Essay: Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Sustainability Concepts

This essay examines the interconnected concepts of ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability within a business context. It defines ethics as moral principles guiding conduct, emphasizing its role in decision-making, reputation, and productivity. Social responsibility is presented as an obligation to benefit society, balancing economic and environmental considerations. Sustainability is highlighted as the optimal use of resources to avoid depletion and maintain ecological balance. The essay explores the role of managers in navigating ethical dilemmas, such as conflicts between economic benefits and moral values, and the importance of ethical training. It emphasizes the relationship between ethical values, social responsibility, and sustainability, illustrating how ethical practices can lead to sustainable outcomes. The essay also discusses the benefits of ethical and sustainable practices, including increased trust, market share, and a culture of accountability, while also acknowledging potential challenges and providing references from various books and journals.

ETHICS, SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY

ETHICS, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Ethics and values are the moral principles that helps in governing the behaviour of
conducting one or the other activity. It involves systematic and defending yet recommending
concepts which defines a line between right and wrong conduct of an individual or a company. It
helps in defining the concepts of good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong and justice and
crime. Ethics and values are used by the organization so that set principles and protocols are
followed ultimately guiding the decision-making process of the entity. It also ensures reputation
and productivity of the enterprise as well.
Social responsibility is another ethical framework which act as an obligation of the
society to act in the benefits of people at large. It is the duty of every organization to perform and
maintain a balance between economy and ecosystem so that the ultimate results are not
compromised by any of the two (Klettner, Clarke and Boersma, 2014). A little contribution by
the organization act as a benefit of society at large. A positive relationship is developed with the
society in which the enterprise is functioning. Business has to monitor that all the issued norms
and standards are actively complied and managers has to keep a track of all the actions that are
related to it.
Sustainability is another important concept which states that it is important to indulge in
optimum utilization of the resources. It helps in avoiding depletion of natural resources and
maintain ecological balance through it. Organizing various aspects sustainably is not limited to
implementing sustainable strategies but to provide cultural and economical benefits to the
society. It helps in carrying out the profitability in the long run and indulge in having a positive
yet strong relationship with the members of the society.
The main role is played by managers in order to deal with values, morals, ethics and
sustainability. They are the people who are responsible for preparation of strategies. There are
various situations where the outcome of performing a sustainable and ethical task may not able
to fulfil the economic benefits of the organization. Certain strategies from the managers may not
be able to match with moral values and standards being issued by the government. In that case, it
creates a situation of ethical dilemma for them. Some of the issues can be, whether to lie, abuse,
steal, break the terms of contract etc (Shah, 2014). Ethical dilemma faced by the managers can
also be highly complex in nature and more attached to the real-life situations such as whether to
form a law with respect to religion or not, how to handle a particular conflict between two
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employees etc. Hence, in that case, it is fairly important to give ethical training to the employees
and other staff members. On the other hand, the practice of training the employee for ethics can
be time taking and may not be able to generate adequate noticeable outcomes if the staff itself is
not motivated enough to practice the same at the workplace.
There is a great deal of relationship between upholding ethics, being socially responsible
as well as sustainable in the acts as well. When ethical values are considered by the team, in that
case, it itself become socially responsible and sustainable. If the ethical standards are
appropriately followed by the organization, it is able to fulfil the sustainable aspects of the
organization as well. Hence, in order to implement it in the organization, the management muss
provide equal opportunities to individuals to get selected in job, must not tolerate the behaviour,
such as, language, gestures and physical contact that can be cohesive, threatening and exploitive.
In order to act for the interest of communities and societies, the intention of the business
must be able to go beyond legal and economic obligations and act in the manner that is right for
the society. It helps in evaluating the right and wrong behaviour of the company towards the
society. It may include certain extra charges for the company in its initial format but can prove to
be beneficial in the long-term aspect of the organization (Wang, 2013). However, in contrast to
this, researchers have also viewed this practice as an obligation which does not guarantee success
in the long run. Certain practices may not be brought into notice to the public and they may not
be aware regarding sustainable practices adopted by the organization.
Decision making has direct relation to interest of the company and can also be able to
reach to the community in wider sense. It increases trust of people over a company and it is able
to enjoy higher market share and revenues as well. It helps in building loyalty and thereby
resulting in sustainable life of the business as well. It also assists in embracing practices that are
culturally effective and produce a culture of accountability at the workplace. The sustainable
practices adopted by the management of the company plays an essential role in management of
corporate risk. Any process or act, that can damage the overall reputation of the organization
must not be adopted by the management, no matter how profitable the task could have been.
Hence, in that case, ethical and sustainable practices can help in ensuring that the practices
adopted by it will help in continuing the business in long run.
Use of appropriate set of ethics and being social responsible can contribute to challenge
already being faced by the managers of the organization (Wu and et.al2015). Earlier, the core
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responsibility was to understand the requirements of business objectives. However, while
following these ethical standards, it become important to opt for the practices that are not only
fulfilling requirements of the organization but of the community as well. It ensures that all the
practices adopted are ethical enough and will be able to fulfil all the common aspect of
sustainability as well. However, in contrast to this, there are greater chances of hampering the
business objectives if a high degree of concentration is given to ethical practices.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Klettner, A., Clarke, T., and Boersma, M. (2014). The Governance of Corporate Sustainability:
Empirical Insights into the Development, Leadership and Implementation of Responsible
Business Strategy. Journal of Business Ethics. 122(1): 145 - 65.
Shah, S. (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Way of Life at the Tata Group. Journal of
Human Values. 20(1). 59 – 74.
Wang, Y. (2013). From Virtue Ethics to Virtuous Corporation – Putting Virtues into Business
Practice. PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication. 5(1). 131 – 139.
Wu, L. Z. and et.al. (2015). CEO Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility: A
Moderated Mediation Model. Journal of Business Ethics. 130(4). 819 - 831.
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