Order Description
In Module 2 SLP, you will locate a scholarly article related to Corporate Social Responsibility in the library. Then, you will write a 2- to 3-page paper, in which you will summarize the article, and state why the article is an important contribution to the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR).
Required Reading
Refer to the Background section of Module 2 for required and optional readings.
Assignment
In a well-written, 2- to 3-page paper, evaluate a scholarly article related to CSR, and discuss the merit of the article for today’s organizations.
Keys to the Assignment
Visit the library, and find a scholarly article related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
1. In 1-2 paragraphs, define what is meant by CSR.
2.Briefly summarize the article (1-2 paragraphs).
3.Discuss the contribution of the article to our knowledge of CSR – i.e., discuss why the article is important to our understanding of CSR. In short, why does this article matter?
4.Be sure to use at least one additional source from the library (other than your chosen article) to support your discussion and analysis (choose a source that is not included in the Background section of Module 2).
5.Follow the guidelines in The Student Guide to Writing a High Quality Academic Paper
6.You are expected to demonstrate evidence of critical thinking – as defined in the Module 2 background materials and the grading rubric.
Virtue ethics can be traced as far back as Plato and Aristotle. Of course, virtues include such traits as fairness, self-control, and generosity. It is not difficult to understand how such characteristics – or virtues – as honesty and integrity would be relevant in the context of business ethics. In this module, we will use virtue ethics as a lens through which we will evaluate an organization’s business practices.
The following sources provide a very good overview of virtue ethics:
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. J. (2008). Ethics and virtue. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/ethicsandvirtue.html
Virtue ethics. (2011). Seven Oaks Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.sevenoaksphilosophy.org/ethics/virtue.html
In the SLP, we will be exploring the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR. It has been said that business leaders are never asked about their personal sense of ethics these days – at least not until they are seated in front of a legislative committee. It would seem that there is an abundance of truth in this statement – that is, we don’t often think about our organizational leaders’ sense of ethics until they’ve gotten themselves into serious legal trouble.
All of this begs the question of whether highly ethical organizational cultures are more apt to produce ethical behaviors. Common sense tells us that they would. But if this is true, then why don’t all – or perhaps most – organizations have ethical behaviors? One possible answer might be that building an ethical organization requires a lot of money, a lot of know-how and emphasis, a lot of dedicated people, and a lot of organizational energy.
Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, begins with engagement – that is, a company’s engagement with internal and external stakeholders (not “stockholders,” but stakeholders – those individuals or entities that have some interest in the company – e.g., employees, stockholders, potential investors, suppliers, buyers, the government, and the community-at-large). Begin by reading the following articles related to CSR, and what it means for organizations to be “socially responsible”:
Brooks, C. (2013, May 22). Social responsibility no longer optional for businesses. Business News Daily. Retrieved from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4528-social-responsibility-not-optional.html
Fallon, N. (2014, December 22). What is corporate social responsibility? Business News Daily. Retrieved from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html
Optional Reading
The following article is also a very good overview of CSR. The article raises the pointed question as to whether organizations should choose to be socially responsible because of the derived financial benefits, or because being socially responsible is simply the right thing to do:
Perakis, E. (2009, April). Corporate responsibility: A business driver or an ethical obligation? Global Focus, 3(2), 60-63. Retrieved from ProQuest.
