Social responsibility of business implies comfortable and safe working conditions for employees, decent wages, and additional medical insurance. It also contains such means as a charity, environmental protection, and public relations. Implementing social responsibility measures for business may not be obvious; it seems exaggerated. Building a system of responsibility in the long term gives several benefits that provide the organization with a stable position in the market. In my understanding, social responsibility means the voluntary contribution of a business to the development of society, social, environmental, and economic spheres that are not related to the organization’s primary activity.
I think that business organizations must be socially responsible. Many companies believe that trade unions impose this responsibility and bring them nothing but an economic crisis. If they are not socially responsible, they will cause damage to the environment and other socially important areas through their activities (Mehrnaz et al., 2018). Social responsibility does not bring direct material benefits; it can be considered an image project to build loyal customers.
Today it is evident that the concepts of business ethics and social responsibility are closely linked. Moreover, corporate ethics and compliance with its principles and norms is an integral element of the construction and functioning of social responsibility systems (Mehrnaz et al., 2018). Corporate social responsibility is primarily voluntary, apart from the lower level of its hierarchy, which is directly related to the need to comply with current legislation. At the same time, business ethics does not have a coercive nature. Nevertheless, implementing the concept of socially responsible behavior without developing the ethical side of doing business is not possible. It seems that the most effective way to encourage employees to act ethically can be the example of the manager themselves and the material encouragement of their successful ethical actions. It is essential to provide support to employees and conduct free training, at which the goal of maintaining corporate ethics will be most fully explained.
Reference
Mehrnaz, A., Mike, A., Theodor, W. R., & Greg, M. (2018). How corporate social responsibility can be integrated into corporate sustainability: A theoretical review of their relationships. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 25(8), 1-12.