Managing Corporate Social Responsibility: Key Strategies And Values

Meeting Deadlines without Compromising Quality

Case 1: Case Analysis

• What are the relevant facts?

1. Rachel is a Quality Assurance Engineer in an electronics company.
2. Rachel deals with the final testing of the products.
3. Rachel’s company is in contract with a company that makes chips.
4. Rachel has shortage of time in order to conduct Quality Control tests.
5. Rachel has many competitors in the maket.
6. If Rachel does not ship products that are with higher likelihood to failure, her competitors will do that.

• What are the ethical issues?

1. Rachel is sending the products that will possibly cause physical harm to the consumers.
2. The reason behind shipping the untested products is that Rachel does not want the other competitors to grab the opportunity.
3. Rachel should always consider consumer’s well being before competition.

• Who are the primary stakeholders?

1. Rachel
2. Her family
3. Her company and their families
4. Consumers
5. The electronic market
6. The government agencies that are involved in the business

• Who are the possible alternatives?

1. Rachel should ask the higher executive for rebuilding the existing business model and change it to 8 months in order to get more time to perform the quality reassurance. They then would not need to sacrifice the health and well-being of the consumers, as they would get enough time to check each product that it is free of defects. Though rebuilding the business model will cost a lot of money, as their competitors will continue to sell the new products in every 6 months but it will be far better than sacrificing customer health and experiencing a major company down fall.
2. The company may hire more employees to the department of quality assurance, which in turn will help the company to increase the level of productivity and meeting the promised deadlines. Though it will result in fluctuation of company’s budget as they need to distribute salaries to the newly added employees but the company will more suffer if their goods and products are returned back.

• What are the ethics of the alternatives?

1. If more labor is added in the quality assurance department, the possibility of mistakes will be less and the productivity will be more.
2. More number of employees has to be paid.

• What are the practical constraints?

1. The practical constraint include that the competitors of the company of Rachel might take the entire control of the market, as this would be a great opportunity for them.
2. If the products supplied by Rachel’s company are defective, the company would take much time in order to launch another new product in the market.

• What actions should be taken?

Rachel should try her best to meet the given deadline and that too without compromising the product quality. This will help her meeting the time that she has promised her client and thus will earn their trust on the company. The client will also depend on the company when time is the core and this will earn her company good reputation as well.

Case 4

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think the sales strategy of Ilene’s boss is unethical or just an aggressive tactic?

 In case if there is no agreement in between the dealers and company then it is legal. There are no issues for Illene to follow the instructions of her boss and the owners of the company are right.

1. What would your advice be to Ilene on how to deal with this discomfort she felt with selling directly to end users?

• Illene could agree with her boss about changing the pricing policies of the company. She could agree on the setting of fixed price for the end products and give changeable value profit margin in order to increase the competition in between the different dealers and at the same time Illene could sell the end users without thinking that she is breaking the chain of custody.
• Illene must be conscious more about the concept of a sales person. If she wants to maintain a good relation with the dealers, she must think that her job is to expand the sales without violating the law. She must try to increase the sale I order to gain maximum profits to the company.

1. How could this practice of breaking the chain-of-custody impact the industry?

The practice of breaking the chain of custody will break the company reputation with the dealers and may result in unstable prices of the company products for the end users. If there is the absence of clear and fixed end users pricing system for the company products, which will risk the reputation of the company with the end users as well.

1. Does Ilene have the obligation to push for broader changes within the system, rather than only changing her own job responsibilities to align with her personal ethics?

Yes, she has. Illene, as a sales person have to have a look after all the increase in the company profit from inside as well as outside the organization. As mentioned earlier, Illene have to think about some creative pricing system that will allow the company to play certain roles with the end users and at the same time for keeping the company chain well satisfied.

1. Is it ethically forbidden to go out of the sales chain?

Yes, it is ethically prohibited but in case if there is no other way other than going out of the company sales chain in order to save the company from loss then it is ethically correct

The code of ethics of Megger must set forth their core values, global commitments, promises and shared responsibilities. It must provide a general guidance related to the company’s expectations and it must highlight the situations that may need particular attention. The code of ethics must be the reference of the additional resources and the channels for communication that are available to them. However, the code of ethics cannot address every possible situation that the employees face at the workplace (Crane and Matten, 2016). Therefore, Code is not a substitute for their good judgment, upon which the Megger will depend. Each employee must remember that he or she is solely responsible for his or her own actions and behavior. In addition, they must also remember that ethical choice is the best choice, always.

