"Corporate social responsibility is the commitment of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development by working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their lives in ways that are good for business and for development." Petkoski D & Twose N 2003, p.1).
Leadership plays a critical role in sustainable development through his vision, mission and by providing a strategic direction to the organization (Srivastava k, n.d). Ghandour is an example of a good leader. He played an important role in maintaining the relationship between CSR and Aramex's business. From the beginning he had strategically molded principles and practices of CSR and sustainability into the company’s culture, aligning
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In the following I will explain the management leadership role at Aramex through their stakeholder-based view towards adopting an integrated, full-fledged strategic CSR and sustainability approach. Also, I will discuss in my point view the main lessons learned from the Aramex approach to sustainability. In my point view the main lessons learned of Aramex's sustainability are taking from Aramex's Leadership, commitment, accountability and integrity, employees' engagement, sustainability and community empowerment. In addition to that, there are many other minor lessons learned of Aramex's sustainability.
I learned that "leadership is the candle that leads you to success". Aramex has corporate leaders with a vision recognizing that profit had social as well as financial benefits. They came with Aramex’s concept of activism which means innovating ways and solutions to all challenges company faced on the business front, the socio-economic development front, or the environmental front. The leadership in Aramex preserved a culture of integrity and safeguarding the company’s
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Empowerment defined in many researches as “to provide with the means, knowledge, or opportunity” (Shellman, A 2014, p.21). Aramex believe that by supporting education and educational initiatives will reflect directly to societies. Therefore, Aramex give its employees operational responsibility and expect them to develop and perform to the best of their talents. The basis for interaction between employees is mutual respect and trust. Also, it provided a lot of support activities such as sponsorship of university student and scholarship of workshop related to education and youth empowerment targeting societies to enhance one’s attributes in a way that facilitates positive development of the individual as well as collective society (see appendix table 1). Accountability and integrity is another lesson learned for Aramex's sustainability. Ghandour set a guideline, policies, regulations and training to encourage employees to act in accordance with customer expectations regarding ethics. Therefore, the employees be aware of and comply with rules and regulations. Integrity goes deeper; it is about doing the right things in the right way, as individuals and as a company (Rose, J, & Cachelin, A 2014). Integrity showed, People at Aramex in sustaining the company’s success by doing right things the right way. Also, the Code of Conduct addresses the key ethical expectations of customers.
Social responsibility can be defined as “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” (Mallen Baker, 2004). In addition, social responsibility has been defined differently by various corporate leaders that provide guidelines which impacts how one manages the core business. Social responsibility is an essential part of a business. If managed correctly should strengthen the competitive spirit of the company and provide prosperity to society.
Practices of Leadership contribute to managing sustainability (ethics and corporate social responsibility) in the post-bureaucratic era.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business practice that involves participating in initiatives that benefit society. CSR is becoming more mainstream as forward-thinking companies embed sustainability into the core of their business operations to create shared value for business and society. Sustainability isn't just important for people and the planet but also is vital for business success. Today it's not just about having a recycling program or sustainable products. Consumers want to feel good about what their dollar is being used for.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
“Leaders are born not made”, this is the most common assumption used by people when they refer leaders. Leaders tend to have certain inborn quality such as intelligence, courage and humour which together makes a man leader (john Adair 1984). Sir Basil said “it is the job of leaders in industry as elsewhere to get the best, the very best out of everybody.” According to Useem, “Leadership is a matter of making difference. It entails changing an organization and making active among plausible alternatives, and depends on the development of others and mobilising them to get the job done.” Leadership can be a relationship through which one person motivates, encourage and influence the behaviour and actions of other people. Leadership is the central feature of organisational performance. The most commonly and widely used measures of finding the leaders effectiveness is the extent to which the leaders group have achieved the task or the required goal. In many cases it can be measured through profit, increase in sales; increase in market shares and by growth of the company (Garyyukl 1989). In 21st century the way of working in the organization is changing at rapid speed and leading change can be said as effective leadership. When the leadership is effective in the organisation it improves the performance of the employees.
