MEANING AND SCOPE OF

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Introduction

1. What are the responsibilities of business

organizations?

2. How many of these responsibilities must

managers fulfill?
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Approaches to social responsibility- Several
views have been developed of the
responsibilities of business e.g.

Milton Friedman,
Archie Caroll, and
Andrew Carnegie.
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Friedman is of the view that the social
responsibility of business is to increase profit
within the requirements of the law.
If a business person acts responsibly by
cutting the price of the firms produce to
prevent inflation, by making expenditures to
reduce pollution, or by hiring the hard-core
unemployed, that person is spending the
shareholders money for a general interest.
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Archie Carroll is of the view that managers of
business organisation have four
responsibilities:
economic,
legal,
ethical, and
discretionary.
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Economic responsibilities are to produce
goods and services of value to society so that
the firm can repay its creditors and
stockholders.

Legal responsibilities are defined by

government in laws that are expected to be
obeyed
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Ethical responsibilities are to follow the
generally held beliefs about how one should
act in society.
Discretionary responsibilities are the purely
voluntary obligations a corporation assumes,
i.e. philanthropic contributions. The difference
between ethical and discretionary
responsibilities is that few people expect an
organisations to fulfil ethical ones.
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Andrew Carnegie, the founder of US Steel
Corporation, views corporations social
responsibilities on two main principles: The
Charity Principle and The Stewardship
Principle.

1. The charity principle require the more

fortunate members of society to assist its less
fortunate members, including the unemployed,
the handicapped, the sick and the elderly.
MEANING AND SCOPE OF
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The stewardship principle required
businesses and wealthy individuals to view
themselves as the stewards, or caretakers, of
their property. Carnegie holds the idea that
the rich hold their money in trust for the
rest of society and can use it for any purpose
that society deems legitimate.
DEFINITIONS OF
CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY ( CSR)
Forstater et al. (2002) define CSR as:
a companys actions that contributes to
sustainable development through the
companys core business activities, social
investment and public policy debate.
DEFINITION OF CSR
(CONT)
McWilliams and Siegel (2001) define CSR as:
actions that appear to further some social
good beyond the interest of the firm and
which are required by law.
DEFINITION OF CSR
(CONT)
Corporate social responsibility may be defined
in this course as:
A business strategy which involves a business
identifying its stakeholder groups, and
going beyond its legal obligations to
incorporate their needs and values into the
day-to-day decisions and activities of the
organisation.
KEY CONCEPTS
Some key words appear in these definitions:
Stakeholder
Concerns/ needs
Voluntary
THE PRICNCIPLES OF CSR
Effects of organisations activities on society
As a result of these effects, three principles
form the justification for CSR engagements by
firms:
1. Sustainability
2. Accountability
3. Transparency
PRINCIPLES OF CSR
Sustainability
Sustainability implies that society must at all
times use no more of its resources than can
be generated. It is concerned with how the
actions of the present have recurring effects
upon the opportunities of the future.
PRINCIPLES OF CSR
(CONT)
Accountability

