Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility is be traced back in the ancient Rome where there were ineffective ways of contributing funds by the businesses for the purposes of military campaigns. The Rome officials demonstrated heavily on this situation of inefficiency by business to participate in the process of funding. It is thus apparent of course that any of the actions that an organization undertakes will always have an effect not just upon its self but also the external environment from which the organization resides. According to Asongu (2007), the shareholders of the Dutch East Indian were unhappy with the enrichment of the top managers, leading to fatal frustration and adequate mixed feelings of being cheated and taken advantage of. Another instance is depicted in the case of Jon Sisk and Son contractors in 1990 where they engaged in building houses and providing health care for their employees with a very close proximity to their businesses activities and projects at large. Hence, the term Corporate Social Responsibility did not exist by then making Corporate Ethics the best term to describe the behavior and actions of these two companies.
Corporate social Responsibility is a concept whereby organizations integrate the environmental and social concerns while carrying out business activities and through their interactions with their stakeholders which on a deliberate basis. Currently, the increasing organizations in number have realized that for them to stay productive, relevant and competitive in the fast moving business world, they have to become socially responsible and able. Globalization in the last decade has blurred the international and national borders while technology has masked distance and fastened time. Hence, with this kind of change most of the organizations want to increase their abilities in specifically managing their risks and profits at large with a focused objective of protecting their brands. Globalization has again brought the vicious competition for investors, consumer loyalty skilled employees. How a company relates with its workers, its host communities, and the marketplace can greatly contribute to the sustainability of its business success. However, analysts suggest the central core objective of Corporate Social Responsibility is the social contract between all the stakeholders to the society, which is a very effective and significant core requirement of the civil society. It requires a responsibility directed to the future and towards the future members of a community (Carroll, 1979).
Social responsibility can have many responsibilities within the construction industry. According to the studies conducted by the British Land in 2006, they have proved that being socially can include quite a number of aspects which include: the reduction of operating costs, the long-term sustainability for the employees and organizations, increment of the employees commitment, enhancement of brand value and reputation, better relationships between the communities and the governments, development of closer links with the customers and enhancing the ability to innovate consequently.
The industry has therefore been pertained to be a vital contributor to the sustainability as a diver to the businesses activities in the Australian national economy. The construction and building is responsible for about 6.4 per cent of Australia‘s coarse domestic merchandise in the years 2005-06 with all the total business activities being valued at $95.8 billion dollars. This was an increase of nearly over 13 per cent over the previous year. It is through the construction and building industry employment that economic and social sustainability are underpinned. It is between the year 2006-2007that the industry employed workers at 4.7% higher than any other previous years ranging at about 917, 600 workers. This report marked the 8.7 percent of all the employed individuals in Australia. According to the ABS (2008) the majority part of the construction employment within this period was in the construction of the trade services at standing amazing 69 percent. These included the employees involved the concreting, earthmoving, roofing, plumbing, painting, carpentry, landscaping and glazing (Carroll,1979).
Research indicates that the above figures may however be affected by the recent contraction in the international economy caused by the international financial crisis. The industry hence needs to adapt in order to harness its full potential and face the new and upcoming challenges. Analysts suggest that this should include addressing the matter of Corporate Social Responsibility in a more and distinguished broader perspective. Again, the performance of the Corporate Social Responsibility in the building and construction industry has vital implications when it comes to the environmental impacts that come with it due to the large quantities of energy derived from the fossil fuels. A study that was conducted by the Pricewaterhouse Coopers back in the year 2008, estimated that the building and construction industry accounts for half of all the resource usage and up to over 4 percent of the energy consumption. Research has shown that this energy is consumed during the whole life cycle that includes the assembly phase, the process phase and during the procedure that is used to create and build materials (Pullen et al. 2006).
Defining the term Social Responsibility is an ambiguous task as stated, and perhaps what is even more frustrating is to actually define the organizations that are socially responsible within the construction and building industry. Analysts indicate there are so many ways in which one can duly measure their performances regarding their businesses activities. In reality, one cannot commonly assume that the companies that are putting more money in into the societal projects are more socially productive than those the smaller companies that do everything under their capability to cut down the carbon footprint. May be one of the best ways to compare Corporate Social Responsibility is by taking the whole industry in general and compare the results nation to nation to have a view of how the local policies have been affected or to evaluate the nations’ industry to industry. Thus, as a group we have decided to tackle this project regarding the biggest industries in the construction sector in terms of revenue. According to the perception that I hold, these companies should actually set a good example that the industry should indeed follow (Carroll,1979).
Conclusion:
There is no doubt that Corporate Social Responsibility in the building and construction industry is improving, but comparing it with other industries, its attitude towards Corporate Social Responsibility is mediocre at its best. Research has indicated that due to the importance of the industry‘s impacts in terms of social, environmental and economic sustainability, there is a considerable and adequate need for absolute quality research which investigates the drivers and barriers towards the establishment and implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility in the construction and building industry across these three dimensions and beyond.
Works cited:
CARROLL, A. B (1979); A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance; Academy of Management Review 4 (4), 497-505.
