Paradigm Toys' Corporate Social Responsibility: A Necessity for Stakeholder Satisfaction - Essay Sample

Introduction

The culture of incorporating environmental and social goals into the operations of a business organization is the basis of Corporate Social Responsibility. The purpose of CSR includes improving the brand, controlling costs, ensuring sustainability, and attracting a talented workforce, through consideration of ethical and lawful norms (OHIO University, 2019). With regard to Paradigm Toys, corporate social responsibility is essential to meet the concern of the organization's stakeholders. Thus, the business organization should adopt a proactive approach while undertaking their operations, which are considered important by the stakeholders. The first way of meeting the needs should consider the primary stakeholders through the maximization of their legal and economic roles. Thereafter, Paradigm Toys should consider the secondary stakeholder needs through the increase of their philanthropic and ethical roles.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Therefore, it is considered that the two primary stakeholders in Paradigm Toys are the employees and owners. Whereas, the two secondary stakeholders are the community and media. The employees and owners of Paradigm Toys are crucial in determining the success or failure of the business venture. The needs of the owners can be met when then entire Paradigm Toys maximize their profits through the creation of unique and satisfying products for their diverse customer base. However, ethical practice should be undertaken at all times when engaging in activities that ensure profits maximization. Hence, there is a consideration of the acceptable practice to achieve the desired goal of making profits. Paradigm Toys has to ensure the business operations are ethical and acceptable from both the external and internal perspectives.

The community present in Bastros Texas surrounding Paradigm Toys and the media are also critical for the success of the organization. That is because these secondary stakeholders have the potential of assisting or damaging the reputation of Paradigm Toys through their involvement in both the internal and external affairs of the organization. Therefore, Paradigm Toys should indicate they care for the secondary stakeholders throughout their operations. The interest of Paradigm Toys into the affairs of the secondary stakeholders can be shown through conducting outreach into the society and the media community to identify their concerns. Business organizations that work in conjunction with their secondary stakeholders eventually earn their cooperation and goodwill. Thus, there is the incremental improvement of the business organization which ensures the long-term success and sustainability. Paradigm Toys can then ensure their activities are in line with the ethical code for both the community and the media. Moreover, it is important for Paradigm Toys to incorporate philanthropic activities that are enjoyed by the community in the surrounding.

Importance of Ethical Leadership

The development of an ethical culture in an organization is important as it facilitates the improvement of its environmental and social performance. A suitable technique to be used by the leadership to promote an ethical culture in the organization is the application of expert power. That is power perceived by an employee that members of the organization, such as the senior manager, have advanced skills and knowledge which are not possessed by any other person in the business organization. The development of expert power in an organization is based on the ability of the leader to display expertise, which is higher than everyone in the working environment. Moreover, the leader should be perceived to foster ethics alongside expert power. In essence, ethics should be considered to take the central role during the operations in the organization. In Paradigm Toys, leadership can foster the development of an ethical culture when senior management are molded into ethical experts. The resulting effect is improved decisions pertaining to the success and sustainability of the business organization.

An ethics audit is an evaluation of the practices applied in the working environment against the set ethical standards (Krell, 2010). Ethics audit measures stressors in the working environment, for instance, budgets and time constraints. These stressors may influence the importance of upholding an ethical culture in the business organization. Therefore, the ethics audit makes the leadership come into the realization of the need to conduct themselves ethically. The leadership is then discouraged from straying away from ethical deeds due to the need to satisfy an imminent want. The ethical value, as displayed by the leadership, is then reflected throughout the lower levels of the organization, as the workforce comes to the realization of what is important.

The leadership of Paradigm Toys will gain more by using ethics audits from the concept of outweighing short-term losses during business operations for sustained success in the future. The ethical audit also helps the leadership of Paradigm Toys to develop a set of ethical guidelines to govern their operations. That ensures there are set frameworks where vital decisions may be based; thus, the business operations are positively inclined to the expected ethical culture. Staying in-line with the expected ethical code is based on a definite set of disciplinary actions and expectations for the ethical culture. The expectation is applicable to all levels of the organization irrespective of the position.

