The Social Vocation of the Firm

Argiolas, Giuseppe

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00939-1_3

Giuseppe Argiolas⁴

Part of the book series: CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance ((CSEG))

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1 Citations

Abstract

Strong elements of transformation that characterize our contemporary society affected and nowadays affect, in a considerable way, all aspects of real daily life, not least how human beings express their capability to face, and then try to govern, the environmental complexity.

This circumstance influences human beings’ relationships, in the form of the entities they choose to organize their relations, and especially on modus operandi of these entities.

Literature has already underlined the inevitable need for modern enterprises to be socially responsible and to adopt an authentic social orientation to properly answer the issues of society and the unavoidable social vocation of the firm.

Despite the importance of the corporate social orientation, this issue is still not really well developed. This chapter covers this gap focusing on the internal relation of the firm.

The chapter delineates the key drivers of corporate social orientation that in some way takes in, includes, and transcends the previous, implying the adoption of social dimension as background reference in defining its way of being and operating.

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Notes

1.
Drucker P.F., Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management, Harvard Business School Press, 1998, (ital. transl.: Il futuro che è già qui, ETAS, Milano, 1999, page 115).
2.
We live in a society in which “different economic, productive, social and cultural specificities can get in interaction, in communication on a world scale and—thanks to the diffusion of knowledge, technology and information—become interconnected parts of a larger system”: Caselli L., Processi di globalizzazione e democrazia economica, in Economia e politica industriale, n° 94/1997, page 39 (a.t.). About globalization see also Ferrucci A., For a Global Agreement towards a united world, Città Nuova editrice, Roma, 2001.
3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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7.
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8.
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9.
The main question recalls the definition of firm so that if it is seen as a community or collectivity of people who work together for the production of goods and/or services for the market with the aim of supplying solutions to customer problems under the constraint of profitability, it can be deduced immediately and clearly that the central role of the person takes a primary and crucial importance in the adoption of social responsibility. See Klonosky R.J., Foundational considerations in the corporate social responsibility debate, op. cit.
10.
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11.
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12.
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13.
For a wide-ranging historical review on the definitional issue of the corporate social responsibility, see Carroll A.B.., Corporate Social Responsibility. Evolution of a Definitional Construct, in Business and Society, September 1999, vol. 38, n. 3; also see de Santis G., Responsabilità sociale, in Caselli L. (Ed.), Le parole dell’impresa, F. Angeli, Milano, 1995 e di Toro P., L’etica nella gestione d’impresa, Cedam, Padova, 1993; de George R., Business Ethics, 3rd ed., MacMillan Publishing Co., New York, 1990.
14.
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Friedman M., The Social Responsibility, in Beauchamp T.L. and Bowie N.E., Ethical Theory and Business, op. cit.
16.
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17.
Freeman R.E., Strategic Management. A Stakeholder Approach, Pitman publishing Inc., 1984, page 46.
18.
See Sethi S.P., Dimension of Corporate Social Performance: an Analytical Framework, in California Management Review, Spring 1975, Vol. XVII, n. 3; See Sciarelli S., Responsabilità sociale ed etica d’impresa: una relazione finalizzata allo sviluppo aziendale, in Finanza marketing e produzione, n. 1, 1999.
19.
Klonosky R.J., Foundational considerations in the corporate social responsibility debate, op. cit., page 15.
20.
Aupperle K.E., Carroll A.B.., Hatfield J.D., An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Profitability, in Academy of Management Journal, n. 28, 1985, page 458.
21.
Carroll A.B.., Corporate Social Responsibility. Evolution of a Definitional Construct, op. cit., page 289.
22.
Mainly: the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nation Environmental Program (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nation Program for Development (UNDP), the United Nation Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and, since June 2004, the United Nation Office against Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
23.
