Table of Contents
Introduction
2
Environmental considerations
2
Ethical leadership and recommendations
4
Sustainability consideration and recommendations
5
Legal and Regulatory Considerations and recommendations
7
Conclusion
7
References
9
The following paper is based on a company called D-mac Solutions, a company that deals with home-based cleaning agents. D-mac is a multi-million dollar, leading electronic company, having grown from its inception in Taegu, Korea in the year 1938. It started off as a small business, but now it has grown while specializing in cleaning-agents products such as home-based products. These products have been extremely popular with the people due to their fair prices and high quality. D-mac has been taking advantage of the global, technological advancements, thus responding with advanced innovations, products, and technologies that have enabled it to keep a competitive edge against its competitors.
Leadership ethics will be discussed through identifying aspects of ethical leadership and deeper insights of ethical codes. Rules of social responsibility will also be analyzed together with green management. The aim of the discussion will be to recommend to the company best measures that will boost its social responsibility both now and the future. Also, discussed will be state legislations, which will be advanced through an explanation of requirements essential in judging whether an organization is socially responsible.
Environmental considerations
The organization needs to consider green management so that it can ensure that government and industry standards of environmental management are followed (Heal, 2009). This can only be achieved by finding the most appropriate approach of implementing environmental objectives that are socially responsible. The organizational, strategic plans need to incorporate the issue of green management in all its processes. The government and the industries have set some standards to guide all organizations in ensuring that they are socially responsible when it comes to their processes and activities. They all expect that companies, industries, and organizations should generate products that are not pollutants to the environment. They also emphasize on the need to incorporate green production even in the processes that are followed during production of goods (Heal, 2009). The corporations are expected to publish reports that detail their impacts on the environments, and an example of this aspect is Shell that always publishes a report on greenhouse gases reduction.
There is a stepwise way used to plan and implement socially responsible environmental goals for an organization. Being a company that deals with cleaning agents, there are many aspects of environmental ethics that it must consider. For example, it can include green marketing, green packaging, and production of green products as the main strategies. The product can be successful in penetrating the highly competitive industry through affordable pricing and advertising strategies coupled with a green- product philosophy (Heal, 2009). D-mac Solutions can beat other big giants through an increased focus on fantastic packaging and advertising of the product. Green cleaning agents are made using recyclable, chemical-free, non-toxic, and eco-friendly ingredients derived from recycled materials and packaged in recyclable containers. Technological developments and innovation continue to sustain the growth and development of this industry although false green claim continue to taint the fantastic image of the industry (Lawrence & Weber 2010). This can be reduced by the recent regulations on registrations for eco- labels that the government has put in place for clients to make proper choices when purchasing products. The company should forge its marketing strategy to highlight its environmental efforts so that the message can reach many customers who can appreciate such efforts. Skepticism among customers’ needs to be removed by the genuineness of the company management since their green claim will not be false (Sometimes the public can discover that the product or service is not indeed green. This is usually referred to as green washing) (Heal, 2009). In the future, it seems that businesses and organizations will not base green marketing only on making enormous profits; rather, owners and managers will be more concerned with taking responsibility to preserve the environment even as they satisfy customer needs.
Ethical leadership and recommendations
In D-mac Solutions, there should be a greater emphasis on ethical leadership, together with ethical codes. Managers should show various personal ethics in their deliberation of duties, and organizational ethics should be emphasized. The main personal values and elements that a manager can use for leadership purposes are integrity, honesty and moral conduct (Heal, 2009). These aspects of personal ethics are very important since they include how someone carries on with his/ her private life. Integrity refers to an internal system of moral principles that usually affect people’s behavior. Integrity cannot be viewed as an obligation since it is a choice usually reflected by upbringing and experiences. Integrity refers to loyalty, maturity, respect, trust, wisdom, and compassion. Honesty also plays a crucial role in personal, ethical behavior since it reflects in people’s deeds. Intellectual honesty refers to the policy of being honest in how one grasps reality and his continual improvement of knowledge at a personal level (Lawrence & Weber 2010). Social honesty refers to how one becomes honest whenever he is dealing with others in the society. Honesty helps people to build trust with other people in relationships. Morality is another crucial aspect of personal ethics since it refers to the process of evaluating one’s conduct to know whether it is correct or bad (Heal, 2009).
There are certain elements that can easily influence ethical leadership in the organization. Sometimes the managers may encounter some situations that may subconsciously make them susceptible to compromising their leadership ethics. For example, the organization may start running at a loss, and the easiest way to curtail the downward trend would be using low quality packages and products. However, this is not ethical leadership, and managers must desist from such temptations. Unethical practices may seem to be the easiest ways out of a fix, but eventually it will negatively impact on the image of the organization (Heal, 2009). This is why this organization needs to construct a code of ethics that should guide leaders and other stakeholders in ensuring they do not break its rules. The construction of the code of ethics must encompass all areas of the business processes. Different people should be involved in the construction of the code of ethics so that different ideas can be pondered upon before the final implementation.
