Ethics and Social Responsibility

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Randy Rios

FGT/498

December 15, 2014

Rebekah Benson

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Ethics and social responsibility have a significant role in an organizations strategic plan. Including these two concepts in an organizations strategic plan will not only address the needs of the stakeholders, but will also focus on protecting consumers and the environment. Ethics and social responsibility involve social awareness to address environmental needs and suggests that it should be more than just making profits. According to Wheelen and Hunger (2010), “The concept of social responsibility proposes that a private corporation has responsibilities to society that extend beyond making a profit.” This essay will discuss the ethical and social responsibilities of organizations in relation to strategic management. This paper will also touch on how organizations can maintain ethical conduct while meeting stakeholder’s needs and more importantly, ways to prevent ethical violations.

In any organization, it is the executive manager’s responsibility to create a clear vision for the corporation and place a precise focus on understanding the stakeholder’s needs. In an effort to support these goals and objectives, procedures should be established to maintain and enforce business ethics within organizations. Creating a common knowledge and understanding of ethics and social responsibility will reinforce a corporation socially by enforcing respect towards each other, respect for the organization and respect for the environment. Establishing and maintaining an ethical code of conduct will also prevent various types of litigations. Additionally, corporations who operate proactively rather than reactively can utilize preventative measures such as human resource training modules, computer based training (CBT), employee handbooks, semi-annual reviews and company surveys which can serve as a form of measurement to identify the ethical...