Social Performance of Organizations - Essay Example

Running head: social performance of organizations 29th January Introduction De Beers Diamond Company is a firm that is widely known for diamond mining, diamond hops, diamond trading and industrial diamonds. The company is active in the manufacturing of diamond and other brands. Mining of diamond takes place in South Africa, Canada, and Namibia among other countries. The firm was founded back in the year 1888 by Cecil Rhodes who was financed by the South Africa and London to come up with the company (Edward, 1982). The company was monopolistic since at that time there was no diamond company that was able to mine until the retirement of the founder. The price of the diamond as per the time was fixed and high since of the monopolistic ideas and still there were controversies during the Second World War since the founder did not release industrial diamonds to the united state during the war. De Beers Company has a lot of products like engagement rings, high quality jewels that are unique and exceptional diamonds that are selected and set by the jewelers of light. Wedding bands and inspiration brands are also major brands produced by the company. The company has been targeting all market segments since it observes the culture by manufacturing jewels that are old fashioned and still targeting the young generation who like to associate themselves with celebrity styles thus making the company to be innovative and use technology to make changes in the firm. The firm looks for most recent collections that are designed to be unique as compared to those of the competitors and which are inspirational to all who like to wear jewellery. External environments that may affect the company to succeed in its performance The organization faces some challenges from the external environment like the competitors for example the Israel Diamond Institute Portal which was launched in January 2004 and the company has been growing from strength to strength. Israel Diamond Institute Portal has been using internet to market and advertise their products which makes the De Beers Company to be on threat. Another rival company that creates stiff competition to De Beers is Mountain Province Diamonds. The government has made De Beers company to sign contract to work together with Mountain Province Diamonds so that the two companies can work as a joint venture which make De Beers Company to experience a lot of challenges since it cannot manufacture new brands while still working with competitors (Gardner, 2005). Consultation with the government is still going on to make the company be separated from other companies. Ways in which stakeholders in the organization relate to the company and their roles. The employees who have been hired in the organization have a certain responsibility towards De Beers Company, to the society and even to the nation at large. The employees do have a relationship with the company depending on the key role the employee play to the organization. One of the key role and responsibility is to plan together with the manager. This means that for proper work schedule, the employee must work together with the managers so that they can meet the deadline and objectives of the company. Another role is being creative and giving suggestions. This means the employees must try to improve the work efficiency and how to develop the organization to achieve the organization mission and vision. For the effective running of De Beers Company, the shareholders must work together with employees, customers, society and government for the company to achieve its goals. The role of all stakeholders is to make sure that the resources that are needed by the firm are provided efficiently. On their part, the shareholders appoint the auditors and directors and provide machinery and equipments to the firm. Managers are known to manage people but still provide guidance and run operations in the organization. A manager must have techniques like problem solving skills to guide the employees incase of challenges. The role of the manager in the organization is to make decision relating to the firm for example budgetary. Additionally, financial decisions must be directed to the managers. Another role and responsibility is to manage people by providing guidance, support and encouraging team work in the organization. Ways in which stakeholders can influence the organization financial performance The stakeholders of De Beers Company are known for the supply of machines and other resources that are needed for the company to manufacture unique and high quality brands that makes the company to remain in the market despite competition from other firms. The company is able to control the prices of diamonds through the supply since De Beers is able to purchase and stock diamonds produced by the manufactures. The stakeholders have influence in the organization in the financial performance for example the shareholders provides financial support to the organization incase the company does not have the required capital for the functioning of the firm (Tuckman, 1965). The stakeholders must support the firm fully since without the stakeholders the firm will not function appropriately. Goods and services of the company may be of high quality but it becomes unsuccessful financially. This means that financial success is business success and the manager must make sure that annual finance management is done appropriately and if any department requires any financial assistance is provided by the manager. Being key stakeholders in any firm, the directors of the De Beers Company do have a lot powers in the firm since they are the ones who control finance and all resources that are needed for the organization to meet the goals and objective. Most organizations aim at generating new business ideas and cutting costs but the employees have indirect financial performance, which has a correlation that has effects on building profits most effectively for the company. Through the customers, the employees do have a lot of potential to convince the customers to make their choice to buy the goods and services thus generating demonstrably superior customer satisfaction and in return, those customers who are satisfied fully are more profitable ones. Controversial corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility is a charitable theory that seeks to see company like De Beers being responsible for their action socially and environmentally. De Beers is world’s largest diamond producer and due to wide spread to different countries the company associates itself with charitable work to the people and still plants trees worldwide. One of controversial corporate social responsibility is that the company is able to work with the employees, families, local community and the society at large to improve their quality of life. This means that De Beers have been operating their business in a manner that exceeds the ethical and public expectations that the society has for the business. As the leader and being the most influential stakeholder in the organization, I would identify members in the organization using selection criteria where I would consider experience of individual who have worked in a related firm. This means that one must have two years experience. Additionally, the members of my group must indicate high interest in the organization so as to better the firm and lead to achievements of goals and objectives. Skills of individuals will be highly considered since if one does not have the skills, it means the company will have to hire skilled manpower from other sources which will not be recommended since it will lead to more expenditure to the company (Fabionar, 2010). The major reason of considering experience is to make sure that accountability and transparency when hiring employees is are ensured to make sure that every individual is accountable to the duties given and no expenditure will be experienced in the firm if there is a person who is delegated for that role. Selection on the basis of merits must be used to make the targeted group of individuals to be the part and parcel of the organization and thus making the company to hire skilled and qualified individual who can be delegated duties and do it professionally. Challenges that one may face when encouraging stakeholders to form coalition so as to achieve goals As a stakeholder in the De Beers Company, developing a social mobilization strategy is one of the challenges which mean that there is no clear mechanism on how recruitments of members will be carried. This means that the stakeholders will have to wait and see who will show up for the recruitment since it is a coalition based. This can only be solved by having clear and sensitive process for recruiting individuals in the organization rather than to let until individuals show up in the recruitment period (Benson, 2001). Another challenge is how to deal with conflict and emotions of individual members of the group, disagreements do rise and in a coalition it is hard to solve them, the only solution in conflict and emotions is having a neutral facilitator who will solve the issues. Lastly another challenge that may be faced in a coalition of an organization is how to establish a strategic focus meaning that priorities must be considered since one must be able to make use of strategic time and resources. This means that things that matter a lot must be given high priority. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that for De Beers to achieve its objectives and goals, it must consider the external environments and stakeholders especially the shareholders who are the decision makers in any organization. Corporate social responsibility still makes the company to advertise the unique brands thus making the company to be widely known for production of diamond jewelers. Thus there is need to ensure that the company initiates an effective CSR program that takes into consideration all the ethical aspects. References Benson, P. (2001). Trends in Youth Development: Visions, Realities, and Challenges. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Edward, J. (1982).  The Rise and Fall of Diamonds (The Diamond Invention). London: London Press. Fabionar, J. (2010). Community- School Partnerships to Support Youth Development. London: Sage. Gardner, S. (2005). The Essential Role of Local Government. Lanham: University Press of America. Tuckman, B. (1965). Developmental Sequence in Small Groups. Cambridge: MIT Press. Read More