Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Ethics

Organizational Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
A. Create three corporate policies that reflect the organization’s culture and ethical viewpoints
· Encourage the empowerment and engagement of all employees in corporate decision making
· Collaboration within the workplace at all times and leadership development
· Active involvement and participation in the communities in which our business operations are present
1. Explain the rationale behind the policies, including how they align with the organization’s culture
· The rationale behind the corporate policy on employee empowerment and engagement is linked to the fact that when employees are engaged at the workplace setting, they end up feeling and having a connection with the connection. It brings a sense of what they are doing in the corporation is important and therefore opt to work harder. This is in alignment with the culture in terms of reducing employee turnover, increasing employee commitment and also increasing employee productivity (Albrech, 2011).
· The rationale behind the corporate policy on collaboration and leadership development is linked to the fact that collaboration and development of leaders precludes obstacles and aids in the implementation of projects devoid of any problems. The development of leaders aids in gaining the proper direction for the business and cooperation facilitates placing values on the ideas and opinions of all members of the team (Rubin, 2009).
· The rationale behind the corporate policy on active participation in the community is linked to the fact that it facilitates better brand recognition, positive business reputation in the society, and also aids in increasing sales revenues and consumer loyalty. Furthermore, such community involvement facilitates greater capability to attract talent and retaining members of staff and most of all leads to better financial performance (Doda, 2015).
2. Distinguish between ethical and legal issues
The difference between legal and ethical issues in regard to business application is that legislations do not always take into consideration ethical circumstances encountered by companies. Notably, ethical standards are centered on an individual’s belief of what is right and what is wrong versus the legal benchmark, which is basically, what is written down in law. In essence, ethics can be delineated as the moral principles and criteria that direct what people ought to do and ought not to do. Chiefly, the law orders what persons can and cannot do. In a simple manner, despite the fact that an action may be deemed as being unethical, it might not necessarily be illegal. For instance, taking a pens, staples and pins from the workplace to use at the home setting might not necessarily be deemed an illegal action. Nonetheless, from a moral perspective, such an action might not be positively taken and might be considered as theft from the company (Shaw and Barry, 2015).
3. Analyze the ethical issues at stake in the scenario
There are different ethical issues that are at stake in the scenario presented. One of the key ethical issues that is perceptible is that top executives at TechFite are being paid excessive bonuses yet hours are being reduced in order to keep several employees categorized as part-time owing to the limited funds available. Secondly, employees at the company were facing serious problems including wages, benefits, and weekly hours that fell far below the 40 hours necessary to receive full-time benefits under company policies. However, in spite of these issues, TechFite were making plans to invest in infrastructure to help in the rebuilding of the city of Dellberg. Furthermore, the company is not fulfilling the commitments it made to city officials about community involvement.
4. Describe the broad purpose of the ethics officer
The broad purpose of the ethics officer is to operate as the entity’s internal control point for ethics and indecorums, accusations, criticisms, and conflicts of interest and provides corporate leadership and advice on corporate governance issues. In undertaking these duties, the ethics officer is meant to build a strong ethical culture within the company.


B. Describe corporate social responsibility and how it applies to the scenario
1. Explain the ethical desirability of improving the company’s reputation in the community based on the scenario. The explanation should include three supporting examples of what the company has done or failed to do that has harmed its image in the community.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as a construct that encompasses four different dimensions including the legal, ethical, economic and philanthropic dimensions. In terms of the economic dimension, it is imperative for the company to maximize its profits and do so in an equitable manner. In terms of the legal dimension, an organization ought to conduct its operations in a legal manner as necessitated by the federal state and local governments. In terms of ethical dimension, the society at large demands that organizations operate and conduct their business undertakings in an ethical manner. Lastly, in terms of the philanthropic dimension, it is imperative for a firm to contribute their financial, economic and human resources to the society as part of their discretionary responsibilities. Firms ought to participate in philanthropic activities as part of their responsibility of being good corporate citizens (Carroll, 1979).
Imperatively, when a company dedicates itself to CSR practices it is fundamentally consenting to act ethically and add to enhancing the quality of life for personnel, the local community and the society as a whole (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). There are different examples of what TechFite has done or failed to do that have resulted in the damage of the company’s image in the community.
i. TechFite is paying executive excessive bonuses
ii. TechFite are restricting employees in terms of working hours to keep several of them categorized as part-time
iii. TechFite have failed to fulfill their community involvements
2. Describe an ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible course of action to address each example from part B1 based on the company’s culture and core values.
i. TechFite should pay the top executives bonuses that are rational. More importantly, the executives should not be paid bonuses if the company does not have sufficient funds
ii. TechFite should not restrict employees’ working hours in order to limit the benefits obtained
iii. TechFite should commit to community investments that are possible to implement and fulfill
3. Explain how the course of action from part B2 is ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible.
i. This course is ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible in the sense that the company will be giving out funds that are sensible and rightful. In a social and environmental sense, the company will be able to free up funds for community investment.
ii. Employees are important assets to the organization. This course is ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible because the employees will be given the hours, payments and benefits that are due to them.
iii. This course is ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible because the company will be able to make investments to the community and at the same time ensure that commitments are accomplished.
References
Albrech, S. L. (2011). Handbook of employee engagement: Perspectives, issues, research and practice. Human Resource Management International Digest, 19(7).
Carroll, A.B. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of management review, 4(4), pp.497-505.
Doda, S. (2015). The importance of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Sociological Research, 6(1), 86-91.
McWilliams, A., Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective. Academy of Management Review, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 117-127.
Rubin, H. (Ed.). (2009). Collaborative leadership: Developing effective partnerships for communities and schools. New York: Corwin Press.
Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2015). Moral issues in business. New York: Cengage Learning.