Social Responsibility Microsoft

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Social Responsibility: Microsoft

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Social Responsibility: Microsoft

Introduction

Private, as well as public enterprises all over the world, have been striving to improve the

image of their businesses. Companies are increasingly realizing the importance of being good

corporate citizens. Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR has become more than a gesture of

philanthropy and corporate entities have recognized the importance of helping the communities

that have contributed to their success (McNall, Hershauer & Basile, 2011, p. 82). There has been

augmenting evidence that investment in CSR by ethical companies lead to increased returns on

the long-term. Established public sector firms are investing significant portions of their profits

towards community development and social uplift. Most successful enterprises, both private and

public, believe that they should contribute to the improvement of communities that support their

operations. Corporate Social Responsibility has become a critical aspect of business activities

both at the national and international level. As globalization gathers speed and large corporations

become global providers, the benefits of engaging in CSR initiatives become more apparent.

Microsoft has been engaging in CSR programs in different locations in which it operates. While

the company has been largely successful in doing this, more can still be done. As a developer,

manufacturer, and seller of consumer electronics, personal computers, and computer software

with a global presence, Microsoft is in an ideal position to help in improving the lives people in

places where they have direct operations and beyond through an elaborate CSR program, which

can be implemented over a number of years.

Environmental Considerations and Recommendations

Firms are showing an increased need to appear “green.” It seems instinctive that

voluntary actions aimed at internalizing environmental externalities are socially responsible.

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Environmental good practice has an aspect of business efficiency (Horrigan, 2010, p. 36). It

involves how a company best uses its valuable raw materials and passing the benefits that attend

such actions to the company bottom line. The environmental bottom line of a company is

influenced by two key factors. The first is the amount of energy that the company uses and the

contributions of that energy towards pertinent issues such as global warming and climate change

while the second is how the company uses its raw materials and the impact of the extraction of

these raw materials on the environment. In addition, the bottom line is underscored by the

environmental risk that a company takes. The manufacturing and sale of products that are

environmentally friendly is a growth business. The frittering away of raw materials and energy

that are financed by company resources will definitely cost money. Some of the factors that are

pertinent to environmental sustainability with regard to CSR include resource productivity and

waste reduction, energy efficiency, climate change, and green product design.There is the need

to optimize efficiency, which can lead to more creativity and improvement in product quality

than anticipated.

Considering that an average office worker uses up to eleven sheets of paper daily, it will

be important for an established company such as Microsoft to recycle office stationery such as

paper as a measure of conserving resources. Being a developer and manufacturer of consumer

electronics, personal computers, and computer software, the company obviously uses immense

amounts of energy in the form of electricity. The conservation of this energy is important for the

company’s CSR initiative it is to become a “green” company (Horrigan, 2010, p. 38). Some of

the lapses that may lead to energy wastage include leaving PCs and other IT equipment turned on

when they are not in use. Thinking about and implementing sustainability measures is not just

beneficial to the environment; it reduces the expenses and boosts the company bottom-line, as

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: MICROSOFT 4

well. Customers are growing increasingly demanding. Because people are becoming more aware

of the scale of environmental challenges, they are seeking companies to provide them with

purchasing choices that do not compromise the future.

Microsoft should strive to incorporate environmental sustainability its business processes

and functions. When IT firms such as Microsoft make sustainability an important aspect of their

products, technologies, and solutions, they help in protecting the planet while creating value for

consumers, suppliers, and their own bottom line. It is important for Microsoft to run its

businesses using sound product stewardship, health, safety, and environment practices while

offering product solutions that ease energy consumption and decrease the environmental impact.

Microsoft can continuously improve its environmental management system via employee

training, promoting management commitment, consultation and participation in keying out

environmental impacts, conducting regular reviews, as well as performing environmental

management system audits. It can eliminate close to sixty percent of travel related expenses

through using collaborative tools. Close to ninety percent of Microsoft’s product emissions occur

while in use. Therefore, the company must focus on designing its products, integrated circuits

(ICs), and power supplies to be energy efficient. Because the company also develops software,

creating collaborative solutions that can help its customers to trim down their emissions will also

be integral to its CSR goals.

Recycling and product take-back programs will also provide customers with a no-cost

way of managing their electronic wastes (Boeger, Murray & Villiers, 2008, p. 216). For an IT

company such as Microsoft, maximizing product life through refurbishment, service, and reuse is

important in ensuring environmental friendly operations. This is important in reducing business

risk, improving repute, and in driving market prospects. The above recommendations will help in

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reducing Microsoft’s environmental footprint while improving its bottom line. By establishing

higher standards for the reduction of emissions, Microsoft will lead by example.