Here an organisation must recognise that its

actions generally affect the external
environment and therefore assume
responsibility for the effects of its actions.
PRINCIPLES OF CSR
Transparency
Transparency, in principle, means that all acts
are obvious or communicated to all
concerned. As a principle of CSR,
transparency indicates that organisations
make clear all reports of their actions and that
those reports, whether in facts or figures, give
accurate and detailed information of the
relevant information.
CRITICISMS /ARGUMENTS
AGAINST CSR
Friedman (1962) argues that the only social
responsibility of business is to make profit
within the law. Some arguments against CSR
are based on the following issues:
The business of business is business.
Useless PR exercise
The idea of theft
Lack of Regulation of CSR
CRITICISMS/ARGUMENTS
AGAINST CSR
Imposes unequal cost to organisations
CRITICISMS/ARGUMENTS
FOR CSR
Arguments in favour of firm CSR
engagements are based on:
Interdependence of firm and society
Stakeholder interest may transcend financial
benefits
Benefits of CSR-
(1)Helps attract qualified staff
(2) Minimizes government intervention
ARGUMENTS FOR CSR
Improves Corporate Image Goodwill
Leads to improved financial performance
PROMINENCE OF CSR
Key drivers of CSR engagements in recent
years have been identified as:
Sustainable development
Globalization
Governance ( UN, OECD, Signing of Compacts)
Corporate sector impact
Communications (Technological Advancement)
Ethical consumerism
PROMINENCE OF CSR
(CONT)
Finance (pressure from investors)
Strategic Business Tool
Social awareness and education
Crises management
FORMS OF CSR ISSUES
Areas of Social Responsibility Concerns:
Concern for Consumers
Are products safe and well designed?
Are products priced fairly?
Are advertisements clear and not deceptive?
Are credit terms clear?
Is adequate product information available?
Are customers treated fairly by salespeople?
FORMS OF CSR (CONT)
Concern for Employees
Are employees paid fair wages?
Are employees provided safe work environment?
Are workers hired, promoted, and treated fairly
without regard to sex, race, colour, or creed?
Are employees given special training and educational
opportunities?
Are handicapped people given employment
opportunities?
Does the business help rehabilitate employees with
physical, mental, or emotional problems?
FORMS OF CSR
Concern for Environment
Is the environment adequately protected from
unclean air and water, excessive noise, and
other types of pollution?
Are products and packages biodegradable or
recyclable?
Are any by-products that pose a safety hazard
to society (such as nuclear waste or
commercial solvents) carefully handled and
properly treated or disposed of?
FORMS OF CSR
Concern for Society in General
Does the firm supports minority and
community enterprises by purchasing from
them or subcontracting to them?
Are donations made to help develop and
support education, art, health, and community
development programmes?
Is the social impact of plant locations or
relocations considered by managers who
make those decisions?
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES
What is corporate social initiatives?

Kotler and Lee (2005) who defined corporate

social initiative as major activities
undertaken by a corporation to support social
causes and to fulfill commitments to corporate
social responsibility.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES (CONT)
The second is from Hess et al. (2002, p. 110),
who said, social initiative in the business
context is defined here as any program,
practice, or policy undertaken by a business
firm to benefit society.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES (CONT)
Options for Doing Good

Six major initiatives under which most social
responsibility-related activities fall have been
identified by Kotler and Lee (2005) as:
Cause promotions
Cause-related marketing
Corporate social marketing
Corporate philanthropy
Community volunteering and
Socially responsible business practices
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES (CONT)
Cause promotions
A corporation provides funds, in-kind
contributions, or other corporate resources to
increase awareness and concern about a
social cause or to support fundraising,
participation, or volunteer recruitment for a
cause. The corporation may initiate and
manage the promotion on its own; it may be a
major partner in an effort; or it may be one of
several sponsors.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES
Cause-Related Marketing (CRM)
Cause related marketing has been defined as the
process of formulating and implementing marketing
activities that are characterized by an offer from the
firm to contribute a specified amount to a designated
cause when customers engage in revenue-providing
exchanges that satisfy organizational and individual
objectives. (Varandarajan & Menon 1998, p. 60).

In adopting CRM, a corporation commits to making a

contribution or donating a percentage of revenues to
a specific cause based on product sales.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES (CONT)
Corporate Social Marketing
A corporation supports the development
and/or implementation of a behavior change
campaign intended to improve public health,
safety, the environment, or community well
being. The distinguishing feature is the
behavior change focus, which differentiates
it from cause promotions that focus on
supporting awareness, fundraising, and
volunteer recruitment for a cause.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES (CONT)
Corporate Philanthropy
A corporation makes a direct contribution to a
charity or cause, most often in the form of
cash grants, donations, and/or in kind
services. This initiative is perhaps the most
traditional of all corporate social initiatives
and for many decades was approached in a
responsive, even ad hoc manner.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES
Community Volunteering
A corporation supports and encourages
employees, retail partners, and/or franchise
members to volunteer their time to support
local community organizations and causes.
CORPORATE SOCIAL
INITIATIVES (CONT)

