MGT-2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Triple Bottom Line, Business Ethics, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
21 Oct 2020
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3 – The Manager’s Changing Work Environment & Ethical
Responsibilities – Doing the Right Thing
• The Triple Bottom Line: People, Plant, and Profit
o Many businesses, small and large, are beginning to subscribe to
a new standard of success – the triple bottom line. This outlook
has found favor with many young adults (millennials) who are
more concerned with finding meaning than material success.
o Triple bottom line – representing people, planet, and profit (the
3 Ps) – measures an organization’s social, environmental, and
financial performance
▪ An organization has a responsibility to its employees and
to the wider community (people)
▪ Is committed to sustainable (green) environmental
practices (planet)
▪ Includes the costs of pollution, worker displacement, and
other factors in its financial calculations (profit)
▪ Success in these areas can be measured through a social
audit
• A systematic assessment of a company’s
performance in implementing socially responsible
programs, often based on predefined goals
▪ Ex: businesses known for social and environmental
activities such as buying wind-powered electricity, organic
produce and humanely raised meat and poultry, sharing
ideas with competitors, and opening up its premises for
educational forums and speaks
o The Millennial’s Search for Meaning
2
▪ Millennials care about the triple bottom line and make up
more than 25-50% of the workforce.
▪ Millennials are concerned about business ethics, motives,
and methods
• 58% believe corporations are moving in a more
ethical direction
• 64% believe companies operate according to their
own agenda first and society’s needs second
• 50% believe that companies have “no ambition
beyond turning a profit”
o Key Points
▪ Many businesses subscribe to a new standard of success –
the triple bottom line, representing people, planet, and
profit. It measures an organization’s social, environmental,
and financial performance
▪ Success in these areas can be measured through a social
audit, a systematic assessment of a company’s
performance in implementing socially responsible
programs, often based on predefined goals
▪ The triple bottom line has particular appeal to many young
adults (millennials) who are less concerned with finding
financial success than with making a difference and
achieving a meaningful life
3
• The Organization’s Environment
o
o The two main groups are internal and external stakeholders.
▪ Stakeholders – the people whose interests are affected by
an organization’s activities
▪ Internal stakeholders – consist of employees, owners, and
the board of directors
▪ External stakeholders
• The Task Environment
o Consists of 10 groups that present you with daily tasks to handle
(only need to know the highlighted groups)
▪ Customers
• Those who pay to use an organization’s goods or
services
