MANAGEMENT

Contemporary Issues in Management

Contemporary Issues in Management

Introduction

Nowadays in every business organization around the word, we hear about the importance of ethical behaviour, but most importantly we listen about the code of ethics which define and make obligatory the respect of ethical behaviour.

Ethics can be defined as moral values and principals. It is a decision of choosing the right among wrong and right. Business ethics are that functions which leads to choosing right decision at the right time which leads for the welfare of not only business owners but also society, consumers, stakeholders and its employees. Business ethics now days have become so important that no business can survive in the market without following them (Tanri, 2004, Pp. 42).

Discussion

'Corporate Social Responsibility' (CSR) refers to a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model, which usually involves active compliance with the law, ethical standards, and international norms. This theory aims to achieve positive impacts on the environment, consumers, employees, and the communities. Under the force of globalization, this theory has been challenged by the diminishing different roles of the government and firms, especially when the power of multinational companies is rising.

An important pillar that supports the ethics is the social responsibility. Its philosophy is based on utilitarianism, where it holds the idea that if an action it would be made by different entities, it would be made for the purpose of the most benefit for the larger number of people. Consequently we can see that social responsibility encourage altruism rather than egoism, so a manager in an organization should not only think for its benefit and see the companies only as an entities where he can benefit for his own purpose, but should measure his action also with in mind that he is doing the greatest good toward his customer, stakeholders, stockholders and employee.

Theory of Corporate Social Responsibility

The idea of CSR first arose in 1953 when it was first become an academic topic in H.R. Bowen's “Social Responsibilities of the Business”. Since then, there has been continuous debate of the concept and its implementation. Although the idea has existed more than half a century, there is still no consensus over its definition.

One of the most contemporary definitions is from the World Bank Group, stating “Corporate social responsibility is the commitment of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development by working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their lives in ways that are good for business and for development”

We all know that the basis of this concept lies in that, corporations, whether small or large, should be responsible for our society since they are also actors of the social institutions, but in what aspects they are responsible for and how far should this responsibility be are not clearly defined in the definition. This ambiguity undoubtedly gives rise to problems since a desirable scope of businesses' commitment can be subjected to various interpretations by different social actors (Price, 2008, ...