21 st CENTURY MANAGEMENT TRENDS Lesson 13 Where are we today? What current management concepts and practices are shaping “tomorrow’s history”? This session establishes first a framework for understanding social responsibility and managerial ethics. Then, in this session, we’ll attempt to answer those above stated questions by introducing several trends and issues that we believe are changing the way managers do their jobs: globalization, entrepreneurship, managing in an e-business world. Organizational Social Responsibility What is Social Responsibility? Before the 1960s, few people questioned the role of business organizations in social responsibility. However, times have changed. Now it’s important to get an understanding of what social responsibility is. There are two opposing views of what social responsibility is. 1. The classical view is the view that management’s only social responsibility is to maximize profits. a. Milton Friedman is the most outspoken advocate of this view. b. He argues that managers’ primary responsibility is to operate the business in the best interests of the stockholders—the true owners of the organization. 2. The socioeconomic view is the view that management’s social responsibility goes well beyond the making of profits to include protecting and improving society’s welfare. a. The argument behind this view is that corporations are not independent entities responsible only to stockholders. b. Also, modern organizations are no longer just economic institutions. There are 10 major arguments for social responsibility, and they include the following: a. Public expectations b. Long-run profits c. Ethical obligation d. Public image e. Better environment f. Discouragement of further government regulation g. Balance of responsibility and power h. Stockholder interests i. Possession of resources j. Superiority of prevention over cures There are six major arguments against social responsibility. These include: a. Violation of profit maximization b. Dilution of purpose c. Costs d. Too much power e. Lack of skills f. Lack of accountability Social responsibility an obligation, beyond that required the law and economics, for firm to pursue long-term goals that are good for society. Social obligation is the obligation of a business to meet its economic and legal responsibilities.