Socially Responsible Business Practices

A corporation adopts and conducts
discretionary business practices and
investments that support social causes to
improve community well-being and protect
the environment. Initiatives may be conceived
of and implemented by the organization or
they may be in partnership with others.
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
Differences Between Cause Promotions and
other forms of corporate social initiatives
It differs from cause-related marketing in that
contributions and support are not tied to
company sales of specified products.
It differs from social marketing in that the focus is
not on influencing individual behavior change.
Although cause promotion campaigns have calls
to action, they are most commonly in the areas of
contributing, such as by donating money or time
or by signing petitions.
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
It differs from philanthropy in that it involves
more from the company than simply writing a
check, as promotional campaigns will most
often require involvement in the development
and distribution of materials and participation
in public relations activities, and will include
visibility for the corporation's sponsorship.
Although a cause promotion may include
employee volunteerism, it goes beyond this to
participating as well in the development and
implementation of promotional materials.
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
(CONT)
Typical cause promotions
Corporate cause promotions most commonly focus on the
following communication objectives. Cause promotion
programmes are of the following forms:
Building awareness and concern about a cause by
presenting motivating statistics and facts; by sharing real
stories of people or organizations in need or who have
been helped by the cause.
Persuading people to find out more about the cause by
visiting a special web site or by requesting an
informational brochure or tool kit.
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
(CONT)
Persuading people to donate their time to help those in
need.
Persuading people to donate money that will benefit a
cause.
Persuading people to donate nonmonetary resources,
such as unwanted cell phones and used clothing.
Persuading people to participate in events, such as
attending an art show featuring minority professional
photographers, participating in a fundraising walk, or
signing a petition to ban or promote a social an issue
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
By their very nature, cause promotion activities have a
common theme of communications. They utilize publicity,
printed materials, special events, web sites, and
advertising, featuring the logo and key messages of the
company as well as those representing the cause.
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
Potential corporate benefits:
Strengthens Brand Positioning
Builds traffic and customer loyalty
Creates brand preference with target markets
Provides customers convenient ways to contribute and
participate in social causes
Provides opportunities for employees to get involved in
something they care about
Creates partnerships with society
Strengthens corporate Image
CAUSE PROMOTIONS
When should a corporate cause promotion be
considered?
When a company has easy access to the target markets.
When the cause can be connected and sustained by a
company's products.
When the opportunity exists to contribute underutilized
in-kind services, such as in-house printing or corporate
expertise.
When employee involvement will support the cause and
employees get excited.
CAUSE PROMOTION
Developing a cause promotion campaign
plan:
Identify campaign partners (if needed)
Design a campaign plan -Develop a creative brief
Components of creative brief:
1. Target audiences
2. Communication objectives: This is a statement of what
we want our target audience to know (facts, information),
believe (feel), and perhaps do (e.g., donate or volunteer for
a cause), based on exposure to our communications
CAUSE PROMOTION
3.What benefits to promise?
4. Openings. This refers to the times, places and situations
when the audience will be most attentive to and able to act
on the message.
5. Positioning and requirements. This section describes
the overall desired tone for the campaign (e.g., serious
versus light hearted), as well as requirements such as the
use of corporate logos.
6. Campaign goals e.g., desired reach and frequency
goals, number of people to sign up for the race.
CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING
Meaning of Cause-Related Marketing (CRM)
Key features:
1. Link with product sales or transaction
2.Corporate contribution is conditional- dependent on
sales or transaction
3. Requires a formal agreement and coordiation with
charity organisation
4. Requires co-branding advertisements, and tracking
consumer purchases and activities.
5. involves more promotion, especially paid advertising
CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING
Typical corporate cause-related marketing initiatives include:
1. A specified cedi amount for each product sold
2. A percentage of the sales of a product or transaction is pledged to the charity.
3. A portion of the sale of an item, sometimes not visibly disclosed, will be donated to
a charity.
4.The company matches consumer contributions related to product-related.

