Factors Leading to the Increased Appreciation of Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example

? Management of Introduction Essentially, numerous organizations are in the run to diversify both internal and external operations due to the dynamic nature of industrialization across the globe. It is fundamental to note that, the social demands form the major reason of organization’s need for operational diversification. The aspect of diversification brings the function of the managers into focus. This paper intends to examine how organizations monitor social demands in terms of social response mechanisms that fit diverse situations. The managers are directly associated with all activities that surrounds the organization’s operationalisation. The managers form the largest group that spear head initialization and implementation of proposed programs in various department of any organization. Some of the roles played by the managers include provision of leadership, managing people, managing priorities and safety in the workplaces (Brown, 2004). In fact, competent managers contribute immensely to the success of a business. In relation to contextualized issue of social dynamism, the managers have a special and critical niche to occupy in a bid to achieve the overall goal of achieving a highly rated level of social diversification. Essentially, initialization and implementation of any program should follow the normal managerial process, which involves setting up the work agenda, identifying the work methods and roles, implementing management functions, applying knowledge and key management skills and organizational performance (Weidlich, 2000). A successful application of a managerial process in initializing and implementing a program or a process contributes to achievement of the intended goals. This study establishes that, mangers focus their energies through work agendas when implementing a program (Brown, 2004). The work agendas are intended to address the immediate and long-term responsibilities, which are supported by the organizational plans. Fundamentally, the work agendas are influenced by job demands, job constraints and job choices. The process of building social response mechanism requires the managers to have adequate resources in the industry in question, the product or service, the market, technology and the organizational policies and personalities to some extent. More over, the managers should uphold high standards of managerial ethics. The aspect of social responsibility refers to the commitment of an organization to act with intent of protecting and improving the welfare of a given society. The organizational responsibility entails three key perspectives, which include invisible, and, the government and management hand (Brown, 2004). It is imperative to note that, the process of responding to any social demand requires inclusive participation of the stakeholders, which include the shareholders, employees, customers, local community, international community and the society. The bid by numerous organizations to embrace diversification in social demands and relevant response mechanisms revolve around critical societal matters related to health, education, technology, culture, environment and ways of generation of income (Hunnicutt, 2000). To define social responsibility in relation to the environment the basis of social paradigm in systems is a fundamental component for consideration. It is imperative to note that, organizations secure numerous resources and release outputs to the society in a bid to strengthen the economic and social milieu (Brown, 2004). On how to respond to the social demands through building of social response mechanism, a corporate social responsibility should take the epicenter of all events. This is the origin of the intended solutions for social demands attributed to an organization. Corporate social responsibility (CRS) can be referred to as the corporate accountability or corporate ethics. It should be noted that, the move to embrace this aspect of management is intended to establish better practices within the organization, which would result to creation of wealth to the society (Hunnicutt, 2000). This study establishes that, the corporate social responsibility includes beyond law commitments and activities, which pertains to health and safety, environmental stewardship, human rights, human resources management, community involvement, corporate philanthropy and employee volunteering, anti-bribery and performance reporting. Essentially, the CRS enhances the way organizations integrate the social, economic and environmental concerns into values, operations, strategy and decision-making in an accountable and transparent manner. The CRS’s components are normally interlinked and interdependent. They are applicable to organizations wherever they run. The CRS remains a significant management concern since it plays a fundamental role in employment and wealth creation in the community (Brown, 2004). CRS plays a role of positioning the companies in to both proactively mange risks and take advantage of opportunities in respect to building the corporate status and wider engagement of all stakeholders. The CRS is based on performance, which entails in moving beyond words to real actions intended to affect the societal demands in a positive way. Response to the dynamic societal demands requires firms to avoid engaging in public relations but instead demonstrate concrete actions that lead to real social and milieu benefits (Hunnicutt, 2000). The tendency of playing public relation in responding to social