and thus the whole process of work within the said organizations carries on without any such hindrance at the disposal. An example of the workplace empowerment is that of which is prevalent within United States and that stands out for one and all to take notice, from the management and organizational standpoint. In historical times, clash of management styles within the US was very much present as concerns to the railroad construction business. In that time, the conventional hierarchical East Coast models were in use which in essence controlled the individualistic workers, considered as the pioneers within the related business. These workers were in strong provision of the methods which were related with the efficiency related proposition that spoke about the notion of “worker responsibility”. The same was brought to the US by the Chinese laborers and hence was easily embedded within the existing system of the time. Thus there was a marked difference in the level of empowerment which started to become apparent in the wake of the building up of teams and/or brigades and thus the whole ideology was deemed as an instant success. Thus, it would not be wrong here to suggest that empowerment has to make the rounds of just about all kinds of businesses so that the transfer of power is made guaranteed to the people who actually carry out the very job or task at hand. It is only then that they would be held much more accountable than they are at the present moment of time. The implication related with employee empowerment and the ultimate notion of goal setting which is attached with it suits more companies than we can think of in the present scheme of things and therefore it needs to be adopted by all work environments, thinking from a broader perspective. The training of employees in a corporate set up and more so the managers over a period of time become so important since they stagnate in their current positions and they need to look out of their spaces to explore more and more. The communication aspect for these managers comes in handy that have to be considered all said and done. All sets of employees work for the organization and hence care must be taken to ensure these employees are on the same level and there is not any discrimination whatsoever. Organizational values are something really intrinsic to an organization and hence it is important to ascertain the actual basis under which managers exhibit their roles and responsibilities. This means that the values need to be the first and foremost factor for them when these managers think of carrying out different activities and being a part of the various processes occurring within the organizational regimes. The first salient point for these managers is to understand that their voice gets heard and they are audible enough to be listened in the same vein as they speak. Hence there is a need for a common wavelength between the managers and the different employees associated with them. For building an organizational climate, it is pertinent to understand that the managers manifest their actions in a manner which is easily followed by the employees and there are no expectations attached with doing the right thing on the part of the employees, rather the emphasis must be brought down by the managers themselves. In essence, employees will feel at ease and be valued for their work when they feel they are being treated parallel and their work is being appreciated at all possible levels. What this does in the end is to ensure that the effectiveness and efficiency levels of their work are increased and the end result is something that can make the whole organization proud nonetheless. The new recruits must ensure that their work is extraordinary and it speaks for their own selves. They must be morally and ethically sound since this form the basis for their mental make up. Their actions and behaviors within the domains of the organization would be kept under check and they must not do something that will eventually tarnish their image once and for all. The manager will make sure that these recruits feel at ease and they do not have any such problem at the hands of the manager himself. The manager will also guarantee that the new hired individuals see the positive side of the organization so that their confidence would be built over a period of time. However on the part of these recruits, it is expected that they will demonstrate the best of their skills and abilities and make their work count for its own self. Furthermore, their behavior would be such that would make the organization proud time and time again. In the end, it is significant to state that this is a two way process and the managers and the new recruits have to take it along hand in hand with each other to make sure that the success is achieved. Speaking from a moral perspective, it is duty bound for any business that exists to satisfy a customer through its products and/or services to be responsive towards their needs and defer the financial sides concerned with the company. It is important though not to ignore the monetary aspect but to remain in the business in the first place for the ones the business is being done, it is essential to situate the resources onto them and then move on forward expanding the market share and the like. There are a lot of companies that have continued to divest the consumers of their basic rights in the name of achieving certain financial ratios. However doing so does mean putting the business’s long term strategy at risk as the customers and the remaining stakeholders would not appreciate the fact that the enterprise does not value their concerns rather goes after the financial side. The need and thus the opportunity in the business world of present times is to get ourselves noticed and make the companies realize of their responsibilities that they owe to the customers. It is imperative on the part of the respective company’s leadership to understand that customers alone could shape up the future and visionary characteristics of the company and thus they have to be focused very precisely. Ignoring them even for a moment could be hazardous to the prospects of a business concern. The market dynamics suggest that the competitive advantage can only be achieved when the customer is given what he or she wants but then again is there any limit to his or her wants? The answer would be in the negative. The customer expects value for money and thus the best possible product at the most effective rate, thus it would be correct to understand his point of view and then go about changing the product offerings, prices and the value thus provided. Marketing concept has taken its basis from the selling concept which is simply producing a product and then selling it for a nominal return. However marketing looks at defying the odds and aims at conquering the mind, heart and soul of the customers. The terms like share of heart and share of mind come into the equation and not to forget the share of trial which looks at the customer trying a product for the first time in