Social Innovation Issues - Essay Example

The article titled “Immates Cowed by Tasers & Torture” published in the Sunday Star– Times (Wellington, New Zealand) on June 30, 2013 highlights different social innovation issues. This essay presents the social innovation issues emphasized throughout the article and aims to link those with the different theoretical underpinnings including corporate governance and theories and global commerce. This will help to identify the manner in which the different fundamentals of theories are reflected in real life and will provide a better understanding of the topic in relation to real world scenarios. It will create an impact that will assist to understand the manner in which decisions are taken and the impact it has on the society. The article clearly throws light on the manner in which different aspects of corporate governance and theories and global commerce were ignored. The article highlights the increasing atrocities towards prisoners, they were exploited for the benefit of the business. The situation is grim, describing how the prisoners were demoralized by being paid low wages for their labour as they are paid “400 yuan ($75) each day for those next to him” and had to work under extreme conditions where they were given fixed targets as seen in the article “I could barely make 100 inductors each day” which have to be accomplished so that the degree of punishment which they would undergo was reduced. This is recaptured by the fact that prisoners who get injured or sustained injuries afterwards were not treated properly resulting in a complete ignorance of the code of conduct which prisons are required to follow. The theory of corporate governance requires that people are treated at par and all people irrespective of their position, power and societal aspect are treated with equal respect. There was complete ignorance and omission of the code of conduct that should have been followed. Corporate governance requires that people, employees and others associated with the organization be treated equally. The use of the agency theory through the model of corporate governance shows that if organization looks to have agents who work on behalf of the organization will be able to ensure that they work according to the theory of corporate governance and need to pay a certain commission for it (Nicholson, 1998). This aspect will help to control the overall process of working in the prisons. This will help to ensure that they are able to look to work towards developing the environment of the prison and ensure that maximum effectiveness is gained. Using the concept of corporate governance will ensure that prisoners are not exploited and will be able to develop policies through which prisoners’ conditions are dealt in a proper manner. This will ensure that the prisoner working culture is monitored and will help to develop an exercise through which maximum control and effectiveness is being gained. Having agents will ensure that they are able monitor the working environment and will thereby provide the required objectives through which proper development of the rules can be made which will thereby ensure that effectiveness is gained and better control can be exercised (Dicke & Ott, 2002). The theory of global commerce also requires that organizations should be guided by policies that are transparent and aims towards ensuring that they look towards maximizing the contribution towards the society. The theory of global commerce requires development of rules and regulations that are aimed at identifying the different areas through which better policies can be developed. This will ensure that the conditions of the prisoners will improve and will not have to undergo the harsh treatment that they presently undergo. This will act as a cushion for the prisoners to speak against the atrocities and will help the society to understand the manner in which different activities are undertaken. Some of the organizations thereby have developed a code of conduct which is aimed towards a total ban on products which are made after exploiting the prisoners and will help to curb such activities and create an atmosphere which is congenial for growth. The use of agent theory will help to reduce such incidents as agents will work for the society and will bring up the different issues that are being identified in the working process. The process will thereby help to ensure that stringent rules and regulations are developed which will be aimed towards managing the overall productivity. The overall productivity will further be changed and effectiveness will be gained by developing a process through which control can be exercised. The theory of global commerce disseminates the fact that increase in business activities all around the globe has increased the level of dependence on each other. This has resulted in the use of illegal and incorrect ways in carrying out the different activities of production. This can result in over exploitation of prisoners with the objective of ensuring that they are made to work hard for a small payment and are not punished and treated a bit fairly. This is an aspect that has to be controlled and through the policy of proper corporate governance such activities can be monitored and controlled. This would translate into a situation where the prisoners’ conditions within the prison will improve. Having a code of conduct that overlooks the entire conditions will help to develop and enforce a framework where prisoners are treated equally. The article clearly highlights how prisoners are not given proper food and instead have to work for long hours and ensure that the predetermined needs and objectives are achieved. Having proper regulations which monitor the entire activities will help to control such incidents and will provide the required dimensions through which working conditions will improve. A theory of corporate governance by the name stakeholder theory will further help to understand the manner and direction in which the conditions will improve through its utilization. The theory requires that organizations objective is to ensure that they work for the well-being of society and others associated with it which will require development of proper rules and code of conduct through which it can be measured (Hill & Jones, 1992). This theory proliferates the fact that decisions need to be taken after considering all the prospective stakeholders that includes consumers, employees, suppliers, government and others associated with the organization. The theory will thereby help to ensure that prisoners who work are given what they deserve. This will ensure that the prisoner working culture is monitored and will help to develop