Session 3 Societal Context

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Session 3 Societal Context Labour Context

• What is the importance of corporate social
  responsibility (CSR)?

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WHAT IS BUSINESS SOCIETY?

• Business private, commercially oriented
  organizations
• Society a community/national or group of people
  with common values, traditions, institutions,
  activities interests

Community
Government
Business
Owners
Employees
Consumers
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THE BUSINESS-SOCIETY RELATIONSHIP

• Assuming a relationship between business and
  society connects to notions of embeddedness and
  organizations as open systems

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SHOULD BUSINESS HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITIES TO
SOCIETY? AND IF SO, WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THOSE
REPSONSIBILITIES?
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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
CSR is The obligation of decision makers to
take actions which protect and improve the
welfare of society as a whole along with their
own interests. IE.
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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• obligations that involve going beyond
• the production of goods/services at a profit
• the requirement of competition, law or custom

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To create policies, make decisions engage
in actions that are desirable in terms of
the values objectives of society. i.e.
ethical responsibilities to society
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
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BUSINESS SOCIETY CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS

• Business helping society
• Example Levis

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THE ROLE OF BUSINESS IN SOCIETY CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

• Examples of CSR
• 3M health of employees
• Merck Pharmaceutical River Blindness
• Can you think of examples of companies that have
  recently demonstrated CSR?

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THE ROLE OF BUSINESS IN SOCIETY CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

• The social responsibility of business encompasses
  the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary
  (philanthropic) expectations that society has of
  organizations at a given point in time (Carroll,
  1979).
• A PYRAMID OF RESPONSIBILITIES!

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THE CSR PYRAMID
(Adapted from Karakowsky, Carroll, Bucholtz, 2007)
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THE CSR PYRAMID

• Components can be interdependent rather than
  mutually exclusive.
• e.g., serving ethical responsibilities does not
  necessarily mean that profit (economic
  responsibilities) will be sacrificed or vice
  versa.

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THE CSR PYRAMID

• However, there may also be tensions between the
  components
• e.g., profits versus ethics.

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THE CSR PYRAMID

• Our discussion of this pyramid has already
  implied that business is responsible to more than
  simply its owners or shareholders!
• Rather there exists a network of STAKEHOLDERS FOR
  WHICH THESE REPSONSIBILITIES EXITS
• What or who are the stakeholders of business?
  Find out in our next module!

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THE STAKEHOLDERS OF BUSINESS
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STAKEHOLDERS, BUSINESS SOCIETY

• WHAT IS A STAKE?
• An Interest or share in an activity
• A Right - a legal right e.g. to fair treatment or
  a moral right, e.g. to expect satisfactory
  service
• Ownership a legal title to an asset/ property

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STAKEHOLDERS, BUSINESS SOCIETY

• A stakeholder is any individual or group who can
  affect or is affected by the actions, decisions,
  policies, practices or goals of the organization

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STAKEHOLDER VIEW OF THE FIRM Primary Secondary
Stakeholders
Employees
Suppliers etc

Soc. Pressure Groups
Media Academics
Local Communities
F I R M
Government Regulators
Competitors
Trade Bodies
Shareholders/ owners etc
Customers/ consumers
Adapted from KCB, 2007
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Should business have some kind of moral
obligation to society? Is CSR a desirable
goal?
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DEBATING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
AGAINST CSR FOR CSR
Sole responsibility of business is to make a profit Business should conform to social rules
Business is not equipped to manage CSR Business talent, capital expertise could ensure CSR
Business has enough power shouldnt dictate morality Could use its power for CSR, i.e. using its power positively
Costs of CSR would be passed on to consumers limit national competitiveness CSR provides long term benefits by enhancing business environment

OTHER ARGUMENTS?
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THE LABOUR CONTEXT

• EMPLOYEES ARE IMPORTANT STAKEHOLDERS IN ANY
  BUSINESS.
• WHAT OBLIGATIONS DOES BUSINESS HAVE TOWARD
  LABOUR?
• HOW DO UNIONS HELP ADDRES
• LABOUR ISSUES?

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
• Guarantees of fair treatment in the workplace
• granted by courts, legislatures or employers.
• Provide workers with
• Desired outcomes
• Protection from unwanted outcomes

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Aboriginals
Women
DESIGNATED EMPLOYEE GROUPS
Visible minorities
Persons with Disabilities
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WOMEN

• Segregated
• Lower status occupations
• Under-representation in many areas
• Career barriers
• Gender-stereotyping

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First Nations/Aboriginals

• Vastly underrepresented in the workforce
• Education employment gaps
• Educational, geographical and perceptual barriers

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INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

• Higher unemployment rate compared to national
  average
• Access, physical and attitudinal barriers
• Economic barriers and social discrimination

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VISIBLE MINORITIES

• Account for most of the growth in the labour
  force
• Barriers include cultural difference issues,
  foreign credential issues, language issues
• Highest unemployment rates

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• PROTECTING EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
• The Case of Women, Aboriginal people, people
  with disabilities, members of visible minorities
• Legal Protection Against Discrimination
• Canadian Charter of Rights Freedoms
• The Canadian Human Rights Act

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
• Treating people fairly by recognizing
• individual differences
• treating people fairly by recognizing that
  different individuals and groups require
  different measures to ensure fair and comparable
  results

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
• Deal with systemic discrimination inequality
  at work

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
• Eliminates employment barriers for specified
  groups

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
• Redresses past discrimination

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THE EMPLOYEE STAKEHOLDER

• EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
• Improve access and foster equity

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UNIONS

• Unions are the organizations most directly
  responsible for representing the interests of
  Canadian working people.
• - workers associations formed to enhance their
  power in dealings with employees

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Union membership

• Why have unions membership rates fallen?
• Manufacturing decline
• Part time work
• Focus on public sector

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UNION ACTIONS

• The mutual insurance function of unions
• Collective bargaining
• Legal enactment

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COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

• Negotiated outcomes
• Increasing issues reflect increasing diversity of
  workforce

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Political action and expanded scope

• Social unionism
• - economic development, human and labour rights
  overseas

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UNION IMPACTS

• Impact on productivity
• Impact on management
• Impact on society

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ARE UNIONS STILL NEEDED?

• What would society look like without unions?
• Workplace representation
• -balancing interests of big business with labour
  interests

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KEY LEARNING POINTS

• CSR Responsibilities extend beyond
• just those to the owners or
• Shareholders of the business
• Stakeholders
• CSR Debate
• Labour context/employee Stakeholder
• Designated employee groups
• Labour unions