Corporate Social Responsibility for Gulftainer Report

Introduction

This paper is based on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It seeks to explore the topic using a Dubai based organisation called Gulftainer. The main focus of the paper is to understand how the organisation relates to the environment, people and the community, and its management systems and whether these relations and systems are in line with CSR principles.

The paper begins with a description of the industry under which the organisation’s business falls. The description is followed by an overview of the components of CSR which is followed by an analysis of the organisation using the three aspects mentioned above, that is; the environment, people and the community, and management systems.

The analysis is accompanied by recommendations on where the organisation needs to improve.

Description of the Industry

Gulftainer’s core business is provision of port and freight services to individual clients, companies, and institutions. The port and freight industry is one of the industries which are complex and sophisticated due to the nature of operations. The industry is characterized by intensive logistical operations, planning, networking, and coordination. If well managed, the industry is highly rewarding in terms of profits and returns.

The other characteristic of the industry is that it has barriers to entry owing to the huge investment capital required for a start up. However, the barriers do not guarantee monopoly for companies because of rivalry between existing competitors even if they are few. This rivalry between existing competitors calls for individual companies to have a competitive strategy so as to attract and retain customers.

The nature of the business also requires the companies to have good relations with the environment and the people. The reason is that the business has a high probability of damaging marine and other environments especially through oil spillage. As a result, developing and adhering to a strict code of ethics by the companies becomes compulsory because without doing so, there is no business success.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Ethical conduct of corporations is intertwined with CSR. The concept of CSR is generally used to refer to the relationship between businesses and their environment. All businesses operate in social, political, economic, and natural environments. The concept therefore takes into account how businesses interact with these environments, either positively or negatively (Scarre 196).

The topic of CSR can be broken down into four main components namely the ethical, economic, philanthropic and legal components. The ethical component of CSR comprises the requirements or expectations of any business by the society.

Such requirements or expectations include things like doing what is just, fair and right, using the law as the basis of organisational behaviour, avoidance of questionable practices and doing business in a manner which is above the minimal requirements (Carroll 23).

The economic component comprises taking care of the interests of the shareholders, investors and customers, profit maximisation, the minimisation of the costs of undertaking a business and the formulation and implementation of strategic policies which propel the business forward (Aras and Crowther 87).

The legal component comprises the respect and compliance of a business to various laws such as environmental laws, consumer laws, laws which protect the employees, as well as the respect of contractual agreements between an organisation and its clients or employees (Kizza 20).

Finally the philanthropic component entails giving back to the society by a business. A business may do this in a variety of ways like establishing or supporting programs which directly benefit the society like health and education programs as well as programs which boost harmonious living of people from diverse backgrounds (Bratton and Gold 72).

How Gulftainer behaves in a morally responsible way towards the environment

One area which is in the fore front in regard to the company’s environmental policy is the conservation of marine environment.

The reason is that most of its operations depend on the marine environment. The company has a comprehensive marine conservation policy which is clearly indicated at all the terminals where goods are dispatched and received. The idea is to make the employees and clients fully aware of the company’s high regard to conservation of the marine environment.

The company has established very clear guidelines in form of a policy which outlines its relationship to the environment. It behaves in a morally responsible manner towards the environment through providing support to other organisations such as the EWS-WWF.

The support is through partnership between Gulftainer and EWS-WWF in a marine turtle conservation project which has been implemented in the last three years (Mühle 82).

Through the turtle conservation project, the company has managed to save the life of many turtles and extended their life span. It encourages people to take care of the beautiful creatures though educating the people on the dos and don’ts when dealing with the turtles.

The company in partnership with the Group Middle East launched a philanthropic program where philanthropists may adopt turtles. The adoption entails visiting any turtle conservation centre in the region and donating money which goes in the turtle conservation project.

The organisation also has a marine conservation policy which ensures compliance with all laws and regulations which are put in place to protect the marine environment. For instance, it takes the necessary actions to ensure that its operations do not negatively affect the marine environment either directly or indirectly.

Such a policy is a pointer of a morally responsible behaviour because environmental pollution by corporates affects the health of the community. Having a clean environment ensures that the community enjoys a healthy environment and leads a healthy life.

Another area where the company behaves in a morally responsible manner towards the environment is through recycling of waste water. The company operates a department responsible of recycling of waste water to ensure that it is brought back to use. The recycling not only protects the environment from harmful toxins in the water but it also enables the company to reduce the cost of production.

Apart from recycling of waste water, the company has an elaborate infrastructure for disposing oil waste, used toner cartridges, steal, batteries, and other toxic by-products. The company also has an elaborate infrastructure for cleaning any spilled oil immediately to avoid damage to the marine environment.

