The report throws light on analyzing and integrating the role of CSR and Issues management which are required in the organizations. The purpose of CSR issues management is analyzed within the company as this will provide analysis of the effects of the CSR on the brand image and reputation of the organization. Moreover, the consistency of the corporate communication strategies of the company is analyzed which is necessary to be communicated to the stakeholders of the company.
Woolworths Supermarket is an Australian supermarket store which was founded in the year 1924, and they are earning more than 80% of the shares of the company in the Australian market. The headquarter of the company is at New South Wales, Australia and the number of locations wherein Woolworths is operating is 995. The number of employees working at Woolworths is 115000, and the revenue earned by them is A$56.726 billion till the year 2017 (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2019).
Corporate Social Responsibility is the type of international private business self-regulation. Social Responsibility is defined as the principle wherein the different organizations need to contribute towards maximizing the profits. Furthermore, Watson (2015), has opined that during the last few years, CSR has been developed and implemented in many big and SMEs as it has been treated as the marketing strategy which has been widespread as the factor of differentiation along with awareness for the customers.
Stakeholder Theory of CSR- Belal (2016), has commented that since the 1990s, the particular theory has become famous as the direct type of alternative along with a challenge too as the shareholder value theory. It has been argued that the number of different stakeholder pressure groups. The stakeholder view of strategy helps in integrating both market-based view and resource-based view, and it adds to the socio-political aspects.
Business Ethics Theory of CSR- As commented by Wang et al. (2016), the business ethics theory is based on the more general social kind of obligation along with an analysis of the moral duty of the business which has towards the entire society. The particular theory justifies the CSR on three varying levels of interrelated ethical aspects which are described as follows:
Shareholder Value Theory of CSR- As per the own theory, it can be analyzed that the CSR of the different businesses is to develop the different profits along with following the different legal kind of norms which will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm appropriately. The particular theory is a strategic instrument for managing corporate competitive advantage and more gain in the profit (Saeidi et al., 2015).
As commented by Waddock, (2017), issues management is the entire process through which the different companies manage the different policies along with identifying the different trends and issues which could impact the different activities in the future. There can be the inclusion of various problems related to staffs or the suppliers which can create a negative impact on the project.
As commented by Voegtlin & Greenwood, (2016), Structural Functions Systems Theory is one of the essential elements in the Issues Management as this helps in managing the issues through environmental scanning. In the particular aspect, it can be identified that each member in the organization are required to be involved in the decision-making process as it will help in dealing with crisis and keep the communication lines transparent and open.
Suliman, Al-Khatib & Thomas, (2016), have opined that the CSR issues management is inclusive of the different kinds of negative aspects which have been faced by the organizations in selling various products and services to the customers in the market. For instance- As per the survey which was conducted, more than 50% of the customers in the US have boycotted the organization at some time which was due to the lousy customer choice, and it was not environmentally sound in the approach as well.
As commented by Su et al. (2016), Corporate Social Responsibility is a prominent aspect in the 21st century which helps in heightening the expectations of the different customers regarding maintaining the environmental and social standards. The Employees Credit Union of Woolworths is committed to supporting and implementing the effective CSR program which assists in integrating the social and ecological responsibilities in the daily operations which are performed by them. The role of the employees of Woolworths is to communicate with the different stakeholders of the organization towards managing CSR programs are inclusive of the following:
With the implementation of social media channels, Woolworths try to communicate stakeholders as this will be helpful in promoting corporate trust and transparency. Woolworths applies the same wherein it is the two-way communication as there will be mitigation of the risks and there will be increased transparency in the conveying of the message from one party other. The sustainability of the environment is a big focus for positioning their brand by aligning the sales of the company by Planting a tree movement. Woolworths feel that planting of trees is the accurate manner to give back to the planet and save the earth (Flammer, 2015).
Customers- Throughout over 1500 stores and the company makes an effort to satisfy the requirements of customers around the sustainability and quality of the product (Wecu.com.au, 2019)
Employees- There are 46000 employees across the global kind of operations by creating a conducive environment.
Suppliers- The company strives to develop different activities through the sustainable manner
Communities- Woolworths is involved in community upliftment activities in areas within areas wherein they operate
CSR activities can create a positive and negative effects on the brand reputation of the organization as it has helped Woolworths in leading to the creation of a better brand image with the awareness of customers which moderates the relationship. The CSR activities of 2020 of Woolworths focuses on generating sustainability in the environment and protecting the planet. CSR is the emotional aspect of the brand image that enhances the competitive advantage of Woolworths to preserve the brand create values for the customers in the market (Fatemi, Fooladi & Tehranian, 2015).
The CSR issues which are required to be managed by Woolworths as to reduce the particular issues and make the environment a better place for living.
Working Conditions- By ensuring the possible employment, as per the application of provisional and statutory provisions, it can be identified that Woolworths needs to manage discrimination in the workplace along with constructive cooperation is mandatory with social partners which is the essential part of the same.
The Environment- It is the other aspect which is required to be managed by Woolworths as responsible environmental management can continuously improve the impact of enterprise on the environment. Woolworths needs to include progressive internal environmental management system which should be based on high standards which will be responsible for the consistent reduction of greenhouse gases and contingency plan for reducing harmful effects on the environment.
Combating Corruption- It is the aspect as corruption can have dreadful impacts on the different functions of the organization. Woolworths can play a significant role in fighting crime by introducing the different internal control mechanisms which can be done by training employees accurately.
