Individual Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is no longer a buzzword. In short, it is a company’s commitment to behave ethically and contribute to social, cultural, economic and environment development. Undoubtedly, we are all familiar with CSR, but barely anybody will have known about individual social responsibility.

What is individual social responsibility? It is all about doing unto others what we would like others to do unto us. In fact, it is at the root of corporate social responsibility as a company is formed by many individuals who determine the social responsibility culture in the company.

In our day, we are conscious of what we buy, but even more conscious of how the things we buy are produced. Are the products manufactured through child labor or other inhumane conditions? Given 2 products with one produced in an unethical way and the other advocating a good cause, more likely we would purchase the latter one. In truth, whilst consumers are becoming more socially conscious, companies have to become more socially responsible to meet consumer demand as well.

Successful and well-to-do people like Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation give back to society by donating to charities, etc. However, I realized a large bulk of these money used to give back to the community is their private money and not the money of their corporation. A person like Bill Gates is an example of how we can each practice individual social responsibility.

Someone who practices individual social responsibility primarily, has a mindset to contribute to the society and therefore always endeavors to have a positive impact on the society and environment.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that one person can make a difference, and so can one can. In this world, we are never short of causes to contribute to. As long as we are willing, we can easily make a difference in our society by starting a social enterprise to employ the disadvantaged, helping out in events organized by voluntary welfare organizations, giving free tuition to children from low-income families, visiting lonesome elderly staying at one-room flats and many others.

George Bernard Shaw mentioned, “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”

Neither today, tomorrow, nor the day after tomorrow is where our life is, where our life starts. As a member of your country and community, we can all do a little to make the less fortunate life better off by taking part in solving some of the local social issues. Even as a social entrepreneur, we must ensure our partners, employees and consultants adhere to the same value system and level of ethical standards as us -viewing our projects not only from a business perspective, but also from a social and environment one.

Reference

Anonymous. (n.d.). What is social responsibility? Retrieved July 22, 2012, from http://www.imasocialentrepreneur.com/social-responsibility/