Abstract

The purpose of this report is to examine an instance of a mining company that failed in its desire to continue being business-sustainable because of some of its misconduct or an undertaking that it was involved in. By analyzing the concepts that are associated with the Corporate Social Responsibility as well as the perception of the organization, this report seeks to highlight to the executives some points of view which might not have been considered in the campaign that the firm had engaged. Additionally, the report seeks to enable the mining company to learn from the failed campaign and highlight proposals that needed to be considered so that the situation could be avoided. The other notable aspect is the use of the four paradigms to analyze and also clarify the various perceptions of this campaign’s stakeholders.
Introduction

The major desire of any company is to continue being business-sustainable, i.e., the firm desires to continue making a profit. However, several factors may hinder the attainment of this desire by the concerned company, especially a mining company that has a desire to continue making money. Corporate Social Responsibility is among the factors that may hinder the company from attaining the anticipated desire to continue generating money. According to Keith Davis, CSR refers to actions and decisions that are taken and made by a firm beyond its technical or economic interest in generating revenue. In other words, it refers to the actions taken by a firm to give back to the society where it is operating. Regarding the company of concern in this case study, i.e., the mining company, CSR has been used as a point to criticize this firm in that it is seen as the use of charity so that it may increase its market share. Therefore, it is essential to examine the proposals to be considered so that this situation may be avoided.

Problem statement

The above issue involves a mining company that has a desire to continue being business-sustainable by continuing to make money. Despite the desire, the firm receives heavy criticism from various sources like the news outlets, social media as well as mixed reactions from the political divide. Some of the politicians supported the initiative, while the others criticized it. As a result, the firm decided to involve the community for the new mining activities whereby some members welcomed jobs and new investments, the influx of the new workers as well as anticipating an increase in economic activities. The firm also embarked on social sustainability initiatives by continuing to societal actions like donations, charities, and public sporting activities. Despite this contribution, the members of the society felt that the firm was being hypocritical by using charity as a way of increasing its market share. The social media page of the company was invaded by the public and complained about the firm being disrespectful and hypocritical. As a result, the firm did not have any plan of responding to the attack other than shutting down the social media page and withdrawing from the campaign. The firm felt that continuing to run the program on social media websites would further impend its progress since the campaign would backfire once more which could make the situation even worse.

The functionalist perspective

Under this perspective, there is an examination of the manner that the various components of the societal systems interact with one another so that a mutual benefit may be attained. In this case, an organization that is being involved will benefit, and the members of the same society will benefit. The major motive of the functionalist perspective in explaining the manner that the individual elements within society interact so that a common goal may be attained. Briefly, the functionalist perspective will be utilized in trying to understand the corporate social responsibility and the various components which are associated with this perspective. The problem has arisen because many companies work in the “order” perspective and miss out on the conflict perspectives.

The methodology

Because the previous experiences have shown and it has been identified that the problem is the exclsion of the conflict perspectives, the methodology is to build the risk framework by the addition of the rdical structuralist and neohumanist perspectives, as the conflict dimensions

In this report, there is the use of two notable perspectives or ontological positions when examining the perception of corporate social responsibility of the mining company. The notable aspect is the corporate social responsibility of the mining company and the manner that the members of the concerned society perceive the aspect of corporate social responsibility. The notable perspectives are the Neo-humanist perspective as well as the radical structuralism paradigm that is found in the article, the four paradigms of the information systems development by Hirschheim & Klein, (1989, p. 1199-1216). The other essential perspective that is used to analyze the CSR is the functionalist perspective that is highly effective as far as the mining company’s case study is concerned. By using the above three perspectives or paradigms, the issues of CSR will be studied by applying the three different perspectives.

