Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility refers to an organization’s ability to assess and accept responsibility for the systemic impact on the social protection and health of individuals and the environment. The term’s context has grown over time to encompass a corporation’s efforts to maintain and retain a balance between the atmosphere, economy, and social dimensions vital to meeting the expectations of the relevant stakeholders. It may also be described as an organization’s attempt to give back to society. Social responsibility does not only include obliging to the legal requirements but also the extent to which a company goes towards investing in environmental administration, human capital as well as in the relationships with stakeholders. CSR also entails all the company responsibilities towards the society other than wealth maximization of the stakeholders. Therefore, CSR can be described as a corporate citizenship excluding some initial costs focused on promoting positive social changes.

The responsibilities range from ethics, legal and discretionary.

Corporate social responsibility has evolved to be a powerful management tool. A company characterized by strong corporate social responsibility policies is guaranteed in achieving competitive advantage. In summary, CSR is the general accountability of an organization towards to the society. Through CSR, a company can reflect and analyze its business trends and conduct in all areas of its operations. CSR is a useful tool through which organization manages social interface (Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010).

Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI)

CSI is the opposite of CSR. Therefore, it refers to an organization’s failure to act responsibly. CRI is a situation or condition where things do not turn out as expected concerning the environment and probability aspect of the corporation. The primary focus of CSI is centered on those companies whose actions do not comply with the ethical commitments and legal requirements.

There exists a direct connection between corporate social irresponsibility and unethical behavior practices of business. Moreover, the failure to meet the marketing, management and societal expectations. Some of the most common examples of CSR include workplace discrimination, human rights violations.

Other forms of corporate social irresponsibility include inappropriate price-fixing strategies, providing the customer with inaccurate or incorrect information about services or products, and use of unfair selling strategies. For corporations to address the actions linked to CRS and CRI, it is important to overcome and address those challenges affecting the communication between the stakeholders by ensuring that it is transparent.

Issue of CSR and CSI

I believe and advocate for corporations taking their responsibilities when conducting the managerial and business activities. No corporation has the right to ignore its obligations irrespective of its environment or status of its stakeholders in an attempt to maximize their profit. Stakeholders comprise those parties who are directly involved and concerned with the corporation’s objectives, actions, and policies. Employees, unions, the government, creditors, and suppliers are examples of stakeholders that corporations derive their resources.

Stakeholders form an integral part of any company since it is considered as a driving force. An organization is expected to take responsibility towards managing the profit of its stakeholders while undertaking or overseeing the success of any project. Such should be observed because a company has a direct responsibility towards its stakeholders for all its activities it executes. Whenever a company fails or ignores its social obligations, then the company will be considered or labeled as that which practices corporate social irresponsibility.

Despite the fact that CSR is a well-known practice by many corporations across the world, there are those organizations that are still found irresponsibly conducting themselves towards the society and environment. The small sized corporations in Romania have been known not to observe CSR. Those in charge of these small-sized companies have been found to only focus on surviving in the market other than developing and establishing strong CSR policy (Popa, & Salanta, 2014).

The most effective strategy that companies have adopted to ensure that they conform to the CSR policies and principles involves the integration of social responsibilities with the core business strategies. For any organization to be termed as socially responsible, the primary focus would involve taking into consideration the interests of the stakeholders which should incorporate those concerned with the environment and society. A corporate cannot be classified as socially responsible by performing voluntary programs and donations.

False advertising and safety violations are examples of CSI that a corporation could engage. In 2010, Ireland recorded several forms of CSI that various corporations were identified to have taken part in, such as opportunities behavior, and pitiless pursue on the value of stakeholders.

CSR was a result of modern activist that took place in the United States in the 1960s. In addition, the need for the environment and the consumer movement shaping the business world towards CSR against unethical behavior. CSI is a condition that corporations should address through the implementation of code of ethics that upholds the rights of employees and stakeholders. Managers of various corporations should serve as a good example through their leadership to avoid unethical issues.

References

Lindgreen, A., & Swaen, V. (2010). Corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 1-7.

Popa, M., & Salanta, I. (2014). Corporate social responsibility versus corporate social irresponsibility. Management & Marketing, 9(2), 137.