In today's blog we are going to access the corporate social responsibilities(CSR) of organizations. CSR is a way companies regulate themselves. The aim is to be responsible towards society and to generally get people to "like" your organization. You might be asking why would a company want to do something like that it would just cost them more and reduce profits thus creating a conflict with the stakeholders. That is not always the case. Improving an organization's CSR results in more access to capital, it enhances the brand image, it can be a tool for marketing and more importantly result in a lower staff turnover. The staff could feel more loyal towards a company that gives back to the community. This could be a key factor for motivation and it would result in less replacement costs for staff.
Various ways to access CSR
The aim in this blog is to assess whether CSR is important or not and what happens if companies don't maintain it. Some companies claim to be socially responsible but the reality varies. Phillip Morris is a leading American Tobacco company. It sells tobacco in over 200 countries. Philip morris suggests that it is very responsible and very firmly states that it does not target its advertisements towards children. However this is not the case. Philip Morris has been known to target children. They make special offers on their cigarettes such as buy one get one free, they give out free mini radios with cigarette pack and they have been known to distribute their cigarettes at concerts. These are things that youths are attracted to. Mostly teenagers attend concerts and want cheap rates. In country like America it is difficult for them to so this but what about Indonesia. Which has almost little to no laws regarding tobacco. According to an official spokesman of a special commission set up to protect children's rights (KPAI) and evolve regulations to prevent children getting addicted to smoking, "The future of 80 million Indonesian children is at stake as the cigarette producers were intentionally aiming children as their future market through massive TV advertisements and sponsorships on activities in which teenagers involved the most." Almost 30% of all indonesians try a cigarette before the age of 10. Cigarette kiosks sponsored by Marlboro are located near schools. They even sell individual cigarettes thus making it more accessible to teenagers and children.
ABC news coverage of child smoking in Indonesia
A few pictures to illustrate the condition:
Buy 1 get 1 free offer
As a result of poor CSR, Philip Morris had face a string of protests and lawsuits. This caused the government to further restrict the marketing practices of Tobacco companies. Philip Morris itself faces a adverse net income from 2008 to 2009. Recently Philip Morris reported a decline in the volume of cigarettes shipped abroad because of the stricter legal requirements.
Decline in Sales Volume of PM Cigarettes
If Philip Morris maintained the CSR image it had stated it may have been in a better market position. CSR are not only good for the environment and society but may also result in improvements of profits and revenue. Therefore I believe it is an essential practice. Cheers!
People often assume Management is the way an organization control things. However that is not all. Management actually defines the way organizations plan to achieve their objectives with the highest efficiency through the use of people and other resources such as raw materials. It involves planning, organizing, controlling and directing. There are four main management schools of thought:
Four main schools of thought
One of the first classical management approach was "Scientific Management". Fredrick Taylor has always been associated with this type of management. He emphasised the need to figure out the best way to do tasks, to select the best individual for a specialized task and to train that individual in the task and lastly he stated that money is the only motivational factor for the worker. Henry Ford was one of the users of this approach. He also emphasised the on specific roles for each person and also the fact that workers were motivated by money. He was known to pay more than the average wage for a worker in Motor Car assembly. He applied the concept of division of labour by creating an assembly line(1914). This sped up the car making process from 700hr/car to 93min/car. A dramatic change in my opinion. He enforced the concepts developed by Taylor along with his initiation of the assembly line achieved the objectives he wanted.
Ford Model T: First car to be mass produced on Henry Ford's assembly line concept
However, the scientific management practice if fairly criticized in the modern world. This is because in terms of motivation only money was considered, whereas in the modern world factors other than money also matter such as appreciation of work, hygienic environment, opportunities for promotion and also more importantly the support offered by the work place.
Pie chart representing the level of motivation each factor may provide
In the modern society organizations usually apply the different types of management systems together. Let's have analyze the management structure of google. Google is a company that provides internet based services. They are most famous for their search engines! We all use it and we all find it highly efficient. In fact "blogger" is a google product. By Fortune magazine google was ranked first in the best companies to work for in 2007, 2008 and 2012. What makes google so special? Why is it such a successful company? These are the questions we will assess. Google has known to have quite a liberal environment. They pay high attention to employee satisfaction. They provide recreational facilities within their offices for the employees, also bowling alleys, pub style lounges and even an indoor garden in their UK office. They also have a policy known as "70/20/10". This basically suggests that google employees spend 70% of their time focusing on the core business, 20% on related project and 10% on completely new business ideas. This is such an important tool that google has hired people to manage the "70/20/10" rule. According to google this ensures maximum efficiency of an employee as well as allowing them their space to come up with new ideas. This suggests that google ensures that its objectives are maintained as well as maintain employee satisfaction. In this way google integrates the classical and human relations approach to management (systems approach). It also has been a very successful approach. Google reached its peak revenue of $50billion in the fiscal year ending 2012, it was ranked as the best employer to work for the same year and is the largest internet based search provider in the world.
Google recreational center in Pittsburgh
Bowling Alley in Google Headquarter, California
In this blog I have discussed what management structures are and how different application result in different outcomes. No matter what the organization may be, having an efficient yet "friendly" management structure is very important. Establishing the right one is a skill learned through experience and time. Hope you enjoyed the blog. Take Care.