Resolving Disputes within the Sales Chain

Drafting a perfect code of ethics for Megger

Megger has at its prime five key values and they are integrity, trust, excellence, respect and humility. By working mutually with their suppliers and manufacturers, they have a great opportunity to promote a business practice that is socially responsible beyond the company and into their global supply chain. It has adopted as well as promoted the adoption of certain code of ethics. It outlines a standard in order to ensure that the working conditions in the company supply chain is safe and that each of the workers are treated with due respect and dignity and with the same it also ensures that the product manufacturing processes are also environmentally responsible (Trevino and Nelson 2016).

1. Be fair: Fairness in a workplace is all about considering and respecting the right of each individual who works in the workplace (Barak 2016). The employees must treat each other fairly by keeping on differing the skills and abilities in the mind. The manager must make his expectations and evaluation processes known. He must give his employees equal opportunities to be heard and allow them to share their ideas and to air the grievances. He must discourage politicking in the workplace and give credit liberally. The employees must be recognized and appreciated for their contributions and ideas.
2. Be excellent: Demonstrate a positive values in the workplace. Be real and sincere. The employees must make sure that what they are speaking is positive and their words are sincere. With the same, one must take the responsibility of their own actions.
3. Confidential Information of Clients and Third Parties: Confidentiality of the clients are very important in the work place (Trotter 2015). The clients’ information should not be disclosed to the public. The employees must preserve the confidentiality of all the information that are gathered during the client’s service until and unless the clients have supplied its specific consent that should ideally be in writing. He or she must keep in mind the following principles:

• Retain the information only if the law requires it or for as long as it is necessary.
• Protect the physical security of the clients’ information.
• Use the personal information only for the purpose for which it was provided to the company. Limit the internal access to the personal information only to those with legal business reason for requesting that information and with the same, take the permission of the person who is concerned.

1. Entertainment, favors and gifts: The employees should not accept any kind  of gifts, entertainment or personal favors that in any manner could have an influence on the business decisions in the favor of any organization or person with which or with whom the company is or has probably to have business dealings in the future. Similarly, the employees should not accept any other kind of preferential treatment or behavior under these situations, as their positions with the company might be perceived to or inclined to, place them under the obligation in order to return back their preferential treatment.
2. Company’s funds and other assets: The employees who are give the access to the company’s funds in any manner must follow the rules and procedures for handling, recording and protecting the money or funds as it is described under the company’s procedures and policies. The company has imposed a strict standard in order to prevent dishonesty and fraud in the organization. In case if any employee becomes aware of kind of fraud in the company, he should immediately report it to their superior and seek proper legal guidance from the same so that the company could investigate further as soon as possible.
3. Secret commissions and kickbacks: Employee should not receive any kind of payments and compensations apart from that is authorized under the company’s payroll and business policies. In sum, the company must strictly prohibit the acceptance of secret commissions and kickbacks from the suppliers or the others. Violation of this rule must lead in immediate prosecution from the job of the employee.
4. Prompt communications: To all the matters that are applicable to the suppliers, customers, public, the government authorities and others within the company; every employee should make efficient effort to achieve the accurate, complete, and timely communications, such as responding courteously and promptly to every genuine request for the information. With the same he or she must courteously respond to every complaint of the customers as well as the higher authorities.
5. Dealing with the Outsiders and the other Organizations: All the employees must keep in mind that they must discrete their organizational positions from their personal roles. They must not disclose any confidential matter regarding the company while communicating about their business with the outsiders. With the same, they should not use company’s identification, supplies, stationery and the equipments for political and personal related issues. Employees, while communicating publicly regarding the matters related to the company’s business; must not suppose to communicate for the company on any of its topic; until and unless he or she is sure enough that the views, which he or she will express, are the views of company, and that company is desired about such views to be forecasted publicly. With the same, while dealing with someone outside the company, including the public officials, every employee should take care not to undermine company’s integrity or to damage its reputation, or any exterior individual or business or the government body.
6. Dealing with the colleagues: While dealing with other internal officials of the company, employee must maintain decorum and behave in positive and fair way. They must not hurt any personal, emotional or social feelings of the other employee. Violation of this may cause prosecution from the job immediately.
7. Obey the law: Understand the main laws and regulations existing in the company and that must comply with every applicable legal requirement. Below are some specific laws that are worth listing out here.