See Argiolas G., L’orientamento sociale dell’impresa nella società della conoscenza, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Mimeo, 2005.
24.
OECD, Corporate Social Responsibility, Partners for Progress, Paris, 2001, page 149.
25.
European Commission, Green Paper Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility, Bruxelles, 2001, COM (2001) 366 final, page 8.
26.
European Commission, Communication Implementing the partnership for growth and jobs: Making Europe a Pole of Excellence on Corporate Social Responsibility, Bruxelles, 2006, COM (2006) 136 final, page 10.
27.
European Commission, Communication Implementing the partnership for growth and jobs: Making Europe a Pole of Excellence on Corporate Social Responsibility, op. cit., page 11.
28.
European Commission, Communication Implementing the partnership for growth and jobs: Making Europe a Pole of Excellence on Corporate Social Responsibility, op. cit., page 13.
29.
Caselli L., Ethics in organization: Theory and Practice, in Rivista di Politica Economica, N° I–II, January–February 2004, page 79.
30.
Caselli L., Ethics in organization: Theory and Practice, in Rivista di Politica Economica, op. cit., pages 79–80.
31.
Barnard C.J., The Functions of the Executive, op cit., page 4.
32.
Barnard C.J., The Functions of the Executive, op. cit., page 144.
33.
Barnard C.J., The Functions of the Executive, op. cit., page 142.
34.
Barnard C.J., The Functions of the Executive, op. cit., page 148.
35.
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36.
Just think about how the “rabble hypothesis” affects the Taylor’s theory, or consider the psychological perspective permeating Maslow’s thought, or the methodological individualism underlying Williamson contribution: See Argiolas G., La crescente attenzione scientifica ai soggetti umani nell’impresa e alle loro relazioni, in Annali della Facoltà di Economia di Cagliari, Nuova Serie Vol. XX, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2004.
37.
For an in-depth study on the subject, from a sociological point of view, see Sorgi T., Costruire il sociale, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma, 1998 and from a philosophical point of view, see Cicchese G., I percorsi dell’altro, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma, 1999.
38.
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39.
“Man is a being so wide, varied and versatile that every definition proves to be too limited. His aspects are too numerous” Scheler M., La posizione dell’uomo nel cosmo, Fabbri, Milano, 1970, page 98.
40.
Sorgi T., Costruire il sociale, op. cit., page 35. It is useful to note that this person is not referable to the agent “individualistic, self-interested and rational” in the sense of the neoclassical theory. That is his preferences are not definite and invariable, but instead they may be influenced and also thoroughly modified by relations he establishes with the other human beings, with the other people.
41.
We must also admit that the use of absolute moral principles within a theory of individual behavior presents many problems both of technical and formal order. In fact, if the preferences of a subject are determined on the basis of those principles, the order resulting has lexicographical nature, that is, it cannot be represented by a function of utility.
42.
Aristoteles, Etica Nicomachea, introduzione Aristotele, Etica Nicomachea, introduzione, traduzione e parafrasi di C. Mazzarelli, Rusconi, Milano, 1979, IX, 9, 1169b, 18–19, page 398 (a.t.).
43.
Heschel A.J., Who is Man?, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1965, (ital. transl.: Chi è l’uomo?, Rusconi, Milano, 1989, pages 63–64).
44.
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45.
See Smith A., The Theory of Moral Sentiments, A.M. Kelley, New York, 1966. In Smith it takes on a different and wider meaning than the Italian translation.
46.
See Bruni L., Relazionalità e scienza economica, in Nuova Umanità, n. 111/112, 1997/3–4, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma.
47.
See Bruni L., Sugden R., Moral Canals: Trust and Social Capital in the Work of Hume, Smith and Genovesi, in Economics and Philosophy, 2000.
48.
Zappalà R., Comunismo – Capitalismo – Comunione. Riflessioni in chiave antropologica in Nuova Umanità, n. 80/81, marzo-giugno 1992, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma, pages 123–124. See also Zanghì G.M., Poche riflessioni su la persona, in Nuova Umanità 7/1980.
49.
See di Ciaccio S., Il fattore “relazioni interpersonali” fondamento e risorsa per lo sviluppo economico, Città Nuova, Roma 2004.
50.
About Trust and Trustworthiness see Pelligra V., I paradossi della fiducia. Scelte Razionali e Dinamiche Interpersonali, Il Mulino, Bologna, forthcoming.
51.
See Locke J., Essays on the Law of Nature, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1660/1954.
52.
Macauley S., Non-contractual Relations in Business: A Preliminary Study, in American Sociological Review, 28/1963, page 58. About trust between organizations see Parolin G., La fiducia nelle reti di imprese, in Impresa Sociale n° 62, marzo-aprile, 2002.
53.