The Neo-humanist perspective

The above perspective examines the manner that the individuals in society understand each other as well as rationalize themselves with the social world. The above perspective uses the subjective point of view as a way of improving the understanding of a certain issue by taking the perceptions and individuals’ interpretations based on their experiences and cultural values. Additionally, the prospective studies barriers and conflicts that restrict human understanding as well as trying to emancipate the suppressed interest and ideas (Biesta, 2005, p. 54-66). In studying the numerous interpretations of the corporate social responsibility by looking at the literature that is critical to the issue involved in the mining company, the Neo-humanist perspective will play a key role. By using the literature, the report will also provide an understanding to the citizens about the negative perceptions that they have towards the firm and the adverse consequences that the perceptions may have on the organization.

The radical structuralism perspective

As far as this perspective is concerned, the view of the conflict between the two key players in a community is examined. Traditionally and about the case study, the conflict is seen to be between the mining company and the members of the society, (Haugsbakk, 2007, p. 1-12). It may also be viewed as the battle between the various social classes in a society. By looking at the literature using this perspective, the main issue between the mining company and the members of the society will be examined. For instance, by using the perspective, the report will examine whether or not the company sees the perceptions of the members of the society and the possible backlash of its campaign because of the perceptions of the society in its campaign.

Literature review

Corporate Social Responsibility

The aspect of the Corporate Social Responsibility or the Social sustainability initiative is the major aspect that may be used in examining the case study involving the mining company and the society where it is existing or operating. CSR is viewed as a situation whereby a company, in this case, the mining company, is obliged to gain in actions and activities that will give back to society. They include the factors that are outside the technical and economic gains. Unlike in the past, corporate social responsibility entails four major components that include the legal, economic, social and philanthropic components. Within the society or an organization, there are different levels of Corporate Social Responsibility (Villiers, 2016, p. 21-35). About the various components, the mining company must maintain the legal, economic and social components of corporate social responsibility.

Unlike the other three components that are directed towards benefiting the society, the philanthropic component is aimed at boosting the image of the brand that an organization deals in, (Carroll, 1991). It is also notable that whenever a firm engages in poor management or undertaking of CSR, it may face a lot of criticisms and even fail to attain its desire. The above situation is the issue that is happening to the mining company that is of concern in this case study. The reputation of the firm may also be ruined, and this might have adverse financial impacts and implications of the involved organization. Therefore, it is essential to examine the CSR of the mining company about the three perspectives, which will bring an understanding of the entire issue as well as other essential aspects of the case study.

Prevention of individual employees from being partisan to the conflict

By using the Neo-humanist perspective as one of the conflict-based perspectives, the methodology for avoiding the individual employees from becoming partisan to the conflict may be explained. As discussed above, the Neo-humanist perspective uses a subjective viewpoint in improving the understanding of certain key issues by looking at the perceptions and individual interpretations based on cultural values and their experiences. In this case, the members of the society where the mining company was existing felt that the firm was engaging in the social sustainability initiative so that it could improve its market shared based on the cultural values that they embraced as well as the experiences that they possessed.

Certain cultural values and experiences may make different members of society view different issues in different ways. Despite this situation, there is a notable methodology that may be used to prevent individual employees from being partisan into the conflict. One of the notable methodologies is by examining the various cultural values that the members of the society embrace and later trying to give incentives that correspond to the cultural values that the community embraces and values. The other methodology is by looking at the numerous experiences that the members of the society possess. By doing so, the firm will use such experiences to develop the appropriate initiatives to give to society and the strategy of giving such initiatives.

The reason for the predictable negative backlash from the public

As seen in the case study, the mining company experienced a negative backlash from the members of the society against its marketing campaign. The above situation, i.e., the predictable negative backlash from the society against the marketing campaign, may be explained by using the Radical Structuralism perspective as the second conflict-based perspective. The notable aspect of radical structuralist perspective and which might have led to the negative backlash in the campaign is that the firm seeks to undertake a radical change in every undertaking that it engages in. There are also issues of structural conflicts, contradiction, and certain modes of domination. Therefore, in this case, the members of the society were against the campaign as they felt that there were some forms of radical change that the mining company was trying to bring about by embracing the social sustainability initiative. The society also felt that there were some forms of contradiction and modes of domination that were emanating from the mining corporation and this led to the possible backlash.

