Importance of Social Sustainability for Businesses - Reflective Pieces Assessment Answers

Research Critique Assignment Help

• information from relevant readings
• concepts from the relevant part of the course
• personal experience

Introduction

Reflective is one of the most important and commonly adopted methods and techniques of learning, in which people tend to use their previous experiences and incidents to learn new things and identify their strengths and areas of improvement (Ghaye, 2010). The report thus presents my personal reflective, wherein I have tried to combine theoretical findings and discussions with some of my personal examples to establish different aspects of professionalism for businesses as well as individuals.

Reflective One: Importance of Social Sustainability for Businesses

The Three Bottom Line (TBL) approach or framework used to define or measure sustainability of any given organization or corporation defines three key aspects of sustainability, i.e. economic, environmental and social (Savitz, 2012). Social sustainability, being the least focused and least quantifiable aspect of corporate responsibility, refers to the contribution and impact of a business to the development of the local communities and society on a whole (Savitz, 2012). While social responsibility is often ignored by firms, the stakeholder theory related to business ethics as developed by Edward Freeman (1994) suggests that any company is obligated to maximize benefits for its stakeholders that include the local communities, government and customers.

The traditional definition of businesses or companies is what according to me, the reason why social sustainability is often ignored by companies. As discussed by Friedman (2007), the traditional view of company states that the first and most important obligation and responsibility of any given firm is to maximize its profits. Similar discussions by Idowu and Papasolomou (2007) also suggest that unless and until a company is able to maximize its profits, it will not be able to transfer those benefits to the shareholders or any other stakeholder. In fact, when I was working with my family business and whenever I hear my father or any other entrepreneur talk about their business, the first thing that they talk about is profits. Hence, there is no doubt in the fact that every business exists for the sole purpose of making financial gains.

However, the products and services offered by any firm are consumed by people in local communities and hence if the activities undertaken by the firm are not contributing towards social development, the companies might end up harming their own source of profit generation. An example of the same is McDonald’s. Several social sustainability issues were raised against McDonald’s in China in 2014, wherein the company was blamed for processing contaminated food (Trefis, 2014). The scandal led to massive declines in the sales of the company in the market (Trefis, 2014). Hence, this proves that if a company is not working towards social development, it is most likely to face decline in its profits. When I myself think from point of view of the consumer, I will not buy anything from any company that is doing anything wrong for society.

At the same time, I will also be more proud to buy from a company that is taking suitable measures for societal development. Silberhorn and Warren (2007) argue that every organization is a part of the society and takes resources from the society for managing and carrying out its operations and it is a thus a moral obligation for it to serve the society back. For example, I know that some companies in India are hiring local women from rural areas to help the local communities develop and by giving them employment and hence if I have an option to buy from them, I would prefer buying from them rather than any other firm. Hence, reputation is definitely something that gets enhanced with better social sustainability measures, making it essential for a business.

In fact, a basic point that we often forget about is that if companies are contributing towards societal development, it would lead to growth of the community as well as the economy and that would further benefit not only the people living in these societies but even the businesses (Jamali and Mirshak, 2007). For example, the Australian financial services company, Westpac has contributed largely to social development and sustainability by investing in affordable housing as well as development of indigenous populations, which has contributed to economic growth of the country, thus leading to higher sales for the firm as well (Dumay, 2016). Thus, though we don’t think in social terms while doing business, I think it is important for businesses to start doing so because not only is it morally right and would benefit people in different ways, but would also offer multiple benefits like better reputation, enhanced sales, better accounting for the firms as well.

Reflective Two: Impact of Lack of Cultural Understanding on Career

Everyone and every business are trying to become international in nature so that a global international economy can be established. A clear example that I can present from my experience is that of the existing chains of fast food across the world. While travelling to different countries, I have found the chain of same Starbucks coffee everywhere. However, a philosophy or concept often people tend to ignore unknowingly is that of cultural relativism, which suggests that the beliefs and actions undertaken by an individual can be understood only if the other person evaluates it as explained in the culture of the individual (Rachels, 1993). As explained by Renteln (2013), the principal of cultural relativism suggests that that no culture is inferior or superior and that the moral rules and values would differ from one place to another. Hence, it is said that if a manager or business does not possess suitable understanding of cultural relativism, it can hamper the progress.

