So as to bring about trust and order in a market, organizations should draft laws that make individuals accountable for every action. Ethical behaviors expect one to not only abide by the set rules but also relate peacefully with those around him/her. In a society, when individuals only aim at observing what is legal and do not practice the ethical bit of it then it is in a mess. Its imperative to observe that not all drafted laws are ethically acceptable. For business individuals lack of managerial ethics in today’s competitive business results to fall of business ventures. In most organizations, the application of certain principles and liability interactions begin with the management. Through observing what other people do individuals espouse from others the values and standards. Organizations require ethical measures so as to avoid lawsuits, attract new customers, avoiding losing their customers, be in good relations with the society, employees, and the customers as well as maintain a good reputation (Ferrell & Ferrell 2013).
An organization with set ethical standards ensures that there is controlled behavior among the staff through penalizing of wrongdoers so as to avoid legal punishment and other interventions. Compliance-based ethics enable an organization ensure that the law is at par all the time. Integrity based ethics on the other hand set the guidelines making the organization run with ease. Organization management is required to ensure that there is a code of conduct that the employees should abide by. So as to ensure proper observation of the organization’s code of conduct, managers are required to hire professionals who set the organization’s ethical standards as well as train the employees on fundamentals of business ethics.
In line with reputable ethical standards an organization should encompass good relations with all its stakeholders by committing to the basic principles of respect, fairness and integrity. Through the employment of corporate responsibility activities and actions individuals are able to successfully compete and achieve their main goals in business. The position of professionals in is greater than just budding victors in the marketplace. They are also required to ensure that the society surrounding the organization equally benefits. Organization are presented with manpower as well as resources that stirs the organizations success, these resources are readily available in environments within which this organizations operate, it is therefore the role of organization management to ensure that the societies with which they operate from improves. At the end of it all it’s the organization that emerges with much gain through profit.
Among the social activities that organizations get involved in are charitable donations, initiatives such as enhancing traditional philanthropy, hiring members from the society from within where the business operates, controlling some of the environment degrading activities such as pollution, and carefully structuring its corporate policy in cases where there is need for opinion on some issues. Despite wide adoption of CSR policies it’s of great concern on how effective and the goals required to be achieved as well as the measures in place to ensure its success (Ferrell & Ferrell 2013).
With the growth of businesses in the world today, the idea of enhancing the image of a business is gaining momentum. The main challenge faced in implementation of social responsibility is visible when understanding the economic and the ethical aspect of this exercise. These two phenomenons affect lives in one way or the other and are applied in life more oftenly, it’s however vital that on understands them (Gulyás 2011). The implementation of CSR programs is mainly dependent on the combination of this phenomenon as well as the tangible and intangible frameworks they bring fourth. The way a company perceives its ethical social responsibility activity has a key role in determining its success. Many theories exists as far as CSR is concerned making it possible for individuals to understand the various dimensions an ideal CSR program.
Communication of CSR activities enables the company to improve its reputation significantly. Carrying out CSR activities is an organizations obligation and its thus of great importance that the society be aware of the activities being carried out. Since they are the beneficiaries of the programs being implemented it’s the duty of organization management to alert them of the on goings through any suitable medium (Tsetsura 2008). This acts as proof of CSR development concepts enabling trust and loyalty from the society from which the company operates. Depending on the location and government policies the medium of reporting should be able to communicate the strategies the organization is undertaking and its intended benefit.
By effectively understanding the stakeholders an organization is able to realize improvement in its activities since there will be existence of a good relationship enabling improved financial performance through the creation of intangible values. A business should identify the stakeholders and engulf their values in it decision on operation and expansion. Stakeholders should be considered as associates whose contribution provides alternatives towards the success of the organization (Sims 2003).
One of the fundamental ethics of a business is its ability to uphold its reputation throughout, it’s however not easy to understand the various standards that companies set so as to sustain the good image. The values organizations maintain differ and don’t necessarily explain the actual meaning as stated. The unequivocal business values identified include; modernization, joint effort, reverence and integrity. Through this each individual in organization is able to supplement the other when it comes to carrying out duties and responsibilities (Welker, Partridge & Hardin 2011). Innovation and teamwork acts to some extend as essential tools for providing the general overview of the moral code of a business.
The ethical aspect of CSR in organizations has economic benefits for both the company, the society from which it operates and the nation at large. It also plays a strategic role in the leadership of organizations as well as its competitiveness in the market (Guyer 2011). It’s therefore evident that the concepts secret behind the whole aspect of social responsibility is to gain economically. Organizations should engage stakeholder’s oftenly so as to be able to understand ways of collaboration to enable mutual gaining as well as progress through the support the stakeholders provide. Organizations ensure that they operate within the set rules. As a customer one has the right to receive service or product worth his/her money, right to be well-versed about relevant features of a product, a right to choose what they buy, be heard, be educated about purchases and a right to courteous service (Wines 1999). An organization that observes its codes of ethics ensures sanity in the market barring others from bringing out unfair competition. Increased attention is given to proper phrasing of the words by outlining who the advertisement is directed, contents of correspondence, and proper cataloging, as well as to avoiding ethically abhorrent advertisements (Leadbeater2000).
References
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Guyer, J. I. (2011). Blueprints, Judgment, and Perseverance in a Corporate Context. Current Anthropology, 52(3), S17-S27. doi: 10.1086/65789
Welker, M., Partridge, D. J., & Hardin, R. (2011). Corporate Lives: New Perspectives on the Social Life of the Corporate Form. Current Anthropology, 52(3), S3-S16. doi:10.1086/657907
Gulyás, Á. (2011). Demons into Angels? Corporate Social Responsibility and Media Organisations. Critical Survey, 23(2), 56-74. doi:10.3167/cs.2011.230205
Tsetsura, K. (2008). Hierarchical Approach to Corporate Advocacy: Corporate Advocacy as a Way of Guilt Redemption. KB Journal, 5(1), 3.
Leadbeater, C. (2000). Why it pays to be good (eventually). New Statesman, 129(4476), 26
Sims, R. R. (2003). Ethics and corporate social responsibility: Why giants fall. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger.
Keinert, C. (2008). Corporate social responsibility as an international strategy. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag.
Griseri, P., & Seppala, N. (2010). Business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Wines, W. A. (1999). Readings in business ethics and social responsibility. Dubuque, Kendall/Hunt Pub.