5.It may be for a specific time frame or open-ended

6. The corporation may decide to set a ceiling for their contribution from sales (e.g.
Lysol contributing five cents for each product coupon redeemed, up to Gh 225,000).

7. The offer may be for a specific, designated product or for several or all products
CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING
When should a cause-related marketing (CRM)
initiative be considered?
Those with products that enjoy a large market or mass
market appeal.
Have well-established and wide distribution channels.
Product differentiation that offers consumers an
opportunity to contribute to a favorite charity
When increased product sales, visibility, or co-branding
with a popular cause would support corporate marketing
objectives and goals for a product or products.
CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING
It may also be most successful in situations where a
company has an existing, ideally long-term association
with a cause or charity and then adds this initiative to the
lineup, in an integrated fashion.

CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING
Steps in Cause-Related Planning Process
Situational Assessment:
1.identifying the company's marketing needs
2. identifying a social issue to support: What are the major
social concerns of target markets? Of these, which one is most
closely aligned with the company's core values and has the
strongest potential for connections with products that would
support marketing objectives.
3. potential partners are explored. How large is their
membership or donor base and what is their reputation in the
community.
CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING
Setting Objectives
quantifiable goals, e.g. Increase in sales, desired
fundraising levels.
Selecting Target Audiences
1. Identify their characteristics,
2. needs, and
3. media consumption habits
Determine the Marketing Mix (4Ps or 7Ps)
Developing Budget
Implementation and Evaluation Plans
CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY
Meaning and Forms of Corporate Philanthropy
Corporate philanthropy may be defined as a direct contribution by
a corporation to a charity or cause, most often in the form of cash
grants, donations and/or in-kind services (Kotler and Lee, 2005).
Typical Philanthropic Programs
Providing cash donations
Offering grants
Awarding Scholarships
Donating products
Donating services
Providing technical expertise
Offering the use of equipment
CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY
Benefits of Corporate Philanthropy:

Reputation as Corporate Citizen

Reputation for Consumer Centricity
Reputation as an Ethical Organisation
Building and Securing a Strong Brand Position
Strengthening the Corporation's Industry
CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY
Potential Concerns of Philanthropic Programmes:
Selecting the Social Cause- Reputation of charity
organisation
Implementing Corporate Philanthropic Porgramme-
Monotoring the use of donations for intended purpose.
Difficulty in quantifying donations that are in kind.
CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY

