Ethics and stakeholder management in organizational contexts

Ethics/Stakeholder Management

The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility outlines four levels of CSR - economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. Triple bottom line refers to the three spheres of sustainability - economic, social and environment. Both concepts recognize the economic role of organizations as fundamental. Yet, the triple bottom line is only focused on the issue of sustainability. The pyramid is not focused on the corporation's obligations with respect to sustainability, but to other key concepts such as legal, ethical and philanthropic. The sustainability referred to in triple bottom line can reasonably be encapsulated in the ethical component of the pyramid.

Corporate social responsibility refers to the obligation that a firm has towards society. Corporate social responsibility is an accountability that the firm has to the world around it. Corporate social responsiveness is more action-oriented. Acting on the responsibility would be the corporate social responsiveness. It is less moral, and is more geared towards doing.

3. The Pyramid of CSR discusses four levels of CSR - economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. Each represents a category of obligation that the corporation has to society. Economic refers to the overarching goal of the corporate to earn profit. An example of legal is the obligation the corporation has as an actor in society to play within the rules of society as defined by law (ex. adhering to pollution or labor standards). Ethical standards are myriad but some examples can be paying a fair wage, competing fairly, and ensuring that the company does not market a harmful product. Philanthropic refers to the organization's obligations with respect to charity - for example donating some of its revenues to charitable causes, or becoming involved in large charity runs or other significant events.