Organizations And Responsibility: A Critical Overview

摘要

We start from the proposition that organizations' social and environmental policies and practices are influenced as much by stakeholders as by organizational management. Various types of organization-stakeholder relationship are outlined, from market-based (e.g. ethical consumerism) to participative (e.g. consultation and coalition). This organization-stakeholder network constitutes the problematic system of concern. The concept of responsibility and its attribution is critically considered, as is the likelihood of value-conflicts between members of this wider system. The tendency for 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR) to be managed hierarchically within organizations, characterized by an over-reliance on enforced codes of conduct is critiqued on ethical and practical grounds. It is argued that individuals require a capacity for moral judgement in applying codes and, more generally, when resolving conflict and dilemmas within the wider system of organization-stakeholder relations. An appropriate approach from ethical theory is therefore offered. The paper concludes with a summary of aspects of CSR to which the systems discipline could usefully contribute.