The functionalist perspective is also key to explaining the possible backlash from the members of the society toward the marketing campaign of the firm. In this case, the various systems of the society needed to operate and relate well so that the common goal may be attained. Therefore, it may be explained that the various components of the society and the mining company were not operating and relating well, and this led to the backlash (Lundgren, 2011, p. 69-95). As a way of reversing the situation, the firm needs to ensure that there is an effective relationship between the various systems of the society and the company so that the overall motive of the firm may be attained.

Avoiding future pressure in individuals

In the future and as a way to avoid the pressure that mounts on the individuals, there are certain questions that the project teams may ask. Among the notable question is, what are the appropriate initiatives that the firm may take as a way to give back to the community? Different societies have different needs that they may need a firm to satisfy as a way to give back to society (Armour, 2017, p. 25-50). Therefore, it is appropriate to identify the appropriate initiative to avoid being seen as trying to get a favor. The other question is, what the appropriate ways that a firm may relate with the members of the society to prevent a possible backlash of a campaign or other strategy of an organization are? The other question is, what the possible causes for the failure of an initiative that has been adopted by a company toward the society are? By engaging in such a question, the firm is at a point to prevent a possible backlash from the members of a society as well as building pressures in individuals.

Developing A Risk Framework

This report includes the Symblolic Interactioism as it considers the facilitators who will be provided with the new risk framework.

Who Uses this Risk Framework - Symbolic interactionism of the mining company

The perspective of symbolic interaction, also regarded as symbolic interactionism, entails a major framework about sociological theory. It mainly relies on the symbolic meaning which the members of a society develop and build in the social interaction process. About the mining company, it means the subjective meaning that the society imposes on events, behaviors and even objects. The subjective meanings arise primarily since it is believed that the societal people behave in the manner that they do base on whatever the individuals believe and not mainly on whatever that is objectively true. In this manner, the community is thought to be constructed socially through the interpretation of human beings. As far as the mining company is concerned, the above perspective is highly applicable. Despite the company embarking on the social sustainability initiative by establishing a new function of developing societal relations by contributing to the school initiative and other societal actions, society gave the undertaking a different meaning, (Hatimah, 2017, p. 105-110). The members of the society felt that the company was being hypocritical by using charity to increase its market share. Therefore, it may be deduced that the members of the society gave this meaning not based on whatever that was objectively true but based on what they believed. As an attempt to reversing the situation, the company needed to engage in measures that would change the societal meaning so that it would remain in its endeavor of being business-sustainable.

The risk – Radical Structuralism

It may be deduced that the above mining company has failed in its marketing campaign because of the failure to maintain its CSR as well as failing to deal with the various and legal aspects of corporate social responsibility (Coelho, 2003, p. 15-24). Instead of being viewed positively, the social sustainability initiative that the above firm has implemented as a way to give back to society has been rejected. The members of the society are viewing it as the strategy of gaining an advantage by improving the market share of the mining company. As a result, the firm is at a point of failing to achieve its desire for being business-sustainable or in other words, continue to generate money. There is a high need for the firm to consider the above perspectives and other issues discussed so that it may remain in its course of attaining its desire. The undertaking will also ensure that the firm experiences little or no resistance from the members of the society in any of its marketing campaign so that it may attain the anticipated desire.

Neohumanism As a Risk Tool

Since it has been viewed that the firm had no response to the various criticisms from the members of the society other than closing the media platform, there are notable recommendations that may be of great importance to the firm. The recommendations may come about as a proposal of a framework for risk management, which may be incorporated into future projects during the planning stage. The appropriate framework is by developing a strategy to identify risk, measure and assess it, mitigate and later report or monitor the situation (Gantz, 2013, p. 187-218). During the planning stage in the future of the mining company, the firm should set aside some resources and human labor that will be tasked with identifying risks like the once that the mining company has faced. After identifying all the possible risks that a certain undertaking like a marketing campaign may face, the risk is measured and assessed to identify the extent at which it may affect the undertaking. After identifying, measuring and assessing, the risk is reported to the appropriate authority that monitors or governs it.

