Businesses and Social Sustainability - Assignment Example

Business and Society Why businesses should be concerned or not concerned with the social sustainability Social sustainability is a very vast spread term, which covers a variety of areas, or we can say fields of interest. It may includes community development, human rights, social corporate responsibility, labor rights, social justice and many other such things which actually involves society and the human beings living in the society. Socially sustainable company will outperform in the industry along with the competing firms. For a maintained growth and development, there is a need of social sustainability along with the economical and environmental sustainability. Many authors are of the opinion that usually firms and large organizations focus on economic and environmental sustainability but they usually miss social sustainability (Freeman 2005). A community is not just about the environment rather the people living in the community are also of equal importance. The importance of social environment of any community or the organization is equally important as the physical environment of that particular community. Therefore, the companies should consider the social sustainability among its top focus priorities. It is one of the basic pillars for the social development in the society (Freeman 2005). A socially sustainable business definitely means a business, which is good in its operations and other related areas. By adopting the social sustainability practices, a business actually mitigates or reduces the amount of possible risks. These risks can be associated with the social and human issues related to the activities of the organization. For example if I have a site for my business which is unsafe for the labor working over here then it means that I am not fulfilling my responsibility of being socially sustainable. The worst situation will occur, if the workers may face any contingency because of that unsafe building. Therefore, we can say that a true sense of social sustainability is very much important and necessary for the company to be effective in the community. All of us are very much familiar with the term of work place ethics. The work place ethics may include all the ethical and moral values and codes of conducts, which must be fulfilled whenever we are working in any organization. If we consider the work place ethics from managerial point of view, then the provision of healthy and safe work place environment is also the responsibility of the managers. The work place or the working site should be designed in a way that people may not feel any hazard or harm in working here. This is the whole and sole responsibility of the managers or we can say the organization itself is responsible for the provision of such an efficient and comfortable environment. This may also come under the umbrella of social sustainability. A clean and healthy work place environment is the actual right of every employee working in the organization. Human rights are the most important factor, which should be considered for being a socially sustainable company. A socially sustainable organization is very much famous in the customers. We can witness the advertisements, which are more relevant to the attitudes, and behaviors are more popular as compare to the advertisements, which only depicts the product features and the company or brand name. Similarly, the organizations who consider community and the people prior to their own company and employees are also appreciated in the society. There are many organizations who focus on the recycling, green marketing and many such issues, which are related directly to the health of the community and the citizens. All of these concerns come under the social sustainability. In short, words, we can say that a company should be socially sustainable; this will be good for the company. Lack of cultural understanding 21st century is actually an era of globalization. The true meaning of globalization means the use of all the possible resources without any restriction of geographical boundaries between the countries. These resources may include any type even some times human resources are also included in the list. The globalized movement of human capital is the most effective tool to utilize it and then taking benefit of it. Sometimes people themselves go out of their own boundaries and in some other situations companies themselves search for the globalized labor. In both situations, the people or we can say the human capital should be capable enough to get fully absorbed in the host country or the culture. This will be beneficial for them because they may get use to the culture where they have to work (Molinsky 2012). For this purpose, there is need of full understanding of different cultures, their values, moral codes, ethics, and many other traditions, which might help any person to be settled there. There is a variety of cultures prevailing in the world. A person should have a command over different cultures if he or she wants to work out of the geographical boundary. Another important reason is that there is a possibility that the host culture may not accept us unless we may not speak in their native languages. Not only language but there is many other characteristics of any particular culture, which are important to be noted and adopted before entering into any culture (Rachel 1993). There is another important issue that is cross cultural conflicts. There are certain situations where the reason behind a huge conflict is nothing more than any cultural code or value. It is true that many organizational conflicts just arise because of the difference in the thinking, perceptions, life styles and behaviors of the people. These conflicts are small in size when they originate but they may grow larger as the time passes. The reason behind the conflict is only the difference in the culture of two individuals. In order to avoid any such situation, we must have a strong grip over understanding of different cultures. This will help us to get a strong position in our professional lives. An important advantage of cross-cultural understanding is the mutual sense of productivity. This may give us a sense of cultural awareness. We can learn and adopt newer things, ideas and many other things from any new culture. The globalization of human