Ethics And Social Responsibility

Question 1

Ethics

Answer 1

Abiding by moral standards and doing the right thing by all stakeholders.

Question 2

Social responsibility

Answer 2

The obligation an organisation has to go above and beyond its legal responsibilities in regards to the welfare of employees, customers, community and the environment.

Question 3

An example of social responsibility in management of change

Answer 3

An organisation that is implementing new technology which will cause a restructure and loss of some jobs should organise counselling for the employees and offer them training that can assist them in acquiring skills that will help them in finding new work. This is the organisation going above and beyond its legal responsibilities in regards to the welfare of employees.

Question 4

Example of ethics

Answer 4

It is important and expected that all businesses not only follow the law in regards to redundancy packages but that they give all employees fair redundancy packages for what they brought to the organisation and that they are well informed of the redundancy beforehand and that the business helps them find work or gives them enough money and resources for them to find their own work.This is abiding by moral standards and doing the right thing in the interests of stakeholders especially employees.

Question 5

Management in LSOs should ensure that all aspects of the organisation are implemented in an ethical and socially responsible manner.

Discuss how management can ensure change is implemented in an ethical and socially responsible manner.

Answer 5

Ethics refers to abiding by moral standards and doing the right thing in the interests of all stakeholders. Social responsibility refers to the obligations a business has to go above and beyond moral and legal requirements to to look out for the welfare of stakeholders, the community and the environment.

Management can ensure that change is implemented in an ethical and socially responsible manner by using Kotter’s theory. Organisational change is the adoption of a new idea or behaviour at an organisation. Kotter’s theory is a series of 8 steps to be followed by business’s to ensure the successful implementation of change.

The fourth step of the theory ‘communicate the vision’ will ensure change is implemented ethically and socially responsibly as it ensures that all employees understand the changes that are being made. Managers need to explain to employees exactly how it will affect them. This is ethical as it is doing the right thing by the employees.

The fifth step ‘overcome obstacles’ can also used to ensure change is implemented ethically and socially responsibly. Overcoming obstacles involves training employees to be able to implement the changes safely. This is ethical as it ensures hat employees are safe from physical harm in the change process which is doing the right thing by employees.

Implementing changes often means that many employees will face redundancies. To be socially responsible managers should offer services to employees during termination. such as paying for workshops that allow employees to develop kills that make them a promising candidate for other organisations to recruit. This may be costly but it ensures the reputation of the business remains intact and that the morale of the remaining employees does not suffer too much.

Managers also shouldn’t implement any changes that nay result in damage to the environment. This might be a cheaper option when dealing with pressures but it can harm the reputation of the business and customers may choose to shop elsewhere.

Using Kotter’s theory, offering services during termination and ensuring changes made do not damage the environment may be a very time consuming and costly process but it ensures that the morale off employees remains high and that the business is seen as ethically and socially responsible. This can actually attract customers as many consumers chose to only shop at ethical and socially responsible organisations.