4 Major Approaches Towards Business Social Responsibility

For your business to survive, your company and staff members need to exhibit strong and sincere social responsibility. Gaining more customers and increasing your profits may be great, but keeping your current audience and hoping to attract more leads is another essential requirement for any business. So, it’s important to understand the four major approaches to properly display social responsibility in the corporate world. 

Proactive

A proactive company prioritizes being socially responsible. Your business would meet all the ethical standards no matter where you are, even if you’re part of a team that’s working in any of the six emirates federations. When it comes to corporate social responsibility in UAE, your employees are expected to take part in charitable contributions and social gatherings with clients and potential customers. When adopting the proactive approach, any criticism or costly measures do not phase or stop you from advancing, helping your community and customers along the way too. Donating from the company’s profits, implementing helpful community programs, ensuring every employee gets excellent wages, and focusing hard on customer support are all examples of being proactive. 

Accommodating

If your company is following the accommodating standpoint, then that means your goals towards caring about your community, customers, and employees coincide with your profit-making objectives. However, an accommodating company might change its policies as a way to respond to criticism. These companies are open to displaying their records, decisions, and activities to the public because they have nothing to hide. They meet all the legal requirements and they’re ready to justify any of their actions towards the community, employees, and customers. But they will change accordingly, within reason, if it affects their profits too much or if they get heavily criticized.

Obstructive

An obstructive stance is highly debated as the weakest of all approaches towards social responsibility. A company would focus more on its profits and expansions but disregard the lack of community advancements. Criticism would be met with denial and it will continue to do what’s best for the company’s profit-making goals. Being socially responsible isn’t a priority; the business would do charitable events, accommodate clients, and publically show diversification in their workplace only if it benefited them in terms of profit and revenue.

Defensive

A defensive stance is more of a neutral standpoint because the business would be in the gray area of being socially responsible. Business owners focus on it but the bulk of their efforts is directed towards making profits. They make sure to follow the law 100% and consult with the regulations of their area/country. The company might help their community and customers but lack the sincerity of the “accommodating” or “proactive” approaches. They will offer fair wages and would support team-building activities but not frequently. They wouldn’t deliberately do harm to society and they would make sure that they follow the rules. 

Unethical behavior is frowned upon and prohibited in the business world;  not to mention that it might be illegal in various circumstances. You need to offer something special to your community to make sure it advances and improves. Try your best to make your company focus more on ethics, morals, customer support, and team-building activities to ensure the prosperity and success of your company.