Social Responsibility and Executive Management Coursework

Social Responsibility and Executive Management - Coursework Example Business enterprises regarded human resource (labor) as a commodity to be purchased and sold at will. Business organizations employed child labor and exploited labor through low wages. The working conditions were unsafe and injured employees were terminated without benefits. According to Barry (2000), there were high levels of cultural discrimination and harassment in the workplace. There were no guidelines on advertisement and selling activities. In addition, there were no regulations on the quality of the products sold and people’s lives were in danger. The business enterprises exploited, manipulated and mislead their customers. The managers of the business enterprises were accountable to the owners. The governments were not concerned with the regulation of business enterprises during the first phase of social responsibilities. Consequently, members of the public were exploited. The second phase of social responsibility was the trusteeship management. Profit maximization was not the only driving force of the business enterprises. The human resource at this second phase was recognized as a valuable input to the business organization. Business enterprises acknowledged the rights of the employees, suppliers, customers, creditors, stakeholders and the community in which it operated. The second phase showed governments’ commitment to protecting its citizens for bad business people. Legal frameworks and institutions were established to regulate business enterprises and protect the public from exploitative business organizations. However, business enterprises were faced with increasing expenses. The employees received better pay, business enterprises spend more on a provision of quality products and services. The profits of the business were lower in the short run but improved significantly in the long-term. The third phase of the social responsibility was q uality life management.