Cory McPherson May 19, 2015
Professor Goll Organizational Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility: The Environment During the late 20th century and early 21st century a business trend called corporate social responsibility has grown in popularity and necessity. Corporate social responsibility has been defined as a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model with the intentions of benefitting both the company but the community as a whole. In recent years the public has become distrustful of businesses, after highly publicized meltdowns such as Enron, World Com and Arthur Anderson just to name a few. These incidents were caused
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While all companies focus on the needs of their shareholders, those who own the company, the truly extraordinary companies also focus on the needs and wants of the stakeholders. The stakeholders are the associates of the firm that have a stake in or claim on some aspect of the actions, policies and objectives of the business. These people often include customers, employees, local community, suppliers, investors, stockholders and government. Companies that operate with a stakeholder orientation recognize that business and society are interpenetrating systems, in that each affects and is affected by the other. There has been a evolution of social responsibility of today compared to 50 or 60 years ago. In the 1940s corporations had economic dominance and total authority of top management. During the 50s and 60s there were few formal governance procedures restraining management actions. Organizational charity expanded and laws were passed that required safe tools and space for the employees while also fostering diversity in the workplace. The 1970s brought large scale competition mergers and acquisitions and occasionally bankruptcies. The 1980s was a period of simplification small companies more power distributed throughout the company an onus on profitability and sadly more scandals. From the scandals of the past 25 years we have learned a great deal about transparency, liquidity, long-term
Social Responsibility can be broken down into 3 parts, the companies benefit to society, how they follow policies and their performance of their obligations. It is hard to decipher who and what companies are socially responsible to. A company decides what they are doing if it is going to benefit shareholders or stakeholders. The shareholders are those who are in the company that benefit from it by maximizing the profits. On the other hand, the stakeholders are those who use the company and are impacted directly by what the company does. These people include customers, suppliers and the community. Companies receive more positive feedback
Businesses, specifically larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in society therefore, they are responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals but the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that some businesses have incorporated it into their business model. There are three components of the bottom line of social
Because corporations are established to profit and shareholders invest money with expectations of a greater return, managers cannot be given a directive to be “socially responsible” without providing specific criteria of checks and balances to which needs to adhere. Therefore, it is imperative to the success of a corporation for managers to not act solely but rather to act within the policies of the shareholders.
or so many years our society has been thinking of forming new creative and innovative businesses, which would be more environmental and customer friendly. Nowadays a large number of different companies follow the social, ethical, as well as moral consequences when it comes to their decision making. One of the relatively new concepts involving economic and social concerns is Corporate Social Responsibility. Many of us apply this approach not only at work, but also in everyday life without even recognizing.
Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.
When an organization partakes in “proactive behavior…for the benefit of society,” it is deemed as socially responsible (P. 155). However, prior to labeling a organization as socially responsible, it is important that we first identify what specific elements of proactive behavior constitute a socially responsible business. To begin, for an organization to be considered socially responsible on the highest level, it must take a proactive approach to doing business. This is defined as “[taking a] approach to social responsibility in which an organization goes beyond industry norms to solve and prevent problems” (P.155). In addition, it is standard for a socially responsible organization to incorporate a larger scope of stakeholders, to include external stakeholders, in their business decisions to create positive externalities, and mitigate negative ones, to benefit society as a whole.
The expectation that businesses behave responsibly and positively contribute to society all while pursuing their economic goals is one that holds firm through all generations. Stakeholders, both market and nonmarket, expect businesses to be socially responsible. Many companies have responded to this by including this growing expectation as part of their overall business operations. There are companies in existence today whose sole purpose is to socially benefit society alongside businesses who simply combine social benefits with their economic goals as their company mission. These changes in societal expectations and thus company purpose we’ve seen in the business community over time often blurs the line of what it means to be socially
Corporate Social Responsibility are actions taken by a corporation that have positive and lasting impact for all stakeholders associated with the organization, seeking to strike a balance between profits and helping to establish lasting investment in the community (Carrol, 2015). In the 1980’s, then President Reagan challenged the business community to take on more responsibility to address social problems (Carrol, 2015). Socially responsible actions can benefit local communities as well as the greater societal good.
Corporate social responsibility is a term that conveys a corporation’s social responsibility to society. In the old days corporations felt that once they had gained support from the public they had a responsibility to give back to the community. This idea of giving back meant serving as volunteers and providing financial contributions in aim of correcting the problems of the community. Corporations have a wide range of opportunity and reach within most societies so it is important and can ultimately be a great aid for a corporation to help in correcting the problems of society by contributing and giving back along with other individuals. I also believe that corporate social responsibility means ensuring that there are not problems arising that make it hard for consumers to continue to support a corporation. The continuation of a corporation is dependent upon consumers and I believe it is the
However, today, the focus on stakeholder’s (apart from the shareholders, these are customers, suppliers and employees) expectations has also grown radically. Accordingly, ethical behaviours such as meeting stakeholders’ expectation objectives, environmental objectives and corporate social responsibility, which is accountability to the society and social responsibility, have resultantly become very important. Failure to comply with ethical behaviours can causes a business to damage its brand value and its reputation, which in turn could lead to reduced profits or even losses (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2014).
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.
Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R.) is a theory practiced in the business sphere since fifty years. It refers to the duty of business organizations to adopt certain activities that will benefit the society in some way. Charity, health-awareness campaigns are few examples that a business undertakes to fulfil its objectives of C.S.R. According to this ideal, it is important for various corporations today to undertake such social activities, apart from merely focusing on their objective of profit maximization. But, is it an obligation that is most important than other objectives of business? This thought further leads us to another significant question – In contemporary settings, should corporations be guided by the concept of C.S.R.?
Corporate social responsibility has been one the key business buzz words of the 21st century. Consumers' discontent with the corporation has forced it to try and rectify its negative image by associating its name with good deeds. Social responsibility has become one of the corporation's most pressing issues, each company striving to outdo the next with its philanthropic image. People feel that the corporation has done great harm to both the environment and to society and that with all of its wealth and power, it should be leading the fight to save the Earth, to combat poverty and illness and etc. "Corporations are now expected to deliver the good, not just the goods; to pursue
A business is not one that lives in isolation; it can be an integral part in a community’s success or demise and has social responsibilities to; the community, stakeholders, and anyone who may be affected by a company’s actions. Corporate social responsibility is a term that is never used lightly and is a key role in the development of a successful and morally healthy business. “The objectives of a corporation are to outperform its competitors, presumably through preferred competitive strategies” (Joseph Heath 123). There are three main models by; Freeman, Friedman and Heath discussing corporate social responsibilities and all have distinct differences between their moral obligations, and the way they perceive business should be ran in a
Proponents of the broader view of corporate social responsibility stress that organizations are integrated with the rest of the society and have a moral obligation to their stakeholders which include employees, suppliers, customers, the community, and the society at large (Shaw, 2005). Besides, proponents of human rights