WGU C206 EHM2 Ethical Leadership Task
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Ethical Leadership C206
EHM2: Task 2
Developing Organizational Ethics and Socially Responsible Behavior
Andrea Davis
Western Governors University
Susan Skinner
April 21, 2025
Purpose of CSR
CSR, or Corporate Social Responsibility is the idea that corporations have a
responsibility to society to act in an ethical manner. Corporations should care about this for
multiple reasons including pragmatic, ethical, and strategic reasons.
Pragmatically, corporations have multiple stakeholders that can either benefit or suffer
from the corporation’s ethical standards and practices. Stakeholders include shareholders,
employees, customers, and really anyone that has an interest in the company for any reason. If a
corporation does not practice ethically, the stakeholders can suffer. Employees could suffer from
unfair wages, job instability, and poor working conditions, which all could ultimately affect their
livelihood. Consumers or customers may suffer from poor quality products, potentially
dangerous side effects, and bad experiences with the corporation due to low or poor ethical
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standards. Finally, shareholders could lose consumers and profit due to real or perceived lack of
ethical standards by the corporation. Therefore, it is essential that a corporation’s ethical
standards align with all stakeholders’ expectations, overall.
The ethical reason behind corporate social responsibility is quite simple. Corporations
have an ethical duty to society to do what is right, simply because it is the right thing to do.
Historically, corporations whose ethical standards do not align with what society generally
perceives as acceptable have eventually failed. This is because although a corporation’s bottom
line can vary, there should always be an overall goal to do no harm in order for society to trust
that corporation.
The strategic reasoning behind corporate social responsibility focuses on the
interdependence between society and corporations. Simply stated, an unhealthy society cannot
pour into a corporation whether it be through consumerism, employees, shareholders, or other. A
healthy business depends upon a healthy consumer and healthy workforce. One cannot be
without the other, and their interdependence upon each other is essential to the success of the
corporation.
Primary and Secondary Stakeholders
Paradigm Toys has many stakeholders as a publicly held company. One primary
stakeholder is the consumers or customers of the toy products they produce. According to
Trevino & Nelson (2017), primary stakeholders are “those groups or individuals with whom the
organization has a formal, contractual relationship.” In the case of a product being sold, the
customer has a formal relationship with the seller of the product. A secondary stakeholder of
Paradigm Toys would be the community that their toys are available to. While they may or may
not choose to become primary stakeholders, customers or consumers of the product, they still
could be affected by the products depending on how the products are used or manufactured.
Responsibility for Stakeholders
Paradigm Toys can meet their CSR for their stakeholders in many ways.