Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is important within the private sector. All corporations are obliged to provide assistance to communities. It is important for firms to give back both to their consumers and the general environment. This explains the basic foundation of CSR (Utting & Marques, 2009). There exist significant debates on the extent to which CSR should be dispensed. Evidently, there are emerging issues on some CSR strategies. Ethical concerns include one of the potential issues that must be addressed. There are arguments on the possibility of applying policies to guide CSR processes and activities. This research proposal postulates that governments should develop policies to guide private sector CSR programs. The aim of this initiative is to ensure that CSR programs meet ethical standards.
Identified Public Policy and Problem Statement
The research proposal states that the CSR efforts of corporations should be guided by policies. This is critical to uphold ethical standards (Balmer, Fukukawa & Gray, 2007). Some corporations implement CSR programs that degrade human dignity. Indicatively, such corporations fail to observe moral and human rights standards. Challenges associated with corporate greed have potentially affected the implementation of CSR by firms (Utting & Marques, 2009). Corporations that focus on profit expansion provide CSR programs that lack ethical principles. Unregulated CSR promotes business publicity. This assumes the form of assistance programs within the community (Visser, Matten, Pohl, & Tolhurst, 2009).
Research Methodology
The proposed research seeks to employ different research methods. A review of existing literature shall provide preliminary information. Qualitative study methods are also applicable. Simple sampling strategies will be employed in identification of potential informants (Sage Publications, 2011). Self administered questionnaire shall be used to gather data. The utilization of focus group discussions shall be necessary. This is appropriate for policy makers and government departments.
Application of key informant interviews is also important. This shall be applied in gathering information from technocrats and directors of companies. Literature shall help in obtaining crucial information (Sage Publications, 2011). Statistical methods such as SPSS applicable in data analysis shall also be appropriate. The results are to be presented in narrative form. Quantitative data presentation methods shall also be applied.
Literature Review
The concept of CSR is crucial for development. Evidently, CSR been widely criticized. Particularly, the use of CSR for promotion and exploitation has been extensively criticized. There is eminent regulation of CSR within certain countries. This occurs through policy approach (Visser, Matten, Pohl, & Tolhurst, 2009). The International Labor Organization (ILO) has developed certain global guidelines to regulate CSR (Utting & Marques, 2009).
The Global Compact principles established by the United Nations seek to promote ethical business globally (Utting & Marques, 2009). The principles operate to ensure that businesses observe the attainment of human dignity and ethics. These are attainable through accomplishment of CSR obligations within communities. However, some corporations apply these principles to promote their business activities. The corporations participate in philanthropy that denies communities dignified lives. The unregulated nature of CSR provides corporations managers with powers to make decisions on CSR programs (Dye, 2010). Therefore, some corporations presently provide communities with programs that are unnecessary.
Conclusion
CSR programs are meant to assist communities improve their well being. However, the absence of guidelines to regulate corporations’ CSR efforts has generated concerns. Basically, human dignity has been overlooked. Therefore, governments should establish guidelines to standardize CSR activities.
References
Balmer, J., Fukukawa, K. & Gray, E. (2007). The Nature and Management of Ethical Corporate Identity: A Commentary on Corporate Identity, Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics. 76:7-15.
Dye, T. (2010). Understanding public policy (13th ed.). Longman: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Sage Publications. (2011). SAGE Brief Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility. California, CA: SAGE Publications.
Utting, P. & Marques, J. (2009). Corporate social responsibility and regulatory governance: towards inclusive development, Volume 1. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Visser, W., Matten, D., Pohl, M. & Tolhurst, N. (2009). The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Complete Reference Guide to Concepts, Codes and Organizations. New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.