Conclusion

As much as an organization tries to achieve its desires and other endeavors, the firm needs to be considered the society in which it is operating. The reason is that the failure to do so may lead to the failure of the organization from attaining its desire. For instance, the mining company failed to attain its desire to be business-sustainable due to the failure of the marketing campaign that was let down by the members of the public. The appropriate way through which the firm may ensure that its desire is attained is through the aspects of the CSR or the Social Sustainability initiative. However, the firm needs to identify the appropriate ways of giving back to society as well as identifying what to give to the community since not all that the firm gives back is acceptable. The CSR that the firm engages in needs to be the one that will be acceptable by the greatest percentage of the members of society. By embracing appropriate CSR initiatives, the firm will face little or no opposition from society and attains its desire.

Appendix

7.1 The four components of the Corporate Social Responsibility

The four components of CSR are the economic, social, and legal aspects of CSR. The other one is the philanthropic component. Regarding the economic component, it is deemed that the firm will give back to society an aspect that is of economic value. In other words, the firm needs to engage in actions that will improve the economic status of the society. Concerning the legal components, whatever that the firm gives back to society must be legally binding and not anything that violates the prevailing laws. The social component means that social behaviors and activities like the cultural values of a community need to be considered before planning what to give back to society. The philanthropic component is a bit different in that it deals with the firm trying to build its image and brand.

7.2 The model for corporate social responsibility

The model for corporate social responsibility utilizes a functional framework in integrating CSR knowledge. It reveals the interaction of the individual elements of CSR and the way they are co-dependent in forming the perception of corporate social responsibility. By using the above model, individuals are at a better point of understanding the numerous components of the CSR as well as its hierarchical state.

(What in the CRS)

7.3 Criticism of CSR

Notably, Corporate Social Responsibility may be criticized for two broad categories. One of the categories is on the side of the involved organization, and in this case, the mining company, while on the other hand, maybe criticized from the societal angle. Regarding the organizational perspective, CSR appears like an escape way for an organization to engage in undesirable behavior. For instance, a firm may be said to be giving back to society while, in a real sense, it is trying to gain an advantage such as increasing its market share. Therefore, CSR stands at a high point of being criticized. Regarding the aspect of the society, CSR is criticized in the sense that it is seen as if the society is demanding too much from an organization to the extent that a firm may not meet its desires. Among the other criticisms, the two aspects are the broad dimensions through which CSR is criticized.

8.0 References

Armour, A. (2017). Giving Back, Mission Work. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 30(10), A25. pp. 25-50.

Armour, A. (2017). Giving Back, Mission Work. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 30(10), p.A25.

Biesta, G., 2005. Against learning. Reclaiming a language for education in an age of learning. Nordic Studies in Education, vol. 25, pp. 54-66.

Carroll AB. 1991. The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders’, Business Horizons, vol. 34 no. 4, pp. 39-48.

Coelho, McClure JE, and Spry JA. 2003. ‘The Social Responsibility of Corporate Management: A Classical Critique,’ American Journal of Business, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 15-24.

Gantz, S. D., & Philpott, D. R., 2013. Risk Management Framework Steps 3 & 4. FISMA and the Risk Management Framework, 187-218.

Hatimah, I. (2017). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Training Model. 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences. pp. 105-110.

Haugsbakk G. & Nordkvelle Y. 2007. ‘The rhetoric of ICT and the New Language of Learning: A Critical Analysis of the use of ICT in the Curricular Field,’ European Education Research Journal, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-12.

Hirschheim R. and Klein H. K. 1989. Four paradigms of information systems development. Communications of the ACM, 32(10), pp. 1199-1216.

Lundgren, T. (2011). A MICROECONOMIC MODEL OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Metroeconomica, 62(1), 69-95.

Villiers, C. 2016. Corporate Law, Corporate Power and Corporate Social Responsibility. Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility. Vol. 10, no.1, pp. 21-35.