The Social Responsibilities of Managers

A sense of responsibility to society and everything that accompanies it is social responsibility. In other words, “social responsibility” means that management is responsible not only to its shareholders but to the entire community. In general, social responsibility is a decisive feature of capitalism. Individuals and customers trust that companies “do the right thing” and lead the world to a better place. 

Social Responsibilities of Managers

Managers’ social responsibility is their obligation and commitment to safeguard and improve society’s welfare while also protecting their interests.  For the following reasons, managers have social responsibility: 

• Organizational Resources: A company’s resources include people, money, competencies, and functional expertise. When an organization possesses these resources, it can better work for societal objectives. 
• Precautionary step: If a company waits too long to address social difficulties, it will end up putting out social fires, leaving no time to achieve its purpose of creating goods and services. It is more cost-effective to address social concerns before they evolve into disasters that consume a significant amount of management time.  
• Moral Obligation: It has been determined that accepting managers’ social duty is a morally appropriate viewpoint. It is the organization’s moral responsibility to assist in resolving or eliminating societal problems. 
• Efficient and Effective Personnel: Recruiting employees has become easier for socially responsible organizations. Employees are drawn to organizations that are more socially responsible. Tobacco companies, for example, may have a difficult time finding individuals with excellent skills and abilities. 
• Better Organizational Environment: Organizations most sensitive to improving the quality of life of society will benefit from a better society for doing business. It makes it easier to hire employees and improves the quality of their employees. Employee volatility and absenteeism are minimized. As a result of all social changes,  crime rates are lower, which means less money is spent on taxes and land safety. As a result, a better society will create a better world.

Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Management

Organizations need to be involved in the external environment to be truly productive. The general or macro-environment and the specific task environment are two types of external environments. Corporate efforts to improve society while enjoying profits are known as social responsibility. Shareholders, employees, customers, creditors, suppliers, society and government are the top six stakeholders for which a company is responsible. The ability of a company to implement and engage in policies that benefit both society and the company is known as the social response. 

Contribution, quality of work, diversity policies, financing, direct business investment, volunteering, recycling, customer care and pollution control are all evaluated when measuring social response. Social audits were created in response to the need to monitor social reactions. There are two types of social audits: government-mandated and voluntary audits. Social audits are not required by law, but many companies include social information in their annual reports. This shows that prominent companies are becoming more and more concerned about their social responsibility. The code of ethics of the managers of an organization determines their ethical behaviour. In the long run, moral management is beneficial to the organization.

Importance of Social Responsibility of Management

• Employee morale can be improved by social responsibility programmes, which leads to increased productivity, which in turn affects the company’s profitability.  
• Businesses that embrace social responsibility activities can improve customer retention and loyalty. 
• Employees with a sense of social responsibility can use the corporate resources at their disposal to do good.  
• Being a socially responsible business can help to improve a company’s image and brand.  
• Employee morale can be improved by social responsibility programmes, which leads to increased productivity, which affects the company’s profitability. 
• Companies that employ social responsibility activities can improve customer retention and loyalty. 
• Socially responsible companies have the opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors as they build profitable brand awareness.

Conclusion

The moral responsibility of a company or individual is to make decisions or take actions that benefit society. Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is a term used to describe social responsibility in the corporate world. This commitment suggests that companies recognize and value the ideals of society and support them in achieving these goals. Individual is responsible for fulfilling their civil obligations, and their actions need to serve society as a whole according to the ethical concepts of social responsibility. This approach requires finding a balance between economic progress and social and environmental well-being.