According to the company’s managing director Mr Peter Richards, the company believes in the 3R policy of reduce, re-use and recycle. It does not only practice the 3R policy but also implements programs which aim at increasing the awareness of the community to practice the 3R policy in their homes and places of work.

The company also invests in providing its customers with services and products which help them understand their environmental challenges and how to mitigate risks associated with the environment. The company uses this approach because it believes that for sustainability purposes, it must build the capacity of the people and community to let them understand their environment and take good care of it.

The company is concerned about global warming which is caused by carbon emissions. In order to curb carbon emissions to the atmosphere, the company has installed Rubber Tyres Gantries (RTGs) in most of its terminals.

The RTGs not only prevent carbon emission but they also reduce noise pollution since they are powered by the main grid which means that when they are operational, the main engine of the company is usually switched off. The company also monitors the carbon emissions by its vehicles to ensure that there is full fuel combustion. The vehicles which are found to have faulty fuel combustion systems are repaired or replaced.

As a result of its commitment to environmental conservation and commitment to the 3R policy, the company was awarded a certificate of recognition by a delegation from Bee’ah, which is one of the largest Middle East organisations dealing with waste management.

While receiving the certificate, the company’s managing director acknowledged their partnership with Bee’ah and reiterated his company’s commitment to environmental conservation especially in the Sharjah region of the UAE.

How Gulftainer behaves in a morally responsible way towards the Community

For many years since its inception, Gulftainer has engaged itself in various charitable initiatives especially in the Sharjah region of the UAE where it has sponsored various institutions in academics and co-curricular activities such as sports. Through the sponsorship, it buys school uniforms, learning, and sports equipments to the institutions with the aim of boosting their performance in academics and sports.

The organisation does not only provide sponsorship through purchase of equipments but it also encourages its staff to volunteer their time to coach and mentor communities for them to have crucial life skills such as interpersonal, public speaking, and sports skills among others.

The aim of the mentorship is to ensure that the company maintains a good relationship with the people and have a community which can sustain itself socially and economically.

Elsewhere in Iraq, the organisation has a policy of giving priority to Iraq citizens in employment opportunities. Giving the locals first priority in employment has a positive impact on the company in that it ensures domestication of the local culture in the organisation’s culture which has an overall effect of improving organisational efficiency and productivity due to cohesiveness in the organisation.

Apart from giving the Iraq citizens first priority in employment, the organisation participates in improving the welfare of the people through implementation of community centered projects such as donation of water purifiers to residents of Umm Qasr region.

Just like in other regions, the company also sponsors football clubs in Iraq with the aim of building rapport with them and especially the youth. The idea is to have a socially and economically empowered youth as future customers and employees.

The other way in which the company behaves in a morally responsible manner towards the people is through building prosperous communities.

The company believes that prosperous communities are based on prosperous economy and that is why it helps the communities to flourish by investing in industries and organisations which bring people together in groups for economic prosperity. Such groups are financed by the company to tackle various issues such as social inclusion and education.

Gulftainer’s Management Systems

The company has an integrated management system which has adequate linkages among various departments. The departmental heads usually consult each other and they put efforts in ensuring that all activities are in harmony with each other.

It has also embraced the concept of total quality management which comprises good and committed leadership, excellent product design, strategic planning, process management, customer involvement, employee involvement, dissemination of information and feedback, training and the management of supply quality.

The organisation also has in place a wide range of good practices such as customer satisfaction, care for the employees, teamwork, creativity, innovativeness, and observation of business ethics. It is a member of various quality focused bodies in the UAE.

Other quality practices include promotion of green and healthy environment, preservation of natural resources, employee development and prevention of pollution of the environment.

In regard to the relationship between the company and its employees, the company has a policy in form of employee code of conduct. The policy is guided by the principle that all employees should be treated fairly and accorded the dignity and respect which they deserve.

The policy reflects a morally responsible behaviour because the respect of employees is central to the success of any organisation. Treating employees with respect and dignity not only makes them motivated but also enables them get the intrinsic value of work.

The company also embraces the concepts of cultural diversity and gender sensitivity in its employment policy. It does so by ensuring that employees are not discriminated based on race, gender or colour.The Company also ensures that employees are trained from time to time so as to enhance their capacity to discharge their duties.

The training is part of the company’s initiative to ensure that the customers get quality services at any given time. Training of employees is a morally responsible behaviour because it not only improves the quality of services but also makes employees grow in their career.

Such training is also important for the employees because once they leave the company, it serves as an asset by giving them a competitive edge over other job seekers thus increasing their probability of being employed in other companies.

The company also has a policy which ensures that employees have a safe working environment which is not prone to accidents. It also ensures strict adherence to internal procedures not only by employees but also by suppliers as well. The staffs are also accorded what is referred to as supportive supervision to ensure compliance with the set rules and regulations for quality improvement.

