Corporate Social Responsibility and Virtue Ethics Essay Example
Corporate Social Responsibility and Virtue Ethics Essay Example

Corporate Social Responsibility and Virtue Ethics Essay Example

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  • Pages: 4 (996 words)
  • Published: January 26, 2022
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Any successful business enterprise should have the corporate social responsibility aspect in all its business goals. The term refers generally to the numerous efforts that are beyond the requirements needed by groups that protect the environment and various regulatory commissions. Corporate social responsibility may also refer to as the responsibilities and strategies set by the company regarding its environmental, be it internal or external and social wellbeing.

Other scholars also define corporate social responsibility as the incurred costs that are short term and are aimed at promoting environmental change and positive social outlook of the company. This therefore means that these costs have no benefits which are immediate and financial to the company (Harman 1999). In a quest to achieve a state of equilibrium between commitment to ethical conduct and acquisition

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of profit, many companies have begun to embrace this philosophy of corporate social responsibility.

In the near years, numerous companies have decided to use the procurement and supply chain department as their main area of attention when it comes to corporate social responsibility. When Martin Luther king junior won the Nobel peace prize in the year 1964, most company leaders in Atlanta refused to attend a celebration dinner that had been organized. The main aim of this dinner was to celebrate not the achievement of Martin Luther but the achievements of the local natives in Atlanta. This rejection did not occur well to the locals who were provided market for the goods produced by the companies (Lind green & Swegen 2010). Refusing to attend the dinner would mean that the attitude of the consumers would change and the brands off the companies would be kicked out

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of the city thereafter. Companies therefore have an obligation to support and participate in all social activities organized by the social environment surrounding it in order to paint a good social picture. That is their sole social responsibility.

All companies have a social responsibility to invest in the local community in order to remove and make the locals let go of the impacts their operations may have on them negatively. A natural resource firm such as a mining company operating in a poor community can decide to build social amenities such as schools and hospitals. The company should sacrifice even if the profitability of the projects may not be felt immediately.

From this, we realize that a company cannot survive without a favorable external environment, which is the external environment in which it operates (Holme & Watts 1999). And having a favorable external environment can only be achieved through practicing corporate social responsibilities. Successful enterprises are not only defined by the profits they make but also the corporate social responsibility strategies that they have in place.

Corporate social responsibility is an important tool because it improves the public image of the company. Such companies are considered to be more philanthropic since they have noticed the external environment that surrounds it. A corporation’s image publicly solely lies on the social responsibility strategies it has in place (Harman 1999). Customers are so happy when they shop in institutions that help the community around. Corporate social responsibility also increases the coverage by media of a company. Media coverage strongly increases the publicity of a company. This helps in marketing of the company brand. This can be easily achieved through practicing carrying

out corporate social responsibility.

Virtue ethics is also another important aspect that has broad terms using theories that emphasize on the moral philosophy and role of character rather than duty in order to achieve very good consequences.

Numerous theories with regard to ethics are inspired and steered by the works of Aristotle who stated in his work that a virtuous person can only be defined by the use of his ideal character traits. These character traits are deduced from natural tendencies that are internal but they need to be nurtured. Once nurtured and established, they become stable. A virtuous person for example is one who is kind across all life situations because that is his character and not because he is being forced to be kind in order to receive favors and personal gains.
Virtue ethics have been developing over time and are currently being considered to be under three dimensions; eudemonism, ethics of care and agent based theory. Eudemonism bases virtues on the ability of one to perform his specific functions well (Statman 1997). Aristotle urged that the basic and most important distinctive function of a basic human being is reasoning. Agent based ethics are basically built on the foundations of common sense whereas the ethics of care strongly argue that some traits that are considered feminine such as caring should be considered also in deducing the ethical standard of a person.

Most modern communities and organizations tend to put more emphasizes on material progress and constantly ignoring the part of moral progress. Yet it is so important to note that most problems facing these companies need a common platform of deductive reasoning. This common platform is the

ethics of virtues. The moment virtues are put in place and moral progress emphasized then ultimately the part of material progress will follow suite. Take for instance the menace of corruption that is a problem to most organizations (McWilliams 2000). It is upon the people carrying out the act of corruption to just know that it is a negative vice. This is just common sense, a phenomenon strongly encouraged by agent based ethics. The moment these virtues ethics are put in place then it will be so easy to solve cases of corruption and other many problems that face organizations.

References

  1. Harman, G. (1999, January). Moral philosophy meets social psychology: Virtue ethics and the fundamental attribution error. In Proceedings of the Aristotelian society (pp. 315-331). Aristotelian Society.
  2. Holme, R., & Watts, P. (1999). Corporate social responsibility. Geneva: World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
  3. Lindgreen, A., & Swaen, V. (2010). Corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 1-7.
  4. McWilliams, A. (2000). Corporate social responsibility. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.
  5. Statman, D. (1997). Virtue ethics.
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