RMIT University: Singapore Company CSR Campaign Case Study Analysis

This case study examines a Singaporean company's attempt to enhance its brand image through a social media campaign promoting its charity programs. The analysis delves into the company's strategies, including corporate social responsibility and publicizing its brand through social media. The study highlights the problem statement where the efforts to publicize these deeds are sometimes viewed as hypocrisy and showoff and hence may attract backlash from the same people it was meant to impress. The methodology employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods, relying on secondary sources and theoretical frameworks like Neohumanism and radical structuralism to analyze employee conflicts and the impact of the campaign. The literature review underscores the importance of careful promotion of community involvement and the potential for negative community reactions, leading to an exploration of risk management strategies. The study proposes a risk management framework, including identifying risks such as negative customer reactions and resource inefficiencies, and suggests mitigation strategies like employee involvement and professional social media management. The conclusion emphasizes the need for a well-planned approach, considering employee perspectives, community feedback, and the development of a comprehensive risk minimization framework to ensure successful CSR campaigns.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................2
1.1 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................2
2. Methodology – Demonstration of Critical Analysis.......................................................2
3. Literature Review.............................................................................................................2
4. Solution Development and Proposal...............................................................................2
4. References..........................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction
Organizations are always aggressive by trying to improve their image and brand name. In an
effort to keep the brand of the organization visible at all terms, they come up with a variety of
strategies. Some of these strategies include engaging in corporate social responsibility,
sponsorship of sporting events as well as publicizing the brand of the organization through
paid advertisement (Bandyopadhyay, Nityananda, 2019. Some organizations engage in
charity and other community based project with a primary objective of creating a positive
impression among its customers. These organizations use these charities and social programs
as a means to an end and are really not interested in giving back to the community. This
paper therefore discusses the case study of a company from Singapore which used social
media to promote its charity programs. The paper contains a thorough literature review on the
subject. The document also analyzes the mistakes that were made in carrying out the
campaign. Additionally, this article proposes a risk management framework that can be used
to avoid such occurrences in future.
1.1 Problem Statement
The image of an organization is very critical in determining both the short term and the long-
term success of an organization. Organizations should therefore invest resources and efforts
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in cultivating a positive image within the society. In an effort to build a good image of the
organization, they engage in social activities and community based programs. The
organizations try to publicize these social works through the use of social media as well as
mainstream media. The efforts to publicize these deeds are sometimes viewed as hypocrisy
and showoff and hence may attract backlash from the same people it was meant to impress.
This study therefore seeks to establish strategies which an organization can use create a
positive image by participating in corporate social responsibility. The paper also investigates
how an organization can avoid making costly blunders on social media platforms.
2. Methodology
This study is carried out using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. By using
this method,the researcher will be able to get both numerical and descriptive data which will
be critical in helping to answer the research questions. The study depends on secondary
sources of data. Some of the sources used in this study include; peer reviewed journals,
books, magazines as well as thesis and dissertation. The paper uses the Neohumanism
conflict based paradigm and the radical structuralist framework to analyze information
collected in this study. The neohumanism perspective is used to explain how employees can
avoid being party to the conflict with the management in this case. Neohumanism is a holistic
philosophy developed by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar with the view of promoting both individual
and collective progress in an organization(Grayson, and Hodges, 2017) The first stage of
neohumanism is practicing spirituality in order to enhance the physical, mental and spiritual
welfare of a person (Porra, Hirschheim and Parks, 2014). The second stage of this theory is
spiritual principles which impacts the mental and spiritual well-being of both an individual
and group. An employee is able to avoid being partisan to the conflict witnessed in the
organization by practicing rationality and adhering to the principles of social equity. By doing
this, an employee can understand the rationale behind the desire of the organization to
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promote its charity activities on social media. At the same time, an employee will not favor
publicizing the good actions of the organization since it goes against the principles of social
equality. The employees can avoid being party to the conflict by eradicating dogma as
proposed in the neohumanism theory. Dogma is any concept or belief that cannot be
questioned (Porra et al., 2014). Employees in this case should have questioned the planned
social media campaign. By questioning the campaign, the management would have heard
their perspective and would have considered their opinions and suggestions before launching
the campaign. Another principle of neohumanism which employees can use to avoid being
partisan to the conflict is that of exploitation. Neohumanism discourages geosentiment and
sociosentiment because they are both injurious to the society. Another methodology that
individual employees can use to avoid being party to the conflict is acting according to the
principle of human motivation. According to this principle human beings are either inspired
by selfish pleasure or the desire to social equity. An employee can therefore chose social
equity. According to the theory of humanism, selfish pleasure ia a socially divisive mental
ailment and hence employees at the company should avoid selfish pleasure in order to avoid
being party to the conflict.
