Individuals Within Organizations

Because many different individuals in large organizations contribute in many ways to the decisions and policies, it is difficult even in principle to identify who should be accountable for the results. This is what is known, following Thompson, as the problem of many hands. It creates a dilemma for accountability. If individuals are held accountable or responsible, individuals who could not have prevented the results are either unfairly punished, or they ―take responsibility in a symbolic ritual without suffering any consequences. If only organizations are held accountable, then all individuals in the organization are equally blameworthy or all are excused. Various solutions have been proposed. One is to broaden the criteria for individual responsibility so that individuals are held accountable for not anticipating failures in the organization. Another solution, recently proposed by Thompson, is to hold individuals accountable for the design of the organization, both retrospectively and prospectively.

Employees are said to be the true assets of an organization. Even the best of technology or best of infrastructure would not be of much use if employees do not perform up to the mark and are not satisfied with their current profiles. The first and the foremost responsibility of an organization towards its employees is to ensure that they are happy and satisfied with their jobs. It is unethical to treat employees as mere machines and expect them to work continuously for eight to nine hours at a stretch just because they are being paid. Management needs to ensure that individuals associated with their organizations at different responsibilities, as

• Economic – A company’s first responsibility is its economic responsibility — that is to say, a company needs to be primarily concerned with turning a profit. This is for the simple fact that if a company does not make money it won’t last, employees will lose jobs and the company won’t even be able to think about taking care of its social responsibilities. Before a company thinks about being a good corporate citizen, it first needs to make sure that it can be profitable.
• Legal – A company’s legal responsibilities are the requirements that are placed on it by the law. Next to ensuring that company is profitable, ensuring that it obeys all laws is the most important responsibility, according to the theory of corporate social responsibility. Legal responsibilities can range from securities regulations to labour law, environmental law and even criminal law.
• Philanthropic – If a company is able to meet all of its other responsibilities, it can begin meeting philanthropic responsibilities. Philanthropic responsibilities are responsibilities that go above and beyond what is simply required or what the company believes is right. They involve making an effort to benefit society — for example, by donating services to community organizations, engaging in projects to aid the environment or donating money to charitable causes.