Key Success Factors (KSFs) of Corporate

Philanthropy:
Align corporate giving with business activities.
Clarify the role of officers and directors
Establish standards of independent for board
members
Measure financial and social performance.
Communicate Results
Celebrate Success
CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY
Developing Philanthropic Endeavors
The process begins with reference to already established
philanthropic priorities, those that have been chosen by the
company as areas of focus based on a variety of factors
including business goals, employee passions, and Customer
concerns.
Determining levels of contributions
Developing a communication plan
establish monitoring and evaluation system to keep track of
total cash contributions, estimate the value of any service, and,
provide feedback on programmes and impacts on society.
Design tracking and measurement tools.
COMMUNITY
VOLUNTEERING
Meaning of Community Volunteering
Community volunteering is an initiative in which the
corporation supports and encourages employees, retail
partners, and/or franchise members to volunteer their
time to support local community organizations and
causes Kotler and Lee (2005).
Volunteer efforts may include employees volunteering
their expertise, talents; ideas, and/or physical labor.
Corporate support may involve providing paid time off
from work, matching services to help employees find
opportunities of interest, recognition for service, and
organizing teams to support specific causes the
corporation has targeted.
Corporate support for employee volunteering
ranges from programs that simply encourage
their employees to give back to their communities
to those representing a significant financial
investment and display of recognition and
reward. Examples representing types of support
include the following:
Promoting the ethics through corporate
communications that encourage employees to
Typical Community
volunteer in their community and that may provide
information on resources to access in order to
Volunteering Programmes
explore volunteer opportunities.
Typical Community
Volunteering Programmes
Suggesting specific causes and charity that the
employee might want to consider and providing
detailed information on how to get involved, often with
causes and charities supported by other current social
initiatives.
Organizing volunteer teams for a specific cause or
event, such as blood donations to a hospital, breast
cancer screening.
Providing paid time off during the year to do volunteer
work with typical benefits ranging from offering two to
five days of annual paid leave to do volunteer work on
company time, to more vigorous programs that
provide opportunities for an employee to spend a year
on behalf of the company working in developing
country.
Typical Community
Volunteering Programmes
Awarding cash grants to charities where employees
spend time volunteering; grant amounts are then often
based on numbers of hours reported by employees.
Recognizing exemplary employee volunteers through
gestures such as mentions in internal newsletters,
awards of service pins or plaques, and special
presentations at department or annual company
meetings.
NB: Types of projects that employees volunteer in range
from those that contribute to a local community to
ones that improve health and safety for individuals, to
those that protect the environment
Potential Benefits of
Community Volunteering
This initiative creates a win-win-win situation for
employees, society and the organization.
Employees Benefits
It provides unique opportunity for employees to contribute
directly to society in areas of social concern they are
personally interested in.
It gives relief to employees from the pressure of their
normal working routine, which may be a form of stress
relief.
Increasing employee satisfaction and motivation. A
company's reputation for community involvement,
including support for employees to volunteer for causes,
can influence their morale, as well as their choices about
where they work.
Organisational Benefits
Building genuine relationships in the
community
Contributing to business goals
Enhancing Corporate Image
Providing opportunities to showcase products
and services

Potential Concerns
Specific Nature of Concerns
This can get expensive.
With so many employees, efforts may get spread
over so many issues that we don't really make a
social impact.
Similarly, when efforts among employees are
dispersed throughout the market, even the globe,
how do we realize business benefits for company
as well
Being able to track efforts and outcomes for this
initiative can be the most difficult of all.
Key Success Factors (KSFs)
The following factors are useful to serve as a
ofguide:
Community Volunteering
When selecting a social issue:
Projects
Choose issues and organizations that are relevant
to the lives of the companys employees
Conduct due diligence, learn from history but
always innovate. It is critical to learn from past
efforts by companies and foundations.
Support causes and projects that improve the
social and economic environment in the locations
where the company has its physical facilities.
KSFs of Community
Volunteering Projects
Ensure that the projects, issues and
organizations supported reflect the values of
the company and have the support of senior
leadership involvement, including the CEO
and chairman of the board.
KSFs of Community
Volunteering Projects
When developing the programme plan
Engage employees throughout the company in the
effort- employees at the top, middle, and bottom.
Develop partnership between Community Affairs and
brand the managers
Collaborate with community organizations that are
behind the most innovative responses to the social
issue.
Make sure there is a connection between the effort
and the core of the company. In our case we
endeavored to connect our employees to programmes
they were already broadly aware of, had significant
interest in, and were able to partner with.

KSFs of Community
Volunteering Projects
When implementing the programme
Stay committed to the issue for an extended period
of time instead of jumping around between
different causes. Positive change takes time,
requiring a long-term investment. Be patient, many
of the benefits of supporting worthy causes are not
immediately evident.
Make sure you don't compromise the content of
what you do. Keep your eye on the most valued
customer, which must be the community in which
you are engaged. Provide your employees with the
tools and resources they need to be successful,
Include promotional strategies. To reach employees
and the community you are serving, you must
publicize your programs both internally and
externally and capitalize on efforts to recognize and
share employee contributions and effective practices
whenever possible. However, let the organization or
community receiving support from the company tell
the story of the companys involvement.
Develop and implement measurement systems.
Independent process and outcome evaluations must
be in place to determine what is working and what is
not, and the type of resource investments that will
help you to be successful.
When is Community
Volunteering Ideal?
When current social initiatives would benefit from a
volunteer component.
When a group of employees express an interest in a
specific cause that has strong connections with business
and corporate citizenship goals
When a community need emerges, especially an
unexpected one that is a good match for the resources and
skills of a workforce.
When technological advances make it easier to match
employees to
volunteer, opportunities.
When a strong community organization approaches a
business for support, represents an issue of interest to
employees, and has a natural connection to strategic
corporate citizenship and business goals.
When a volunteer effort might open new markets or
provide opportunities for new product development and
research.
Community Volunteering
Programme Development
Develop guidelines for employee involvement.
Process
Determine types and levels of employee support.
Develop an internal communications plan.
Develop a recognition plan.
Develop an external communications plan.
Develop a plan for tracking and assessment.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CORPORATE
ETHICS
What is Ethics?
Brady (1986) refers to ethics as those standards or
morals a person sets for himself or herself regarding
what is good and bad or right and wrong.
Ethics is defined as .... an individuals personal beliefs
regarding what is right and wrong or good or bad.
Distinguish ethics from involuntary actions- carefully
reasoned out actions.
The need for ethical behaviour has resulted in code of
ethics for various occupations e.g teachers, doctors
etc.
The Origins of Ethics