The paper on neohumanism paradigm has widely been cited in the methodology section of
this research.
3. Literature Review
According to Korschun et al.,(2014) , it is critical that organizations are careful when
promoting their achievements in helping the community. This is because, there is a good
chance that the community members do not respond positively to the message being
conveyed.
The radical structuralism paradigm is a model developed by Burrell ad Morgan 1982.
Radical structuralism paradigm focuses on macro elements such as the social class of a
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person or their race (Tai,and Chuang, 2014). Radical structuralism provides a foundation
which guides transformative and subjective practice pf radical humanism. The theory of
radical structuralism addresses the issues of inequality,differences in power and exploitation
in an organization. According to Tai et al (2014), the model emphasizes on the need to
overcome the limitations which are placed on the current arrangement in the society as well
as in organization. It addresses the issues of structure and analyzing the economic power in
an organization. According to Gladden, (2016) organizations are capitalists in nature and they
tend to alienate and exploit workers since they are motivated by purely the desire to make
huge profits. The theory suggests that conflicts are inherent in the society and this conflicts
helps in bringing about social change. Radical structuralism is mainly concerned with
structures and hence it argues that creativity is the power to bring into about an arrangement
of natural elements which did not exist before. It is therefore predictable that workers in the
Singapore company would be against the proposal to promote the charity projects. This is
because, the workers felt that the company was after exploiting themselves as well as the
community by pretending to be performing good deeds whereas the primary objective of the
organization was to improve its image among the masses. Flammer, (2015)indicates that
organizations us factors of production such as land and they therefore employ enough labor in
order to create value. This brings about inequality society since most often employees are
offered very little and they are hence denied economic power. He insists that every
organization has inequality since those in power impose unfair rules and policies which bring
great inequality in the society.
The campaign by the Singapore company was bound to bring negative reactions because the
decision was made by the minority and they did not incorporate the opinions of other
employees in the company. The higher ranking management of the organization came up
with the plan and imposed it on employees. Because of the oppression and lack of freedom of
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expression in the organization, most employees who felt that this strategy was not right
decided to quit the organization since they were not in a position to oppose it. The employees
who felt that it was difficult for them to secure jobs elsewhere decided to stay because they
had no option but to accept the strategy. This principle therefore supports the marxist views
which encourages people to overthrow the people in power so as to regain equality (Wang et
al., 2016)
The campaign also received negative feedback because the community members felt that the
company should not misuse the charities as a strategy for making a positive impression on
itself (Lins et al,.2016). This means that the social media messaging that was used by the
company was inappropriate. Before embarking to launch this campaign, the management of
the company should have collected views from members of the community. This would have
helped them in understanding how the community felt about its involvement in community
projects. Carew and Stapleton, (2014) therefore explains that organizations should be very
careful when designing their social media messages. They need to understand what the
customers want to hear and not what they want the public to hear. He indicates that social
media messaging can greatly end up running the reputation of an organization to a very huge
extent if customers perceive the organization. The customers of the Singapore Company felt
that the company was only after boasting its image and it really did not care about the
community which is made up of its customers.
4. Solution Development and Proposal
The following are the set of questions the project team may ask in future
 What is the objective of the promotion campaign?
