abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
Social Responsibility in an Organization
Meaning: -
Social Responsibility and Social responsiveness:
Meaning: -
- Social responsibility means that the business enterprise is meeting its basic obligations to the society around it.
- But in today's world when recession dogs businesses, and survival itself is at stake, can a corporate ever afford to think of anything else but its products, its customers and its shareholders.
- Even employees come only a close second, as companies use downsizing and rightsizing excuses to retrench or pink slip their employees.
- So when self interest and survival is all that matters, can corporate be blamed if they do not want to get involved in anything that does not bring them profit or immediate benefit to its shareholders.
- But social responsibility is something that is going that extra mile and going beyond the call of duty to help make a difference in someone's life, because as human beings we all have a role to play in society and it is not all about making money alone.
- Just as it's the individual's duty to contribute to making the world a better place to live in, the business enterprise, in its role as a collective of people has a larger role to play in the society it functions in.
- The Indian public sector has always been involved in the social sector, as part of its agenda of must do functions.
- Although there has been no compulsion in the private sector to get involved with the community and the social sector, the Birlas and the Tatas are reputed for the social causes they have espoused and taken up for the common good of the people.
- And many other companies in the private sector have been quietly doing their mite, without making a song and dance about the work they have been doing.
- In early 1990’s the mission of business was exclusively economic.
- But today partly sue to the interdependencies of many groups in our society, social involvement of business has increased.
- The major question raised here is what exactly the social responsibility of business organizations is. Moreover it is now being posed with increasing frequency in regards to government, university, non profit foundations, charitable organizations, churches etc.
- Although organizations believe that financial considerations must be given highest priority they have started recognizing their concerns of different groups of people.
- Society at large awakened and vocal their voices by the urgency of social problems and are asking all the top level managers that what are they really doing to discharge them?
Social Responsibility and Social responsiveness:
- Howard R Bowen in his book ‘Social Responsibility of the Businessman’ has suggested that business should consider the social implications of their decisions.
- There is no exact definition but according to a survey out of 439 executives 68% of responding managers agreed with a definition “Corporate social responsibility is seriously considering the impact of the company’s action on society.
- A newer concept, but very similar to social responsibility, is social responsiveness, which means “the ability of a corporation to relate its operations and policies to the social environment in ways that are mutually beneficial to the company and to society.”
- Both definitions should be expanded to include enterprises other than businesses and to encompass relationships within the enterprise.
- The main difference between social responsibility and social responsiveness is that the latter implies actions and the “how” of enterprise responses.