Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Objectives (original) (raw)

Everyone today is sensitive to the “three dimensions” (economic, societal and environmental) that should be considered in any business. However we have come to the conclusion that these three structural dimensions can only make sense when oriented around the “human person”. We strongly believe therefore that the internal and external objectives (economic, societal and environmental) and their respective programs and business activities must be considered with a view to their impact on the development of the persons involved (the different stakeholders). The first part of this document (“Foundation and Inspiration”, found in the Development) is an attempt to appreciate the subject as it may be experienced by a Christian business leader. What is the specific call of a Christian who is a business leader? And as a Christian executive, what is the distinct way of addressing the economic, societal and environmental spheres of an enterprise? The second part of the current document (“Our Vision of CSR”) presents CSR as an interesting concept for addressing current issues. Firstly, what are the universal principles on which a sustainable economy should be based? What would be a comprehensive vision of an enterprise, its objectives and its responsibilities? What is the specific role of the business leader and what are the principal strategic lines of action? The third section deals with the implementation of the lines of action, guidelines, if you like, on how to change ways of conducting business. How can we progress and make the theory work? How can we implement a culture that respects the human person? Finally, once implemented, is there a way to measure its effectiveness?

Unethical business practices are gaining wide attention in the business circles, academia and government. Various measures are adopted to control these unethical business practices. However despite of the known fact that spiritual values have positive effe fact that spiritually oriented people act in Godly ways, Spirituality as a control measure for unethical behavior and business have not been sufficiently explored. This paper argues that socially responsible organizati organizational culture based on spiritual values. This is seen to be accomplished through the development of unspoken assumptions embedded in organization culture wh accomplishing what is good for the long term sustainability and success of organization can be obtained by striving for the larger social good. Copyright©2016, Sarah Javed and Mohammad Suhaib permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This paper argues that the view of CSR as advanced in management theory and practice is flawed due to its theoretical underpinnings in individualism, a position which upholds the primacy of the individual and provides legitimacy to individuals’ active pursuit of self-interest to the detriment of society. This view, however, significantly diverges from CSR perspectives which prescribe the duty and obligation inherent in every member of society to contribute to the promotion of the common good. This paper therefore suggests the need for an alternative model and presents the view of CSR advanced by Catholic Social Teaching (CST) as a more comprehensive and coherent framework to correctly articulate the relations between business and society, and the consequent duties and responsibilities that business have to contribute to the common good which is the essence of CSR. The paper also offered a critique of some common CSR practices and provided the reasons as to why these practices are considered unacceptable from the perspective of CST.

Critics lament that corporate social responsibility has failed to significantly change business practices and that it became 'de-radicalized' once embraced by corporate business management. Using historical analysis, this article reevaluates this de-radicalization thesis, questioning whether corporate social responsibility ever was as inherently radical as the thesis assumes. The article demonstrates that early corporate social responsibility was already invested with a strategy of pragmatism, an investment that traces back to a group of late 19th and early 20th century American Christian reformists, also known as the social gospel movement. They promised that industrialism would unify Christian ethics and capitalist production, thereby reconciling the conflict between profitseeking and social solidarity. The discourse they advanced already contained what would later become key corporate social responsibility components, including (1) the notion of ethical businessmen, (2) the corporation as a morally conscious being and (3) collaboration as the pathway to 'industrial peace'. Theoretically, the analysis finds inspiration in Luc Boltanski's and Eve Chiapello's thesis on modern capitalism's capacity to assimilate the critiques it faces, supplemented by Michel Foucault's fine-grained analyses of the transformation and 'tactical polyvalence' of discourse. The two positions complement each other in their assumptions regarding the dialectical relationship between capitalism/critique (Boltanski and Chiapello) and power/resistance (Foucault). Tracing the origins of corporate social responsibility's pragmatism further back in time than the conventional starting point in the 1950s casts new light on the de-radicalization thesis. In particular, corporate social responsibility emphasizes personal ethics as the key to industrial peace, a social gospel legacy that has steered corporate social responsibility away from demands that fundamentally challenge corporate capitalism.