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PHI 2397 Business Ethics

Topic 2
Introduction
Human beings have showed concern for many years on ideas that concern social
responsibility. For along time, however, it has become a growing concern for the world of
business which has led to the increasing interactions between authorities, society, and business. It
is essential to remember that in the past, businesses were majorly concerned with economic
results of their decisions, but today, the system of things has changed as businesses have also
seemed to reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of the decisions they make
(Cramer 2005). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown exponentially and today it
comprises a different number of theories, different approaches, and even use of terminologies.
This paper will present and discuss CSR in the light of ethical perspective. Arguments will be
developed that support the essence of ethics in business. The premises of ethical theories in
business show that the relationship between business and society is essential to ethical values,
and, therefore, companies should inculcate social responsibility as an ethical duty before even
considering any other business (Garriga & Melé 2004).
Corporate social responsibility is no longer determined by the amount of money a
company contributes to any organization of charity, but by the activities the company involves in
that lead to nourishing people’s lives (Fassin, Van Rossem and Buelens 2010).CSR has
developed to become a matter of concern to the global business community and with time, it is
becoming a conventional activity. Organizations can contribute to their individual wealth and
overall community by putting a considerable amount on the influence they might have globally
when making decisions (Anderson 2001). This should also include the private business firm
which also have seemed to have an impact on various areas such as workforce, clients,
environment, associates of business and so forth.
Two theories give an explanation concerning the corporate social responsibility. The first
one is the stakeholder theory which centers on the favors of a multi-stakeholder approach. This
theory encourages a company to work hard beyond satisfying only meeting the profits of their
stakeholders. In fact, stakeholder theory substitutes the term profit with the phrase value meaning
that the services offered by business should be measured in all ways to add up to a given value.
For instance, this theory would help in building a positive relationship with the community that

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we interact with. Secondly, there is the theory of triple bottom line which is based on the notion
that the corporation is one of the upstanding member of the community, and this provides it with
the social responsibilities. The theory centers on sustainability while requiring any enterprise to
gauge the three forms of independent scales for its actions from perspectives of the economy,
social factors, and environmental responsibility. The three forms of actions are aimed at
increasing the prolonged sustainability of any given production (Philosophia.uncg.edu 2016)
Bansal argues out that the role of any business should focus on improving and protecting
the society and the environmental health (Smith and Nystad 2008). In fact, some ethical premises
support the notion that firms are morally compelled to pay back to the society which contributes
to their existence. This is in line with showing kindness to the use of infrastructure in the society
such as land air, water, the flora, and fauna to generate profit. So the firms have a duty to recoup
the society for any negative externalities created as a result of their activities.
Ethical CSR actively looks for larger equilibrium between profit and ethics. There is an
open effort to deal with the organization’s culture to give rise to the desired ethical atmosphere.
This alteration in the culture involves recognition of a social contract between the business and
the society. Management faces problem-solving being aware of the ethical consequences of an
action as well as its potential ability to make a profit. Ethical CSR reveals to us that CSR has the
characteristics of ethical inheritance. It appears rational to claim that ethical CSR bases on goals
and duty in a sense that qualifies it under the theories of justice perspectives.
Multi corporations have ethics that are viewed as morally upright but not most of them
engage in activities that fulfill the requirements of ethical standards. Most businesses center on
activities that can generate profit rather than any other thing. Ethics in business is still a
forthcoming issue due to the number of people involved. Few people from a perspective of
decision making may portray actions that seem safe when measured on a small scale basis, but
when gauged on a large scale, their actions may appear devastating. Sometimes business
manager fire employees with an aim of keeping the company’s profit margin high especially
when there is a financial breakdown. Many employees including civil servants of middle class
find themselves jobless as the company wants to save more money. From a critical point of view,
such actions qualify to be categorized under unethical behavior in business management (Brass,
Butterfield and Skaggs 2003). Firing employees on the notion of avoiding losses will only make