See Pelligra V., Who Does Trust an Homo oeconomicus?, Annali della Facoltà di Economia di Cagliari, vol. XV, Franco Angeli, Milano, 1999; on “trust” also see Luhmann N., Vertauen. Ein Mechanismus der Reduktion sozialer Komplexität, IV ed., Lucius & Lucius Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart, 2000 (ital. transl.: La fiducia, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2002).
54.
See Crozier M., E’ vincente l’impresa che impara ad ascoltare, Interview by Libelli M., in L’Impresa, n. 2/1992.
55.
See Crozier M., E’ vincente l’impresa che impara ad ascoltare, op. cit.
56.
See Elangovan A.R., Shapiro D.L., Il tradimento della fiducia nelle organizzazioni, in Sviluppo & Organizzazione, n° 173, May–June 1999, page 47–70.
57.
Akerlof G.A., Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, n° 4, Novembre 1982, page 544.
58.
It is interesting to note that Akerlof uses the same word coined by Smith, sympathy, to indicate this kind of relation that can bind the workers.
59.
Akerlof G.A., Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange, op. cit., page 550.
60.
About the subject, see Bruni L., Reciprocità, Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori, Torino, 2006, and Bruni L., Zamagni S., Economia Civile, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2004. A group of researchers led by Ernst Fehr, at the University of Zurich, while reviewing the paradigm of human behavior as traditionally understood in economy, found interesting results. In laboratory experiments conducted by this group, reciprocity plays an extremely important role. In fact, it emerges a norm that affects the behaviors of both workers and employers, and, among other things, it is what explains the modalities of achievement of the efficiency of incomplete contracts. In their work reciprocity is defined as the disposition to pay a sum, “a willingness to pay for responding fairly (unfairly) to a behavior that is perceived as fair (unfair)”: Fehr E., Gachter S., Kirchsteiger G., Reciprocity as a Contract Enforcement Device. Experimental Evidence, in Econometrica 65, 1997, page 839. The importance of reciprocity in the social life finds its confirmation also in the important and deepened sociological debate: it comes out, in a way almost unanimously shared, that reciprocity constitutes a vital principle for the society and a key-variable of intervention, through which, since the primitive cultures, the shared social rules are allowed to yield the social stability: See Gouldner A., The Norm of Reciprocity: A Preliminary Statement, American Sociological Review, April 1960.
61.
Zamagni S., L’economia come se la persona contasse, in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, Il Mulino, Bologna, forthcoming, page 35.
62.
Zamagni S., L’economia come se la persona contasse, in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, Il Mulino, Bologna, forthcoming, page 42.
63.
Bruni L., Serpenti e colombe. Per una teoria della reciprocità plurale e pluralista in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, Il Mulino, Bologna, forthcoming, page 59.
64.
Bruni L., Serpenti e colombe. Per una teoria della reciprocità plurale e pluralista in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, op. cit., page 62.
65.
Bruni L., Serpenti e colombe. Per una teoria della reciprocità plurale e pluralista in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, op. cit., page 75.
66.
Bruni L., Serpenti e colombe. Per una teoria della reciprocità plurale e pluralista in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, op. cit., page 75.
67.
Zamagni S., L’economia come se la persona contasse, in Sacco P.L., Zamagni S. (eds.), Teoria economica e relazioni interpersonali, op. cit., page 34.
68.
See Blum F.H., Social Audit of the Enterprise, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1956.
69.
See Barnard C.I., The Functions of the Executive, op. cit.
70.
See Weick K.E., Sensemaking in organizations, Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, CA, 1995.
71.
See Peters T.,Waterman R. Jr., In Search of Excellence, Sperling & Kupfer, New York, 1982.
72.
See Pelligra V., How to incentive Who? Intra-personal and Inter-personal mechanisms. Paper presented at the meeting Organizations, today, Cagliari 5–7 giugno 2003; USAI G., L’efficienza nelle organizzazioni, Seconda edizione, UTET, Torino, 2001.
73.
See Akerlof G.A., Labor Contracts as Partial Gifts Exchange, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, no. 4, Nov. 1992.
74.
Drucker P.F., Il management della società prossima ventura, Etas, Milano, 2003, page 105; see Peters T. and Waterman R. Jr., In Search of Excellence, op.cit.

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Giuseppe Argiolas

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Bartholomew Okonkwo

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Argiolas, G. (2014). The Social Vocation of the Firm. In: Okonkwo, B. (eds) Christian Ethics and Corporate Culture. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00939-1_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00939-1_3
Published: 19 June 2013
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