AN APPRAISAL OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON CORPORATE ORGANIZATION IN ENUGU

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Towards the end of 1800s to the early 1990s the mission of business firms was exclusively economic. During this period, the cardinal purpose of business owners is to make as much profit as possible. To underscore the above assertion, Milton Friedman 1972:88 had contended that the only responsibility of the business is to make as much profit as it can for the owners. Today, partly due to the interdependencies of many groups in our society, the values, goals and attitudes of the society changed significantly. This accounts for the complexity in the society in the area of social, economic as well as environmental problems which have been experienced. This situation is in consonance with the view of Ackerman 1973:89, when he opined that the people increased awareness has brought some expectation and demand to bear on companies to be socially responsible to the society in which they operate. Thus we often talk about the social responsibility and social responsiveness of all organizations although the focus of this study shall be on corporate organizations. There is a question as to what the social responsibility of business really means

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

Oil spillage in some of the oil producing state is alarming and some pollution caused by industries in our country is on the high rate. The problems of the communities where the oil companies operate bring these problems constructively to the attention of the companies with which they have developed regular form for meetings.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The corporate organizations naturally have its own mix and different emphasis. The overall objectives of every organisation are survival growth, profit, economic contribution and social obligation. It is known fact that firms in Nigeria usually lay more emphasis on profit maximization. The objective of this research work includes the following:

i. To examine the general attitude of ANAMMCO towards social responsibility.

ii. To examine the consequences of the company ignoring its social responsibilities.

iii. To evaluate the problems which hinder the performance of social responsibility practice by ANAMMCO.

iv. To recommend possible solutions for the identified problems.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To ensure an indepth research work with a view to providing best solutions to problems identified, the study will make us of the following four 4 research questions:

i. Could business organisation carryout a successful social responsibility practice

ii. Should social responsibility be legalized

iii. In what form should social responsibility be performed

iv. Where should funds for carrying out these social responsibility programmes come from

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Based on the four research questions already mentioned, the following hypotheses were formulated:

HYPOTHESES 1

Ho: Business organizations can not carryout a successful social responsibility practice.

Hi: Business organizations can significantly carry out a successful social responsibility practice.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The importance of the study cannot be overemphasized given the interdependencies of many groups in our society. The study is therefore important because, it will not only examine the attitude of business organisation towards the issue of social responsibility but will go a long way to help these organisation on policy making decision in order to eliminate the negative effects and consequences of these attitudes in the discharge of social responsibility practices.