capital may also open up new and beneficial opportunities and chances across the borders. People are free to avail these opportunities and thus gaining a bright future. However, before doing all this, people must have a proper and true cultural understanding of that particular place. In this way, their settlement in the culture will become easy. These days there is a famous term called cultural diversity in the organizations. This means that different people from different countries are gathered under one roof just for the sake of working for that particular company. This may refer towards the gathering of expertise from different areas. The cultural diversity may also bring innovativeness and creativity in the organization. This cultural diversity is the most beneficial and effective tool for the growth and development of the organization. Here the most important thing is the mutual understanding of all the people from different cultures. The company manager may hire people from different countries according to their expertise and skill sets but what can be the result if these people do not understand each other. They may not get use to this cultural diversity. Ultimately, their behaviors and attitudes will be affected because they may not feel any type of comfort with other people. In order to avoid all such situations, there is a need that people may understand of different cultural values and ethics so that they may not feel any disrespect or any other problem in the settlement with new people. In short words we can say that cultural diversity is good for the companies and the individuals but if the employees lack the cultural understanding then this beneficial thing may turn into a worst situation, affecting the company and the people. ‘Teamwork’ the most valued feature in the future professional life There are many values and ethical codes, which are very much helpful, or we can say influential in the professional life of any person. One of these influential values in professional life is team work. According to my opinion, if any person does not believe on team making and the ultimate team working then he might not be able to get success efficiently. Whenever we are working in any organizational setting then it means that we are a part of a complete set up. Our each single action is related to the organization and the organizational members. For effective and efficient organizational working or we can say output, there is always a need of teamwork by all the organizational members (Career Planning Workbook 2000). A true team work always mean a sense of unity, a feeling of synergy, mutual motivation towards achieving organizational goal, common interests and responsibilities, mutual targets and many more such things which actually engage any person in a group or a team. Any organizational activity or operation is very efficient and effective if there is a true team work behind it. A team has the true potential to do any task in a better way. Any team can perform hundred times better than an individual person can. I personally feel that there are several areas where only teamwork can be effective. We can say that teamwork is actually beneficial for the companies. There is a true saying that a sum total is always better than the individual parts. It is the case with teamwork, it is better to count all the individuals as one team rather counting them individually. Another bright side of teamwork is that any team can combine the best expertise of different areas in a group. Any single person cannot have many capabilities at a time. Any organization may need several types of expertise and skills for the completion of their tasks and operations. If all the organizational members are working in a team then their collaborative efforts will definitely reap fruits for the managers and for the employees. Many researchers are of the opinion that a sense of teamwork may also reduce the hierarchal levels of any organization. There will be a participative style of decision making. Every individual member of the organization may feel privileged just because his or her voice is considered important while decision making. Here reduced hierarchy level does not mean at all that authority or power is also delegated or distributed. Rather only all the team members are given a chance to give opinion or the higher officials take advice before any final decision. This participative decision-making is only possible because of the teamwork and the loyalty of the members towards the organizational goals. I have witnessed many occasions where any task is only possible because there is a whole teamwork behind the project. Not all the big tasks, projects and operations are possible without the presence of the true spirit of teamwork. A true teamwork is actually a set of multiple task killers. Here I mean to say that while building any effective team, we can select the people who are the experts in their own particular fields. Their expertise and skills can benefit the whole team and in general or vast terms, we can say benefit the whole organization. People may even get more motivation and passionate behavior by observing the other team members. The most important benefit of working in any team is the friendly work place environment, which is actually created just because of the behavior of the team members. The teamwork may also increase the learning opportunities of all the people working in any team. Another important thing is that the whole pressure of the activities and the operations may not fall on any single person rather all the team members must have to suffer it. Another important and prominent feature of the teamwork is the synergy of all the team members. They all share mutual goals, ideas and motivations. This may create a sense of similarity among them. This similarities and equality feeling helps them a lot when working in a team. References: Freeman, E, 2005, “A Stakeholder Theory of The Modern corporation”, Perspectives in Business Ethics, Page no 112-122. Rachels, J 1993, “Challenge of Cultural Relativism”, Elements of Moral Philosophy, 2nd edition, chapter 2, page 15-29. Molinsky, A, 2012, “Codes switching Between Cultures, Harvard Business review, Vol. 90, No. 1, page 139-143. “Career Planning Workbook; A Sustainable Society and a fulfilling life”, Business and Society, University of South Australia. Read More