Religious Doctrines
Law
Science
Study of Society
Power of Authority
Arguments underpinning ethics
Deontological Ethics
According to deontologists (those who argue
from this stand), certain actions are right or
wrong in themselves- these we are aware of
without being told; thus making legitimate the
claim that there is an underlying innate code of
ethics that must be obeyed or upheld.
The problems with this positions are concerned
with how we know which acts are wrong and how
we distinguish between a wrong act and an
omission.
Arguments underpinning ethics
Teleological Ethics
Teleologists, however argue that what
determines a good act, is the outcome of that
act. Therefore if the outcome is good then the
act is deemed as good. It distinguishes
between the right and the good, with the
right encompassing those actions which
maximize the good. It is like the expression,
The end justifies the means.
Arguments underpinning
ethtics
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism, similar to teleologists, posits
that outcomes are all that matter in
determining what is good and that the way in
which a society achieves its ultimate good is
through each person pursuing his/her own self
interest. The philosophy states that the
aggregation of all these self interests will
automatically lead to the maximum good for
society at large.
 Ethical relativism and
objectivism
Relativism is the denial that there are certain universal
truths or moral principles. Two forms exist:
Conventionalism, which argues that a given set of
ethics or moral principles which define what is moral
behaviour and ethical standards are set, not absolutely,
but according to the dictates of a given society at a
given time and are only valid within a given culture at a
particular time
Subjectivism, that sees individual choice as the key
determinant of the validity of moral principles.

 conventionalism
Difficulty with conventionalism are:

Ethical standards change over time within one

society and vary from one society to another.

There exist several ethical codes belonging to

several other bodies within any one society, as
such what determines which ones one must
conform to. This results in conflict with
standards of society.
 Conventionalism
Tendency to behave differently at different times
and when we are with different groups of people.

Objectivism on the other hand is in direct

opposition to ethical relativism and holds the
view that although moral principles may differ
between cultures, some moral principles have
universal validity whether or not they are
universally recognized. There are two key
variants of ethical objectivism: strong and
weak.
Objectivism
Strong objectivism hold the view that certain
actions that are intrinsically, universally and
unconditionally unethical.

Weak objectivism however holds the view

that certain actions may have wide
application but are intrinsically, universally
and unconditionally unethical.
 Ethics and Business
Need for business managers to achieve
organisational objectives while being ethical.

For example, one classic study of business

ethics reported that at some point in their
careers 75% of the responding managers felt a
conflict between profit and considerations of
being ethical (Baumhart, 1961). Later studies
noted that the majority of managers also felt that
this pressure to be unethical (Steven et al.,
1977).
Forms of unethical
practices
Manufacture of wholesome products
Illegal Business Practices
Method of Management (e.g. Organised
criminal management Enron).
Business and Sex
Understanding ethics
as a practice
Consequently, several ethical maxims are used
as the theoretical foundation for a variety of
industry statements on ethics. Typical of the
more simplistic maxims are:
The utilitarian principle- Act in a way that results
in the greatest good for the greatest number.
The professional ethics- Take only actions that
would be viewed as proper by a disinterested
panel of professional colleagues.
Ethical maxims

