Ethics and Social Responsibility Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays

Table of Contents

Sl. No.

Topics

Page No

Introduction

Discussion

2.1…….. Company Ethics

2.2…….. Earning Trust using Ethical Behaviour

2.3…….. CSR

Reviews / Recommendations

Conclusion

References

Ethical Values and CSR

Introduction

The current globalization phase in many companies has led to increased challenges in management. Many managers fail to have the right tools that may lead to the full implementation of ethics and social responsibility for many organizations. Its primary purpose is to enable firms to develop a sharp corporate image that achieves competitive advantage in a particular marketing niche. The most crucial features for most companies today are their identity and image, which can only be achieved if a company has implemented its ethics and CSR in an organized manner. The purpose of company identity is to identify the well-performing companies which provide the best employee motivation in a continuous process. The image represents all the ideas and impressions that the public has developed regarding a particular organization.

Ethics and corpoate social responsibility (CSR) are two attributes that are mainly developed by the public relations departments in most organizations. This is because their main objective is to develop a positive image and identity to the public about a particular firm to obtain more clients and increase their revenues in the long run (Ng, Yam, and Aguinis, 2019). The main objective of developing a strong company brand image and identity is to foster communication and cooperation between employees and customers. The backbone of most company successful operations is mostly found from the employees and customers dialogue. This means that corporate social responsibility and ethics are types of business relations that lead to a positive company climate, trust, security, and vision that addresses s the demands of investors. On the employee part, ethical values and CSR are significant contributors to their pride and enthusiasm in serving customers, which eventually leads to team cooperation and development. This paper will look at the meaning of ethical values and CSR and define the manager's role in the field. It will also explain the theories of ethics and the importance of corporate social responsibility.

Discussion

Business ethics is known as the behavior and norms that companies follow, especially among managers. The rules are often developed in the form of policies that define the objectives and functions of each department (Blodgett, Dumas, and Zanzi, 2011). This means that employees are supposed to ensure that they effectively follow the standardized policies and rules to ensure that they retain their jobs and are not dismissed indefinitely. Most corporations have observed business ethics since historic times, and they are followed up to date. They have defined the business operations in many ways and are the main contributors to socioeconomic development. Through this development, modern norms have also emerged, which strive to identify a particular behavior. This behavior should be followed by workers and supposed to be acceptable at any given time.

Generally, the government has formulated ethical norms in light of guiding society on particular behaviours and adherence to the law under unwanted behaviours. They have mainly been used to define social policies in most countries, which tend to foster ethical obligations among businesses and employees, which are set by managers (Chattopadhyay, 2012). Business research has established that business ethics is an issue that is sensitive and has to be observed with care during business planning. This is because it is governed by various norms and rules that employees sometimes do not follow, especially when they deviate from company rules during business operations. Such employees often want to damage such regulations' reputation so that they may be eliminated from the company's settings.

2.1 Company Ethics

Business ethics are related to any organization's cultural traits, especially in their management levels and operational standards. Some of the employees' characteristics may not follow the norms and values set by management, which may affect the general performance of a particular organization. It is important for employees to always ensure that they have followed the ethical norms formulated by managers to avoid being on the wrong side. It is also important for managers to understand the organizational culture so that they may understand employees' needs and wants and address them accordingly. Managers and employees who value business ethics provide evidence that a company is well organized with norms and values. This element is mostly defined in business behaviour and organizational development, which focuses on ethical management. Therefore, management has the responsibility to carry out its duties under the established moral norms. In this way, the managers can easily accept or reject the company performance depending on the type of work delivered.

2.1.1 Business Ethics in Management

Managers are often essential people in many organizations because they have a strong influence on how the organization's structure is developed. This is because they usually concentrate on the company strategies that include th internal and external factors that affect a company's success. One factor involves employees' respect in enabling the managers to develop the company's corporate image and identity. This will depend on the employees' attitude towards the management of ethical behaviors and how they can apply to four types of forms. These forms include features such as employee indifference, damage control, company ethics satisfaction, and ethical culture incorporation (Shuklev, 2013). Top managers often believe that moral principles are supposed to be implemented in a company setting and should always match the company culture, which is found in many organizations.

The top management has the authority to make specific organizational changes, which leads to an improvement in the performance of a company and business climate. Managers are always found between various dilemmas where they are required to choose two options that may either affect or improve the company performance. They are always supposed to still be keen on the actions that may lead to damages instead of those that will lead to further developments. More often than not, they often choose the best choices to improve the company's performance due to the presence of an organizational culture that guides their approaches. Therefore, managers need to have the right norms and values in an organizational structure that will help them make the right choices for purposes of company development and growth.

