What are the social responsibilities of an educational manager in order to run successfully the business?

Here we are dealing with another aspect of the work of directing and managing, namely the relationship which directors and managers have with the community in which they live and work, of which they are a part.

Decisions taken by directors and managers affect the community, affect the quality of life and indeed the safety of health and life of the people in a widening area.

We already defined responsibility <1> by saying that When I give a person work to do, I hold him accountable for the way in which he does it, i.e. he is responsible to me. This is the meaning of responsibility.

Hence when we are talking about the 'social responsibilities of directors and managers' then we are talking about their responsibilities towards society, i.e. towards the community.

What we are saying is that the purpose of enterprises is to satisfy the needs of the community and that in the end directors and managers are working for the community and that they are accountable to the community for the way in which this work is done.

In other Words, directors and managers are responsible to the community for what they do, are accountable to the community for the results of their work and for the way in which such results are achieved.

Again, this is one end of a scale. It is the 'participative' end of the scale and describes the relationship between the community and its leadership. To understand the point of balance in the many organisations which are neither at one extreme nor the other, we again need to look at the other extreme end of the scale.

In theory the 'profit motive' and 'free competition' are supposed to direct effort into areas and directions most needed by the community. In practice it is only infrequently that we have a free market in which prices for needed goods and services are freely determined by supply and demand. Oil prices are determined by what the producers can persuade the customers to pay and the oil producers consult with each other about what to charge next and in this way bring pressure to bear on their customers. Solicitors not only lay down the scale of fees for conveyancing but in addition exclude competition by preventing others from doing the same work. Prices for goods tend not to be the cost of production plus a reasonable margin but tend to be determined by what one can persuade people to pay for what one can persuade them to buy. And demand can be manipulated by the mass media.

In practice directors are required by law to act first and foremost in the interests of the owners so that it is profit which is maximised. At this end of the scale, profit is maximised regardless of the cost to others, i.e. regardless of the cost to the community. Since it is long-term profits which are being maximised, profits are maximised regardless of the cost to the community but only to the extent of the likelihood <2> of repercussions.

Thus we now need to consider how to assess the work of directors and managers from the point of view of the extent to which their work either serves or harms the community.

Hence we now look at some major problems and disasters which have already taken place as the result of preoccupation with profit regardless of the cost to the community and draw some relevant conclusions.