Social Responsibility and Managerial Ethics - Coursework Example

Social Responsibility and Managerial Ethics Introduction The meaning of social responsibility lies in acting on the value, ideas and perceptions of individuals with the aim of balancing social, environmental and other similar disturbances with trust and assurance. Social responsibility is a kind of commitment shown by organizations in order to advance the community well being through flexible business performances and assistance of corporate resources (Berman & Farge, 1993). However, it also acts as a business process in a way that it meets or complies with the legal, ethical and public expectations that in turn generate sustainable growth prospects while transacting business operations. In this connection, organizations or companies intends considering social responsibility as major initiatives or activities in order to support social causes along with satisfying commitments through corporate social responsibility (Kotler & Lee, 2008). Similarly, managerial ethics are often regarded as the code of moral ideas and values that manage the overall behaviors of an individual. A managerial ethical issue lies in such a situation when the various actions of an organization are observed to have the potential to damage or benefit the stakeholders by creating an impression on their perceived personal values (Draft & Marcic, 2010). Henceforth, in this paper, the importance of social responsibility, various risks that are linked with social responsibility and the important factors in order to overcome those risks will be elaborately discussed followed by a strong conclusion. The main objective of this paper is to make a strong belief that the companies or the organizations should contribute their expensive resources as well as time to supervise their social responsibility. Importance of social responsibility The term ethics is considered as an attempt taken by an entity in order to find acceptable grounds for distinguishing the correct and incorrect perceptions of human actions. Ethics include social dimensions which are mainly concerned with justice, rights and respect of the community among others (Gabr, n.d.). The application of ethics is used often when some unethical decisions are observed. As mentioned earlier, ethics are an individual belief system that consists of judging both right and wrong which varies from person to person. It is a part of contemporary managerial ideology which is considered in order to evaluate various decisions, beliefs and actions among others. In context to business operations, a particular organization expects to exercise greater ethical values and perform various responsibilities towards the society (Griifin, 1993). People in the organizations may hold dissimilar views regarding the ethically suitable or unsuitable actions related to a situation which in turn gives rise to ethical conflicts and thus in turn tends to signify the essentiality of managerial ethics and corporate social responsibility (Draft & Marcic, 2010). Social responsibility can be regarded or treated as one of the ethical actions considered by an organization or a company. However, a particular business cannot continue with good performances to a certain extent if it lacks in efficient financial and/or operational strengths. For instance, if the business is making too much loss in expenditures, it eventually intends to retrench the production cost that in turn affects the service/product quality hampering customers’ perceived values and leaving the employees jobless. This particular evidence might prove disregarding in relation to social responsibility towards the employees within an organization (Griifin, 1993) Thus, in order to promote a well equipped development within an organization, it is necessary to accept the importance or necessity of social responsibility. The importance of social responsibility is duly considered high because of its assertion towards business in order to enhance economic value, maintain coordination between employees’ work life and personal life, local communities as well as to develop the employees’ minimum living standard and value of life. Thus, both social and environmental concerns are important parts of organizational social responsibility (Cramer & Bergmans, 2003). Risks of social responsibility The companies or the organizations should devote their valuable and expensive time and resources in order to supervise their social responsibility because the importance of social responsibility lies in their financial growth along with the economic development of the society, community and the environment among others (Cramer & Bergmans, 2003). It is obvious to the fact that the organizations discharge their objectives and ultimately accomplish their expected aims simply because of the contribution from its employees in relation to their workplace activities (Strandberg, 2009). In addition, the companies or the organizations must devote their valuable and expensive time and resources in order to supervise their social responsibility due to the fact that the social responsibilities can often act as risk management factors towards an organization. The risk management factors can be related with three extensive types of risks witnessed by modern organizations including economic, technological and political factors (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). The economic risks are mainly concerned with retaining incomes, supporting financial growth and defending investments along with shareholders’ significance from market variations among others. The technological risks include supervising the threats towards mechanical systems, energy costs and radical change in production cycles as well. This particular technological risk is rising and acts as a major function in various organizational performances. The political risks are also regarded as one of the major concerns for the organizations particularly for those who are executing their business operations globally. The political risk of an organization includes supervising public conceptions of international organizations, regulatory affairs as well as government relations determining the overall legal environment (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). Apart from the above discussed risks, organizations in the modern era also have to witness a few noteworthy social risks which are also considered to be one of the most crucial risks to affect the overall organizational functioning. From an organizational or managerial viewpoint, social risks can be observed to take place majorly when the stakeholders of an organization takes up a social issue area and therefore applies pressure on a company, so that the management of the company modifies the overall necessary plans or methods that have been executed in the business operations (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). In this connection, the social risks possess significant effect towards a particular company or an organization. For instance, the customers may apply for modifications in the environmental policies of the company so that they can avail better opportunities in their bargaining power. Even the suppliers may request for the coverage of the organization’s certain policies or plans. So, all these attitudes and behavior of different individuals eventually raises social risk within a company or an organization (Regester & Larkin, 2008). Moreover, the social performances of a company or an organization includes unsustainable business atmosphere, violating restricted laws and standards and also infringing the prescribed governmental rules at certain instances particularly while transacting business operations. In lieu of this, a social risk also arises in a particular organization due to various reasons such as pursuing cheaper labor and reducing the costs, employing the workers with inefficient policies in terms of wages and other labor standards along with its value chain practices among others. In this connection, organizations have to devote their expensive time and resources to manage their social responsibility in order to overcome the various social and other categories of risks, as these risks can have significant negative impacts upon the financial structure, market conditions, market supply operations and business reputations of an organization (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). Overcome of risks through managing social responsibility The importance of managing social responsibility for a particular organization lies in order to overcome the various levels of risks that they have to witness while carrying out their business dealings. There are numerous ways of social responsibility features that are available for a company or an organization to overcome from the various risks. The numerous ways include providing relevant information about the various risks and offering effective policies in order to respond with the risks among others (Holzmann & Jorgensen, 2000). One of the ways to perform social responsibility in order to overcome the variety of risk management factors lies in collecting sufficient information regarding a particular risk. For instance, the risks related to the stakeholders can be conquered by conveying valuable information about the organizational values and policies. In lieu of this, the main motive of social responsibility lies in the distribution of relevant information towards the stakeholders through community relationships. Another significant way of performing social responsibility in order to recover from the risks lies in improving the equity and reducing the liabilities perceived by organizations. The liabilities of a particular organization in association with various risks can be reduced through conducting better judgments, supervising and reporting of relevant activities performed in an organization (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). Acquiring the ideas of various social expectations from the involvement of different stakeholders, improved consideration of international standards and proper distribution of resources among others are all enabled through the association of social responsibility programs. These particular features ultimately intend to assist in overcoming the various risks witnessed by organizations while executing their business operations (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). Thus, by focusing upon the above mentioned discussions, it can be stated that the organizations should dynamically devote their expensive time and resources in order to manage their social responsibilities not only for the benefit of corporate image but also as a contribution to the overall economic development. Conclusion The theoretical structure of social responsibility is highly appealing and can successfully apply the importance of social responsibility along with their solid design and implementation because it not only advances the community by performing flexible business performances but also lays an adequate foundation for survival and growth of an organization. The essentiality to perform social responsibilities perceived by any organization can be apparently observed in the organizational context while executing the business operations in the current era, as organizations today are growing to be more concerned regarding the impact created by them on the society, the economy as well as the environment and thus intend to secure their corporate image for better growth prospects and sustainability. Efficient management of social responsibilities in lieu of managerial ethics also rewards competitive advantages to the organizations which can be regarded as another reason for modern organizations to consider social responsibilities to be highly essential. Social responsibilities are also regarded as vital risk management factors in modern organizations to a certain extent with regards to its capabilities of overcoming the various risks witnessed in the due course of operations leading an organization towards sustainable growth and enhanced corporate image. Therefore, with the significance of the advanced level of social responsibilities, organizations can offer their important resources and expensive time to manage their perceived social responsibilities. References Berman, S. G. & Farge P. L. A. (1993). Promises practices in teaching social responsibility. New York: SUNY Press. Cramer, J. & Bergmans, F. (2003). Learning about corporate social responsibility: the Dutch experience. US: IOS Press. Draft, R. L. & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding management. Retrieved from http://www.jpec.org/handouts/jpec85.pdf Gabr, M. (No Date). Health ethics, equity and human dignity. Retrieved from http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/GabrHealthEthics.pdf Griffin, R. W. (1993). Management 4th edition. Geneva: Houghton Mifflin. Holzmann, R. & Jorgensen, S. (2000). Social risk management: a new conceptual framework for social protection, and beyond. Retrieved from http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/80363/conceptfram.pdf Kotler, P. & Lee N. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility: doing the most good for your company and your cause. US: John Wiley & Sons. Kytle, B. & Ruggie, J. G. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/CSRI/publications/workingpaper_10_kytle_ruggie.pdf Regester, M. & Larkin, J. (2008). Risk issues and crisis management in public relations: a casebook of best practice. UK: Kogan Page Publishers. Strandberg, C. (2009). The role of human resource management in corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from http://corostrandberg.com/wp-content/uploads/files/CSR_and_HR_Management1.pdf Read More