• Do not bribe anybody at any time and for any reason.
• Be careful while giving gifts or any other business courtesies on the behalf of the company.
• Avoid the possibility of accepting any favors or gifts as a bribe.
• Avoid misleading and harming any of the customers.

1. Avoid Child labor: Child labor should not be used at any phase of manufacturing of the products. Here, the word ‘child’ refers to any individual who is below the age of fourteen or fifteen or below the age for employment in the country.  

Megger implements the CSR strategies in two sections, namely, the offensive strategy and the defensive strategy. The offensive strategy deals includes the implementation of aggressive as well as effective communication, modern and innovative Corporate Social Responsibility plans and with the same, integrating the plans according to societal conditions and needs (Smith 2013). It also deals with implementation of the CSR in form of Unique Selling Property or USP of the organization. On the other hand, the defensive strategy deals with the decreasing the risks of attacks, maintaining effective balance in between the expectations of public and  the stakeholders and the license for operating its different functional activities along with carrying out various awareness and welfare programs (Hammes 2012).

The Megger as a more or less successful company puts more stress on its goodwill and reputation in the global market. It stays well aware of the various issues that may lead the campaigners to target the company. It means they try to occupy ideological spaces around the issues and getting the decision makers for agreeing with their viewpoint with strategic donations as well. Megger cares about the quality of its staff members as well (Megger.com, 2018). It reaches to great extent in order to appear as a socially responsible to skilled works in their work place (Megger.com, 2018). It also influences the various investors to get agree about investing in their company through carefully carrying out the CSR and thus, in this way they create a successful reputation for itself. With the same, Megger has a packaging framework that is aimed at recycling. The collected packaging materials of the company consists of paper boxes and plastic bags. It also play active role in providing job opportunities for the local people.

The Challenges of Megger CSR

1. It requires to build local capabilities: Since there is a serious scarcity of efficient and well trained organizations, which can fruitfully contribute to current CSR activities, therefore, there is a high need for building local capabilities for Megger.
2. There is a lack of participation of the community in the company’s CSR activities: The lack of interest and participation of the local communities in Megger’s CSR activities has resulted in little knowledge about the Corporate Social Responsibility within them since no efforts were made in order to spread the CSR awareness in the communities by the company management.
3. There is a lack of transparency in the company: There is a shortage of transparency from the part of the local agencies since they do not make ample efforts in order to disclose the information on their audits, programs, and the uses of funds.
4. There is a narrow perspective towards the CSR initiatives: The Company possesses narrow perception about the CSR practices.
5. There is a shortage of harmony on implementing the CSR issues: The local agencies are fewer consensuses about the CSR projects. This has resulted in the duplication of various activities by the corporate houses in the field of their intervention.
6. There are no proper and clear CSR guidelines: A clear policy directives or statutory guidelines to give a proper direction to the CSR initiatives of the Megger are absent in the organization.

1. Megger must implement a responsible corporate practice within the Company.
2. The economic influence of the CSR must be clearly defined with proper case studies.
3. The company, for a more wide dissemination and champion the initiative of creating a CSR mindset within the organization must develop several case studies on CSR.
4. Create CSR practices in SME sector of the company.
5. The company may introduce the CSR newsletters to the clients who are potential enough. This will gradually help in building their interests.
6. Megger can create awareness in the local public regarding the CSR to make the activities of CSR more effective in terms of approach and nature.
7. It may conduct the event of launching of a campaign in order to spread the CSR issues among the local public.
8. It should take initiatives to build national alliance for the CSR activities.
9. It should encourage participation of the youths in order to ensure civic issues.
10. It can take steps that are necessary for creating effective bridges within the stakeholders of the company for effective implementation of CSR activities.
11. It should safeguard the scaling up, protestation and sustainability of all the CSR projects for a successful and prominent implementation of efficacy and efficiency in their initiatives and works.
12. With the same, it should also take up necessary interventions in educating girls or other children from the rural areas.

References

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