Social and ethical responsibilities in business
Social responsibility is an ethical theory, which requires individuals or corporations to be accountable and fulfill their civic duties. Individuals or corporations actions must be of benefit to the whole society. For social responsibility to take place, there must be a balance between the environment, welfare of the society, and economic growth (Davis, 1960). Once the maintenance of this equilibrium is achieved, social responsibility is achieved. Social responsibility is build on an ethics system whereby decisions and actions are required ethical approval before proceeding (Freeman, 2001). If a decision or action can result in harming the environment or society, it is considered as socially irresponsible. Moral values that are deeply rooted in the society define what is wrong or right, however, very often this “fairness” is absent. Every corporate has a responsibility to act in a manner that would benefit the society instead of solely benefiting themselves.
This paper analyzes the social responsibility issues facing company Q. Company Q is a small grocery store chain in a major metropolitan area. The store has recently started offering a very limited amount of health-conscience and organic products, all which are high margin products. Business’s responsibility to customers is a critical issue in business today. Customers look up to businesses to provide them with satisfying and safe products and to respect their rights as their customers (Jensen, 2001). Activities that businesses, groups, and individuals undertake in order to uphold consumer's rights are known as consumerism (Solomon, 1992). Company Q lacks consumerism, an important aspect for every business including establishing customer loyalty.
The area’s food bank requests company Q to donate day-old products but the management declines deciding to throw the food away instead. Community relations are a very significant issue for business concerning their social responsibilities to the communities’ they operate in general’s welfare. Many businesses strive to want to make their communities better places to work and live (Friedman, 1970). The manager’s refusal to donate day-old products to the community shows lack of concern for the community hence lack of community relations.
Company Q’s manager cites worries over lost revenues because of possible fraud and stealing by the employees who might claim they are donating the food. Employee relations are also an important aspect in a business’s social responsibility (Hoffman, 1995). A businesses responsibility’ to its employees is important because, without employees, business is unable to carry out its goal (Donaldson, 1995). Employees expect the business owners to provide a safe workplace, adequate pay, hearing of their grievances, and fair treatment. Most organizations recognize the satisfaction of their employees as a crucial ingredient to the businesses success (Vogel, 2004). The possible fraud and theft accusation company Q’s manager makes against his employees may be because of the employees poor pay. The employees may be unsatisfied in their workplace hence resulting to stealing money and store products, which is a moral issue (Watson, 1996). The employees have a moral issue of being accountable for the actions in the store. The fact that the manager speculates as to why the store is losing its revenue leads us to conclude that the employees are not adequate in their ethical and moral responsibility of accountability.
For a business to carry out its social responsibilities the decision has to be made by everyone in the company, the leaders and the employees (Bird, 2005). Company Q’s manager should implement customer relations by introducing a variety of health conscience and organic foods in order to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty. He should apply his duties in community relations by agreeing to donate the day-old products to the society. This donation will assist those in need in the society and increase the social credibility of the store (Alford, 2002). Lastly, the manager should focus on the stores employee relations by ensuring the employees are satisfied and motivated in the workplace. He should improve their wages and create a good working environment as this will also promote the employees moral responsibilities (Strawson, 1962).
Conclusion
The business is a part of the society or a set of societies; therefore, it has various social responsibilities. A business bears a moral responsibility that is integrated with the other required responsibilities to all the companies’ stakeholders (Wheeler, 2003). These set of responsibilities serve to legitimize an organization, in this case company Q, as a moral agent. It also allows an organization to adopt a point or have a case and a vote in social dialog, as conflicts among social responsibilities is a fact and legitimate.
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