While literature has confirmed that lack of cultural understanding of people in the country in which a business is operating can hamper the business, I have witnessed the same in real life as well. On shifting to Australia, I took up a small part time job in a supermarket for a short period of time to meet my financial needs and requirements, but I was not aware of the Australian culture very well then. I have always valued relationships over rules and hence once I left my counter unattended to help a person, which was against the rules of the company. I got a warning for the same and was asked that I had to find the right person responsible for the job instead of breaking rules. Thus, I can say that if I would have had better cultural understanding of the country and people with whom I was working, I would have been more successful at the job.

Similar discussions have been presented by Ng et al (2009), who explain that for an individual to be successful in the professional career because it helps the people in not only communicating with the customers and other stakeholders in a much better way, but also helps the person in identifying strategies and processes that would work well with the stakeholders. For example, the marketing manager of Heineken beer displayed flags of participants of the soccer teams during 1994 World Cup and wrote some verse from the Quran to represent Saudi Arabia. The lack of understanding that Quran does not permit alcohol usage led to major rage and failure of the marketing campaign (Marquardt, 1999).

Hence, if I do not have suitable cultural awareness and understanding, I will not be able to understand and identify things that can be sensitive to the people with a certain cultural background. Especially as a manager, I need to understand the cultural background and needs of not only the customers, but also the employees and other stakeholders of the firm so that I ensure that my actions align with cultural needs and beliefs of people. Rivera (2012) explains that cultural understanding is important in all industries, for example in healthcare sector, the doctor needs to provide medications and treatments suitable to the religious beliefs of people, a teacher must not say anything disrespectful regarding the culture of any of the students etc. In fact, there are businesses and business deals that have even completely failed due to cultural differences such as the merger of Daimler and Chrysler (Gill, 2012). Thus, the lack of cultural understanding would make it difficult for me to communicate with others, would not help me understand the style of working that is preferred by people from different backgrounds and I will not be able to understand needs of my customers to manage my strategies. This can impede my career, as experienced earlier and hence this is one of the most important things I need to focus upon.

Reflective Three: Relevance of Ethics in Future Professional Life

Ethics refer to the study and incorporation of the moral rules and requirements that are deemed correct in the context of a given society and hence for a person to be ethical, he or she needs to identify and differentiate between what is right and wrong to make suitable judgments (Sparks and Pan, 2010). It is one of the key areas of focus in the business world, wherein professionals and companies are all trying to adopt ethical practices because it results into enhanced reputation for the firms and higher growth and development. An example of how a business fails due to unethical practices is that of Enron, wherein different methods and practices were used to inflate the company’s profits. The revelation of the unethical practices adopted by the firm and its leaders led to massive failure of the firm (Hawley, 2014).

Similarly, the adoption of ethical and unethical practices has several implications for individuals in their professional lives as well. Collins (2010) explains that if a professional individual adopts a practice that is unethical, he would lose trust of his superiors, which would result into career issues for the person. I witnessed the same in a friend’s company. My friend had a company accountant who would handle the accounts, but for six months he carried out unethical practices and made some money for himself by manipulating the accounts, which was an unethical practice to carry out. Not only did he lose the job he had in my friend’s company, but was not able to get another job for a year because of the loss of trust in him because whenever a company called for reference, his superiors would inform the potential new employer regarding his unethical practices. He even suffered financial losses because he was required to pay back the money he had stolen from the firm along with interest for those six months.

While on one hand, unethical practices can result into lost trust and losses for a professional, on the other hand, adoption of ethical practices helps in improving the overall image of the person, thus leading to faster and better progress in his or her professional life. Brooks and Dunn (2011) explain that professional ethics helps and supports a person in developing a strong and positive image in front of the superiors, colleagues and even clients, which result into higher professional success. I can say this from my own experience, which is definitely a small example but confirms the point. While I was working in my family business, a customer one day forgot her purse at the store which had more than thousand dollars and a staff member found it. Instead of taking the money, he got the purse to me and we contacted the lady and returned her bag. She not only became a loyal customer of the store, but I even promoted the staff member to the position of the head staff so that he can ensure higher integrity in the business. Thus, he gained professionally from being ethical.

These examples that I have witnessed definitely confirm that ethics is extremely relevant and important for succeeding in the professional world. It helps in gaining trust of others, enhance financial gains and avoid any form of harm to oneself and others. This can be attributed as the reason why there are specific professional code of ethics that have been developed for different industries to ensure professional growth and development of individuals as well as companies.

Conclusion

The report has thus helped me in understanding the importance and relevance of different aspects of businesses and their operations in the professional world based on my own experiences, thus helping me understand and learn the importance of cultural understanding, ethics etc.