Ethical behavior is one of the key factors that determine the success of a business. Ethics need to be maintained in all levels of business organization starting with the top level management to the senior most employees. Chapter 9 of the book Managing Business Ethics focuses on corporate social responsibility. There are various reasons why an organization should be involved in corporate social responsibility; the reasons include ethical, pragmatic and strategic reasons.
Every organization has a corporate responsibility to all the stakeholders involved. The face of a business is judged by how it treats its stakeholders. The existence of business depends on how it uses its powers. The powers have to be used in a responsible way putting into consideration all the stakeholders involved. Under the pragmatic reason, managers should analyze the business environment both internal and external to ensure that there is a responsible business operation. The strategic reason puts more concern on the external business environment. The society determines the growth and success of a business. If a business cannot treat the society it operates in well, growth is not guaranteed. A healthy society is an indicator of business growth. Each business should focus on the strategic reasons for ensuring social responsibility, it should however be based on the line of operation that a business is involved indifferent department such as the human resources department have to be on the forefront in ensuring that a business is able to have proper social responsibilities strategies.CSR strategies can be used to keep a business ahead in market competition, people prefer a business that puts into consideration their welfare. More focus should be put on the strategic reason s rather than the pragmatic ones.
Corporate responsibility is categorized into various categories. They include legal, economic, ethical and philanthropic. Economic responsibility is basically the production of good and services to the customers. The mandate of any business and the first focus is on the customers, unless customer satisfaction in terms of production is met, the business will have failed. There are other economic responsibilities such as payment of tax. Once this responsibility has been met, the business is able to fulfill other responsibilities easily. The legal responsibility concerns the government and business laws that govern the business. The laws are used to govern market competition and create a conducive business environment. Business laws change in different regions depending on the governing bodies. There are other internal laws that govern internal business operations. Ethical responsibilities form the largest scope of corporate social responsibility. Business ethics extends to the various business operations such as marketing whereby the advertisement have to be suitable to the viewer. Philanthropic ethical responsibilities extend a business’s involvement in social activities. A business is parts of a society and needs to be involved in humanitarian activities which are very important in building a business name. Triple bottom-line and environmental sustainability are also other methods that are used in corporate social responsibility. Many businesses are involved in projects that promote a sustainable environment. The environment is experiencing alarming threats from the development that is taking place globally; many businesses have focused on sustainable development and environmental conservation projects. There is always a reward in adapting social responsibility in the operations of any business. The rewards of engaging in CSR are experienced by the business and this contributes to business growth.
Work Cited
Treviño, Linda Klebe, and Katherine A. Nelson. Managing business ethics: straight talk about how to do it right. New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 1995. Print.