Ethical leadership Considerations and Recommendations

Ethical leadership serves as the foundation for a number of contemporary concepts for

organizations and business, which broaden corporate priorities beyond the usual objective of

stockholder enrichment and corporate profits. Ethical considerations also constitute a significant

influence on public companies, for which the established priorities of cost management and

service quality must take into consideration these same ethical consideration that shape the

business world (Prastacos, Wang & Soderquist, 2012, p. 42). The contemporary concepts of

ethical businesses encompasses a number of related issues such as social responsibility,

corporate governance, sustainability, fair-trade, ethical management and leadership, and the

‘triple bottom line.’ Ethical leadership and CSR cannot be divorced from each other in the 21

century corporate climate. The Enron scandal led the society and the government to tighten the

standards of expectations for organizations aspiring to win business. Corporate social

responsibility extends basic integrity to deal with the interaction of businesses with key

stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers, as well as the community.

Integrity

While some people have considered CSR as a progression of business ethics, the practice

is still anchored in ethics and basic business integrity, which starts with ethical leadership. To

gain lasting business from customers, companies must operate with transparency and integrity

(Prastacos, Wang & Soderquist, 2012, p. 45). The damage that corporate greed such as the Enron

saga caused to the public consciousness has made the public to scrutinize carefully the

consistency between a company’s actions and words.

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Workplace Management

The management of attitudes is a key consideration in undertaking CSR initiatives. It is

imperative for the management to realize that the workforce constitutes a company’s most

valued asset that must be treated with utmost reverence, respect, and esteem. The management

must exercise equality in its recruitment practices and foster a strong culture of tolerance to

workplace diversity, which proscribes discrimination (Prastacos, Wang & Soderquist, 2012, p.

43). Diversity is beneficial for a business, even though it demands training and management

supervision, which is important in encouraging openness and communication.

Giving Back

One of the most important CSR extensions that go beyond simple business ethics is the

emphasis on businesses to get involved. Businesses no longer exist for the aim of maximizing

stockholder profits. Organizations that engage in CSR recognize the value of being a good

member of the community. Participating in communal activities in areas where a business

operates is a very effective way of ensuring good community relations. In addition, communities

frequently expect profitable enterprises to give back some fraction of their profits to community

programs or charitable causes. The public now anticipates more from business organizations and

have began to form stakeholder groups and forums for employees, consumers, shareholders,

activists, as well as community members. With respect to ethical considerations, Microsoft can

start with incorporating staff welfare plans with its aims of boosting community relationships. A

good way of doing this would be through letting the letting the employees to vote on the charity

of their choice that the company should support.

It has become a common practice for businesses to set aside charity days in which staff

are allowed to participate in their chosen charity. The effects of this will go further in improving

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the image of the company than monetary donations. During uncertain financial times, the rates

of employment are frequently an issue. As an established global outfit, the company could

provide part-time work or training to students or those in long-term employment. Offering such

kind of community assistance can be beneficial especially for students in providing them with

their first work experience. Lastly, because Microsoft also engages in the manufacturing

activities, a local purchasing policy in its supply chains would also benefit the locals. Not only

could local sourcing boost the local economy, it will help the environment by preventing

unnecessary travelling and the attendant emissions.

Organizational Viability Considerations and Recommendation

The term viability refers to the ability of an organization to meet its long-term survival

needs. The connection between positive financial performance and socially responsible practices

has been demonstrated in a number of studies. Several factors influence the profitability of

companies that engage in CSR. These include reduced operating costs, improved reputation and

brand image, and reduced regulatory oversight (Horrigan, 2010, p. 113).

Reduced Operating Cost

CSR initiatives have the potential to reduce operating costs considerably. For instance,

initiatives aimed at environmental betterment such as the reduction of emissions and energy

conservation lower costs. Recycling lower the costs associated with waste disposal and generate

income through the sale of recycled material. With respect to human resource, flexible work

scheduling, as well as other programs that reduce employee absenteeism and improve retention

often lead to more savings through reduced hiring and training expenses and improved

productivity.

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Improved Reputation and Brand Image

Customers prefer companies or brands with a good reputation with respect to corporate social

responsibility. A socially responsible organization may gain from its improved reputation, thus

increasing its ability to attract trading partners and capital. A number of factors influence the

public perception of a company, including brand reputation/quality (40 percent), social

responsibility (49 percent), and business fundamentals (32 percent) (Aras & Crowther, 2012, p.

164). Microsoft already has impressive scores on these fronts, but can still improve on its CSR

programs.

