Corporate Soul Exposed by Answering Questions

 

Entine and Jennings developed eight questions that attempt to expose the soul of a company.  They developed these questions because of the trend towards organizations promoting their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agendas in the media.  While the promotion itself is not bad, it is the lack of a real responsibility to the communities and customers that Entine and Jennings fear.  Their fear does not come without merit either.  In a study done it was determined that even if a company had a CSR agenda in place it was unlikely to be followed if it was implemented after the business had already been in operation (Schmeltz, 2014).  A whole host of reasons go into what makes this a difficult feat but it all comes down to how the company truly prioritizes actions and decisions.  Entine and Jennings have created these eight questions that will enable any stakeholder to determine if a company is acting responsibly or just saying the responsible thing. 

 

Traditional measures of CSR include community involvement and green practices.  Companies will donate proceeds to charity events and organizations.  Often they will host galas to help raise funds for the organization.  All of these actions are usually done to show the public that an organization is deeply rooted in the soil of a community.  The company is simply a part of the larger community organism and therefore participates in those events that improve the “social” good.  Additionally companies tout their products as being environmentally friendly or “green”.  Companies do things like driving more fuel efficient vehicles, creating packaging from recycled products; test their products in a manner that is not harmful to others, etc.  While these items might truly improve the efficiency of the organization, it is still usually promoted as a benefit of working with that company.  Traditionally companies have been evaluated on these types of activities to determine their CSR engagement.

 

Entine and Jennings believe that company’s CSR engagement should be based on whether or not the company obeys the law, how it treats its employees and how the company reacts to making negative disclosures, among other things.  These questions help to answer the true soul of the company because it is more than a plan it is their actions.  These actions negatively or positively influence their community much more than a plan of action does.  Because these questions are about behavior it gives the stakeholders a much more realistic and holistic view of a company.

 

References

           Jennings, M. (2012). Business Ethics: Case Students and Selected Readings. OH: South-           WesternCengage Learning

Schmeltz, L. (2014). Identical or Just Compatible? The Utility of Corporate Identity Values in Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal Of Business Communication, 51(3), 234-258. doi:10.1177/2329488414525439