Business organisations are expected to use their human and natural resources for the good of the people and the community that they operate in. They are also expected to engage in production while reducing to the most minimal level or stopping completely; negative effects that the production process has on the environment. This is what is referred to, as Corporate Social Responsibility.
Blogging can be used in corporate social responsibility as a tool for communication. It can improve the flow and speed of communication and save time. This is because information is constantly being updated and as soon as it is posted on a blog it can be viewed by stakeholders as soon as they log on. It therefore serves as an instant information spot.
It is a very convenient source of information. This is because it can be viewed from any location, as long as there is a broadband. It can be viewed using hand held devices and mobile phones.
It can be used as a portfolio of sorts. This is because since it is a journal, daily activities, including pictures can be posted. It helps to keep detailed records of an organisation’s activities and it can be viewed by anyone that may want to trace their records.
It gives stakeholders the opportunity to express their feelings about an organisation’s corporate social responsibility programs and make comments. These comments can be positive or negative; it helps the organisation to know what the feelings of the stakeholders are. It can also give the organisation different perspectives of its programs, based on comments received and it can use those perspectives to change or modify a program.
It gives the organisation and stakeholders a chance to have a kind of conversation and exchange of ideas. In the end it helps the organisation to know its strengths and weaknesses make evaluations and improve its performance.
It helps an organisation to make future plans based on past and current happenings to improve on their social responsibility programs. This is because it can trace its activities using the blog.
It can help stakeholders to make faster decisions on organisations based on published information from such organisations. Sometimes organisations claim to be involved in social responsibility projects that are not actually carried out. These blogs can serve as a check, because those supposed beneficiaries can make comments denying such claims and giving the true information.
Organisations can therefore be rewarded or penalised by stakeholders, depending on their performance and responsibility. Research has shown that a company that fulfils its social responsibility can improve its profits in the long run (Thorne, Ferell and Ferell, 2008).
Blogs may require the use of passwords and this may limit the number of individuals and groups that may want to participate. It means that an organisation will get to choose the participants that will be involved in its blogging process. This may have negative implications because it means that comments may not necessarily be objective and honest since those participants may feel loyal to the organisation and make only comments that will promote them. The blog might therefore not be a true representation of the situation.
1 comment:
Hi Longret,
I think you make an excellent overview of how blogs may impact on social responsibility. I'm very happy to award you a pass for this and I think you have met all the requirements of the weeks unit.
I liked the way you discussed the interaction between information providers and readers of blogs and how it allows monitoring and interaction.
You mention that blogs are passworded but this is not always the case or it doesn't have to be the case so just be a bit careful about that.
You provide references to support your views which is good. You also show that you have thought a lot about different issues and implications of technology and social responsibility.
You've chosen an interesting topic and made a thoughtful review of it. Well done and good luck for the rest of the course.
Nick
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