An Ethical Framework

The following is an examination of a company manufacturing genetically modified seeds which will facilitate the development of an ethical framework in a business setting. These seeds are resistant to any form of pesticide currently in the market. Thus, the company has been full of controversies both by the immediate community and international media due to their business practice, which is considered unlawful and unethical. For instance, the company is reportedly forcing local farmers to buy their products or be sued until they suffer bankruptcy. Despite their outright disregard for corporate social responsibility, the company claims to uphold a code of ethics to support the farmers. Moreover, the produced seeds are not fit for the eventual consumer and bad for the productivity of the agricultural land. The company has inappropriately manipulated tests to showcase their products to be fit for use. The inappropriate business practice of manipulating users of their products and covering up their unsafe practices provides the basis for the development of ethical concerns.

The first solution to address this ethical dilemma facing the seed-producing company would be the incorporation of lawyers to ensure their operations are within the applicable law. Moreover, the lawyers will help the company to modify their operations to suit both local and international laws of practice. The integration of lawyers and lobbyists in the company's operations facilitates the development of an ethical code ensuring all the legal responsibilities are considered, for instance, through the application of the check-box technique. Also, there can be an inclusion of waivers detailing the applicable procedures to operate within the legal code of ethics. The code of ethics is important as it dictates the process of decision making but cannot be amended, especially when an operation is to be changed.

The next solution to the ethical dilemma is the development of an ethical culture in the entire business organization. The solution is recommended as the more ethical choice because it is embedded in the mission goals and every management of the company. Thus, every person within the organization is committed to working within the precincts of the ethical culture. The developed ethical culture is applicable to both the internal and external stakeholders of the company. In essence, ethical culture covers the customers, suppliers, employees, and the community. Ethical culture is usually based in the form of a set of ethical guidelines; hence every stakeholder's role of clearly stipulated then acts according to the expected ethical conduct. When every person upholds the values stipulated in the set of ethical guidelines, the company would be in the right position to mitigate the ethical concerns in the business environment.

Proposal for Ethics Training Program

The following proposal is created to implement an ethics training program at Paradigm Toys, which consists of the topics that include; values, employees, and implementation. The creation of a program is only successful when people are involved. Therefore, Paradigm Toys should ensure they retain a suitable talented workforce, and attract more personnel for the training program to become successful. That can be through increased advertising of vacant positions through to making applications interesting for the potential candidates. An effective recruitment process ensures they hire an individual who fits into the organization's ethical culture. The topic of employee retention and attraction in the training program ensures Paradigm Toys hiring procedure is based on ethical decision making for eventual success.

The next consideration in the ethical training program is the need for values. The purpose and values of Paradigm Toys should provide guidelines for the ethical code, thus laying the foundations to be used throughout the training program. Therefore, the ethical culture is incorporated into all of the organization's operations, which include; orientation, course management, meetings, and sales training, among other ethical training activities. Prioritizing the topic of values in the training program ensures the success of Paradigm Toys' ethics program.

The topic of implementation in the training program is based on integrating successful techniques and determining the corrective measures in the event of any errors during training. The topic develops parameters while allowing the individual employees to undertake personal decisions throughout the program. The act of offering people trust to make personalized decisions is important as the employees develop a sense of worthiness and empowerment in the working environment.

The delivery method of the training program considered the most suitable is a mix of the physical classroom and online lessons. The various departments of Paradigm Toys have different working schedules; hence there should be a consideration of offering the curricula at different times. The use of an online classroom is important as it facilitated the physical classrooms. The individuals in the ethics training program can access the vast knowledge base fast as it is easily accessible anytime. The use of these delivery methods of instruction by Paradigm Toys management would ensure the organization acquires ethical employees who are willing to work to alleviate the ethical concerns associated with the organization (Young, 2017).

References

Krell, E. (2010). How to Conduct an Ethics Audit. Retrieved 22 December 2019, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/0410agenda_social.aspx

OHIO University. (2019). Why Corporate Social Responsibility is Important | Ohio University. Retrieved 22 December 2019, from https://onlinemasters.ohio.edu/blog/why-corporate-social-responsibility-matters-in-todays-society/

Young, S. (2017). The importance of ethics training programs. Retrieved 22 December 2019, from https://blog.ung.edu/mba/the-importance-of-ethics-training-programs/