Corporate Social responsibility

and Ethics
 Corporate social responsibility:
• What an organization does to influence the
society in which it exists, such as through
volunteer assistance programs

• It focuses on:
• What an organization does that affects the
society in which it exists
• Organization’s responsibility to the society
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a
concept that suggests that commercial
corporations have a duty of care to all of
their stakeholders in all aspects of their
business operations.
• A company’s stakeholders are all those who
are influenced by, or can influence, a
business’s decisions and actions.
• These can include (but are not limited to):
employees, customers, suppliers,
community organizations, subsidiaries and
affiliates, joint venture partners, local
neighborhoods, investors, and shareholders.
• CSR requires that businesses account for and measure the
actual or potential economic, social and environmental
impacts of their decisions. In some cases the application of
a strong CSR policy by a business can involve actions
being taken which exceed the mere compliance with
minimum legal requirements. This can sometimes give a
company a competitive/reputational advantage by
demonstrating that they have the interests of society at
large as an integral part of their policy making.
• CSR goes beyond simple philanthropy and is more about
corporate behaviour than it is about a company's charitable
donation budget.
• CSR is closely linked with the principles of Sustainable
Development which argue that enterprises should be
obliged to make decisions based not only on
financial/economic factors (e.g. Profits, Return on
Investment, dividend payments etc.) but also on the social,
environmental and other consequences of their activities.
 Principles of Social responsibility
• The charity principle: Required more fortunate
members of society to assist its less fortunate
members, including the unemployed, the
handicapped, the sick, and the elderly.
• Aid either directly or indirectly through such
institutions as churches, settlement houses, and the
community chest movement.
• The stewardship principle: Required businesses
and wealthy individuals to view themselves as the
stewards, or caretakers, of their property
 Milton Friedman’s Argument
• The business of business is business
• Businesses should produce goods and
services efficiently and leave the solution of
social problems to concerned individuals
and government agencies.
 Milton Friedman’s Argument
• "The difficulty of exercising 'social
responsibility' illustrates, of course, the
great virtue of private competitive
enterprise -- it forces people to be
responsible for their own actions and makes
it difficult for them to 'exploit' other people
for either selfish or unselfish purposes. They
can do good -- but only at their own
expense."
 Some findings from a survey
• Two-thirds say corporate citizenship and sustainability
issues are of growing importance for their businesses.
• Despite this growth, a significant majority (59 percent)
don't have an active strategy for developing new business
opportunities that arise from meeting corporate citizenship
and sustainability (CC&S) needs.
• A solid majority (62 percent) have formal programs to
manage their CC&S practice. Another 35 percent without
formal programs conduct regular reviews of these
activities.
• Most companies—71 percent—report publicly on
citizenship and sustainability performance.
• Boards of directors are routinely engaged in CC&S
activities at almost half of responding companies. Only 11
percent say there is no board review on these issues.
 Corporate social responsiveness
• How organizations become aware of and
then respond to social issues?
• Two approaches:
• On one hand, it deals with how individual
companies respond to social issues
• On other it deals with the forces that
determine the social issues to which
businesses should respond.
 Corporate social performance
• A single theory of corporate social action encompassing
social principles, processes, and policies
• According to this the arena of social responsibility is
shaped by economic, legal, and ethical principles.

• Four ways by which managers make social decisions:

• Reactive – the company responds to social issues only
after it has challenged company goals.
• Defensive – the company acts to ward off a challenge
• Accommodative – the company brings itself into line with
government requirements and public opinion
• Proactive – the company anticipates demands that have not
yet been made
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• ENRICHMENT OF MIND :
• Believes that nurturing of the mind directly leads to
nurturing of the body. At Welspun, mind enriching
activities are undertaken. Workshops on Yoga and
nutrition

• Workshops on Nutrition and Yoga where by the benefits of

the same are explained to all.
• Employees are taught easy steps that can be practiced at
the work place as well to derive the benefits of Yoga.
• Classes on nutrition are also held at all plants.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• ENRICHMENT OF BODY :
• Medical camps for women

• Apart from regular visits by Doctors, it continuously

organizes medical camps both, for women and men.
• Also holds Cancer detection camps.
• The aim of this exercise is to ensure that all its employees
are physically fit which in turn leads to their mental health.
• In pursuit of the same a gym at our plants which is
accessible to all the employees is set up.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• EDUCATION :
• Economically Backward Children
• Welspun extends help to children who are incapable of looking after
them selves, by supporting and encouraging the underprivileged
sections of society in terms of education etc.
• It tries to ensure that children at a young age are focused on receiving
education rather than working to make ends meet.
• Welspun makes constant for not just contributing to their cause but
also communicates with these children on an ongoing basis so as to a
also receive constant updates on the progress achieved thus boosting
their confidence.
• Educational Institutions
• Welspun, has set up “ Welspun Vidya Mandir ”, a school up to class
10.
• Recently it has set up ‘ Welspun Anganvadi' , which is a pre-primary
school for children; these schools are open not only to the children of
the Welspun employees but also the children of the other local
families.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• EMPATHY
• Empathy is the core of all our social endeavours. We take
initiatives that benefit the society at large. Our
contributions are aimed at improving the lives of and
helping individuals in our society to become self
supportive.

