Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability Report

This report analyzes the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethical practices of Facebook. It begins by defining CSR and discussing Facebook's sustainable practices, including its efforts to minimize energy, emission, and water usage. The report then applies Carroll's four-part model of CS...Read More

RUNNING HEAD: ETHICS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY 0
2020
Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Student’s details-

ETHICS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY 1
Question 1
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the obligation of the business towards the society and
making ethical approaches towards the stakeholders in order to maintain sustainability (Argenti,
2015). Moreover, Facebook has adopted various sustainable practices for minimizing the impact
of energy, emission and water usage. Further, Carroll’s model of CSR can used for explaining
the level of ethics maintained by the company. According to Carroll, there are four ethical
framework that decide upon the ethnic composition of the company. It mainly includes the social
responsibility of the company in terms of economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. First level
includes the economic responsibility which ensures that the business is earning sufficient profits
in order to bring sustainability into the operations (Chaudhri, 2016). Moreover, Facebook has
maintained the economic responsibility through gaining the desired profits. Further, the model
includes the legal responsibility of the business which clearly states that the business must
comply with the legal framework and also make due adherence to the laws and compliances
which are set the society.
Moreover, Facebook has made due compliances with the government policies and the interest
that has helped the company to make the negotiations and partnerships with the government. The
company has been making the efforts for fulfilling their legal responsibilities which are proved to
be in the corporate structure of the company. Furthermore, third level demonstrates that the
business must meet the ethical duties in order to maintain the level of justice and act in the
grounds of the ethics and morals. This can be seen in case of Facebook company as well when
the company maintains the moral obligations towards the employees and also with the customers
in which the company maintains ethical values through the protection of the confidential
information of the customers and maintaining the security and privacy of the users of Facebook
(Shackelford, 2018). Further, the fourth level demonstrates that the business must fulfil their
philanthropic responsibility through making a contribution to the society by participating in the
community programs and volunteering that can lead to the fulfillment of the business’s motive to
give back to the society. However, the philanthropic efforts of Facebook can be seen from the
fact that the company has been making the community engagements through bringing the people
together (Carroll, 2016). This four-level model shows the social responsibility of Facebook and
the way it maintains the ethical approaches.

ETHICS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY 2
Question 2
The business mission of the company is bringing communities together and increase the
interactions among them (Facebook Sustainability, 2020). No, the company does not live up to
their vision as it compelled the company to make increase the boundaries of connections. The
company does not properly maintain the data and security of the content to be used and also do
not ensured that the privacy of data is maintained which in turn created the problem for the
company and has affected the reputation of the company (Molla & Wagner, 2018). This way the
company has been deprived from the business mission and rathe brought a negative impact on
the society.
Question 3
Facebook is considered to be unethical company as it has violated the certain data of the
customers that were expected to be confidential. Moreover, ethics and the morality depend upon
the values and the principles that the company provides to the customers. Further, the company
has been engaged in data breaches of the American Facebook users which explains that the
company is somehow unethical as it has stolen the private information of the users. Further, there
is a criticism against the company that it has not been using the laws and ethical guidelines for
data protection (Johansson, 2019). This shows that the company is highly unethical as it has
certain claims for data breaches which is immoral and against the ethical principles. This in turn
has brought a negative effect on the company.
Question 4
From the above condition of Facebook, it can be recommended that the company must fulfill
their social responsibility towards different stakeholders as it can help the company to get
competitive advantage. It is essential that the company maintains the CSR policies and a proper
sustainability framework into their operations in order to increase the tendency to be more
successful in the future. Further, the company can increase the reputation of the company
through the indulging into the sustainable practices and also including the sustainable practices
into the operations which can improve the reputation and corporate image of the company
(Carroll, 2015). Further, the company should be highly ethical which means the company should
not disclose the confidential information and respect the privacy of the other person. These

ETHICS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY 3
security efforts can help them to be ethical and will also lead to growing reputation of the
company. Further, the company is recommended to make the profits by complying with their
ethical duties towards the society and also making ethical approaches towards the stakeholders
such as suppliers and employees who majorly contribute in the sustainability of the business
(Fordham, et al., 2017).
Facebook has the mission of bringing people together, it has approached the supply chain
excellence and workplace sustainability which the other businesses can learn it. Also, the other
business can learn to make the climate sustainable and improve the access to electricity and
climate condition all around the globe (Facebook Sustainability, 2020). Other businesses can
learn to make the climate sustainable through the renewable approaches through the business
alliances and the projects that it carries in order to be successful and maintain the ethical
framework. Also, it can also be learnt that the company’s community programs are surely the
best practice to be adopted by the company and matches to the business mission.

ETHICS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY 4
References
Argenti, P., 2015. Corporate responsibility. s.l.:Sage Publications.
Carroll, A., 2015. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on a sustainable trajectory. Journal of
Defense Management, 5(2), pp. 2167-0374.
Carroll, A., 2016. Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: taking another look. International Journal of
Corporate Social Responsibility, 1(3).
Chaudhri, V., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and the communication imperative:
Perspectives from CSR managers. International Journal of Business Communication, 53(4), pp.
419-442.
Facebook Sustainability, 2020. Sustainability Overview. [Online]
Available at: https://sustainability.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Facebook-Overview-
052419.pdf
[Accessed 28 January 2020].
Fordham, A., Robinson, G. & Blackwell, B., 2017. Corporate social responsibility in resource
companies–Opportunities for developing positive benefits and lasting legacies. Resources
Policy, Volume 52, pp. 366-376.
Johansson, A., 2019. Is Facebook really the corporate monster everyone wants it to be?.
[Online]
Available at: https://thenextweb.com/podium/2019/06/28/is-facebook-really-the-corporate-
monster-everyone-wants-it-to-be/
[Accessed 27 January 2020].
Molla, R. & Wagner, K., 2018. Many believe Facebook is having a negative impact on society
around the world. [Online]
Available at: https://www.vox.com/2018/4/12/17215142/facebook-negative-impact-society-
mark-zuckerberg-poll
[Accessed 27 January 2020].

ETHICS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY 5
Shackelford, S., 2018. Facebook’s social responsibility should include privacy protection.
[Online]
Available at: https://theconversation.com/facebooks-social-responsibility-should-include-
privacy-protection-94549
[Accessed 27 January 2020].