The company has been ISO certified for three occasions; in 2008 for the implementation of the integrated management system, in 2004 for its environmental conservation efforts, and in 2007 for occupational health and safety. These ISO certifications and awards are a pointer of an excellent performance of the organisation. It has managed to establish a market niche for itself.

The leaders of the organisation are committed to a course of maintaining the unrivaled competition in the region. They also aspire to make the organisation more customers oriented by focusing on finding better ways of improving customer satisfaction.

Review of Gulftainer’s policies from a critical perspective with recommendations

Towards the environment

I agree with the company’s CSR perspective towards the environment. The reason is that it has managed to have environmental conservation programs both at the macro and micro levels. However, it needs to allocate more funds to environmental conservation. Apart from the marine turtle conservation project, there is no evidence of significant activities which the company undertakes to conserve the environment.

It needs for example to contribute towards the management of greenhouse gases which cause global warming. It can also partner with other governmental and non governmental organisations to launch comprehensive environmental conservation programs both at the national and international platform.

The company needs to not only create awareness about the 3R policy to community members but it also needs to capacity build them through provision of equipments and funds for them to effectively embrace the policy for sustainability purposes.

Towards People and Community

I do not agree with the company’s CSR perspective towards people and community. The reason is that people’s interests should be the central concern for any business and there is no evidence for that in the company’s operations. Even though the company has put in place some elaborate measures to fully engage the community, it has not done enough.

For instance, there is no evidence of its intensive involvement in programs or activities which improve the social well being of the people and communities where it has operations. Its programs seem to target educational institutions which in most cases have young people.

Such an approach is biased because the community is composed of people of different ages, education levels, and religion and therefore, there is need to come up with programs which meet the specific needs of different categories of people within a community.

For example, there is need to have programs which target married couples with the aim of providing them with guidance and counseling for happy unions. The company may also consider initiating programs which target people living with chronic illnesses such as HIV/ AIDS.

Through such programs, the company may focus on improving the social well being of such people through formation of support groups and educating the communities to become agents of fighting stigma.

Management Systems

I do not agree with the company’s management system from a CSR perspective. Even though the company has several ISO awards, there are some areas where it has not done well. According to the naked office website, the company has been accused of having poorly trained and inexperienced personnel at top leadership positions.

While it pays attention to the training of other staff, it has neglected the training and capacity building of its leaders and therefore, there is need for change so that it can have leaders who are not only experienced but also visionary and well equipped with the necessary skills and techniques of leadership. Such leadership would ensure that the company comes up with strategic business decisions which would propel it towards excellence.

There are also claims that the company places a lot of emphasis on cutting costs. The cutting on costs makes it have few employees in the branches serving the increasing number of clients. The employees therefore feel overworked without any additional compensation which is a form of exploitation.

For the company to make its customers more satisfied, there is need to recruit more employees to ensure that customers are served without delays. If it is not able to increase the number of employees, it needs to ensure that the employees are paid overtime so as to motivate them.

The company needs to as well scale up its employee motivation efforts by introducing more employee motivation programs and policies such as sponsorship programs for employees to further their studies, provision of retirement benefits, medical scheme for the workers, and promotions based on merit.

Conclusion

Gulftainer is one of the companies listed in the data base of the world’s most ethical companies. The company behaves in a morally responsible manner towards the community, the environment and employees through policies and guidelines which govern its business strategy and operations.

It ensures that the communities are supported to improve their living standards through empowering them with skills and implementing programs which boost their social well being. It also has a policy which ensures that local citizens are given priority in employment.

In regard to the environment, the company partners with other organisations to ensure the conservation of marine environment. It also embraces the 3R policy which advocates for utilisation of resources in an efficient manner and conservation of the environment through proper waste disposal.

However, the company can do better through deployment of more staff, payment of overtime to the employees, widening the scope of its social programs, and provision of employees with more benefits for them to become more productive. It also needs to partner with other organisations to launch comprehensive environmental conservation programs as a way of scaling up its efforts towards environmental conservation.

Works Cited

Aras, Güler, and David, Crowther. A Handbook of Corporate Governance and CSRSeries, Farnham: Gower Publishing Ltd, 2010.Print.

Bratton, John, and Jeff, Gold. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Palgrave: Macmillan, 2007. Print.

Carroll, Archie. A History of Corporate Social Responsibility, Oxford: Oxford university press, 2008. Print.

Kizza, Migga. , Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age, New York, NY: Springer, 2010. Print.

Mühle, Ursula. The Politics of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Rise of a Global Business Norm, New York: Campus Verlag, 2010.Print.

Scarre, Geoffrey. Utilitarianism, New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. Print.