The Debate Over Corporate Social Responsibility - Research Paper Example

The Debate Over Corporate Social Responsibility Ethics, social responsibility and environmental sustainability are mentioned in every organizations mission and governance structure, but there arehardly any organizations that follow their own rules. Being ethical for any organization means that they being true to their words and are providing the consumers the quality that they have promised. The organizations are also supposed to support the right and the ethical causes. Social responsibility is a very celebrated topic that company all around the world are trying to portray themselves as champions of. There has been quite a lot of uproar in the industries lately with regards to social responsibility, companies themselves are spending in the corporate social responsibility and criticizing their competitors for not doing so, or finding loopholes in the work that they have done. Apple has always been criticized for using the least amount of its revenue for corporate responsibility. Apple is one of the top companies that are earning the highest amount of profits but there are hardly any charitable gratifications that have been made by Apple to any charitable organization in the world. Also, Apple has never taken part in any of the accountability companies that exist. Recently, an Ecoratings were conducted all the mobile producing companies participated in the competition except for Apple, they were invited till the last moment but they were very non responsive in this respect and never bothered to respond. The Eco ratings are related to the material that the cell phones are using, whether it is a good one and is it environmentally friendly. The social responsibility also involves the rights of the workers, there have been a lot of issues with regards to the work conditions that their workers are being provided and all Apple has done are to cover it up and sweep it under the rug rather than working to improve the conditions (Hunnicutt 2009). To an extent in my opinion that Apple doesn’t because there was recently a video related to the Fox Conn went viral in which it showed young people working in fitting the screens of I phones, and IPods and earning very little, even the conditions provided to them for working is very poor. They are paying a low wage to the workers, the wage is lower than the nominal wage and therefore the employees are living in very dire situations there are many employees who are working day and night just to achieve their required some. The money is so less that it hardly pays for their basic expenses. There have been many cases of the workers trying to commit suicide and many were even successful in committing it. Utilitarian, is a concept in which the overall happiness is maximized. It is an approach in which each and every stakeholder involved is given a fair share of the pie so that every person remains happy. In this the outcome is not dependent on being moral or immoral, but it is dependent on the fact whether the end users are happy about the results or not. In utilitarian concept a person should first consider the consequences of the action and then decide whether the action being taken is the correct one or not. In the deontological ethics there are considerations for the rules, and the morality of the actions, this is in direct contrast with the Utilitarian principle. In this perspective the result of the actions are all based on the outcome and the morality of the outcome, if the outcome is a moral one then the idea is considered as a good one otherwise it is considered as non-applicable. In virtue ethics as well, the morality of the outcome supersedes the context in which the act is occurring or even the benefits that it is bringing (May, George & Roper 2007). Apple is performing at the economic viability and profitability level, they are not much bothered about the society in which they are working or the impact that their products might have on the environment. They do not give the returns of the huge profits that they earn and thus the workers are left to face the consequences in the form of poor working conditions and very low wages. Due to the poor work conditions and low protective gears, workers suffer from various diseases related to breathing and which are all a result of the fumes of the cleaning agents that the workers use to clean the screens and the product. The focus on their profits is so huge that they are one of the few companies who are still reporting huge profits in the current situation of economic turmoil. The part of the supply chain that they have shifted to china and other Asian countries, have resulted in reduced labor costs for them. They have to pay fewer costs and due to poor economic situations of the country the workers are even willing to put in extra hours of work just to please the employees. Therefore, more work is done at very low costs and better rate than they can be done anywhere. This has given Apple a huge advantage over others (Velasquez 2006). Keeping in view their strategy and the vision and mission that they have set, yes they require and in fact demand from their suppliers to give them environmentally friendly products. From the site we can see that they have said that they use those materials only that are environmentally friendly and hence discourage the use of materials that are not. They use fuel efficient methods so that there are lesser emissions into the atmosphere and the Carbon dioxide content’s release into the air is greatly reduced (Ciulla, Clancy & Solomon 2007). The products are all packaged in small packages and therefore, the waste material that would result due to the discarded packages is reduced. The fuel that is used at the sites is a renewable fuel, thus they are not using up the already depleting resources of the world. The sites all contain a recycling plant; this recycling plant recycles the waste materials there and then and thus helps in contributing less to environmental wastes. They use environmentally conscious materials and try to avoid substances that are not degradable; the substances that are used are all very environmental friendly. They try to be pioneers in getting rid of the materials that are not environmental friendly and can lead to damaging situations. On the website quite a lot of information related to the energy that they use to produce their goods is also given. It is mentioned in the site that nearly all the plants use renewable fuel to produce the energy for the plants. They have a proper recycling area in the factory and thus they recycle the waste produced in the factory. The products are very efficient, and smaller packaging is used so as to reduce waste materials that are produced. It also helps in reducing the fuel waste as it lowers the transportation costs too (Velasquez 2006). The increased awareness in the business world and as well as the consumers has caused people to go for products that are environmentally friendly and they also discard the use of products that are not. It has been seen that the regulating bodies also encourage companies to become more socially responsible and work to produce better living environments (Ciulla, Clancy & Solomon 2007). There are some of the actions of the company that can be considered as unethical but the products have had no proof on being as unethical or harmful to the environment generally. There are no corrective measures currently being taken by Apple in regard with the issues that they are acing, but since the products have nothing wrong with them, therefore, they do not require any corrective measure. Currently the issue over the attempts of suicide that has been made the employees has brought about a quite a lot of difficulty in the form of difficult and strained public relations. Also, many human rights activists have been lobbying strongly against Apple and the working conditions being provided. It has also been seen that people have started feeling guilty for buying I phones as they feel that it is in their hands due to some hard earned labor of some poor worker, who does not have any proper conditions to live or work in. Also, due to non-participation in the Eco rating and other such programs specifically designed to improve and introduce better measures in the world in relation to environment, has made Apple come across as a company that is highly irresponsible, and is more focused on creating bigger profits than creation of social value. The following strategies should be adopted to improve the social conditions and the ethical performance of the company. Apple should taking part in the Eco Rater, and submit their reports that are required there. This will improve the image of the company as being a socially aware company, and remove the tag that has now been attached to them as a company that does not bother about environment and the natural resources. They should improve the condition of the factories in which people work and provide better working conditions to the employees. Apple should start using better cleaning agents and better protective gear should be provided to the workers so that the workers do not suffer any kind of health issues. This will also help them avoid human rights issue as is the recent hue and cry that has risen due to the Fox con video that was released. If Apple increases the wages of the workers, workers will feel far more motivated and will like to be more devoted employees and at the same time will not feel economically handicapped too. The final suggestion would be to reduce the Carbon dioxide emissions into the air so that they are rated as a more socially responsible company. REFERNCES Velasquez, Manuel G. Business Ethics: Concepts & Cases. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Print. Ciulla, Joanne B, Clancy W. Martin, and Robert C. Solomon. Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print. Hunnicutt, Susan. Corporate Social Responsibility. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print. May, Steve, George Cheney, and Juliet Roper.The Debate Over Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print. Read More