Ethics and the Canadian Wheat Board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethics and the Canadian Wheat Board - Essay Example The Canadian Wheat Board has faced the incorporation of CSR theories since its conception on the early prairies; today the Board still operates as a dynamic organisation focused on trading high quality produce while giving farmers the best money for their efforts. Fisher and Lovell believe that Corporate Social Responsibility is something that every business, great and small, should be keeping in mind throughout the daily transactions and trade (Fisher and Lovell, 2006). They know that every country is built not directly on its government structure, but instead on its internal business structures, including those smaller organisations that make up a basic business infrastructure at the community level. According to these authors, CSR can incorporate any of three major ideologies into its structure: libertinism, universalism and utilitarianism. Each of these encompasses a different perspective of social justice and therefore will have a different method of identifying and dealing with perceived issues within a corporate structure. Libertinism theory will put the emphasis on the right of the researcher to try any new methods within farming, regardless of the criticisms of other individuals or government bodies. It is, Libertarians will argue, the right of the individual to pursue his or her own theories and try out new methods of seed manufacturing if these theories are basically positive. Scientists and other researchers who promote genetic modification are not singularly focused on the destruction of agriculture, after all; they simply believe that their methods will prove the most viable in the near future. Although at its core, libertinism in CSR aims to free the developer from government restriction for the good of technological advancement, in terms of real social responsibility it is better to use past successes and failures as a guideline when creating new corporate theories (Otsuka, 2003). Universal theory has a different approach to CSR. Promoters of this school of thought believe that the best way for corporations to better serve their customers and communities is for them all to adopt a universally accepted set of rules and laws for operation. This would mean that corporations of any size in the UK, Canada, the United States or in Africa would all have to meet the same guidelines as set out by an intermediary and international governing body. Because of a universal set of rules, corporations would not be able to argue that they can't compete with other similar bodies because of national restrictions; this lets each business come to terms with the same human rights and environmental guidelines within its own organisation and as such, there can be no question whether one business is morally better than another. In contrast to Libertinism and Universalism, Utilitarianism promotes yet another approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. Primarily, this ideology holds that the most crucial aspect of any business endeavour is to bring in new ideas and equipment as they are