Corporate Social Responsibility and Workplace Democracy: Emerging Issues and Perspectives

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is business having responsibility to society, to its stakeholders. If one has to understand CSR from a historical perspective, it evolved from a philanthropic exercise into a strategic activity of the firm. In order to strategic CSR, the firm's core mission and vision should provide a socially beneficial foundation for enhanced economic growth. CSR represents the direct effort by a company to improve aspects of society by the firm as compared with the integral responsibilities that every firm has with respect to primary stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors and suppliers. Workplace practices are integral part of the firm, and hence it is inevitable aspect of CSR. Workplace practices too have evolved through different stages and became significant from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Later on, with the growth of research policy making, workplace practices became crucial for the growth in productivity and competitiveness of the firm. This paper will examine the emerging issues of CSR and workplace democracy and its impact. This work will examine the point of convergence between CSR and workplace democracy. It will also evaluate the essential dynamics that rule in a workplace democratic practice.