an exercise through which maximum control and effectiveness is being gained (Smith, 2003). This will help to treat the prisoners fairly and will provide a ground based on which the prisoners are given wages as per the prevailing ground realities. This will thereby help to develop a process through which better code of conduct will be developed for the prison. The fact that rules being made by the government are same for the prisoners as well so it will help to improve the working conditions of the prisoners and will help to develop a process through which checks can be implemented and proper monitoring of the activities can be developed. This is being supported by the theory of global commerce that requires that rules and regulations have to be developed which will aim towards developing a code of conduct that has to be followed. Recent years we have witnessed a growth in the code of conduct being developed by businesses as pressure and competition from all fronts have made it mandatory that organizations look to treat every person associated with the organization fairly. This will thereby require that the code be developed, helping the prisoners to not undergo activities which are even rigorous than the punishment which is inflicted on them. This will implement treating prisoners as humans and will be guided by the code which is prevalent for all people of the society (Bonazzi & Islam, 2007). This would help in the development of a process and model that will help organizations and the society to work in a manner where the larger aspect of the business and society is looked after. Another important aspect that needs to be considered from the perspectives of both the society and the organization is that the decisions of corporate governance and global commerce should be aimed at the benefit of both. A study in the same direction provides the fact that tradeoff between the decision taken by an organization cannot be ascertained so it will require proper development of rules and regulations which is aimed at increasing the effectiveness and ensuring that the decisions are fair (Jensen, 2004). This will thereby help to work according to the needs and requirements of the society and will develop a code through which benefit of the society is given utmost importance. The article also raises an important issue for the society regarding the manner in which the decisions taken by them will have an implication for the long-term development. This requires that the society identifies organizations that are not transparent and abstain from purchasing the products being produced by them. This will act as a resistance and will force the organizations that are involved in such activities to refrain from it (Smith, 2010). This mechanism will also force the organization to develop a proper framework for corporate governance and ensure effective monitoring so that the overall process looks towards increasing the effectiveness and ensuring that the decisions that are taken will improve the long-term productivity for the business. The process of corporate governance and theory of commerce requires important impediments that will help to ensure that a path of corporate governance is developed and undertaken. This will warrant that the conditions of the prisoners will improve and will not have to undergo the harsh treatment that they presently undergo. The theory also propagates the development of an environment where society raises their voice and organizations on their own refrain and abstain from such activities (Akdere & Ross, 2005). The overall condition will thereby help to improve productivity and will be aimed towards bringing a change in the working mechanism of the society through which better results will be achieved. This will thereby ensure proper control and will bring the required transformation of developing a working culture that promotes harmony. The theory of global commerce has clearly highlighted that indulging in bigger activities due to the increase in the global trade will result in an increase in activities which are incorrect and have to be monitored. This will then require that a culture or process be inculcated which looks at identifying the different gaps and areas through which productivity will improve. The overall result will thereby be productive and will help to develop a code through which code of conduct will be developed. This will ensure that prisoners are provided with correct wages and will create a situation based on which the working environment will aim towards better productivity of the prisoners. The overall effectiveness as a result will be gained and the organizations will be able to work according to the code that have been adopted and implemented in the business. This paper highlights the manner in which the article shows different aspects of corporate governance and theories of global commerce that were ignored. This was clearly highlighted through the condition of the prisoners and the manner in which pain and other things were inflicted on them. This helps to identify the need of developing a process which will be aimed towards better governance and transparency and to look towards engaging the society so that the overall aspect is looked at. The use of different theories and models further helps to consolidate the situation and provides a path that has to be followed so that fair and proper treatment can be provided to the prisoners. References Akdere, M. & Ross, A. 2005. Agency theory from the perspective of human resource development. International Journal of Human Resource Development & Management, 5 (3), 318-332 Bonazzi, L. & Islam, S. 2007. Agency Theory and Corporate Governance: A study of effectiveness of board in monitoring of CEO’s Journal of Modelling in Management, 2 (1), 7-23 Dicke, L. & Ott, S. 2002. Can Stewardship theory serve a second conceptual for accountability in human resource functions. International Journal of Public Administration, 25 (4), 463-487 Hill C & Jones T, 1992, “Stakeholder Agency Theory”, Journal of Management Studies, Volume 24, Issue 2, page 191-205 Jensen, M. 2004. Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory & Corporate Objective Function. Harvard Business School, Research Paper No 01-01 Nicholson M, 1998, “Applying Agency Theory and the concept of corporate governance”, retrieved on August 20, 2013 from http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1706098.html Smith, A. 2010. Growth of corporate social responsibility as a sustainable business strategy. International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2 (1), 59-79 Smith, N. 2003. Corporate Social Responsibility: Not Whether, but how. 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