Corporate social responsibility and ethics has developed into a central part of business operations. Social responsibility may be in terms of ethics, corporate citizenship, governance and engagement in socially responsible investments (Flynn 77). Darden is one of the companies which have embraced social responsibility. Darden is the leading casual dinning restaurant in the United States and Canada. The firm owns four brands i.e. Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze and Season 52 (Ford 31).
Darden has established a body called the Darden Restaurants Foundation thorough which the firm conducts its social responsibility activities. The firm has contributed over $17.58 million in the neighboring community. Recently, the firm pledged to financially support and train students who take certain courses at the University of Florida (Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire).
Darden also established the Darden Environmental Trust which focuses on environmental sustainability projects. More than 70% of the food sold by Darden is seafood. Therefore, the company ensures that all the suppliers of this product use environmentally friendly means of production. This includes the use of sustainable aquaculture resources (OECD 71).
Darden is a good corporate citizen as it acknowledges and caters for the diversity. The firms objective is to satisfy the customers and offer them services that exceed expectations. Since people in one community have varying preferences and tastes, the Darden provides a variety of meals that can appeal to a wide range of customers. For instance, the areas where there are many Hispanics have Spanish menus (George and Jones 105).
Darden has a formal code of business conduct and ethics which includes professional ethics, societal ethics and personal ethics. The ethical standards of the organization are communicated to the public using a policy statement. The firm aims to operate with integrity, fairness, respect and concern for those it deals with (George and Jones 105). The employees of the firm are expected to maintain the business conducts and ethics policies.
Failure to observe these policies may lead to disciplinary action including termination of employment. The firm’s policies include a clause concerning whistle blower protection. It is stated that any employer who reports an infringement of policies or rules will be subject to anonymity to ensure that there is no harassment or malice toward the whistleblower. It is also stated that there will be no retaliation against a person who provides management with information about a certain suspicious event (Darden concepts).
Darden recognizes the fact that it has a responsibility to respond to the needs in the community. Maximizing shareholders value is not all that a company should focus on.
Darden ensures that ethical issues in the organization are dealt with in an equitable and fair manner (Darden concepts). This was displayed in the case when a waitress working in the restaurant was fired. Ms. Hatton employment was terminated after she took the key to the comment box.
The peer review program which was used to prevent unjust dismissals was employed in this situation. The panel assembled three weeks after Ms.Hatton was fired to discuss the matter. Some people were called to give testimonies concerning the incident. After thorough deliberations, the management and employees were able to agree and settled for a unanimous course of action (Carroll and Buchholtz 927)
Works Cited
Carroll, Archie and Buchholtz, Ann. Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire. Darden restuarnts foubdation creates diversity and business ethics endowment at university of Florida. Web
Darden Concepts. Darden Restuarants Policy Statements: Code of Business conduct and ethics. 2009. Web.
Elaine, Ingulli and Halbert, Terry. Law & Ethics in the Business Environment. OH: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Flynn, Gabriel. Leadership and Business Ethics. Dublin: Springer, 2008. Print.
Ford, Robert. Darden Restaurants CEO Joe Lee on the importance of core values: Integrity and fairness. Academy of Management Executive. 16.1 (2002): 31-36. Print.
Goliath. A Matter of Ethics. Gale Group. 2009. Web.
Jones Gareth and George Jennifer. Essentials of Contemporary Management. New York: McGraw Hill Professional, 2003. Print.
OECD. Globalisation and fisheries: proceedings of an OECD-FAO workshop. Thailand: OECD Publishing, 2007. Print.
Sims, Ronald. Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.