demands is a dangerous act, which might lead to degradation of the firms’ reputation. Factors leading to the increased appreciation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in responding to the societal demands Increasing attention as been shifted to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) in addressing the social demands because of numerous benefits attributed to it. Some of the benefits include the aspect of globalization (Green, 2006). Considerable focus on the cross-border trade particularly in multinational ventures and global supply chains, which has increased reference to the CRS’s review on practices attributed to human resource management, health, safety and milieu protection (Brown, 2004). The other factor is that of CRS’s involvement in the inclusion of the government bodies such as the UN, which have aided in declarations and guideline development intended to summarize social norms for tolerable behavior. More over, CRS has advanced, in communications technology, which involves cellular phones, digital assistants and overall internet use, have contributed immensely in tracking corporate activities and dissemination of relevant information (Hunnicutt, 2000). For instance, most non-governmental organizations have started drawing awareness through their websites to business practices they view as challenging. The social response mechanism should be guided by the fact that most consumers have indicated deep interest in sustaining the conscientious business practices and are demanding more information on how firms are addressing risks and opportunities associated with the societal and environmental matters (Weidlich, 2000). It is imperative to note that, the CRS approach is practical in reaching the far-fetched social demands in a bid to satisfy all the stakeholders. In addition, the CRS approach of responding to the social demands is a tested mechanism, which ensures that corporations across the globe strive to meet the accepted standards of social and milieu care despite consideration of the location of operation (Brown, 2004). Many companies have immensely embraced the CRS, because of the increased awareness on the confines of government regulatory initiatives to capture the social and environmental dynamism in an effective manner. On the hand, most business has resorted to adoption of the CRS as a means of responding to the social and environmental demands, because of its ability to reduce risk of business disruptions. Instead embraces the aspect of opening up new opportunities and enhancing the company brand and status. It should be noted that, social demands emanates because of immense levels of mistrust by the public on corporations and in return, they expect high level of corporate governance, which can only be founded in the CRS. Benefits attributed to application of the Corporate Social responsibility as a key mechanism in responding to the social demands by firms. The corporate social responsibility enables a firm to have better expectation and management of an ever-growing scale of risk. Effective management of the social, milieu, economic and legal risks in a firm is a complex market milieu, which requires immense oversight and stakeholders scrutiny of all the relevant corporate activities, intended to improve the supply security of the general market stability (Brown, 2004). The aspect of anticipation and management of the risks comes into perspective when the firms’ impacts are considered in relation with the interests of concerned parties. Another benefit of CRS involves improving the management’s image in terms of the good performance of the firm. In fact, a well performing firm is attributed to the managers’ skills and efforts to implement the CRS aspects in building the reputation. The image created is fundamental to high-value retail brands who major focus involves the media and consumer pressure (Hunnicutt, 2000). It is imperative to note that, the brand equity is founded on the values such as reliability, credibility and trust (Brown, 2004). In addition, the CRS contributes immensely to the ability to recruit, expand and maintain staff. This aspect has a direct outcome of pride in the firm’s products. The indirect outcome may include motivation of the employee morale and loyalty (Weidlich, 2000). The CRS is critical in improving a firm’s competitiveness and market positioning which can result to managerial process and product differentiation and invention. The CRS practices are attributed to the creation and widening of markets. Enhanced operational efficiencies and cost savings is a critical gain by the firms when embracing the CRS. In conclusion responding to social demands requires apt mechanism such as the corporate social responsibility (CRS), which is specific and compliable with the ever-dynamic trend of doing business in a globalized world. References American Economic Association., & In Stigler, G. J. (1952). Readings in price theory. Chicago: Published for the Association by R.D. Irwin. Brown, P., Hesketh, A., & Williams, S. (2004). The mismanagement of talent: Employability and jobs in the knowledge economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Green, F. (2006). Demanding work: The paradox of job quality in the affluent economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Hunnicutt, S. (2009). Corporate social responsibility. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press. Weidlich, W. (2000). Sociodynamics: A systematic approach to mathematical modelling in the social sciences. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic. Read More