Social Responsibility in "A Civil Action"

Social Responsibility, some may say it is and organization's duty to behave in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Well, there is more to it than just that. There are four key theories or guidelines that must be followed to maintain a status of good social responsibility. A company has one a duty to its shareholders, two the duty to maximize profit and avoid harm, three a responsibility to its employees and others who may be dependent on that specific company, and last but not least they have the duty to do good to the world. In the movie "A Civil Action", Jonathan Harr and Steven Zaillian, starring John Travolta, you see how hard it is to distinguish who wins when it comes down to social responsibility. Many people, mainly children, suffered and died in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts due to the city drinking water, from the river, being polluted. They named two companies that are to be held responsible for these actions. The companies who are responsible for the water pollution that killed and harmed many, failed at almost every single theory of social responsibility. Yes, they were maximizing their profits, which made the shareholders wealthy and happy, but they were also causing harm to the people. Once you cause harm to people it will eventually back fire on you and soon you will most likely be losing your profits. No one will want you products and you will be paying for all the damages you have made. The employees have work but you are ultimately putting them and their jobs at risk when you make the decision to be careless and do something that can potentially run your company into the ground. Not only is the company jeopardizing their employees' jobs and incomes, but also most of the families the companies harmed were their own employee's families. When it comes to doing good for the world that was the very last thing that they were doing. How is contaminating a person's drinking water good for the world? People are