The golden rule Act in the way you would

expect others to act towards you.
Kants categorical imperative- Act in such a
way that the action taken under the
circumstances could be a universal law or rule
of behaviour.
The TV test A manager should always ask,
Would I feel comfortable explaining to a
national TV audience why I took this action?
 Management of human
resource and ethics
Building an Ethical Foundation for the
Employer-Employee Relationship

Despite the common corporate mantra that

people are our greatest asset, many
workers feel unappreciated or underutilized
(or both) in their jobs, and many managers
tend to view their employees as their job titles
rather than as individuals.
There are four elements of employer-
employee relationship critical to the creating
an ethical workplace environment:

Fairness: Employees at every level should

be held to the same standards of conduct. If
high performers are allowed to get away with
unethical behaviour, other employees morale
and thus productivity and ethical standards
will suffer.
Communication: Most companies are pretty
good at sharing information from the top
down. But the companies with the best
workplace environment also allow
communication to flow from the bottom up.
Top management cannot fix a problem if they
are not aware of it, and employees are the
most likely sources of information about
problems that can affect a companys health.
Respect: Employees deserve consideration
as individuals rather than simply as cogs in
the company machine. Recognizing
individuals talents, skills, and goals helps
develop employees into even more valuable
members of the organization, which, in turn,
helps a company thrive.
Trust: Many mangers cling to the notion that
people do not like to work and will goof off at
any opportunity. Yet various studies have
shown that employees who telecommute tend
to work more hours (an average of 58 hours
per week, compared to the standard 40 in-
office hours) and are more productive than
their cubicle-bound counterparts. Certainly,
companies will always have some employees
who require more supervision than others.
 Discrimination
Discrimination is the act of treating someone
differently typically by restricting or excluding the
person from opportunities that are available to
others solely because of that persons membership
in a certain class or category of people.
Discrimination almost always involves stereotyping,
or making assumptions about an individual based on
perceptions about the individuals class or category
as a whole. (E.g. Men stereotyped as rational, robust
and strong; Women stereotyped as emotional and
weak).
Common Types of
Discrimination
Ageism is discrimination against a person or a
group of people based on assumptions about
age-related limitations. Both young and old-
experience, strength,
Disability discrimination: Unfair treatment
based on physical or mental disabilities also is
ethically unsound. Employees with genuine
disabilities, whether they are temporary or
permanent, often appreciate managers efforts to
make life a little easier for them.
Gender discrimination: Gender discrimination
usually (but not always) involves less favourable
treatment of women in the workplace. Women may
receive lower wages for the same work that men
perform, for example, or they may be passed over for
promotion to senior or executive-level positions.
Men can be subjected to gender discrimination, too.
Employers may deny mens requests for time off to
attend to family matters like doctors appointments
or school activities, for example, while routinely
granting such requests from female workers.
Racial and ethnic discrimination: Racial
and ethnic discrimination most often refers to
unfair treatment from an employer, such as
refusing to hire a Ghanaian to certain jobs in
the country or paying them lower wages even
if they have the same qualifications and
experience as an expatriate. This is often the
case for the Black Stars coaching job.
Religious discrimination: Religious
discrimination refers to treating people
differently because of their religious beliefs
and practices.
Do businesses have to provide paid time off to
allow certain employees to pray several times
a day?
Ensuring Employee Safety
Businesses have a legal and moral obligation to
provide safe work environments for their employees
and produce safe goods and services for their
customers.
The price for neglecting safety can include:
Civil fines for violating safety laws and regulations
Criminal charges and penalties for negligence and
other behavior that meets the threshold for
criminality
Judgments and awards to victims and their families
Increased regulations or government
supervision of operations
Expenses for implementing mandated safety
or remedial measures
Consumer boycotts of products and services
Loss of trust among customers, stockholders,
employees, and potential investors
Bankruptcy