Ethics and Social Responsibility

Ethics and Social Responsibility

William Bibb

MGT 498

June 6, 2015

SheilahMarie Buendia

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Ethics and social responsibilities play key roles in the development of a strategic plan, while taking into consideration, the stakeholder’s needs and objectives. Ethics can be misinterpreted as something that is only concerned with moral judgment and religion, but it also encompasses everything involved in business. The concept of ethics is crucial in the business industry because laws do not necessarily encompass all of the difficulties that can arise involving business legalities and morality. Businesses have an obligation to be socially responsible and ethical by valuing and caring for the environment, being fair with customers both internal and external, and being advocates of the public.

Ethical and social responsibilities

        The concept of ethics refers to an area of study that focuses on what is good and bad behavior; a branch of philosophy that entails what is morally right or wrong (Merriam-Webster.com, 2015). Ethics incorporates topics such as competition amongst other businesses, financial statement information, and other similar issues that may come about in a business atmosphere. Social responsibility is a theory which describes the idea that a business should fully embrace its social responsibilities, rather than just maximizing its profits. Social responsibility is a necessity for businesses to practice, in order to achieve long-term success. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ensures that businesses consistently meet all economic requirements, along with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines.

Strategic planning elements

        Business ethics and social responsibility are essential components of a strategic management plan. A strategic management plan is a plan that is utilized to maximize stakeholder funds and improve the corporation’s overall significance. Strategic management helps to ensure that the company resolves all possible threats, takes advantage of any given opportunities, eliminates weaknesses, sustained strengths of the company, and deals with competition in an appropriate manner. An ethical design of the strategic plan is important because of social and legal reasons. Complying with ethical and moral principles in a lot of these cases is mandated by law. In some of the other cases, although it might not be mandatory, it is still considered socially acceptable to do so. For example, the toxic or hazardous waste a company can generate must meet all safety requirements outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), specifically 40 CFR, Part 260 (United States of American Environmental Protection Agency, 2015).