(a) Environmentally-Conscious 'Green' Working Practices and Outputs
Putting concern about the environment into practice means adopting policy and
procedures that conserve and replenish resources, through such actions as:
Ethical purchasing policies: for example, only using furniture made from farmed timber
and not tropical hardwood.
Recycling waste products and using recycled products (especially paper and cardboard).
Reducing the amount of physical resources used where they are not directly connected to
the production process, or necessary within that (e.g. avoiding excessive packaging).
Energy conservation policies: for example, controlling lighting and heating levels, only
using particular fuels for motor vehicles and only providing expenses for the use of
public transport.
(b) Social Accounting and Social Audit
In order to assess how well an organisation is meeting its obligations to the society in
which it operates, it has been suggested that it should compile a social balance sheet.
This interesting idea reverses many of the points of classical accounting: for example,
in terms of profit and loss, taxes paid by the organisation are treated as revenue
(because they accrue to society) whereas fees and payments to the organisation are
treated as costs (because they are paid by society). Society is seen as evaluating
what it puts into the company and what it gets out of it.
Social audit draws attention to the fact that a firm's gain can sometimes be a loss to
society. For example, if a firm makes unwanted workers redundant, this may increase
productivity and profits for the firm, but it can become a cost to society as the state
has to pay unemployment benefits.
Critics of social accounting argue that many features of organisational and social
activities cannot be measured in precise monetary terms; or that some calculations are
so complex that it is difficult to reduce them to items in a social audit. Even
supporters of social accounting admit that techniques are not yet sufficiently
developed to give accurate reflections of the impact of an organisation's activities on
the society in which it operates.
However, this does not mean that efforts to assess the social performance of an
organisation should be abandoned. Organisations should present social reports which
give information on both the positive and negative effects of their activities on society
at large. All socially relevant areas should be included, e.g. contributions to education,
research, effects on the environment, employment policies, taxation, etc. Social
accounting could become a regular feature of organisation policy and reporting.
Finally, remember that it is the firm itself which prepares its social balance sheet; it is
not always an impartial statement of affairs.
(c) Participation in Governmental Bodies
Many of the boards appointed to run public bodies at all levels in society – from the
NHS at national level to the local hospital and school – include provision for the
nomination of individuals from organisations with similar constituencies (i.e.
operating at the national level or within a particular local area). It is very common for
senior managers to serve on these bodies, bringing their experience and expertise into
the determination of policy and the operational performance of the public services.
(d) Support for Community Projects
Again we use the term community to refer to the constituency served by the
organisation: local, regional, national, international. Organisations support a wide
variety of non-profit-making projects, such as theatre groups, concerts, sporting
events, etc., which exist purely for information, education and/or entertainment
purposes and have little or no connection with their operational purposes. They may
do this through direct and ongoing sponsorship of events and groups or individuals,
providing one-off grants and providing their own services for nothing.
(e) Ethical Outsourcing
This refers to the way in which operations are outsourced and the commitments made,
and action taken, about the treatment of workers in outsourced operations.
Outsourcing is the process by which parts of the production process are performed, on
behalf of the organisation, by another organisation. Whilst this has considerable
advantages in terms of flexibility and cost savings for organisations, and may offer
advantages too for specialist service providers, it has led to exploitation of workers in
many situations. The clothing industry is rife with examples of this, where expensive
garments for big retailers are produced in 'sweat shops' in rundown parts of inner-
cities by badly paid and poorly treated women, often from minority ethnic groups.
The situation is mirrored by multinational companies which locate plants in countries
where advantage may be taken of cheap labour rates and lax conditions of
employment which would be unacceptable in their home countries.
Titany answered the question on November 9, 2021 at 06:03