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them suffer financially. The company could live with that loss, retain employees as it looks for a
better alternative to solve the financial crisis it is facing.
It is worth acknowledging that most businesses form an essential part of the society in
which they carry out their activities. Rational managers of any business enterprise are mindful
that their prolonged success in business is built on proper affiliations with a wide variety of
people, organizational perspectives, and groups. Most executives should acknowledge the fact
that businesses can never prosper if they are operating under unsuccessful societies regardless of
any factor that is failing the society in terms of governance, social and environmental challenges
(Parket and Eilbirt 2005). The consumers have eminent expectations that the goods and services
they are offered will reflect the social and environmental accountability of conducting business
at rational prices. (Banerjee 2008) points out that shareholders who most of them are consumers
in this case are also looking for improved performance in finance that effectively complects the
social and environmental components of ethics in relation to the opportunities they manifest.
Various factors elucidate why there is an increasing interest in corporate social
responsibility. To begin with, there is that factor which shows expectations and concerns of
citizens, consumers, public authorities’ globalization and alterations in the industry. The second
factor focuses on the increasing effect of social standards on the decisions that regard investment
based on individuals and institutions that are seen as investors or consumers. The third factor
focuses on the increasing concerns about degradations of the environment. According to
(Crowther and Rayman-Bacchu 2004), the third factor is an important concern because
environmental conservation has become everyone’s concern in the today’s society. Many
industries handle their effluents in a way that catalyzes environmental pollution. CSR, in this
case, would ensure activities are run in a way that gives back to the community or promotes
fairness in the running of all activities.
Many humanitarian organizations have recently been focusing on aspects that can
enhance environmental protection with most of them arguing that the conservation of the
environment should be the primary worry of any cooperation as environment forms the only
natural resource that has been invaluable to the mankind for many years. Most corporate
organizations have occasionally fallen guilty for irresponsibly handling their wastes making the
environmental organizations heighten measure against the environmental pollution. For instance,

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the enormous piles of Garbage Patch in the Pacific is a representation of human waste which has
contributed to losses in aquatic life and the pollution of the water (Werther and Chandler 2010).
Corporate social responsibility clarifies on the pollution issue arguing that it is unethical
for such companies to make profits while the environment remains polluted in a way that
endangers the life of humans. According to Corporate social responsibility, these companies
should find better ways to handle their wastes disposal. Some other wastes like hot water might
be difficult to handle and, therefore, running tests before disposal can be a sound alternative to
reducing the effects that can arise from these wastes (Salzmann, Ionescu-somers, and Steger
2005). By doing this, the corporate social responsibility ensures that the multi-corporations
become responsible for their actions.
Corporate social responsibility sees to it that corporations of the world engage themselves
in activities that give back to the community (Crowther and Rayman-Bacchu 2004). Various
activities seem helpful for instance; forming fundraising activities for the needy, helping the
disadvantaged in the society, and other similar activities that would have the same objectives as
the ones discussed. Certain factors have played a crucial function in showing that corporate
social responsibility is very much important. First, the rising number of populations in the
developing regions will lead to extended markets which will be overtopped by young persons
with doubts regarding their accessibility in accessing the high standard of living for the
developed regions. In fact, research reveals that over 85% of the population will reside in
underdeveloped countries by the year 2025 (Crowther and Rayman-Bacchu 2004). Therefore,
there is need to integrate well the social features of the society that will prevail at that time with
financial support to ensure higher productivity.
The other factor that follows is wealth. Global wealth has been reported to be on the rise
every day while the income gap has continued to grow wider thereby threatening the civil
society. It is essential for each company to develop strategies that can enhance balance in the
spread of wealth. In fact, the saying that the rich should continue getting richer while the poor
should continue to get poorer needs to be eradicated as it is unethical for some individuals to
have much wealth while others have nothing. The factors affecting the wealth status of a
community go hand in hand with nutrition. The Economic crisis can lead to food insecurity as
there is no money to purchase food that can enhance balanced diet. Most people are
malnourished while there are corporations that give away millions to their executives for fancy

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holidays (Lee 2007). Corporate social responsibility would assist in ensuring that this gap
between the needy and the rich is reduced to create a balanced standard of living where no one is
enjoying life at the expense of another suffering person somewhere.
With all these factors in place, it is also important to focus on education as another
critical factor that can enhance the design of social corporate social responsibility. Basic
education seems to have spread to larger parts of the world, but opportunities for learning
continue to bilk many individuals. Quite a number of children in developing countries are not in
school. The report states that one in every five adults are illiterate from a global perspective
(Crowther and Rayman-Bacchu 2004). Corporate social responsibility in the event of giving
back to the community would enhance the building of schools organize the funding for
educational development programs. Also, interns and trainees can get an opportunity to learn
some tricks for the job thereby enabling them to compete fairly in the corporate world.
Conclusion
It is essential to note that corporate social responsibility forms a fundamental element of
changing the corporations that have negative changes in businesses. Many areas of discussion
have showed that a company requires focusing on increasing its corporate social responsibility
with the major part being on the environmental concern and the others such as nutrition,
education, health, and employment seeming to have their reasons for upholding as well. The
corporate social responsibility combines investors’ financial objectives with their obligation and
dedication to factors which ensure the wellbeing of the society such as economic growth and
justice in the society and ensuring carrying out of practices which are environmentally friendly.
These factors assist in showing the ethical standards of a company as it is unethical to participate
in any of the practices in a negative way that affects the society and retards its growth. Therefore,
these arguments bring a notion that corporate social responsibility and upholding of high ethical
standards should be an inevitable step for all business if showing care to the community is of
concern.

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