Managing Ethics and corporate social responsibility - Essay Example

Managing Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Affiliation Companies have had to deal with the constant bombarding by the governments, activists and the media to be accountable and to ensure that they give back to the community. The organizations are pressured to improve the society and are ranked according to their efforts and the results that can be seen from these activities. Although the companies may not deem this to be justifiable or profitable they have to indulge in these activities since the ranking makes the company attractive and ensures that its reputation grows.

However, as Milton Friedman said “The business of a business is business” and therefore the businesses need to look for a way to make corporate social responsibility to work to their advantage and in turn lead to a profit making venture in the long-run. The pressure from the external entities makes the company to use the corporate social responsibility tool not as a strategic tool for the companies but rather for generic purposes. This means that although the companies will contribute to the welfare of the society the company and the society will not maximize on their gains making the corporate social responsibility tool redundant in this case.

Although Friedman asserts that the main business of a business is to do business that means they are only obligated to make profits there is however the concept of corporate social responsibility where the organizations and companies have to give back to the society. The infrastructure and the different social amenities not to mention the labor that the companies enjoy to succeed are derived from the society. It is therefore important for the companies to look for ways to give back to the society.

The companies need to assess the situation within their given communities and strategize on a need that helps both the community and the business in their need. It is the responsibility of the stakeholders that is the government, community and company to strike a deal and come up with a plan that is beneficial to the company as well as the welfare of the community in the long-run. The companies should however take up the cause voluntarily and not view it as a forced engagement thereby leading to benefits to the company and the community alike.

It is the responsibility of the community to liaise with the company and formulate the best strategies that the company deems fit with the company coming up with the best method to ensure that it has reached out to the members and is looking to make the best out of the CSR program. According to Porter and Kramer there are four arguments that have made the CSR program popular that include: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate and the reputation of the company. Moral obligation argues that the companies have an obligation to its citizens to do a great job and is one of the most important goals for the companies.

The moral obligations to the citizens that make the companies stronger ensure that the company is able to derive its benefit from its relation with the citizens that act as its customers and also the main source of labor for the company. Sustainability is another important in corporate social responsibility since the companies identify the different parts of the society such as environmental causes that may improve the community and the society as a whole. The company may also invest in projects such as improving the infrastructure and the social amenities in the community.

Improving the level of health care and also the social amenities facilities such as stadiums can help in growing the community. The license to operate approach is more complex since the company allows the outside stakeholders to make decisions regarding the corporate social responsibility program that it should implement. The company does this in order to get the consent of the government in projects such as mining where the companies are using the government lands and also the forbearance of the citizenry for projects that may harm the environment.

Chemical emissions and the use of the local resources for production are some of the reasons that a company may engage in corporate social responsibility and give the power to control the programs to the society and the outside stakeholders. This is however tricky since majority of the stakeholders may not have the knowledge or capacity to interpret a company’s need to have competitive advantage. Reputation is also a factor since the companies that are involved in CSR are widely advertised making their products popular among the customers due to their association with helping the society.

The government should monitor the companies to ensure that they are contributing to the society since the lack of supervision may lead the companies to contribute nothing to the communities after all they are in the business of business. However, the government should not adjudicate the activities that the companies should take since there is the concept of competitive advantage that cannot be derived if the company is engaging in projects that have been chosen by the government. The community also has a part to play as they should highlight the different parts of the society needs that they would like to see changed by the company.

The list is scrutinized by the company and a strategic framework formulated to ensure that the community and the company benefit from the selected project. It is important for the government and other parties to stay clear of the projects that are developed by the companies and ensure that they do not interfere for the company to take the responsibility upon themselves and do what they believe to be the most beneficial projects. Relieving the pressure allows the company to strategize and come up with ideas that help the company.

Corporate social responsibility is important to firm performance since the firm gets the community and government support in conducting business. These are very important players in the business as they support the business in developing further and do not create restrictions and objections to the business activities. For instance if a company is in the mining industry the right to mine can only be derived from the government and engaging in CSR encourages the government to give the rights to the company.

There is the issue of labor and other supporting facilities that the company needs which are derived from the community and society as a whole. Corporate social responsibility is becoming more popular with the major companies all over the world giving back to the community in order to gain an edge over their competitors. With the increase in the number of companies and organizations globally corporate social responsibility is a platform that is only going to develop further.