Ethics and Strategic Plan

Week 2 Individual assignment Abstract Reviews the role of morality and social responsibilities in development a strategicalal plan opus considering stakeholder needfully and agendas. Reviews the four fundamental responsibilities and priorities as stated by Carroll economic, legal, honorable, and discretional responsibilities. Discusses the importance of integrating ethical and social responsibilities in a strategic plan. Uses Enron an example of a beau monde overstepping ethical boundaries and discusses measures that could be taken to nullify future unethical behavior by a family. EthicsAccording to Lantos (2001) It is no intelligence agency that todays logical argument geological formations argon expected to exhibit ethical behavior and moral management. However, over the past half century the restriction has been steadily raised. Now, not only ar firms expected to be virtuous, they are being called to practice social responsibility or corporal citizenship(Carroll 2 000, p. 187), judge some accountability for societal welfare (p. 1). Ethical and social responsibilities are a necessity in developing a strategic plan. in that respect are four key responsibilities an organization needs to establish when developing a strategic plan.These four responsibilities integrated together will take on most needs and agendas of the stakeholders. Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Developing a Strategic Plan Should strategic finis makers be responsible only to the shareholders, or do they occupy broader responsibilities? (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 72). The strategic decision makers are the individuals creating the strategic plan, incorporating both ethical and social responsibilities into the companys plan cornerstone be a burden and compromises need to be taken into servant to satisfy both ethical and social responsibilities while meeting stakeholders needs and agendas.Stakeholders are referred to as individuals who are affect or are bear upon by the achievement of the firms objectives Wheelen, T. , Hunger, J. (2010). Archie B. Carroll, a business management author and professor states, proposes that the managers of business organizations deal four responsibilities listed in order of priority economic responsibility to produce goods or services of value to society so the firm can repay its creditors and shareholders. Legal responsibility as delineate by government laws, the management is expected to obey. Ethical responsibility to hound generally held beliefs about behavior in a society.Discretionary responsibility are voluntary obligations a corporation assumes (Wheelen Hunger, 2010, p. 73). With these four responsibilities, a company when establishing their strategic plan, they must incorporate these fundamental responsibilities in a means that would meet the stakeholders needs and agendas. The company must consider all risks, company performance, strategies to meet performance, and social responsibility p olicies while creating measurable indicators to demonstrate the progress of the company when developing the strategic plan.Once the strategic plan has been developed, communication of the plan to the stakeholders is an fundamental part of the process. By communicating the strategic plan to the stakeholders, all affected individuals or groups will become aware of the path the company is headed. simulation of Overstepping Ethical Boundaries As referenced earlier, a company has responsibilities to meet when establishing a strategic plan. Ethical responsibility is listed as the second priority a company needs to meet according to Carroll.When overstepping ethical boundaries, a company exposes stakeholders to risks that do not meet their needs. An example of an organization that has displayed this behavior and playing in the companys interest was Enron. Enron overstepped the ethical boundaries which in the end cost the stakeholders, which primarily was the employees, billions of dolla rs for their own personal gain. Enron through various unethical decisions, mislead employees and investors by manipulating the accounting entries to make the company to be more profitable than the square represented dollars were.At the time of the Enron incident, there were inadequate government legal or regulatory process in place, if such processes were in place, the Enron incident could have been prevented. Preventative measure that have been set up by the government have assisted in reducing the risk to the stakeholders in an organization. A pecuniary scrutiniseing company approved by the government is now required to audit financial reports of a company. Pension plans are no longer administered by the company, a third party firm is required to administer a companys pension plan to prevent overstepping ethical boundaries. ConclusionWith past scandals in the business world, companies have been establishing roles of ethics and social responsibility in developing a strategic pl an while considering stakeholder needs and agendas. Carroll has identified four key responsibilities a company needs to address when developing a strategic plan. Economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary responsibilities, listed in order of priority, are represented to show how an organization can integrate social and ethical responsibilities in a strategic plan. The example provided of Enron has illustrated how a company has overstepped the ethical boundaries and causing risks to the stakeholders.Since the Enron incident, the government established processes to prevent unethical behavior as what happened with Enron to protect the stakeholders of the company. References Carroll, A. B. (2000), The four faces of corporate citizenship, in Business Ethics 00/01, Richardson, J. E. (Ed). , Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, Guilford, CT, pp. 187-191. Lantos, G. (2001, June). The Boundaries of Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility. Wheelen, T. , Hunger, J. (2010). Concepts in strategic management and business policy achieving sustainability (12th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection.