m that provides leadership for a community s United Way campaign is one illustration of philanthropy.distinguishing feature between philanthropy and ethical responsibilities is that the former are not expected in an ethical or moral sense. Communities desire firms to contribute their money, facilities, and employee time to humanitarian programs or purposes, but they do not regard the firms as unethical if they do not provide the desired level. Therefore, philanthropy is more discretionary or voluntary on the part of businesses even though there is always the societal expectation that businesses provide it.
Three Approaches to Corporate Responsibility
According to the traditional view of the corporation, it exists primarily to make profits. From this money-centered perspective, insofar as business ethics are important, they apply to moral dilemmas arising as the struggle for profit proceeds. These dilemmas include: «What obligations do organizations have to ensure that individuals seeking employment or promotion are treated fairly?» «How should conflicts of interest be handled?» And «What kind of advertising strategy should be pursued?» Most of this textbook has been dedicated to these and similar questions., there are three theoretical approaches to these new responsibilities:
· Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
· The triple bottom line
· Stakeholder theory
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
As a specific theory of the way corporations interact with the surrounding community and larger world, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is composed of four obligations:
The economic responsibility to make money . Required by simple economics, this obligation is the business version of the human survival instinct. Companies that don t make profits are (in a modern market economy) doomed to perish. Of course there are special cases. Nonprofit organizations make money (from their own activities as well as through donations and grants), but pour it back into their work. Also, public/private hybrids can operate without turning a profit. In some cities, trash collection is handled by this kind of organization, one that keeps the streets clean without (at least theoretically) making anyone rich. For the vast majority of operations, however, there have to be profits. Without them, there s no business and no business ethics.
The legal responsibility to adhere to rules and regulations . Like the previous, this responsibility is not controversial. What proponents of CSR argue, however, is that this obligation must be understood as a proactive duty. That is, laws aren t boundaries that enterprises skirt and cross over if the penalty is low; instead, responsible organizations accept the rules as a social good and make good faith efforts to obey not just the letter but also the spirit of the limits.
The ethical responsibility to do what s right even when not required by the letter or spirit of the law . This is the theory s keystone obligation, and it depends on a coherent corporate culture that views the business itself as a citizen in society, with the kind of obligations that citizenship normally entails. Many industrial plants produce, as an unavoidable part of their fabricating process, poisonous waste. In Woburn, Massachusetts, W.R. Grace did that, as well as Beatrice Foods. The law governing toxic waste disposal was ambiguous, but even if the companies weren t legally required to enclose their poisons in double-encased, leak-proof barrels, isn t that the right thing to do so as to ensure that the contamination will be safely contained? True, it might not be the right thing to do in terms of pure profits, but from a perspective that values ??everyone s welfare as being valuable, the measure could be recommendable.
The philanthropic responsibility to contribute to society s projects even when they re independent of the particular business. A lawyer driving home from work may spot the local children gathered around a makeshift lemonade stand and sense an obligation to buy a drink to contribute to the neighborhood project. Similarly, a law firm may volunteer access to their offices for an afternoon every year so some local schoolchildren may take a field trip to discover what lawyers do all day. An industrial chemical company may take the lead in rehabilitating an empty lot into a park. None of these acts arise as obligations extending from the day-to-day operations of the business involved. They re not like the responsibility a chemical firm has for safe disposal of its waste. Instead, these public acts of generos...
