SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF INSTITUTIONS, ORGANIZATIONS AND COMPANIES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The social responsibility of institutions, organizations and companies is a standard of behavior and a form of self-regulation that they have to carry out to guarantee a positive impact on society and the environment.

In general, the term refers above all to behaviors that are carried out spontaneously by companies. In other words, all those actions that are required by law would not be part of the social responsibility behaviors.

In general, the actions carried out by a company, organization or institution due to social responsibility do not usually generate immediate benefits for the company. Rather, they are intended to generate long-term social or environmental benefit.

There are many types of actions that a company can take to fulfill its social responsibility. Some of the most common are to use recycled materials and renewable energy, promote equality in jobs or create integration programs to give the most disadvantaged an opportunity.

History of social responsibility

Since the 1960s, more and more companies, organizations and institutions have become interested in the idea of ​​social responsibility. Despite the fact that initially capitalism only promotes its own benefit, a growing number of entrepreneurs have decided to contribute their grain of sand to society. Sometimes even if doing so means losing some benefits.

Due to various social and environmental problems that occurred in the last decades of the 20th century, especially those related to climate change, companies began to worry more about the impact they had on the world.

In 1991, Carrol began a study on the types of responsibilities that companies have to the society in which they are located. Basically, he defined four types:

• Economic responsibility, that is, the duty to generate a profit by producing goods of interest to the public.
• Legal responsibility, or the need to follow the rules and laws of the community in which they are located.
• Ethical responsibility, that is, the duty to carry out ethically correct actions such as caring for the environment and contributing to the well-being of its employees.
• Philanthropic responsibility, that is, the need to contribute selflessly to society in general.

In general, the social responsibilities of companies are considered to belong to the last two types. These responsibilities can be covered, above all, in three areas: through environmental impact reduction programs, with education and social programs, and fairly paying employees according to their resources.

Examples of social responsibility

Although the clearest example of actions that are consistent with the social responsibility of companies, organizations or institutions are those that are intended to protect the natural environment, they are not the only ones. Companies can (and should) carry out other types of programs that allow them to fulfill their ethical and philanthropic responsibilities.

In different areas of the world, social responsibility can take very different forms. For example, while in China it can mean creating safe and good quality products, in Germany it means safe and stable jobs.

Here are some examples of ways in which a company can fulfill its social responsibility in any of the three areas.

Environmental impact

This is possibly the first idea that comes to mind when we think about corporate social responsibility. Due to the advance of ecological problems in recent decades (such as the destruction of the ozone layer or global warming), companies have developed a large number of mechanisms to be more environmentally responsible.

For example, Google is known for investing in renewable energy and using recycled materials in its offices. In this way, they make sure that they are not damaging the environment with their actions.

Fair Trade

Closely related to the above are fair trade policies. A company that cares about fair trade must ensure that it uses legally and ethically sourced materials to make its products.

This type of social responsibility arises above all due to the employment of cheap labor from developing countries. However, they can also be caused by the use of materials obtained in an unsustainable or environmentally damaging way.

A good example of companies concerned with fair trade are Starbucks (which only uses coffee collected in plantations that do not harm the environment) and Fairphone, a Dutch company that makes mobile phones exclusively from recycled materials.

Worker development

Due to the rapidity with which jobs change today, many companies are beginning to worry about the continuous training of their employees.

In this type of company, a worker can take courses for free, to update their knowledge and continue to be able to compete in the labor market.

An example of a company that is particularly concerned about the development of its workers is Telefónica. All your employees have access to an internal virtual platform, from which they can access different courses and training.

Equality in jobs

With the growing concern for the social and employment equality of all people, companies have had to catch up in this regard in recent decades.

To avoid discrimination between people of different sex, race, sexual orientation or religion, a large number of positive discrimination policies and affirmative actions have been carried out.

Types of social responsibility in this area would be, for example, ensuring that there were the same number of men and women in a company, or that their salaries were equal in the same job.

Donations and social actions

The last way a company can fulfill its social responsibility is by investing part of its profits in aid and social programs.

For example, in the creation and maintenance of an NGO, or by donating a percentage of your income to charity.

One of the companies that donates the most money to NGOs is Microsoft; In 2015 alone, this company contributed more than 135 million dollars.

References

1. "What is corporate social responsibility?" in: Business News Daily. Retrieved on: January 26, 2018 from Business News Daily: businessnewsdaily.com.
2. "Social Responsibility" in: Investopedia. Retrieved on: January 26, 2018 from Investopedia: investopedia.com.
3. "Corporate social responsibility" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: January 26, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.
4. "Corporate Social Responsibility" in: Investopedia. Retrieved on: January 26, 2018 from Investopedia: investopedia.com.
5. "The 20 Most Generous Companies of the Fortune 500" in: Fortune. Retrieved on: January 26, 2018 from Fortune: fortune.com.