Corporate Social Responsibility in China - Essay Example

Corporate Social Responsibility in China In the contemporary business environment, corporate social responsibility refers to the ability of any business organization to comply with the expectations of its stakeholders. Every corporate body has a responsibility to impact positively on its major stake holders that include the workers, the government, consumers, the surrounding community and even the environment. China is among the countries whose idea of corporate social responsibility has been criticized over history. Research shows that China is among the countries that implemented an abusive corporate social responsibility plan that undermines the plight of the environment, employees and even the community as a whole. Although there have been many efforts to reform the corporate social responsibility chain in the country, the reform has yet to take shape (Shin, 2014). The non-governmental organizations in China have particularly paid attention to the corporate social responsibility in the country in various perspectives. This article evaluates the value NGO in defining the corporate social responsibility plans in China. Corporate Social Responsibility in China In any given country, corporate social responsibility is defined in by the Labour Laws that exist within its act of legislature. China is one of the countries that have recently endeavoured in redefining their corporate value chain by instituting new labour law reforms. The new labour law in China was launched in 2008 and sought to protect the rights of workers in the oppressive employment sector (Smyth, Cheng and Guo, 2009) One structural change in the law regards the security of the employees and their terms of employment in corporate bodies. The new Labour requires that all employees be employed under a written contract or else their pay is doubled after every one month (The US-China Business Council, 2009). This law has been controversially discussed in the employment sector as it generates mixed reactions in this sector. The proponents of this labour law perceive that this law will ensure that rights of employee are upheld in an environment where hiring and firing have been for a long time left under the jurisdiction of the employer. According to recent statistics, it is clear that since the enactment of the labour law there has been an increase in the number of employees who have been employed under contracts. However, China’s labour act seems not to have accomplished its goals due to the deployment of a weak implementation plan. While this law has been termed as superior in its design, it is clear that it has not achieved the impact that is expected from it. One of the reasons why this law has been slowly adopted is that it has a consequence on the corporate investment plans. The effort of the law to provide job security the employees has exposed major investors to high employee cost overheads (Cui, Ying and Jing, 2013). As such, this law has become an investment barrier for new market entrants. Since the role of implementation of the labour has been left at the provincial administration level, it has become quite a challenge for the officials to impose this law for the prospective investors. From an evaluative point of view, it is clear that the new Labour law in China has had both negative and positive impacts. The provincial administrators in China have shown laxity in deploying the new labour contract due to the negative consequences of the labour contract (Shin, 2014). Those responsible of the implementation process have felt that being strict on these laws would have an economic impact on the region under their management. The international labour office has played key role in the development and implementation of the corporate social responsibility. This office has contributed in the development of the labour law by asserting on the need for China to comply with international labour standards. For instance, the international law requires that the employee working hours comply with the international working standards. All employees are expected to work for a maximum of 48hours per week and the overtime work should be under a consensual agreement between the employee and the company management (Vachani and Post, 2012). This is a fundamental labour right that the Chinese employment sector has completely ignored in the employment industry. In China, most employees are forced to work for overtime without even their consent. The international labour force has stepped in to neutralize the poor work culture that has been upheld in this country. However, it is notable that China’s employment sector is still far from the international labour standards in other countries. This puts the international labour office at a blame for having failed to step in the standardization of employee welfare in this country. The international bodies have paid particular attention to the Corporate Social responsibility of organizations in the environment. Each company has a role in preserving the environment in which they operate by using environment-friendly methods in their industrial practice. This serves to reduce environmental pollution which has been an issue of concern due to its effects to the productivity of the land and the economic status of the surrounding countries. For instance, the ISO 14000 is one of the series of environmental management systems that aims at putting companies at the responsibility of caring for the environment in China (Graafland and Zhang, 2014). Although the government has found it a challenge to implement international standards that are in conflict with their own agendas, it is clear that the introduction of these laws has had a positive impact on the Chinese corporate social responsibility. The United Nation’s human rights conventions are applied to govern the labour laws in the countries that have subscribed to its membership. China has been a member of the United Nations since 1971 when it resumed its membership. Consequently, the UN is one of the bodies that have contributed to the labour law reforms in the country. In accordance with the UN human rights laws, gender discrimination in the labour sector is inadmissible. The UN has continuously pushed for gender equality in the employment sector and reduction of women abuse in work place (Vachani and Post, 2012). Another area of focus of UN is racial discrimination in the labour place, a matter that has always had negative impacts in the employability of refugees and foreigners (Lin, 2010). The struggle of the UN government to protect the people in China has had a positive consequence in the Chinese employment sector. The cumulative contribution of the labour law of 2008, the international about office and the United Nations promises a brighter future in the Chinese Corporate Social Responsibility. Has NGO Helped Chinese Government to Improve its CSR