Ethics Reflection Paper
STR 581

Ethics Reflection Paper
A company is defined by its mission; the mission in turn is a company’s approach to social responsibility. Serving several groups of stakeholder is never easy, each group has its own set of interests and expectations of a company. Through several steps a company can identify, understand, reconcile and coordinate the demands to define its social responsibility.
Ethics and Social Responsibility “Corporate social responsibility is the idea that a business has a duty to serve society in general as well as the financial interests of its stakeholders.”(Pearce, 2013, p. 52) Dividing the stakeholders into two distinct groups, internal and external, despite its numerous situations a company can determine how to meet its social responsibility. There are four types of social commitment that strategic managers must consider: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary social responsibility (Text) Maximizing profits is at the core of economic considerations while ensuring compliance with laws and regulations are taken into account under legal commitments. “Ethical obligations are the obligations that transcend legal requirements” (Pearce, 2013, p. 54). All other voluntarily assumed duties comprise the discretionary responsibilities of a firm. While the demands of stakeholders may overlap these responsibilities only some are required in the mind of the general public.
Not only does social responsibility comes with both costs and benefits, it is a priority among American businesses. Open to public scrutiny, a firm’s corporate social responsibility goals can be audited to determine which objectives it is meeting and if plans are being implemented as planned. Considered an integral component of business success by many executives and mangers, firms continue to face the pressure of contributing to social responsibility