ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Social Responsibility of Managers

Introduction

Business organization is an organization that provides good or services in order to earn profit. Indeed, the prospect of earning profit is the different between a business's revenues and its expenses that is what encourages people to open and to expand business. The principal purpose of a company is not to make a profit. We have to eat to live, but if we live to eat we become distorted in more senses than one. In ethics, to make the means for the ends is to be turned in on oneself, one of the worst sins. So, in my opinion, business organization in today's society cannot avoid defining some socially responsible role for itself.(Cardy, 1994)

Discussion

Social responsibility is the managerial obligation to take action that protects and improves both the welfare of society as a whole and interests of the organization means, not an end. We have sought to demonstrate social responsibility ourselves, and hope through education to inspire other businesses and organizations to examine social responsibility. Business organizations operate in a context that is much broader than just their immediate marketplace. Their activities have social, economic and political consequences whose impact may be felt on a local, national or even international scale. Even small, local businesses have a large social impact collectively. Stakeholders - customers, suppliers, employees, the local community; in fact everyone who comes into contact with a business - have the right to demand accountability. Dimensions of social responsibility encompass: how the business uses human resources, the extent of community involvement, and the environment impact of the business, an analysis of the product or services the business produces. To be socially responsible, a business must have a clear, rational definition of social purpose, a system of setting priorities based on their social implications, and a structured, integrated approach to financial and social action. Implicit in social responsibility is a new definition of success for small business.(Charlton, 1983)

Area of Social Responsibility

When defining its sense of social responsibility, a firm typically confronts four areas of concern:

Social responsibility towards employees

In the best tradition of participative management, the organization invited all its employees to join in forging a new statement of values to avoid massive layoffs. These included teamwork, mutual respect, and professionalism, all duly inscribed on, among other places, coffee cups at office, so that, "every time you had some coffee, you drank the values, too. Employee's needs must be met if the business itself is to prosper. Relationships of decency and trust are central to the achievement of the business aim. (Drucker, 1991)

Social responsibility towards investors

The views of shareholders / investors might have encouraged for responsibility in business. Stockholders want is for the company to make as much money for them as possible is not necessarily backed by business experience. Indeed, recent developments in the area of ethical investment trusts would seem to indicate that many investors, like employees, are very keen to feel good about the firms in which they are ...