in Labour Rights? Non-Governmental Organizations in China has in numerous ways played a role in defining the corporate social responsibility structure. The NGO bodies play unique roles in making the organizations and the public aware of their responsibilities and rights in the employment sector. In China, NGOs have worked hand in hand with the government to push the corporate bodies to take up their social responsibilities in the country (Vachani and Post, 2012). In addition, NGOs have been involved in resource mobilization in the effort of contributing to the reformation of the labour rights. In essence, the NGO bodies have helped the government of China in developing the corporate social responsibility structure in China. In China, NGOs can be categorized in two distinct groups; domestic NGOs and International NGOs. The two groups contribute differently in the design of CSR in China. In comparison, international NGO organizations are more conscious of the international CSR approaches than the local NGO’s and hence are better versed in defining modest CSR approaches. In this light, the international NGO organizations have contributed in assisting the local Chinese government in the development of a strong CSR approach in the country (Chan and Jianing, 2011). In addition, the global NGO companies are financially stable and have enough resources to support the government to fight the war against suppression of labour rights. One strategy that the NGOs have used to push organization to adopt modest CSR approaches is by creating awareness in the public. These organizations have backed up the government of China in the implementation of the labour act of 2008 by sensitizing the public on their labour rights. For instance, when the labour rights act of 2008 was introduced, it was necessary for every company to provide a written contract for their workers or double their pay after the first month. This law was part of government’s commitment to provide job securities for its nationality. However, many organizations reacted by laying down their workers and conduction a fresh recruitment. This was part of the corporate bodies’ way of avoiding the new CSR responsibilities brought about by the new law. The NGO supported this government Act by creating awareness of the public by making them understand their rights of fair treatment in the organization (The US-China Business Council, 2009). As such, many organizations who hoped to recruit an unaware public had to comply with the standards set by this new law. One of the major reasons why employees have suffered from poor working standards is due their ignorance and failure to understand their labour rights. By making them aware of their rights, the NGO contributed to the increase in the number of companies that comply with this law. NGO have played key role in pushing the organization to undertake modest CSR approaches in the labour market. One emphasis of the NGO has been to streamline racial and gender bias in the employment sector. These bodies have sensitized the society against racial discrimination of the minority communities in the job industry that has for long dominated in China. Also, China is among the countries that have culturally intimidated the power of women in work place and have not effectively adopted gender diversity management strategies (Hills and Welford, 2009). This kind of situation has undermined the labour laws and their implementation as organizations remain adamant to allow females to take up responsibilities in work place. International NGO companies have launched campaigns against racial and gender discrimination to allow these minority groups to acquire their labour rights. In China, the contribution of the NGO bodies to the improvement of the labour rights in this country has been limited by a number of factors. First, the government have paid a lot of attention to their specific demands and have forgotten to develop CSR strategies that meet the international standards. One reason for this is because the government has seen these labour right laws as possible barriers of new market entrants and hence have sought to provide friendly CSR approaches that will encourage investors to start business in this country. Secondly, the NGO bodies have invested in strategic organizational activities that are far much less effective as compared to institutionally diversified models. Consequently, the NGO influence on the CSR has little effect in the transformation of the Chinese labour rights (Taylor, 2009). The local NGO organizations have done very little in the support of government efforts to improve labour rights in China. In this light, the NGO potential to collaborate with the government of China in modelling the labour rights has not been optimally utilized. Conclusion In Conclusion, China is among the countries that have undermined the value of effective corporate social responsibility in a country. This is signified by the suppression of labour rights, low environmental pollution and evidence of social negligence by investors in this country. In Labour sector, the employees have suffered from long working hours, insecure jobs, gender and racial discrimination and low salaries. In 2008, the government efforts to improve the labour rights were embedded in the China labour act that provided a strategy to protect the employee job security (Smyth, Cheng and Guo, 2009). It required that the employees be provided with a signed contract to guarantee them of job security. However, the implementation process of this law has been undermined by a poor strategy and evasive organizations. The NGO companies have supported the government efforts by providing public awareness and pushing organizations to develop modest CSR strategies. However, the potential of the NGOs has not been fully exploited. From a critical point of view, there has been an improvement of labour rights and it is predictable that the future of CSR is promising in China. References Chan. K., and Jianing, Y., (2011).How NGOs Advance Corporate Social Responsibility in China. The China Non-Profit Review, 3, 99-113. Cui, F., Ying, G. and Jing, F., (2013). The Effects of the Labour Contract Law on the Chinese Labour Market. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 10(3), 462-483. Graafland, J., and Zhang, L., (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility in China. Implementation and Challenges. Business Ethics, 23, 1-16. Hills, P., and Welford, R., (2009). People’s republic of China. Berlin: Springer. Lin, L., (2010). Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Window Dressing or Structural Change. Berkeley Journal of International Law, 28(1), 1-38. See, K., (2008). Harmonious Society and Chinese CSR: Is There really a Link? Journal of Business Ethics, 89,1-2. Shin, K., (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility in China. 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