SOUTH AFRICA CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
When it comes to deal with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in South Africa it is such an important business’ topic with respect of the State, the economic, and the public; as well as environment.
The World Business Council For Sustainability Development define the Corporate Social Responsibility as:
“Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large. ‘CSR is a corporate culture where businesses or companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment.”1
In South Africa we found a highly active support, first, from the government as well as any domestic or foreign company. In order to understand how big and important the impact of the CSR into South Africa is, we need to know a little bit of its historical background. The way of how the companies were socially involved in South Africa goes way back in time when the grumble of society was still during the apartheid. It wasn’t until 1994, when many companies were investing actively in a lot of social initiatives, since in eyes of the state there was no need to do act on behalf of the colored groups existing in the country.
Companies since then realized that the poor living conditions of the black population, which is the majority, were stopping the economic development of the country. Thenceforth, the political change and all the effort have a balance on the unequal distribution of wealth from the times of the apartheid have driven the Corporate Social Responsibility forward in South Africa....
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...programs are paid for from these funds.
National Environmental Management Act No. 107 (1998)
Among other things, encourages long-term development, access to natural resources as well as the participation of the public in decisions in the environmental realm. Specifies that companies can be made responsible for environmental damage.
Labor Relations Act No. 66 (1995) / Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 (1997)
Both laws specify the basic working conditions; encourage the signing of collective labor agreements, and codetermination in the workplace.
Occupational Health and Safety Act No 85 (1993) /Mine Health and Safety Act No. 29 (1996)
The "Occupational Health and Safety Act” includes the requirements of systems for health and safety management in the workplace. The “Mine Health and Safety Act” focuses on the necessity of reducing accidents and deaths in mining
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the way a corporation achieves a balance between its economic, social, and environmental responsibilities in its operations so as to address shareholder and other stakeholder expectations. In general, when firms hold this wider encouraging role on the public by being engaged with stakeholders, a variety of profit can be produced for both company and the stakeholders. A key inclination is the combination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the organization strategy, culture, mission and communications. By incorporating corporate citizenship into the company it is no longer an additional “nice thing to do” or something made to obey laws or regulations. Instead, corporate responsibility has become something business leaders and workforce want to engage in, frequently because executives who believe in the long-term see business profit. The four types of social responsibilities a...
This act dramatically changed the safety in mines
Section 8 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act (2005) puts the onus on the employer to ensure systems of work that are planned, organised, performed, maintained and revised as appropriate so as to be, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risk to health. Section 19 of the Act requires the employer to conduct a risk assessment of work activities and Schedule 3 of the Act provides the general principles of prevention to ensure the safety of employees in the workplace.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was formed as an agency of the federal government that is charged with protecting workers from recognized safety hazards within the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created as a result of passage of the “Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 in response to dangerous working conditions across the nation and as a culmination of decades of reform” (Walter, 2011, para. 5). President Richard Nixon signed the act into law on December 29, 1970 and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was officially established on April 28, 1971 (Walter, 2011). During the 41 years on the job, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified and addressed numerous work hazards, as well as provided solutions to mitigate and/or avoid placing workers in unnecessary danger. OSHA regulates as enforces regulations throughout the country, however the agency does declare that “states can run their own safety and health programs as long as those programs are at least as effective as the federal program” (http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-osha.htm). The states that choose to implement their own version of the occupational safety and health plan are referred to as OSHA states, whereas those who implement no plan are required to follow the federal regulations, as set forth by OSHA. OSHA effects all workers and employers in the United States, as the desired effect of the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act is “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources” (Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970). OS...
Corporate Social Responsibility is the obligation from corporations to utilize their resources to aid and benefit the larger society. The four components of CSR are economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. Social Responsibility is a fundamental force in the wealth creation process. If correctly demonstrated, CSR should heighten competitiveness and boost the value of wealth creation to society. A company's CSR Initiatives directly represent who the company is and what it believes it. The m...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) invaded the corporate world over the last few decades. This concept has become an essential need for competitive advantage unlike its original role as a nicety. The companies have seen the business benefit of the initiative and stakeholders have appreciated the initiative. This has led to the wide application in the firm’s operational agenda.