Reduced Regulatory Oversight

Organizations that irrefutably satisfy or move beyond regulatory compliance often enjoy

a freer reign and reduced oversight from local and national entities. It appears apparent that the

involvement of corporate entities in CSR is due to self-interest to permit them to enjoy trouble-

free operations (Carroll & Shabana, 2010, p. 89). Microsoft should strive to implement the CSR

measures because its relationship with the community is important as these communities provide

it with the organizational workforce, offer a contributory environment that attract or drive away

talented personnel, make available essential services and may, if antagonized, impose constraints

on the industry or institution. It is in Microsoft’s self-interest to practice social responsibility. If

the firm is to have a positive business climate in which its operations can continue unhampered

in the future, it must take the requisite steps that will guarantee its long-term viability.

Legal and Regulatory Considerations and Recommendations

The most important thing for corporate entities and the society to realize is the limitations

to voluntary. If people are to share the earth’s resources equitably, then it becomes imperative to

transform the economies. Businesses alone cannot be relied upon to achieve this. Over the past

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: MICROSOFT 9

decade, trends have revealed a widespread occurrence of business collapses and failures. Such

collapses have proved devastating and catastrophic to the global economy (Horrigan, 2010, p.

163). During this period, businesses have purported to promote CSR initiatives and have claimed

to be devoted to sustainable development while simultaneously carrying out destructive business

practices in the communities where they are based. The law governs corporate social

responsibility. Illegal practices and unethical conduct such as deceit, cheating, and corporate

greed by business executive are key causes of such failures. Corporations, for instance, may face

legal action due to their failure to observe the ethics incorporated in their CSR strategies. The

ethics contained in the CSR can be considered a promise that is safeguarded by legal contract.

Businesses can be subjected to legal proceedings for breach of contract if they fail to comply

with the promises they made. Therefore, the discrepancy between the declared business ethos

and practice has critical ethical, as well as legal implications. There exists a philosophical issue

in the discernment of ethical conduct.

Legal analysis holds the potential of bringing important insights to both business

management and public policy. Failure to consider the legal implications of CSR weakens the

likelihood of striking a proper balance between civil society, business, and government roles and

responsibilities. The access to information, as well as transparency on matters pertaining to the

social and environmental aspects of company performance constitutes important themes of the

corporate social responsibility schema. Obligatory legislation on a number of aspects of

corporate transparency is emerging all over the world (Rahim, 2013, p. 141). It may comprise

part of environmental regulation, company law, or specially made legislation for environmental

or social reporting or for institutional investors. Demands for increased public sector

accountability have lead to calls for reporting on revenues remitted to host governments. Even

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voluntary CSR approaches have certain inherent legal contexts. For instance, laws on false

advertising or misrepresentation govern voluntary company reporting. Litigation has also

brought to the fore new facts regarding the CSR agenda. The boundaries of extant legal doctrines

with respect to complex issues of the social responsibility agenda are being tested through

several legal actions. For both private and public businesses, the relationship between CSR and

law raise some deep-seated management challenges.

Conclusion

There has been an emerging wave of litigation and legal action aimed at holding parent

companies legally responsible in courts of developed countries for the harmful impacts of

business activities in developing countries (Horrigan, 2010, p. 163). In responding to these

emergent legal risks, Microsoft should seek integration between its legal department and the

CSR department, which is preferable to corporate restructuring in giving meaning to best

practice. Notwithstanding the challenging implications, it is progressively becoming clear that

litigation and law form an integral part of the CSR mix. As a global company that is subject to

foreign direct liability, Microsoft should get beyond the deadbeat principle of “voluntary versus

mandatory” in looking at the challenges of making certain that economic globalization is

combined with good social and environmental performance.

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References

Aras, G., & Crowther, D. (2012). Business strategy and sustainability. Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Boeger, N., Murray, R., & Villiers, C. (2008). Perspectives on corporate social responsibility.

Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Carroll, A. B., & Shabana, K. M. (2010). The business case for corporate social responsibility:

A review of concepts, research and practice. International Journal of Management

Reviews, 12(1), 85-105.

Horrigan, B. (2010). Corporate social responsibility in the 21st century: Debates, models and

practices across government, law and business. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

McNall, S. G., Hershauer, J. C., & Basile, G. (2011). The business of sustainability: Trends,

policies, practices, and stories of success. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Prastacos, G. P., Wang, F., & Soderquist, K. E. (2012). Leadership through the classics:

Learning management and leadership from ancient east and west philosophy.

Heidelberg, DE: Springer.

Rahim, M. M. (2013). Legal regulation of corporate social responsibility: A meta-regulation

approach. Berlin, DE: Springer-Verlag Berlin.

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