2.2 Earning Trust Using Ethical Behavior

I support this statement because it is vital for people to be ethical in their everyday life. People are supposed to be more aware of their daily actions, which may affect them positively or negatively, depending on the situation. This theory also applies to businesses because they can determine the business environmental setting due to the laws and regulations. This means that the management has to develop the rules and regulations. Still, they should also try and believe that every managerial decision they make each day can make a great change in employee motivation and company performance. An ethical business will increase trust among customers, investors, and vendors in building relationships with a given organization.

According to the article by Karen Collins titled, 'Exploring Business,' firms ought to ensure that they keep thebest interest of company stakeholders to ensure that they can build trust in the company for an extended period. It is crucial for companies that operate under specific ethics to serve with total fairness and honesty. The following are some of the characteristics of an ethical company; honesty in communication, respect of customers, investors, and employees, upholding stakeholders' integrity, maintaining high employee standards, and informing stakeholders on internal and external communication. However, some major corporations are still governed by unethical behavior such as WorldCom, Tyco, and Lehman Brothers. It is always crucial for companies to ensure that they uphold trust and honesty by implementing ethical practice within their business settings.

2.3 CSR

Since the 1920s, CSR became a great topic of discussion for most organizations. However, its expansion was affected by various political and economic situations that affected many companies. During that period, most of the managers were opting to chose CSR for purposes of company leadership. By the 21st century, it became a more focused feature by the administration (Agudelo, 2019). Corporate social responsibility became a significant focus among stakeholders and investors who were part of the management of various organizations. This is why corporate social responsibility has evolved over the years to become a significant component in many firms. It is the main driving force of corporate governance and strategic management in most company settings.

The features of CSR are known to be essential aspects of the European Commission. It provides a policy that helps firms implement their different strategies and designs in their business operations. The European Commission has elaborated that CSR is a feature adopted by many organizations to integrate social factors into business operations and increase employees' participation in company operations. Its central plan is to establish a balance of corporate social responsibility features between shareholders, employees, managers, and customers. This is quite different from the traditional days because today, businesses strive to make profits for shareholders and improve the community's participation through corporate social responsibility activities (Rendtorff, 2019). This leads to companies increasing their financial revenues on a local and global perspective. This is because many companies worldwide strive hard to improve their corporate social responsibility activities to develop the right image for the company, hence increasing the monthly and annual returns in general.

2.3.1 Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

It is often crucial for companies to ensure that they conduct their business operations to improve their corporate social responsibility activities within the community. Corporate social responsibility enables companies to perform their services in ways that increase sustainability and developments affected by the social and environmental impacts in the society (Collier, 2018). Managers in many organizations often receive many benefits due to incorporating corporate social responsibility in their business operations. The following are some of the benefits of corporate social responsibility activities that managers implement: increased brand awareness, competitive advantage, increased customer participation, employee engagement, reduced operational costs, and improved public image.

Review

According to Carroll A. (2008), corporate social responsibility is a feature that took sometime before being implemented by many organizations. Corporate social responsibility has evolved, which is why many firms are still adopting it due to its contributing factor to business success. The importance of CSR is that it increases managers' involvement in ensuring that the community supports the operations of a particular organization and helps in upgrading employees and managers on a personal level. This is why many companies today implement corporate social responsibility and ethics in their business operations to enhance modern ethical practices (Carroll, 2008). The company performance often depends on the investments made on CSR and ethical management, which is seen as a step for most corporations to increase their business revenues, which improves their product identity and image.

Conclusion

This research was conducted to discuss how corporate social responsibility and ethics have helped companies develop their identity and corporate image. It also elaborated on the importance of corporate social responsibility and how firms can use it to assist in improving the company's corporate image. The activities of corporate social responsibility, combined with ethical culture, have helped companies improve their performance, which has led them to attain a massive competitive advantage in most consumer markets in the long run. Companies can also increase their revenues due to a well-implemented corporate social responsibility structure and ethical values in business operations. The research has elaborated on how managers in most businesses have comparative knowledge that enables them to gain positive attitudes when addressing corporate social responsibility in the e-commerce industry. This has led to many companies to improve the image and identity of the business organizations. Therefore, managers will continue to implement corporate social responsibility activities in their companies because these are the only ways that firms can gain a competitive advantage and increase their long term revenue due to consumer awareness and community development.

Ethics and Social Responsibility - Coursework Example

Extract of sample "Ethics and Social Responsibility"