CSR- the impact of organizational goals and design - Essay Example

A newer concept but still very similar to social responsibility is social responsiveness, which in simple terms means “the ability of cooperation to relate its operations and policies to the social environment in ways that are mutually beneficial to the company and to the society (Fredrick, Davis and Post, 1988). Both definitions focus on corporations but these concepts should be expanded: The main differences between social responsibility and social responsiveness is that the latter implies actions and the ‘how’ of enterprise responses.

It is not enough to be philanthropic and not think in terms of consumers and other relevant stakeholders. It is not enough to be law abiding and leave matter at that for a business rival round the corner can raise the stakes by introducing commodities and services, as well as conditions of production that are much higher than those required by law. Consumers today are alive to these changes and react to them in a fashion that tells on the bottom line of a firm. Therefore, the fact of corporate social responsibility has to be carefully devised keeping in mind the specifics of the organization and the kinds of demands that can be made upon it as a corporate citizen by all its relevant stakeholders.

At the same time, no company can afford to let its profits fall. In fact if that were to happen then it would be letting down its stockholders and employees, who are two of its very important stakeholders. The question then is how to devise a system of CSR that is related to business so that both can be sustained in synergy. Defining corporate social responsibility (CSR): In an influential essay entitled ‘social responsibility of business’ Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman argued that the espousal of ‘social responsibilities’ by the corporate sector was not just bad for business, but was tantamount