Richard C. Warren

Defining corporate social responsibility: A view from big companies in Germany and the UK

Purpose – The purpose of this comparative study is to explore how large German and British companies publicly define corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as why and how the respective notion of CSR was developed.Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a qualitative content analysis of the CSR web sites of 40 British and German companies, and on a series of interviews with senior managers.Findings – The main findings are that CSR is now presented as a comprehensive business strategy, arising mainly from performance considerations and stakeholder pressure. Companies focus on how they interact with stakeholders and how business activities impact on society. Most CSR policies addressed community, employee and customer issues. Increasingly, “quality of life” topics are emphasised. CSR policies varied with turnover, industry sector and nationality. In developing their notions of CSR, firms emphasized the primacy of reactive pragmatism and experience. Corporate culture also emerged as an in...

Telling Organizational Tales The Extended Case Method in Practice

The extended case method brings existing theory to bear on a particular ethnographic case, enabling complex macro-level questions to be examined through their everyday manifestations in micro-level social settings. Yet it remains comparatively underutilized among organizational researchers, many of whom may be deterred by an apparent lack of practical guidance. The article addresses this by outlining three main steps, illustrated by the authors’ own experience of implementing the extended case method in a recently published organizational study. In so doing, the article makes clear the distinctiveness of the method, particularly compared to the better-known grounded theory approach to ethnography. It concludes that by offering a bridge between interpretive and critical approaches, the extended case method represents a valuable addition to the toolkit of organizational researchers.

Business Ethics and Business History: Neglected Dimensions in Management Education

This article highlights two large gaps in the business school curriculum: the neglect of historical and ethical dimensions. An overview is provided of progress made so far in the UK in the evolution of business history as an academic discipline; and also of the take–up of business ethics in university teaching. Both have had some success, but overall the response to these areas has been somewhat lacklustre — at least in the UK. A justification is provided for adding both components to a fully relevant business education. When the two are combined, the result can be a highly rewarding combination that provides insights that may not be possible for management writers, who work only in the present. Corporate ethics, the social responsibility of companies, disclosure, the environment, the actions of multinational companies overseas, the dilemmas of whistle–blowing, the impact of lobby groups and health and safety issues can all be understood more fully by students if they approach these subjects from an ethical and historical standpoint.

The evolution of business legitimacy

It is important to realise that the company is a public institution and not just a private arrangement created by contract; it cannot, therefore, be fully determined by economic factors alone, but, is, importantly, also partly determined by political and social factors. Sometimes these political and social factors can become more deterministic in shaping its destiny than the economic factors. This tends to be the case when the legitimacy of business institutions is called into question. In these circumstances, the normal economic determinants of business practice can be superseded by political events and the environment of business practice can change radically. The purpose of this study is to propose a theory, which can help to explain this change in the company form, that is its legal code of governance. An evolutionary theory is briefly outlined and supported by historical evidence. The possibility of a coming business legitimacy crisis is then speculated upon in the conclusion.

The empty company: morality and job security

Criticizes Handy’s depiction of the portfolio career and the end of job security because he is overly dismissive of the contribution job security can and does make to the moral order of society. Develops a counter argument and evidence showing that business organizations are complex, morally significant institutions in addition to being instruments designed to fulfil an economic function. Concludes that the company should be institutionalized as a shared community of purpose which enables us to recognize its contribution as one of the important vehicles for the development of virtue and the good life. Notes that business educators and business leaders need to take employment security seriously and build this conception into their professional ideology and practice.

Company Legitimacy in the New Millennium

The relationship between business and society changes over time, and periodically there is a ‘legitimization crisis’. The paper will briefly explore some important questions about company legitimacy: why is company legitimacy important; why do legitimacy crises occur; and finally, are we in a crisis at the moment, and if so how can it be solved? The legal institutionalization of business firms prescribes narrow accountabilities and limited responsibilities: the challenge for business in the new millennium is to open these up and to broaden our understanding of the social significance of business activity without destroying its wealth creating processes. This will require a rethinking of the relationship to the shareholder and a new definition of the relationship with stakeholders.

Against paternalism in Human Resource Management

The paper presents an evaluation of the paternalistic model of HRM. The analysis reveals that this conception of the employment relationship is deeply flawed and does not provide a morally acceptable approach towards responsible citizens in a democratic society. Moreover, where the employment relationship is based upon managerial hegemony and secrecy, the danger is that this can become institutionalized as a corporate morality that brings about the unintended consequences of moral indifference and unjust conduct towards employees and other stakeholders. The conclusion of this evaluation is that a wise management will try to open up its decision-making processes and seek the participation of a wide range of stakeholders in the determination of the economic and social purpose of the company. There is another option: the employment relationship can be informed by a communitarian perspective, which aims to strike a balance between the economic interests of employers and employees, and the need for justice to foster mutual cooperation in the pursuit of a common purpose. This conception of the employment relationship will be outlined here as HRM in the ‘community of purpose’.

Practical reason in practice: reflections on a business ethics course

Shares reflections and experiences on teaching a business ethics course to students of business over the past three years in the hope that wider debate about this aspect of management learning will establish its place in the business education curriculum. Considers the problems of teaching ethics in an occupation where there is no commonly accepted code of ethics. Discusses design, aims and objectives of a business ethics course and describes and reflects on aspects of the process and content of the course with a view to improving its practice in the future.

Are we making progress in international business ethics

Purpose - The internationalisation of business and the process of globalisation raise many ethical issues about acceptable norms of conduct on the part of corporations. This article aims to evaluate whether there is progress in establishing standards for international business ethics. Design/methodology/approach - The paper explores whether the case for a global standard of business conduct can be grounded and justified in rational argument. Findings - As a moral minimum, corporate ethical codes need to rule out what the management believes to be clearly unacceptable behaviour. The distinction between thick and thin moral rules is particularly important in wrestling with the rights and wrongs of international business ethics. A good deal of room needs to exist for the local interpretation of these codes, but there are a number of situations where universal standards have to be enforced in the host country. Originality/value - This paper summarises the progress made in establishing the field of international business ethics. And it identifies and discusses the evidence on the effectiveness of ethical codes in improving international business practice.

The responsible shareholder: a case study

Shareholders are sometimes considered to be, in moral terms, the owners of a company, they are after all the carriers of the residual liabilities and bear a higher proportion of the financial risk. However, in company law, the shareholders’ responsibility is limited, and in financial terms shareholders are only liable up to the fully paid value of the share certificate. Moreover, when the shares are sold, the responsibility and risk are transferred completely to the new bearer of the shares. Whether this gap in moral and legal perceptions can be judged to be satisfactory in business ethics terms is a moot point and will be partly explored in this case study which seeks to analyse the shareholder’s responsibility towards a firm in which they own shares. The case study company chosen as a vehicle to explore these issues is that of Turner & Newall; a company that subjected its employees, communities and customers to a major health hazard – asbestosis. This paper will use the Turner & Newall archive materials to illustrate the moral hazards that can arise for shareholders. In particular it will examine the ethical responsibilities of shareholders towards those stakeholders who were exposed to the dangers of asbestos. This case is a significant test of the veracity of the legal system of company control, and exposes the ineffectiveness of that system in accountability terms. The case study also deals with specific issues that arose in the asbestos crisis, as well as with more general issues in our present system of corporate governance and shareholder responsibilities.