Developing a Socially Responsible Organization

An organization must possess an advisory board and other critical qualities before it can be considered socially responsible.

Team of coworkers having a roundtable discussion.

There is no end to the critical qualities that an organization needs to possess before it can be said to be socially responsible. But surely one of the most important is its fervent desire to do as much as humanly possible to anticipate and thereby thwart as many of the unanticipated and unintended consequences, and thereby the inherent dangers, of its products and services.

Advisory board

To say that such a task is onerous is putting it mildly. It calls for the broadest possible set of skills and talents imaginable. It demands nothing less than inter and transdisciplinary thinking of the highest order. In the best of all worlds, it means having the following cast of players with advanced degrees and experience in major positions. Since this is beyond the capabilities of most organizations, it requires an advisory board with as many of the chief players on it as possible:

  • Clinical Psychologists
  • Child Development Experts
  • Organizational Psychologists
  • Legal Experts
  • Political Scientists
  • Crisis Management Experts
  • Medical Experts
  • Journalists

Monitoring warning signs

Given that an organization’s products and services can be used in ways that cause severe emotional harm to its users, especially the young, elderly, and more vulnerable members of society, clinical psychologists play an indispensable role in anticipating such dire effects. Indeed, what are the critical warning signs that one needs to monitor carefully that precede the likely occurrence of harmful events? Hopefully, with appropriate warnings, one can thereby act preemptively, thus preventing them from happening. Once again, what does it say about an organization’s emotional and Ethical fiber, as in the case of Facebook, that it knowingly caused harm in its relentless pursuit of profits “at any cost” [pun intended]?

This is not to say that clinical psychologists are perfect in uncovering potential problems, but that, properly engaged, they are invaluable in ferreting out the potential ill effects of an organization’s products and services.

Similarly, since all technologies have the potential to affect children, whether they are their primary intended users or not, experts in child development also play an invaluable role. The point is that in today’s world, children have access to and are affected by everything around them, primarily if it’s not intended for them and, therefore, off-limits.

Organizational psychologists are equally critical. An organization’s culture is crucial in explaining why Unethical Behavior is not only accepted but allowed to flourish.

The culture of an organization

The culture of organizations is so powerful that it accounts for up to 80 percent of their behavior. It’s so commanding that it forces people to go along with attitudes and behaviors that clearly violate their most sacred and deeply held convictions.

Political scientists, sociologists, and legal experts are vital in ascertaining whether the products and services favor certain members of the public while systematically disadvantaging others, not to mention portraying them in unfavorable terms. Will they promote division and divisiveness? Will they set family members and longtime friends against one another? Do they promote racism, homophobia, and other forms of prejudice and the maltreatment of others? As with social media, do they feed on and amplify our worst instincts and insecurities?

In terms of crisis management, will the products and services not only cause enumerable crises for the communities and larger society of which they are a part but for the members of an organization as well, especially those who are willing to speak out and contest its business practices?

Given that future pandemics are virtually guaranteed to occur, medical experts can help prepare an organization for their disastrous effects on its members and the communities in which they live and serve. Even more, they can help identify how an organization can contribute to containing versus furthering the Pandemic.

While this only touch on the wide variety of academic disciplines and professions that are vital in ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of the users of an organization’s products and services, they are sufficient to show the general nature of what’s required if an organization is to have any hope of even recognizing, let alone curtailing, the unanticipated consequences and ill effects of its products and services.

One of the most vital players is journalists. Indeed, if I had only one key recommendation, it would be to hire an ex-investigative reporter to conduct intensive interviews with as many members of an organization as possible. The goal is to uncover as many potential crises as possible for which they and their organization will be held responsible and thus portrayed in the worst possible light and thereby judged harshly. In other words, properly used, journalists serve as key early warning signals of potential crises. Failing to attend to such Signals is the cause of far too many crises.

I’m the first to admit how daunting this task is. I’m aware of no organization that even comes close to doing all of the above. Indeed, even if an organization is more than willing, it’s generally too much to do all at once. One has no choice but to start slow and build as many coalitions as one can, both inside and outside of an organization, as possible.

The chief legal officer of an organization is not only the natural starting point, but a key internal stakeholder. Charged as they are with protecting it legally, they are often the senior officers privy to the full range of potential crises and threats to which their organization is subject. Indeed, as much as possible, it’s their primary job to protect the organization from them.

Ian Mitroff
Ian I. Mitroff is credited as being one of the principal founders of the modern field of Crisis Management. He has a BS, MS, and a PhD in Engineering and the Philosophy of Social Systems Science from UC Berkeley. He Is Professor Emeritus from the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Currently, he is a Senior Research Affiliate in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, UC Berkeley. He has published 41 books including The Socially Responsible Organization.