Ethics Reflection Paper
Amr Hani Habes
University of Phoenix
STR/581 – Week One
Leon Baudot
May 16, 2010
Role of ethics and social responsibility in developing a strategic plan
The major concern of any shareholder is to maximize the profit, consequently, organizations that seek maximizing their profit tend periodically to redefine the companies missions and strategies. Those successful strategic managers realize the importance of social responsibilities, precisely, recognizing the legitimate rights of the firm’s claimants (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Strategic managers must recognize the internal stakeholders including stockholders and employees, on the other hand, strategic managers must also consider the outsiders such as suppliers, government, local communities, and public (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Because incorporating social responsibilities into companies missions is not an easy task, thus, any organization that tends to incorporate the interests of the internal and external stakeholders into its mission statement must consider the following steps: 1- Identifying all internal and external stakeholders, 2- Understanding stakeholders’ needs and expectations, 3- Prioritizing all stakeholders’ needs and expectations as wells as the reconciliation of stakeholders’ claims, finally, 4- Coordinating the claims, needs, and expectations with the company mission (Pearce & Robinson, 2009).
As mentioned previously, shareholders’ main concern is to maximize their annual income and net profit, thus, the question of how being a social responsible company can help in maximizing the profit. Companies need to understand that incorporating social responsibilities into their companies’ missions will result in an indirect impact of the companies’ success. Apparently, winning the loyalty of the growing legions of consumers will require new strategies and new alliances in this century (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Additionally, since companies are required to be fully...