Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Decision Making at CorpCo

Organizational Context and CSR/Ethical Decision Making

You are an ethics and governance officer working for a listed corporation CorpCo. The board of CorpCo has asked for a board paper (See Board Report Template for further guidance) to be prepared on one of the two contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR)/business ethics issues below (Optus or Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship).

Select one of the two cases (Optus or Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship) for tabling at the next meeting of the company’s board of directors.  Board members gain a great deal of information about the decisions they need to make through the board papers they receive prior to a board meeting. Board papers are often prepared by non-board members. Board papers cover a variety of functions, ranging from providing general information to a call for action.  Section 180 of the Australian Corporations Act 2001 outlines that directors have a statutory duty of care to have read the board papers to be able to contribute effectively to board meetings.  Board papers provide information to non-executive directors thereby reducing information asymmetry and somewhat resolve the principal-agent problem (connecting to Week 7 E&G Corporate Governance Theory – Psaros (2008)).

In the paper you are required to outline and then analyse the case using the concepts and ideas outlined in Assessment Task 1 including Husted 1993, Jones & Ryan 1998, Victor & Cullen 1998 and Monahan & Quinn 2008; but also Mitchell et al 1997, Gioia 1993 and other references to course and assessment task 1 literature, theory, concepts, and further research. Your report should contain practical recommendations to the board of CorpCo on improving CSR/ethical decision making.  These recommendations should be theoretically informed and evidenced.

Explore the interaction between organisational context and the CSR/ethical issue in the case chosen (considering the concepts of moral intensity, moral language and framing) and then address the following questions

1. What role do the internal and external factors on CSR/ethical decision making play within this case? (Consider the role that organisational schemas/scripts/moral language/ethical work climates/stakeholder salience play in CSR/ethical decision making within the case)

2. How can unethical/poor decisions be avoided?

3. Are ethical leadership, codes and training adequate responses to preventing similar problems at CorpCo or does the board need to do more? Critically discuss with reference to course and assessment task 1 literature, theory, concepts, and further research.

 

Make practical recommendations for the board of CorpCo to consider based on your analysis of the CSR/ethical decision making case chosen (these must be theory driven/evidence based