 What community projects have the organization undertaken before coming up with this plan?
 What do the general public and the beneficiaries of these projects think about the company?
 How do partner organizations view the organization?
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 Are the employees satisfied with the level of freedom of innovation and expression within the
organization?
 How can the employees be more involved in decision making processes?
 What are the potential risks of the promotion campaign?
 What steps should be taken in order to minimize the risks?
Risk strategy
When preparing for a huge campaign like that of the Singapore company, it is critical to
develop a risk plan. The risk strategy will enable the company to avoid unexpected outcomes by
putting measures in place to correct anything that may go wrong during the campaign. The first
step in this process is identification of the risk. The main risk for this campaign is that the
customers may react negatively to the messages since they may feel like the company is after
taking advantage of their vulnerability. There is also a risk that the company may use a lot of
resources in financing the charity and it may not yield any significant report. The first risk has a
higher probability of occurring. In order to mitigate this risk, it is critical to collect the views of
all the employees before designing the campaign. Employees need to feel that they have a voice
and that they are treasured by the organization. Employees play a very huge role in determining
the image of the organization. This is because whatever they portray when they interact with
people outside the organization is what the outsiders believe about the organization. The views of
the employees will ensure that risk of the plan failing is minimized. The organization will also
contract a social media firm which will manage all the companies` social media activities. This
will minimize the risk since it will ensure that there is professionalism in all promotional
campaigns. This will also ensure that there is timely response on the feedback from customers to
ensure that all their needs are addressed on time.
In order to minimize the risk of failure in social media campaigns, it is critical to develop a
risk minimization framework. The perspectives considered in developing the risk plan
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include the general thoughts of the community about the organization. An honest perspective
of the employees about the organization is also very critical. Employees should say whether
they feel the company cares for their needs and whether they feel there is quality in the
organization (Laucuka, 2018). The other perspective considered in the risk plan is how the
customers have been reacting to previous messages posted on the social media accounts of
the company. The perspectives helped to understand all the sources of risk and hence enable
in developing a reliable risk management plan. The perspectives are appropriate for the
problem because they are related to the various stakeholders in the organizations and hence
the risk is covered from every dimension. The risk of failure to use the perspectives is that
there will be vital loopholes which lead to high chances of the problem re-occurring again.
One of the steps that the reader must take in order to ,mitigate risk is ensuring they do proper
background research before beginning the social media campaign. The reader must also be
ready with an adequate response to respond to any backlash that may come as a result of the
social media message. The response should be able to change the perspectives of the
customers towards the initial message and reverse any damage that might have occurred.
5. Discussions and Conclusions
Corporate social responsibility is very critical for organizations as well as the community.
Corporate social responsibility helps organizations to give back to the communicate in which
it operates. This is critical since the organization benefits significantly from the community
by exploiting the resources and the community also provides labor which is needed for the
organization to operate. Additionally, engaging in charity as well as other community
projects helps in improving the image/brand of the organization(Laucuka et al., 2018). This is
because the customers feel that the organization cares about their welfare and it does not
exploit them. When customers perceive an organization in a positive manner, it is able to
grow its major brands and hence increase its margins. However, organizations must be
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careful in how they design campaigns aimed towards promoting their community initiatives
in order to improve how customers view the organization. In the case of the Singapore
organization, it failed to consult widely before launching the campaign. This resulted to
glaring messages in its strategy and hence it led to undesired consequences. Most of the
employees felt that the organization had isolated them and that they were exploited by the
people in power within the organization. It is therefore very crucial that the employees feel
that the organization is really considered about them and the general public. The employees
should be given a voice and a chance to made recommendations before any campaign begins.
The paper also discusses how employees working for the organization could avoid being
party to the conflict. The Neohumanism paradigm is used to evaluate how the employees can
avoid being exploited and avoid being party to the conflict. The paper discusses how radical
structuralism is relevant in the case study . The final section of the paper discusses the risk
management plan that could be used to ensure that the problem that the organization faced
does not occur again.
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References
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