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Social responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory that an entity whether it is a government, corporation, organization or individual has a responsibility to society. This responsibility can be "negative", meaning there is a responsibility to refrain from acting (resistance stance) or it can be "positive," meaning there is a responsibility to act (proactive stance).

There is a large inequality in the means and roles of different entities to fulfill their claimed responsibility. This would imply the different entities have different responsibilities, in so much as states should ensure the civil rights of their citizens, that corporations should respect and encourage the human rights of their employees and that citizens should abide with written laws. But social responsibility can mean more than these examples. Many Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accept that their role and the responsibility of their members as citizens is to help improve society by taking a proactive stance in their societal roles. It can also imply that corporations have an implicit obligation to give back to society (such as is claimed as part of corporate social responsibility and/or stakeholder theory).

A second way that businesses can use ethical decision making to strengthen their businesses is by making decisions that affect its health as seen to those stakeholders that are outside of the business environment. (Kaliski, 2001) Customers and Suppliers are two examples of such stakeholders. Take a look at companies like Johnson & Johnson, their strong sense of responsibility to the public is well known. (Hogue, 2001) In particular, take for instance Johnson & Johnson and the Tylenol scare of 1982. When people realized that some bottles of Tylenol contained cyanide they quit buying Tylenol, stocks dropped and Johnson & Johnson lost a lot of money. But they chose to lose even more money and invest in new tamper resistant seals and announce a major recall of their product. There was no “certain amount” for this situation; Johnson & Johnson had to lose money to be socially responsible, but in the long run they gained the trust of their customers. Now when people look at other products, there is a sense of faith and trust in that Johnson & Johnson would not allow a product to harm people just to meet their own bottom line. The exactly opposite picture had been portrayed by Union Carbide in the Methyl Isocyanide gas leak incident in Bhopal, India in 1984.

A third way that business can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses is by making decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with the corporation. (Kaliski, 2001) For instance if a company is proactive and follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ guidelines for admissions on dangerous pollutants and even goes an extra step to get involved in the community and address those concerns that the public might have; they would be less likely to have the EPA investigate them for environmental concerns. “A significant element of current thinking about privacy, however, stresses "self-regulation" rather than market or government mechanisms for protecting personal information” (Swire , 1997) Most rules and regulations are formed due to public outcry, if there is not outcry there often will be limited regulation.

Contents 1 Economic value 2 Criticism of the doctrine of positive responsibility 3 Socially responsible businesses 4 References 5 External links 6 See also 7 Further reading

[edit] Economic value

While corporate responsibility hold obvious moral value, it carries with it economic value as well. This economic value can be defined as the total dollar amount individuals are willing to pay for or invest in socially responsible goods or practices. It has been estimated that over $5300 billion can be extracted from the United States' gross domestic product for the purpose of funding socially responsible practices. [1] Triple bottom line is one theory that discusses that idea.

[edit] Criticism of the doctrine of positive responsibility

Many, particularly libertarians, assert there is no "social responsibility" to do anything, but to refrain from doing. They argue that social responsibility only exists to the extent that an individual or business should not initiate physical force, threat of force, or fraud against another. In his famous article The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits, Nobel economist Milton Friedman(Classical View/theory of Social Responsibility) asserts that businesses have no social responsibility other than to increase profits and refrain from engaging in deception and fraud. He maintains that when businesses seek to maximize profits, they almost always incidentally do what is good for society. Friedman does not argue that business should not help the community but that it may indeed be in the long-run self-interest of a business to "devote resources to providing amenities to [the] community..." in order to "generate goodwill" and thereby increase profits.

Another famous economist highly critical of this doctrine is R. Edward Freeman, author of a number of papers on stakeholder theory from an explicitly libertarian perspective.

[edit] Socially responsible businesses

For each business, different measures are taken in consideration to classify a business as "socially responsible". (Kaliski, 2006) Each business attempts to reach different goals. There are four areas that should be measured regardless of the outcome needed: Economic function, Quality of life, Social investment and Problem solving.^{[citation needed]}

In economic function, the goal that is trying to be achieved should be measured to see if it meets with the cost guidelines that the business is willing to contribute. (Kaliski, 2006) If the business were to try to better the plant by reducing its carbon footprint, it must assess how this can be achieved. (Carbon Footprint, 2006) In the quality of life measurement “should focus on whether the organization is improving or degrading the general quality of life in society”. (Kaliski, 2007) Social investment eventually documents the role of the business in its goal to being "socially responsible.

v • d • e Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights   General principles Article 1: Freedom, Egalitarianism, Dignity and Brotherhood Article 2: Universality of rights   International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination · Article 3: Right to life, liberty and security of person · Article 4: Freedom from slavery · Article 5: Freedom from torture and cruel and unusual punishment · Article 6: Right to personhood · Article 7: Equality before the law · Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law · Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention and exile · Article 10: Right to a fair trial · Article 11.1: Presumption of innocence · Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law · Article 12: Right to privacy · Article 13: Freedom of movement · Article 14: Right of asylum · Article 15: Right to a nationality · Article 16: Right to marriage and family life · Article 17: Right to property · Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion · Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression · Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly · Article 20.2: Freedom of association · Article 21.1: Right to participation in government · Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office · Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage   International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Article 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination · Article 22: Right to social security · Article 23.1: Right to work · Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work · Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration · Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union · Article 24: Right to rest and leisure · Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living · Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children · Article 26.1: Right to education · Article 26.2: Human rights education · Article 26.3: Right to choice of education · Article 27.1: Right to participate in culture · Article 27.2: Right to intellectual property   Context, limitations and duties Article 28: Social order · Article 29.1: Social responsibility  · Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights · Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. Category:Human rights · Human rights portal

[edit] References

Carbon Footprint, (2006). Carbon Footprint's Business Services. Retrieved October 19, 2007, from Carbon Footprint Web site: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/companies_calc.html

Hogue, J (2001, April 19). Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Scare. Retrieved September 10, 2007, from Communications on the Internet Web site: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring01/Hogue/tylenol.html

Kaliski, B. (Ed.). Social Responsibility and Organizational Ethics. (2001). Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2nd ed., Vol. 1). New York: Macmillan Reference.

Kaliski, B. (Ed.). Ethics in Management. (2001). Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2nd ed., Vol. 1). New York: Macmillan Reference.

Pride, William M., Hughes, Robert James, & Kapoor, Jack R. (2008). Business (9th ed.) Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618770917

[edit] External links

Some groups of professionals have defined their own intrinsic social responsibilities. Here are some examples:

• csr-news.net
• Computer Ethics Institute
• Social Responsibility Summary
• Scryve.com, see csr ratings for free
• Physicians for Social Responsibility
• interrupcion* - A community of organizations and individuals working together to promote social responsibility in all sectors of society.
• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
• Business for Social Responsibility
• Artists for Social Responsibility
• American Engineers for Social Responsibility
• Institute for Social Responsibility
• National Association of Socially Responsible Organizations
• International Business Leaders Forum - a not-for-profit organisation which promotes responsible business
• World Forum : international meeting on diversity and equal opportunity in the workplace[2]
• TheSRO* : The Socially Responsible Organization

[edit] See also

• Scuppie
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Impact maximization
• Social enterprise
• Social entrepreneurship
• Socially responsible investing
• Inclusive business

[edit] Further reading