Sustainability consideration and recommendations
The organization should undertake several measures to ensure that it guards the welfare of the society as a whole while maintaining its profitable businesses (Lawrence & Weber, 2010). The company needs to be involved in solving social problems in the community. This may be done through assisting the society in charities, education and arts. For example, it can participate in creating new infrastructures for elementary schools around the areas of its operations. It should show concern for local programs that are meant to assist people in the surrounding areas. By lifting the standards of living for the community, the company will manage to maintain a base of loyal customers. This will be a benefit to the company because loyal customers usually become repeat customers thus boosting the company’s business to even higher levels (Heal, 2009).
In addition, the organization should recognize the fact that it will gain respect for environmental aspects of its operations since the society and the country as a whole usually depend on natural resources (Lawrence & Weber, 2010). That is why it will continue taking up measures to ensure there is extreme reduction of environmental pollution. Furthermore, due to the heavy trucks that the organization uses, it needs to ensure that they do not bend transportation rules, an act that would lead to destruction of the surrounding infrastructures. It may also take up sensitization measures to create awareness of the use of biodegradable materials in production. All these measures will ensure that D-mac Solutions becomes socially responsible through all its programs, procedures, and practices, thus maintaining sustainability.
Other acts of corporate responsibility involving donations, sponsorship, and charities ensure that D-mac Solutions creates and maintains an impeccable image among the people (Lawrence & Weber 2010). The acts of social responsibility seem to be very effective in ensuring customer loyalty since most customers and stakeholders have continued to support the company throughout the years. The company will then succeed in gaining a competitive advantage over other competitors. This is because the organization’s reputation needs to be enhanced since customers usually go for the company that is socially responsible. Social responsibility will ensure that the company also succeeds in getting very positive press coverage and investors have become very interested in financing the organization. Therefore, each and every implementation of social responsible programs will impact positively on the company as a whole. These procedures and policies will foster organizational ethics for D-mac Solutions and it will enhance socially responsible corporate behavior (Lawrence & Weber, 2010).
Legal and Regulatory Considerations and recommendations
There are various legal and regulatory requirements to determine whether organizations meet legal responsibilities and act with social responsibility. The government is essential in regulating the social responsibility of different businesses. For example, it recognizes that good business is not all that a company needs, rather, a company needs to have a wider focus rather than just the business circle (Lawrence & Weber 2010). This is where corporate social responsibility plays a role. In the earlier days, the government viewed sustainability as a means of preserving the natural resources on the earth (Heal, 2009). However, nowadays the government is emphasizing on both economic and environmental sustainability through a focus on social responsibility among the companies. In the earlier years, corporations, organizations and companies were allowed to have self- regulations when it came to social responsibilities. However, government has, over the years, increased its participation in the issues to do with corporate social responsibility in organizations.
One of the ways that ensures that companies act as socially responsible entities is by indicating in their annual reports the extent to which they contributed to socially responsible projects (Heal, 2009). The government usually draws enough interest in such reports because they explain if every stakeholder is working towards creating a better environment. For example, Shell always indicates all the elements it sets up to ensure that it remains a socially responsible company. This way, the government can easily know if all corporations or organizations are meeting their legal responsibilities, while acting with social responsibility.
Conclusion
The above paper is based on the issue of social responsibility, based on the company called D-mac Solutions. The paper has described leadership ethics, and it has also identified the influences on ethical leadership and analyzes the construction of a code of ethics. Being a company that deals with cleaning agents, there are many aspects of environmental ethics that it must consider. For example, it can include green marketing, green packaging and production of green products as the main strategies. Leadership ethics has been discussed through identifying aspects of ethical leadership and deeper insights of ethical codes. Rules of social responsibility were analyzed together with green management. The aim of the discussion was also to recommend to the company best measures that will boost its social responsibility both now and the future. Also, discussed were state legislations, which were advanced through an explanation of requirements essential in judging whether an organization is socially responsible. Therefore, for a company to be ranked as a top social responsible entity it has to consider all the issues discussed and recommended. Generally, the company has to be involved in solving social problems in the community, which may be through assisting the society in charities, education and arts.
Heal, G. (2008). When principles pay: Corporate social responsibility and the bottom line. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lawrence, A; Weber, J. (2010) "Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy", (13th ed). Illinois: Irwin Professional Publishing.
