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Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics Case Study – Empower Initiative
Read the excerpt below and answer ALL of the questtions
A company implements a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative labeled ‘Empower’ which develops skills and employment for interns in a graduate programme aimed at uplifting physically disabled persons.
Question 1 (20 Marks)
In a comparative analysis, formulate a critical appraisal of the three philosophical theories of distributive justice, identifying which theory/theories the initiative ‘Empower’ falls within the ambit of and if it does not why it does not.
Question 2 (20 Marks)
As Managing Director of X Company you are called upon to investigate the projected impact of the programme. Formulate a presentation to the Board examining the consequences of amoral management and of running a company without ethics.
Question 3 (20 Marks)
In support of the decision to engage the Empower initiative nationally argue the relevance of a company’s reputation and evaluate determinants of reputation and how it can be managed.
Question 4 (20 Marks)
Implementing the initiative means the Board and management will not be able to hire new staff or get an increase in salary. Weigh this ethical dilemma by evaluating Kohlberg’s principles and criticism of it.
Question 5 (20 Marks)
To appease the dissatisfaction of the shareholders, support your decision to institute Empower by criticising the philosophical merit of the Shareholder Theory and examining arguments by Christopher Stone, Milton Friedman, and Peter French.
Business Ethics Answers: Expert Answer on Above CSR Case Study
Distributive justice theories
The three important philosophical theories are utilitarianism, egalitarianism and libertarianism. The theory of utilitarianism emphasizes maximization of happiness for all while the egalitarianism theory advocates equality of opportunity. The libertarianism theory prioritises individual freedom and minimal intervention of government.
From all these theories, empower aligns best with egalitarian and utilitarian theories.
Consequences of Amoral management
Lack of ethical values can result in reputational damage and directly affect the trust of stakeholders, legal and regulatory risks, low employee morale leading to high turnover rate, and short term profit focus may adversely affect the long term sustainability.
Ethical management is therefore crucial as it helps in promoting trust, loyalty and long term profitability.
Reputation and its determinants
The reputation of a company is dependent on various factors including trust, ethical conduct, transparency and social responsibility. The main determinants of reputation includes corporate ethics, CSR initiatives, quality of products and services offering, leadership effectiveness and stakeholder management. The reputation is also highly dependent on management and requires consistent communication and ethical governance on the part of management.
Ethical dilemma and Kohlberg principles
The development stages according to the Kohlberg model includes preconventional based on self interest, conventional on the basis of law and order, and post conventional based on Universal ethical principles. The decision to implement empower even after freezing salaries indicates the post conventional morality according to Kohlberg principle. The major limitation with the Kohlberg model is it may ignore emotional and contextual factors that could affect ethical decisions.
Stakeholder theory and philosophical critique
According to Milton Friedman, the main purpose of a company is profit maximization and it is considered as the only responsibility within legal limits. However this particular view point is criticized by Christopher Stone by emphasizing corporate moral responsibility towards society.
| Disclaimer: This answer is a model for study and reference purposes only. Please do not submit it as your own work. |