Corporate social responsibilities (CSR) have a different meaning in different company but in my view CSR is the concept which is the ability one of the companies can do for society. As the company responsibilities toward the society and environment in the way operate their business. CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. CSR also known as a “corporate citizenship” and with do that CSR is not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company but promote positive social and environmental change. (www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility). CSR is a high profile nation which the business world perceives as a strategic (Economist, 2008; Porter & Kramer, 2006)
The safety measures now is strict and are regulated through the legislation act of health and safety benefits under the specific laws governed by the state and the employers are bound to follow them in order to ensure the safety and risk management to the employees in the coal mining sector.US has the proper safety and health regulation and the companies are legislated to follow the laws along with reporting and monitoring of the risk management team data’s to be worked out by higher officials giving prime importance to it. The ethics behind the imputation of proper risk management and safety guarantee makes the organizations free from unnecessary hazards and cost. This method also makes the turnover rate low for the employees as they are satisfied to work in the safe and risk free
According to Mike Peng, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the consideration and response to issues beyond the narrow economic, technical, and legal requirements of the firm to accomplish social benefits along with traditional economic gains the firm seeks. CSR is a way in which a company seeks to achieve a balance between profit, environmental concerns and social imperatives. This is known as the ‘Triple-Botto...
In recent years, companies are becoming socially responsible and now stakeholders almost expect a company to have CSR policies. Therefore, in twentieth century, corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important development in public life (Barnett, ND).Corporate social responsibility is defined as “the ways in which an organisation exceeds the minimum obligations to stakeholders specified through regulation and corporate governance” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). Stakeholders can be defined as “those individuals or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfil their own goals and on whom, in turn, the organisation depends” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). There are many purposes for this essay, the first purpose is to descried the key principles of corporate social responsibility and explain their importance for stakeholders. Secondly, is to show how far this company follows those principles in order to be accountable to at least three of its stakeholders. In this essay, three stakeholders, environment, customers and employees will be evaluated respectively and the key principles of the stakeholders will be examined.
...t in becoming more socially responsible corporations. For example, Pos Malaysia through their CSR practices, this corporation had focuses on a dual-pronged approach that is aimed at bringing value to the community and nation at large by the means of enhancing education particularly towards the enhancement of human capital development mainly in underprivileged areas and also Enriching Communities in which Pos Malaysia seeks to promote commerce and entrepreneurship within the communities they serve particularly in rural areas. The above CSR themes are aligned with Pos Malaysia mission to constantly strive to be a caring corporate citizen by supporting nation building and community services. This CSR will focused on the meeting the need and interest stakeholder of an organization by becoming more socially responsible and as well as to improve their image and reputation
There are now several concepts of CSR and its definition, along with the meaning across corporations. In my opinion, and according with our textbook in page 11. CSR is about a particular set of business and strategies that deal with social issues. In addition, we can clearly perceive that CSRs application along corporations has increase in the past decade due to the several local, and international regulations in order to enforce business to act responsible.
Business organizations regularly run into demands from various stakeholders groups when conducting day-to-day business. These demands are generated from employees, customers, suppliers, community groups, governments, and shareholders. Thus, according to Goodpaster, any person or group of people that can shape or can be shaped by attainment of the objectives by an organization is considered a stakeholder. Most business organizations recognize and understand their responsibilities to these groups and endeavor to honor and fulfill them. These responsibilities are often communicated to the public by a statement of principles or beliefs. For many business organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential and integral part of their business. Thus, this paper discusses the two CSR views: the classical view and the stakeholder view. Furthermore, I believe that the stakeholder view has brought ethical concerns to the forefront of businesses, and an argument shall be made that businesses would improve both socially and economically if CSR, guided by God’s love, was integrated into their strategic planning.
In New South Wales the organisation in relation to Occupational Health and Safety Regulation is SafeWork NSW, which falls under the umbrella of WorkCover NSW. These are both organisations created by the NSW Government and assist in administering the two main laws covering Workplace OHS. These two laws include the: Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011. These two laws are often used interchangeably and represent the regulations for Workplace Health and Safety in NSW.
Corporate Social Responsibility is an organisation’s obligation to serve the company’s own interest and the one’s of the society. Moreover, Corporate Social Responsibility has a definition of a concept where the companies integrate social and the environmental concerns into their own business operation and also on a basis of voluntary with their interactions they have with the stakeholders. Corporate Social Resp...