Social Responsibility Strategies

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 480.

Whatever conclusions we could reach on the social responsibility arguments, it is clear that organizations are increasingly committing themselves to act responsibly. We can classify these actions into four types.

An organization following an obstructive strategy will tend to deny responsibility for its actions and resist change that it can only see as disadvantageous. The policy is also known as stonewalling or a reactive policy.

Using a defensive strategy, a company proceeds not by denial but by manoeuvring to justify its position and avoid being saddled with extra responsibility. The stance is to do everything that is legally required and no more. The strategy uses legal actions and public relations campaigns to prove compliance.

Under an adaptive social responsibility strategy, the company accepts that it is accountable for its actions, although this acceptance is often the result of pressure brought by external groups.

The company following the proactive strategy takes the lead. It looks carefully at the relationships between its activities and the interests of its stakeholders. Then it responds to these interests without any pressure.

The four responsibility strategies, represent organizations whose attitude varies from “the business of business is business” to “we are responsible for all the consequences of our actions”.