Do companies have business conscience today
Organizational or corporate social responsibility refers to the obligation of a business firm to seek actions that protect and improve the welfare of society along with its own interests. Corporate social responsibility often challenges businesses to be accountable for the consequences of their actions affecting the firm's stakeholders while they pursue traditional economic goals. The general public expects business to be socially responsible, and many companies have responded by making social goals a part of their overall business operations (Hay, 1989). This paper will discuss four companies that have a conscience towards our today's society, and helped to create a better community for all of us, they are Johnson & Johnson, American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), Herman Miller, and Procter & Gamble. A crisis confronted Johnson & Johnson in the fall of 1982, when seven Chicago area residents died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules contaminated with cyanide. Not only was $400-million-per-year Tylenol the best-selling U.S. drug, but it was a product that symbolized the Johnson & Johnson reputation for quality, gentleness, and fine health care (Kreitner, 1990). Despite the pressures of dealing with national
Procter & Gamble is another company that has a conscience by helping the community. The 23rd Summer Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles, in July and August. This will be the high point of years of hard work and training by many of America's young athletes who are eager for an opportunity to make this country shine. But the U.S. Olympic Committee, which is responsible for fielding the U.S. team, depends on the American people to support these talented athletes. The U.S is the only major nation in the world whose Olympic athletes do not receive a continuing government subsidy. U.S competitors are supported solely by private donations. Since 1982, much of the trash that can not be recycled has fueled Miller's waste-to-energy plant, which saves $750,000 a year in fuel and landfill costs and paid for itself in ten years, a decade ahead of schedule (Woodruff, 1991). Miller also recently spent $800,000 for two high-tech incinerators to burn the toxic solvents that escape during staining and varnishing. Miller's environmental consciousness extends beyond local and national products. One of the company's best-known products, the $2, 277 Earnes chair, was always finished with rosewood until the company's research manager realized that Herman Miller was contributing to the destruction of tropical rain forests. He consequently banned the use of rosewood and Honduran mahogany. Another test of Herman Miller's humane attitude came when some of its employees contracted the AIDS virus. When an AIDS victim in the company's Georgia plant decided to let the rest of the workers know about his condition, his supervisor took charge, acting as what Herman Miller Chairman Max DePree calls a "roving leader". The supervisor told two managers, and then the three of them quickly told everyone in the plant, ensuring that rumors did not get started. On the next workday after the announcement, the company's director of health and wellness flew down from Michigan to show a video on AIDS and answer questions. With a history of such sensitivity to its environment and its workers, it is no surprise that Herman Miller tops lists of most-conscientious and best-managed companies (Nelson-Horchler, 1991). In addition, AT&T embraces total quality management (TQM) principles to solve the universal office pollution problem of too much paper. First, the company established a corporate paper reduction goal of 15 percent by 1995, then it created a corporate TQM team to figure out how to meet it. The department's TQM teams suggested simple ways to decrease paper consumption, such as eliminating
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Approximate Word count = 1748
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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