There is a link between corporate social responsibility and the key principles of the stakeholders, which a company should follow to be responsible to its stakeholders. The first stakeholder is environment and the key principle used for it is not damage the environment for example, recycling, dealing correctly with their wastes and emissions. The second stakeholder is the employees. The key principle for the employees is companies providing safe and health working conditions for their staff. Moreover, the employees earn an appropriate salary for ...
The company’s strongest impact and contribution to sustainability lies in the critical parts of their business which leads to the success and diversity of our associates (customers), food safety, health and nutrition, strong supply chain, environmental factors, and community/stakeholder engagement and impact of the people along with the CSR initiatives.
Although there are many outstanding, albeit necessary qualities of a good leader, it is the leader’s beliefs in which greatness is given its first breath, fostered by action, and spread throughout the institution. A great leader believes in encouraging, not destroying; in setting the precedence instead of yielding to prominence ; in collaboration, not division; in giving, not taking; and in having high standards and volunteering to be the first of many to be held to them. A great leader does not take advantage of the people being lead, but instead, creates an advantage for the people by giving them the opportunities to lead. Only when people take ownership of an institution will passion be cultivated, action be taken, and greatness be achieved.
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...
Leaders are the individuals who help to create options and opportunities. They help in identifying the choices and solve the problems. They build commitment and coalitions. Leaders do this by inspiring others and working along with them to construct the shared vision of the possibilities and commitments of a better group, organization or community. They engage the followers in such a way that most of the followers become leaders in their own right. The variety of demands of an increasingly complex world very often require that leadership be shared by most of the members of an organization, in appropriate ways for different situations. A leader is the on...
Social responsibility is the part of the framework of an organization or individual which makes up an obligation to act for the benefit of society. There are many different ways act out social responsibility. The social responsibilities of a business can be classified according to the businesses relationships to the general public, customers, employees and investors. The companies that make their product or service with the rooted mindset of benefiting the community and the world around them do this by providing things like scholarship funds, all natural products, biodegradable storage, and or just by treating the consumer as well as the employees as individuals rather than a corporate dollar sign. Businesses may exercise
Reflecting on my roles and accomplishments in leadership in business, I can define leadership as the creation of a favorable culture under which an individual or a group of people can successfully carry out their roles. Leadership is all about assessing the environment wherein tasks are handled, with an emphasis on applying different strategies to overcome the challenges while increasing the opportunities; thereby, enabling individuals to fulfill their given roles. Some of the elements of strong leadership involve setting and communicating clear visions and boundaries, giving people the latitude to perform their tasks, monitoring ongoing achievements against the established vision; and continually assessing opportunities for improvement. Others are the involvement of all individuals in business by encouraging them to own the goals of the organisation or projects, and embracing positivity through the application of caution, courage, and determination. A further understanding of my application of these leadership attributes can
Corporate Social Responsibility is management’s obligation to protect and promote their stakeholders welfare. Social Responsibility is more than just obvious ethical issues like honesty and integrity in business dealings.
Leaders of the future will be faced with many challenges. As the world changes, we must adapt the ways in which we face these challenges, and in turn grow as leaders. A leader is not merely someone which commands a group or organization. A good leader exhibits the ability to take an average team of individuals and achieve greatness. Leadership is not supervision or leading. It is the ability to inspire or influence others towards the end goal. As Barendsen and Gardner stated (2006), “the best leaders are individuals who, in their work, exhibit three distinct meanings of good: (1) an excellent technical and professional quality and competence, (2) an ethical orientation, and (3) a completely engaged sense of fulfillment and meaningfulness” (p. 266). Good leaders must utilize all of these traits in order to meet the challenges of the future. A few emerging challenges that future
However, there can be more definitions about what Corporate Social Responsibility can be. For example, Corporate Social Responsibility can be the commitment which is continuing for a business to behave ethically and bring to economy the development to improve the workforces’ of the whole society and local community and their families’ quality of life. Corporate Social Responsibility is also known as the obligation of a company to serve the society’s interest and of course its own. With the help of the Corporate and Social Responsibility, social and environmental concerns companies can integrate into their business and stakeholders operations.