Management-business and society

BUSINESS AND SOCIETY : CSR TO SHOW THE WAY AHEAD

Barzun (2001 ) in predicting the doom of the state and civilization in future has based his premise on a number of primary truisms which have guided humanity to include issues ranging from emancipation to primitivism and most recently secularism and self consciousness . The growth of self consciousness is the greatest danger , a premise supported by Barzun with a survey of history for over 500 years . The emergence of business as a dominant social organization has been evident after the industrial and more recently

the information revolution . Business sanctifies efficiency and profits . It perpetuates a self seeking bureaucracy which in many cases is seen to cater for the needs of the stake holders such as the principal share holders rather than society at large . Through the power of the internal elite who attain control over other organizations in society in the future , business is seen to abdicate itself from giving back social good to people . This extractive nature of business has been evident in many forms today . To that extent business could be held accountable for some of the ills in society which have been sustained by greed and unethical ways of business men

The survival of mankind over the millennium has been sustained by a capability to adjust to the changing environments natural as well as man made . Business is not alien to this process which may seem Darwinian in nature . There are increasing signs of business accepting or attempting to understand its relationship with people and the overall need to contribute to society . Thus the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR ) has emerged and is increasingly seen to involve business in building social capital . As CSR emerges as a strategic asset , it will enable businesses to understand and focus on their roles and responsibilities to create social good concomitantly with profits and efficiency . This wave may not necessarily undermine the role of the state but would be seen to support it . The CSR wave is thus the first indicator that business will provide stability and avoid the doom foretold by Barzun in the millennia ahead

Reference

Barzun , Jacques (2001 . From Dawn to Decadence : 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present (back . New York . Harper Perennial...