• Visually Impaired Children

• Welspun is closely associated with blind and visually
impaired children, specifically girls. It has tied up with a
Blind School
• It not only provides employment to the orphans and others
associated with the blind but also work towards a more
enriching life for the visually impaired.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• Water Effluent Plant
• It has set up a Water Effluent Plant at
Welspun City at Anjar in Gujarat .
• This plant recycles the water to be used for
industrial and household purposes, thereby
not only ensuring safety but also more
security for our employees and the society
at large.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• Jatropha Plantation
• The Jatropha plant is a drought resistant perennial
and grows well in Sandy and well drained soil.
• Its initiative to convert the desert area of Anjar in
to a lush and more serene environment we have
undertaken a drive of Afforestation at Welspun
City where by thousands of saplings of the
Jatropha tree were planted extensively.
• The Jatropha seeds have excellent oil content of
37%. The oil can be combusted as fuel for simple
diesel engines.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• Blood Donation Camps
• It organizes Blood Donation Camps at our various
locations. These are held in association with renowned
Blood Banks and the blood collected from these campaigns
is utilized for the economically backward sections of
society which comprise of individuals belonging to a state
of indigence. It is also contributed to individuals suffering
from Cancer and other critical diseases, who are unable to
pay for their blood requirement.

The Welspun family as a whole makes sincere efforts to

donate blood on a regular basis and contribute back to the
society. There is active participation by our employees is in
large numbers.
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN :
• Project “Kishori”
• As part of vocational training, it is
supplying the institutes with facilities and
man power to offer free computer classes.
• It organizes computer courses that are
offered to working women who intend to
apply for positions in both Government and
non-government organizations
 CSR at Welspun India Ltd.
• Project “Lijjat”
• Programmes providing training in the art of papad
making have been organized, where women of one
hundred and forty eight Welspun families from a
tiny village in Versamedi, have participated and
have trained for two to three hours daily.
• This project has provided vocational training and
in turn has led to the women making a small
amount of money that today makes a significant
difference to their lives therefore empowering
them.
 Ethics
• The study of how our decisions affect other
people?
• Study of people’s rights an duties, the moral rules
that people apply in making decisions, and the
nature of the relationships among people
• Levels of ethical questions in business
• Societal:
• Eg: Is capitalism right?
• Stakeholder: Suppliers, customers, shareholders
• How should a company deal with external groups
affected by its decisions?
• What obligations does a company have to its
suppliers, communities where it operates etc
 Ethics
• Internal policy:
• Questions the nature of a company’s relations with its
employees
• What kind of employment contract is fair?
• What are the mutual obligations of managers and workers?
• What rights do employees have?
• Layofs, benefits, work rules, motivation and leadership
issues
• What obligations do we have – both as human beings and
as workers who fill specific work roles – to our bosses, our
employees, and our peers?
• Do we have the right to look at other people primarily as
means to our ends? Can we avoid doing so?
 The tools of ethics
• Values: They are relatively permanent desires that
seem to be good in themselves, like peace or
goodwill
• Values are the answers to the “why’ questions.
• Corporations have values such as size,
profitability, or making a quality product
• Rights and duties
• A right is a claim that entitles a person the “room”
in which to take action
• Sphere of autonomy
• Moral rules
• They guide us through situations where competing
interests collide.
 Common Morality
• Common morality: is the body of moral rules governing
ordinary ethical problems.
• They are rules we live most of the time and which we can
use to understand managerial problems in ethical terms
• Promise keeping:
• Non violence
• Mutual aid: Individual should help one another if the cost
of doing so is not great
• Respect for persons: Requires us to regard other people as
ends in themselves, not as mere means to our own ends
• Respect for property: Most people, most of the time,
should get the consent of other before using their property
 The Morality of Care
Justice Care

Orientation Separation, autonomy Attachment;

interdependence
Mode of Formal; abstract Contextual; narrative
thinking
Idea of Fairness; rights; equality , “Psychological logic
morality Primacy of individual “Formal of relationships”
logic of fairness” Attachment required
Separation justified by ethic of by ethic of care
rights
Conflicting Balancing rights; adversarial Communication;
resolution adjudication protecting
relationships
 The Morality of Care (Cont)
Justice Care

Responsibility Limiting aggression and Extension of care and

protecting rights nurturing or
relationships

Images of Closeness Isolation

violence

Metaphor of Hierarchy or balance Network of web

relationship
 Applying ethics
• Moral relativism : The idea that we cannot decide matters
of right and wrong, good or evil, in any rational way
• Since right and wrong are relative to whoever is making
the decision, there are only individual answers to any
moral question
• Naïve relativism: The idea that all human beings are
themselves the standard by which their actions should be
judged
• Because ethical decisions are personal, important, and
complex, only the decision maker’s opinion is relevant.
• Cultural relativism: Claims that morality is relative to
particular cultures, societies, or communities.
• No standards can help us judge the morality or a particular
culture, and that the best anyone can hope to do is to
understand the moral codes and customs of a given society