Organizational Justice, Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility

CHAPTER 2 • ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE, ETHICS, AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 77
TABLE 2.5 Top 10 Most Socially Responsible Companies in the U.S.:
2000–2005
A research firm recently analyzed the level of corporate social responsibility among the largest
companies in the United States for the first half of the 2000s. Basing their analysis on such key
considerations as the companies’ contributions to the community, attention to employees’ needs,
preservation of the environment, and advancement of minorities and women, the top 10 performers
are listed here. As indicated, these companies excelled in different ways.
Rank Company Notable Socially Responsible Action
1 Fannie Mae Created a Native American Conventional Lending Initiative
to help finance $75 million in loans on trust land for the
Navajo Nation of Arizona, Oneida Nation of New York,
and Menominee of Wisconsin.
2 Procter & Gamble Helped UNICEF fund tuberculosis vaccinations for 8
million children in developing countries.
3 Intel On-the-job safety is emphasized so strongly that the
accident rate among employees is 96% lower than the
industry average.
4 St. Paul Companies An active volunteer program gets employees involved in
tutoring in schools, helping the cleanup after natural
disasters, and helping the homeless.
5 Deere & Co. Decided to forgo selling prime real estate to a developer;
instead donated $1.5 million in land and facilities to
Western Illinois University, allowing it to better serve
the community, including Deere’s employees.
6 Avon Products Raised $250 million in support of breast cancer research,
education, and screening for medically underserved
women.
7 Hewlett-Packard Built a worldwide network of employee volunteers to
develop ways to help the company to sustain the
environment.
8 Ecolab Quick to develop creative new products for unexpected
modern hazards, such as a fungicide to clean up anthrax
spores and another new product to combat SARS at the
Toronto Airport.
9 IBM Donated $71 million in grants to help schools and $127
million in programs to help needy people around the world.
10 Herman Miller Funded the start-up of the United States Green Building
Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
understanding and promoting sound environmental
building practices.
Sources: Based on information reported by Business Ethics Magazine, 2006, see Note 86; and the
Web sites of the companies listed.
in a Diverse World section, p. 79), and books that provide detailed information on the socially
responsible (and irresponsible) behavior of companies that consumers and investors can use to
guide their decisions. 92 Today, individuals who desire to support socially responsible companies
by “voting with their dollars” can find it easy to get the information they need. That this
may contribute to the financial well-being of a company is important, of course, since financial
considerations are an organization’s most basic responsibility (which is why they are at the
base of the corporate social responsibility pyramid shown in Figure 2.20, p. 74). That said, it is
important to keep in mind that most companies that engage in socially responsible behavior do
so for its own sake, and not as a path to profitability.
Although profit may not be the primary objective for engaging in socially responsible
behavior, it is clear that there is a strong link between the two. Moreover, this connection
appears to be bidirectional in nature. The idea is straightforward: Companies that