Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, Research Paper Example

“Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right” by Joseph L. Badaracco.

This book by Badaracco looks at how managers find themselves in awkward scenarios where they have to make the choice between rights as opposed to making a choice between right and wrong. The author examines how the inner values of a manager are depicted in the decisions in such situation. This also shows how committed they are to those inner values.  The author manages to build a framework that is used in approaching ethical dilemmas based on three cases where there is increasing complexity, reflection and escalation of responsibilities. The main concerns of the book are the decisional frameworks that managers employ in the decision making process in cases of ethical dilemmas.

This book has been an important tool in my career as it has helped me adopt a clear and simple decisional framework upon which I can make ethical dilemma decisions. This decisional framework has come in handy when analyzing the variables surrounding ethical scenarios in the workplace throughout my career. The author puts into perspective the gravity of decisions that managers have to make when the situation is a win-win for the parties involved. It has taught me, as a manager, to consider all the variables and the possible outcomes of all available options and weigh them against my own ethical standards as an individual.

“Social Responsibilities of the Businessman” by Howard R. Bowen

This book was written by Bowen in 1953. It depicted one of the earliest notions of Corporate Social Responsibility and is considered ahead of its time. This is because at the time, tye concept of CSR was not yet developed. There are three things that stand out from this book;

• The balancing of contending claims to the corporate resources.
• Corporate philanthropy.
• The manager as a public trustee.

The author puts into perspective the role that business people have to play in the society. He particularly appeals to the ideals of humanity and responsibility and aims to depict business people as part and parcel of the society. As such, he states that it is the obligation of every member of the society to contribute to its wellbeing and success.

The lesson learnt from this book is that every business person is obligated to the community within which he/she conducts their operations. It is vital that business people exercise philanthropy for within such acts lies customer loyalty. A socially responsible business person attracts customers or clients, ensures their loyalty and increases sales and profits in the long-run. This is triggered by the fact that clients want to be associated with a business person who is perceived as socially responsible. As such, they will tend to buy products from such an individual. This book taught the value of social responsibility.

“Mad Dogs, Dreamers and Sages: Growth in the Age of Ideas” by Jane Stephens and Stephens Zades.

The authors critically look at how sustainable growth is urgently needed in organizations and businesses today. The main focus of this book is innovation and invention in the 21^st century. It highlights how businesses and organizations have become static in growth due to insufficient or the lack of innovation. It highlights ways on which managers can create an environment that instigates innovation to bring about growth.

The lesson from this book was how a manager can create an environment that nurtures creativity to bring about innovation, growth and development within the organization. The book changes one’s perspective towards the whole craft of management of people and ideas.

In conclusion, from the three sources, I was able to gain vital career lessons on ethics, social responsibility and management of people and ideas. These three lessons have played an important role in the growth and development of my career by giving me key tools to becoming a successful manager and person as a whole.

Works Cited

Badaracco, Joseph. Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. ELectronic Source.

Bowen, Howard R. Social responsibilities of the businessman. New York: Harper, 1953. Electronic Source.

U.S. Departent of Labor. Occupational outlook handbook 2013-2014. St. Paul: Jist Works, 2013. Internet Source.

Zades, Stephen and Jane T Stephens. Mad Dogs, Dreamers and Sages: Growth in the Age of Ideas. Elounda Press, 2003. Internet Source.