Taking Responsibility for Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Leaders in Creating, Implementing, Sustaining, or Avoiding Socially Responsible Firm Behaviors

Main Purpose

The article of Christensen, Mackey, & Whetten (2014) touches upon a problem of the relation of the type of leader in the company and its attitude to the problem of corporate social responsibility. It can be a foundation for some future research in this area or can inspire businessmen to choose the type of leadership, which corresponds with the highest level of CSR from all possible.

Main Areas of Discussion

The main areas of discussion are the work of scholars concerning the problem of ratio of leadership and CSR, consideration of the influence of different types of leadership on the CSR, and explanation of CSR and new types of leadership.

Arguments Made (Or Issues Raised) in Each Area

The first point is about the number of surveys and the main topic of an article, which were made by scientists. The authors of the article emphasize that there are still a lot of white spots because scholars had started to study this matter recently. Nevertheless, the amount of literature about leadership let the authors determine the main chief of their research.

The second section includes a table with classification of the scholar’s view of the problem.

In the third part of the article, the authors try to compare the type of leadership in the company with the trait theories of leadership and CSR. They say that leaders with ‘bright side’ traits tend to do everything in the proper way. That is why their attitude towards the CSR activities is usually good. However, this type of leader cannot argue with his/her team and is more likely to lose in a dispute. It is difficult for a leader to defend his/her point of view about the necessity of CSR activities. Such indecision may badly affect the CSR. In contrast, managers with ‘dark side’ traits are more likely to listen to themselves and not to others. Having different from the ‘bride side’ leaders’ motives, they still may play more positive role.

The fourth part is about behavioral theories of leadership and CSR. According to the authors, attitude of the company to the CSR is formed by the leader. He/she determines the main behavior strategies and all employees try to imitate them. According to this theory, the established patterns influence the CSR of the company either negatively or positively.

The fifth part tells about the shared and distributed leadership. In this section authors emphasize the diversity between the shared and centralized management. They say that the best impact on CSR has the system that includes the elements of distributed leadership. It happens because middle managers feel the greater responsibility and want to bring more benefits to the company and community. This factor results in the enhanced CSR. On the other hand, companies with centralized system of management may suffer from the lack of ideas because of the complexity of the process of their admission to the top. It also applies to the different undertakings in the CSR activities.

The sixth part is about the CSR. The authors start from the definition of this process. They support the ideas that consent about the definition does not exist at all. Then they tell about the widespread theories that explain motivation for the CSR.

The first theory states that the major reason of the CSR is the inner need of good deeds. The company affects people’s lives in different ways and it can do harm to some of them. The theory tells that at some point managers start understanding it, but they still have no opportunity to change anything. Another stage includes the emergence of opportunities to improve the external world. This theory states that all the drives are internal, and the company does not want to make any use of it.

The second theory is adverse to the first one. Its main idea is that the company never has any drives except the thirst for profits. This theory explains that every firm wants to gain popularity among customers and strengthen brand awareness. To realize this desire, company can resort to CSR. According to the scholars, it can improve the image of the business and attract new clients. The authors of the article offer to conduct a few multinational researches to solve this dispute.

Then the authors start studying new forms of leadership, which are ethical, responsible, and servant. All these kinds of leadership have the same trait: they are engaged in creating and implementing CSR.

Ethical leadership is based on the desire of creation and implementation of some effective opportunities using ethical means. In this case, leaders are interested in the reduction of harm to the environment. 

Another type of leadership is responsible. The manager should understand that the main role of every business is making profits. However, he should also realize that making profits should be conducted by using means friendly to the external world. Only the leadership that is based on the powerful desire of a leader to earn money and to do no harm to the environment can be called responsible.

The third type is a servant leadership. In this case, the leader understands the necessity of carrying out CSR activities, and this necessity is prior to him. The manager realizes that his/her main function is to lead, but his/her major duty is to serve. This type differs from the first two because the CSR is both the foundation and the result of activity. The scholars say that the servant leader considers the CSR to be such an integral part of outcomes as the profit.

The discussion section is a summary of the whole article. The authors refer to their merits drafting table from the first part. They say it can help to find all the works of scholars concerning the subject of the article. They consider the article to be a guide list for the future research as it reveals all the white spots. After this the authors emphasize the servant leadership as the most appropriate for social responsible companies. They say that more future researches should be conducted on the matter of a relation between the CSR and leadership.

In the conclusion the authors say that different types of leadership can influence the CSR behavior and lead to diverse effects. These effects should be studied by scholars.

From the discussion part of the article one can understand that its main purpose is to stimulate scholars to conduct a research into this topic. The authors wish to make a solid base for the future followers.

Lessons that Can Be Learnt by the Authorities in the UAE or the Top Managers of PLCs in UAE

The authorities of the United Arab Emirates can conclude from prospects of the CSR and discover that the type of leadership in the company can affect the CSR behavior. They can also find out that the mechanism of influence is not learnt yet and may make a decision to sponsor the research. After studying the mechanism of influence the authorities can inspire some changes in the training program of universities in order to make servant leaders from future managers.

Top managers of Public Limited Corporations of the United Arab Emirates can expand their knowledge in the spheres of leadership and CSR and can become inspired to be more engaged in CSR activities. They may become interested in this matter and ask some scholars to conduct a research to find out the real situation in the company.

Conclusion

This article can be useful for both the researches and businessmen. For the first group it can help to choose the field of research, and for the second group it may become an incentive to become engaged in CSR activities.