Sara Sahr
Cardinal Stritch University
Management and Leadership – MGT405
Instructor – Michael Glassford
August 26, 2014
Executive Summary Corporate philanthropic efforts are well received by corporate employees as well as consumers; self-serving charitable giving however, would not. Corporate charitable giving must not negatively impact the greater good of the company or the employees. It is evident that at least four of the ten general ethical principles are at play with the decision for charitable giving by the case study company. Ultimately decisions about donations should be the deciding factor of a leadership team as a whole or a board of directors and not the pet charity of one individual. A Personal Crusade Corporate social responsibility is generally well perceived amongst corporate employees as well as consumers. However, corporate philanthropic efforts should be given based on a consensus from the board of directors or leadership team. Engaging in self-serving philanthropic efforts will generally be poorly received by the employees of the company. Also, when a corporation is considering charitable giving, the good of the company should be taken into consideration. For instance, if a company is cutting staff or implementing pay cuts it is unlikely that employees would embrace charitable giving. In the case of charitable giving of DM Bicycle Company profits to fighting a childhood disease it was evident in the case study that it would not be well embraced by the senior leadership team. It was indicated that the CEO, Gino Duncan, had a child who had the disease that he proposed the company contribute funds to. Therefore, donating half of the company’s profits to the research of that disease would most likely appear to be self-serving and not necessarily in the best interest of the company as a whole. The employees of the company, while sympathetic to the CEO, probably would not entirely embrace the notion
References: Kreitner, R., & Cassidy, C. (2011). Management 's Social and Ethical Responsibilities. Management (12th ed., p. 127 and 139). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage. Tonello, M. (2011, August 20). Making the Business Case for Corporate Philanthropy. The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Retrieved August 22, 2014, from http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2011/08/20/making-the-business-case-for-corporate-philanthropy/