Target Audience- Through social media, the different CSR related activities can be communicated to the customers regarding the sustainability issues faced by the company. This will help in analyzing the buying behavior of customers from the respective company (Petrenko et al., 2016).
Authenticity- Through social media channels, it will help in developing a standard operating procedure which will be beneficial in making customers understand authentic, sustainable practices of the company.
Your Story- Through social media platform, there can not be any duplicity of the story as it will be ethical trading and ethical advertisement which will be showcased.
When there is unethical usage of the different products and services along with unethical trading, it will affect the brand image of the company negatively. In Woolworths, the company has been facing issues relating to illegal practices such as workplace bullying and harassment that affected their reputation in the market. There has been a breach of industrial law that affected the overall reputation of the company; however, there has been a change in different practices which helped the company to become ethical in their dealings and trading.
The flexibility of the message is essential of the everyday business activities as the stakeholders’ value the most-up-to-date consistent information. The employees are required to be trained which is needed to be updated as it will make the content compatible and regularly updated. Woolworths needs to employ such consistency in messages which will be useful in managing the overall sustainability in the business activities appropriately.
In the case of Woolworths, the consistency of the message is being maintained across all facets including departments and the outside stakeholders of the company. The staffs at Woolworths knows about the latest contacts and issues that help them in managing the overall activities accurately. While hiring the candidates, Woolworths try to convey the different rules and regulations regarding the working environment of the company along with leading trust among the employees (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2019).
In case of the customers, it can be analyzed that Woolworths has been conveying similar messages regarding the availability of the products and the sustainability practices of 2020 which is correct and it has helped them in building strong relationships with them. The working towards zero wastage of food is helpful in managing the operations successfully. The inspiration provided to customers to consume the products sustainably is the other approach.
In the case of suppliers, the 2020 sustainability approach is to achieve top quartile ranking to engage themselves with suppliers and generating sustainably sourced food items to the customers. There have been partnership programs for reducing the carbon emissions below 10% by 2020 which will be useful in managing the overall indigenous growth and make the activities more sustainable and prosperous (Quarshie, Salmi & Leuschner, 2016).
Woolworths tries to manage the overall consistency in the message as this will help in building a better relationship with the stakeholders especially the employees, suppliers, and customers as they are an integral part of the system. Through the consistent messaging system, Woolworths have gained the positive brand image as they will be more inclined in keeping working with the team on future projects and it will help in overcoming the problem (Fernández?Kranz & Santaló, 2010). It can be detrimental if there is inconsistency in the message, it will build a negative impact on the brand image of the firm. In the previous years, there has been inconsistency in a letter sent to the suppliers that affected their growth, and it changed their brand image negatively as all suppliers were not provided with similar information.
Proper communication channel plays a vital role in managing and establishing overall effectiveness in the organization effectively. In the case of Woolworths, the company needs to create the proper process of communication with the workforce of the organization as it will assist them in addressing the conflicts and grievances of employees positively. In such cases, Woolworths can arrange various meetings by the formulation of the grievance committee by implementing proper communication process with employees that will improve the overall working environment of the employees. From the different survey reports of Woolworths, it can be seen that present employee relationship policies are successful to a great extent n maintaining relationship with the employees and customers of Woolworths (Schrempf-Stirling, Palazzo & Phillips, 2016).
Furthermore, the different policies implement the active type of initiatives to handle the grievances and conflicts of employees with success. With the implementation of employee grievances policies, it has been useful for Woolworths in enhancing the productivity of the of every employee. Additionally, regarding the customers of Woolworths, they have communicated the different sustainable practices followed by the company. However, there are various legislative powers which should be taught by the organization as it will be helpful in implementing a fair policy for the employees as this will improve the workplace environment. It has been seen that the safe workplace environment was the primary concern of Woolworths as there have been different cases of bullying and harassment among the employees which were the major issue that affected the growth of organization negatively (Kang, Germann & Grewal, 2016).
From the above, the recommendations which can be provided to Woolworths in managing the different CSR activities in the organization are described as follows:
Firstly, it can be recommended that Woolworths needs to aim at performing continuous innovation in the various operations which are being conducted by them by making the operations sustainable. The main reason is that that the preferences of the customers are changing through sustainable practices through leveraging the different social media channels which will encourage the users in taking part to promote the brand initiatives among the customers. The customers prefer a sustainable image of the organization which will be helpful in purchasing the different products and services as it will clean up their public image (Crs.woolworthsgroup.com.au 2019).
On behalf of the employees, Woolworths need to improve the different policies such as the implementation of various systems namely equal opportunity act and discrimination act which will play a vital role in managing the motivation among employees. Woolworths need to enhance support from skilled employees by way of additional training and development activities mechanism to support the operations. By implementing the CSR related activities, it will be helpful in creating stable and thriving communities which will benefit the company and society. Woolworths need to encourage employees to volunteer their time which will improve the overall local and global community.
These are the two significant recommendations which can be provided to Woolworths as it will clean up their public brand image and gain sustainability in the different business-related activities.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that CSR is one of the essential aspects which is required to be followed by different organizations as it helps in improving public image. The corporations can educate the public perception by supporting the non-profits through strong partnerships which will create a positive kind of relationship with the customers. Furthermore, in case of Woolworths, the CSR activities can play a vital role in increasing the engagement of the employees as more than 60% of the employees are proud of the different corporate social responsibility policies as they prefer to dedicate their work towards the welfare of the communities. There have been various issues related to CSR which can be implemented by the Woolworths Company to improve the overall situation by increasing the level of communication towards the different investors and other stakeholders as this will improve the global efforts of the company positively.
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