order to seek purchase back and forth. Share of heart means that when a customer is asked about naming a certain brand out of the selected list of brands in the related category, the first one or two brand names that he comes up with are pretty close to his heart. Similar meaning lies with respect to the mind when we speak of the share of mind. Share of trial is the moment when he actually uses that product and thus it comes under his play and eventual judgment whether or not the product lived up to his or her expectations. Marketing aims to show the customers what they need and then telling them what is best for them. It is not only there to solve their problem. Rather its usage is much more varied. It pinpoints the exact places where the product might be justifiably used, executed or tried for. Marketing is thus a battle which is going on in the minds of the consumer and the seller rather than something else. It needs to be understood in the proper scheme of things. A firm needs to change its position with the changing times otherwise it will literally vanish away from its competitors and more so the customers, for which it actually exists. It must bring about certain efforts which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. Similarly, it needs to make sure that its staff members and employees are amongst the best in the industry and that they can relate with the norms and routines of the top corporations working hand in hand with each other but competing on the business level. The present era related with the business world needs to have a lot of improvement within its ranks if it adopts the policy of working towards the establishment of a performance management system. This would guarantee them a lot of success as their employees and workers would dedicate their whole hearted efforts towards the well being of the company as well as towards their own individual capacities. Once these performance management systems are installed and in place, we can have a proper check and balance mechanism as concerns to the people who are working in the company. Performance management systems make use of the fact that performance is increased on the part of all concerned and there is no shortfall as concerns to commitment, dedication and devotion when at work. Performance management decides the basis for the future business activities and the processes that have to be given the proper budgets as well as the resources on the part of the organization. The business process reengineering (BPR) aspects are in line with how these divisions are made in the quarter of the performance management functions and boundaries. For the human resources tenet, the role of performance management is all the more vital since it has to devise ways and means through which different activities are sequenced in terms of importance, vitality, etc. Thus it is important to state here that the role of performance management does not end here, though its basis might just lessen a little bit in the financial and different departments that we consider our attention upon. However within the realms of the human resources division, the importance is made more and more essential since employees need to be appraised time and again about their performances and functioning. What this performance management system does is to ensure that the right people get the bonuses, incentives and so on as well as point out the ones who have fallen short on the company’s expectations over a period of time. This would help in giving them rewards and incentives which will eventually make one and all happy at the end. Also this will continue their desire to achieve more and more within a specified period of time and thus come into the good books of the company. In return, they can be given all these rewards so that they could be encouraged in line with their work attitudes. Moreover, the people who lag behind with regards to their work schedules and dedication levels will stand up and take notice and thus would want to be counted as the effective and efficient ones within the company as well. The role of organizations in the maintenance of these systems is also very paramount. The difference from the annual appraisals and so on lies in the fact that the traditional manner of doing things relies more on the basis of paper work where a lot of time, effort and money is rather wasted to state the least. The role played by the organizations in advancing their performance management systems is immense since a lot of the population depends on them for their needs and wants. This is met in a fair manner courtesy the E-government initiative adopted by several different companies and organizations. All such innovations which help and facilitate the related process must indeed be given thumbs up since these try to solve the miseries of the people and it is because of these people that the performance management systems are put into place originally. This further pinpoints the fact that the deployment of an efficient performance management system policy within the organization would indeed help it to essentially tackle its internal issues in a better and more effective manner possible. There is a lot of growth potential for the sales force to be automated in the business to business environments since performance management systems are in place, more so because the business to business scenarios boost a trend of interaction in between the channel members no matter which marketplace they hail from. This could either be the vertical marketplace or the horizontal one as discussed before above. A lot of attention thus needs to be focused on the marketplace and the channel line to be in proper communication and touch with the next chain of command. This will trigger as well as boost sales related activities and speed up the whole chain as a result. Adding to that, the adequate steps taken in this process can eventually result in more and more positive relationship amongst the sales force of the business enterprises or companies that are in constant touch with other or even the industry which benefits from the multiplication rule as found evident in the Sales force automation (SFA). Thus the incorporation of the performance management systems goes in line with the aims and objectives under which Sales Force Automation came into being in the first place. BIBLIOGRAPHY Sims, Ronald R. (2003). Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall. Praeger Besser, Terry L. (2002). The Conscience of Capitalism: Business Social Responsibility to Communities. 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Performance Planning and Review: Making Employee Appraisals Work. Allen & Unwin Simmons, Annette. (2003). When Performance Reviews Fail: Performance Management Often Conflicts with Relationship Management. Negative Feedback Doesnt Motivate; Ignoring the Subjective Element in Reviews Undermines Employee Attitudes. Heres a Proposal for an Alternative Review System That Takes into Account the Important Emotional Aspects. T&D, Vol. 57 Word Count: 5,141 Read More