Corporate Social Responsibility Case Study: Organizational Behavior

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

TRACEY AND CORPORATION SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CASE STUDY

LECTURER: JACQUI TRACEY

STUDENT: SHANE GORMLEY

STUDENT NUMBER: 2864417

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility is defined by Lange and Washburn (2012) as the “focus on the meaning of and expectations for responsible behaviour rather than the meaning of irresponsible behaviour”.

Corporate social responsibility requires business organisations to encompass “the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary (philanthropic) expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time” (Bucholtz & Carrol, 2008, p. 40)

This assignment will be discussing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how it is implemented in business, specifically, hospitality

The term Corporate Social Responsibility cannot simply be defined as one action a company takes on board; there are a number of different ways in which business’ can implement CSR, and for many different reasons. CSR can include “environmental protection, social accountability, ethics and education, sustainable development” and a sustainable method of work to think about the global community for the future, as well as focusing on the local community. (Sloan, Legrand & Chen, 2013, chp 12)

Before a company begins to develop CSR initiatives they must be aware of all laws and regulations at every level in the community in which it is operating, whether it is located in that area of supplying business to said area. If and when this is done properly then the company has no fear of acting outside of what is mandatory of them on a legal and somewhat human level. The business must then go out of their way to ensure that they are going beyond what is the basic requirement from them, for then they will be seen to be helping those around them and not simply working to further their own company’s profit. One example would be, giving workers a fair wage as opposed to the minimum one which they are required to give their workers by law. This could be explained using law versus ethics, law representing the absolute minimum required, whereas ethics requires a standard at which the legal minimum is

One of the main benefits of taking on board CSR initiatives is that your business will be behaving responsibly. If you build a reputation as a responsible business then you are setting yourself apart from the competition. Other companies will more often than not go for a supplier who demonstrates responsible policies. This benefits both companies, both business wise and in how the companies are perceived by the public. The public play a hugely important role in companies reasoning for being more ethically responsible. For example, a recent study carried out by Fairtrade.org.uk revealed that “A massive 84% of consumers across the UK say they are willing to pay