Business Law, Ethics, and CSR in the UK

Business Law and Ethics

Essay

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Assignment 1: Essay

This essay will cover the understanding of the fundamentals of the Legal System of English Law, business law and the Company Law, the international aspect of the business law and the company law, referring to the Corporate Governance and the ethical issues within the legislation, the structure of the UK employment law, and what is the impact it has on the employers and employees, the working of the Corporate Social Responsibility within the Organizations.

The Employment Law is the kind of legislation that guides the relationship of Employee and Employer, which covers the grievances and unfair dismissal, of the employees, harassment and discrimination of employees based on the minimum wage, equal pay, age-based discrimination, disability, holiday pay, and other reasons for the dismissal (Dahlin et al., 2020). The Major Sources of such law, are common law, European Law, and statute.The structure of the UK employment law is followed by the procedure that almost all jurisdictions follow, where, an employment contract is considered valid if it is in writing.

Some obligations are considered, on the part of the employees, which need to be strictly adhered to. Several Laws exist that revolve around the Law of employment, such as The Law of Torts, common law, Labour Relations Act, 1992, Employment Relations Act, 2004, Data Protection Act 1998. The workers/employees that work in the UK, are self-employed, independent contractors, or Agency workers, who will be employed under this employment law (Nyame-Asiamah and Ghulam, 2019). This law supports both the employee as well as the employer, accordingly to the circumstances. Various kind of employment includes the different kinds of rights and liabilities for the employee and the employer. The tribunals that cover the employment-related disputes are the employment tribunal. Under the National Minimum Wages Act, 1988, Salary and wage-related disputes are sorted.

For instance, the clause related to “maternity Leave” is essential for the woman employee, and infringement of such a right may cause serious repercussions to the said company (Khattak et al., 2019).The clause of Data Protection, precisely protects the personal information of the employee, to avoid legal disputes.The employer is also liable for the protection of the health and safety of the employee, for protection from risk, and for providing a safeworkplace. There must not be any kind of unfair dismissal of the employee, that will be compensated at a later stage. Employees have been provided with the Right to Know, the Right to refuse unsafe work, and many other rights.

Therefore, UK Employment Law favours, both the employee and the employer, to not be partial to any of its stakeholders, and the policy of equality is followed.The fundamentals of the English legal system, company, and business law, include the independent judiciary, and the compliance with the Rule of Law, these factors inspire the confidence of the members in the business, and it is based on the International Trade and investment, it is predictable and fair, the arbitration and litigation, are the most cost-saving procedures. Even post-Brexit, it will not have any impact on the New York Convention on Arbitral Awards. All of these factors influence the efficiency of the UK’s insurance, financial and commercial centers, via strong support with the regulatory law, the UK has a strong yet incorruptible judiciary, that consists of the senior legal professionals, who precisely make sure, that the dispute resolution is predictable and fair (Nadaf and Navi, 2017).

For an example of a company, taking CSR strictly in the UK, as stated by Pahlow and Teupe (2019), Company named Unilever, in the UK, follows a deep relationship between business and the law, and CSR is not a compulsion for the UK enterprises, and is, therefore, a voluntary activity on the part of various enterprises, their focus is on the deeper understanding of the CSR law and policies under it. It was declared that the changing policy of the market conditions, was due to the constitution of various companies, law plays a crucial role in the success of a company, but to a limited extent. The respective company has invested a lot of time and energy in the building of the CSR, with the time, .by opting for various approaches like the transformation of the supply chain, rooting out ethical issues from the organization, skilling the future, closing of the employment gaps, improvement in the lives of senior citizens and other improvement areas.

The main aim of the CSR policy is to enhance the environment, resolve all of its issues with the help of business operations, by obtaining the desired products, that are plastic-free, with no chemical or harmful products utilized in their production, wastewater management, recycling of products,and other things. Following the CSR policy, theorganization is assisted in the enhancement of the working of the employees, and the productivity levels increases (Miller and Akdere, 2019). The soundness of the business and the planet is the aim of every organization. The role of customers, and all the members of the business, play a crucial role in the benefit of the entity, and therefore, are called the responsible stakeholders of the company.

The extent to which corporations take Corporate Social Responsibility Seriously is wide, as no company wants to Company and business law, in the UK just like other countries, focuses on the best utilization of the human capital, from the various parts of the world. On the demonstration of the ethical conduct by the entity, the chances of success increase, as many investors have an eye over the company's activities and the finances (Albitar, Al-Shaer, and Elmarzouky, 2021). The primary aim of corporate governance is to encourage individuals affected by the corporation, to get the main idea about behaving in an organization, and thus it keeps on growing and growing.

Corporate governance, as had many instances in the UK, lead to certain scams. Good corporate governance helps in the prevention of corporate scandals, criminal and civil liability, and fraud by the members of the organization. This also increases the accountability of the organization, towards its stakeholders, customers, members, partners, and whomsoever concerned individuals, as it develops the honesty policy among the members, which helps in keeping the company out of trouble (Delautre and Abriata, 2018).Without getting the desired regulations for the advancement of the CSR in a company, the products of the entity will start losing their value, after a certain period, as more and more public in the recent times, is focused on getting the desired sustainable product, that protects them, and does not in anyway harm their body, or anything else.The SEBI committee has defined corporate governance, as the acceptance of the rights of the shareholder by the management, and their roles as trustees. The whole process of this kind of governance includes the function of monitoring, all the activities, practices, policies, and deals, with a fair, and strategic, management of the organization. Every country has a different structure, for CSR functioning.

Ethical issues within an international contextare explained by the various repercussions that a company has to face, the bankruptcy cases that have arisen in the recent era, due to some corrupt practices experienced by various employees of the organization. The entire economy and the reputation of that entity are shaken due to such practices.The Environment protection can be achieved by the effective utilization of the natural resources, the technology replacement, recycling of the products, wastewater management, controlling air pollution, this declares the competitive advantage of the CSR policy, as it enhances the image of the organization of the public, saving of costs, competitive advantage. The role of managers need to be taken into consideration, as they are the key player determining the profit of the company, there are approximately 84% of the businessman in the UK, who are responsible for the effectiveness of the CSR policy (ElGammal, El-Kassar and Messarra, 2018). The focus is also on the enhancement in the sustainability maintenance of the entity, which is ensured by the Board of Directors, as they play a key role in maintaining the environment.

This essay has covered the crucial role CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility), has played in various organizations and the impact it has on the growth of the business, and it also covers the Employment Law, of the UK, and the pros and cons it has on the employees and employers.

References

Albitar, K., Al-Shaer, H. and Elmarzouky, M., 2021. Do assurance and assurance providers enhance COVID-related disclosures in CSR reports? An examination in the UK context. International Journal of Accounting & Information Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJAIM-01-2021-0020/full/html

Dahlin, P., Ekman, P., Röndell, J. and Pesämaa, O., 2020. Exploring the business logic behind CSR certifications. Journal of Business Research, 112, pp.521-530. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319307210

Delautre, G. and Abriata, B.D., 2018. Corporate social responsibility: Exploring determinants and complementarities. ILO Research Department Working Paper, 38. http://englishbulletin.adapt.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/wcms_654735.pdf

ElGammal, W., El-Kassar, A.N. and Messarra, L.C., 2018. Corporate ethics, governance and social responsibility in MENA countries. Management Decision. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MD-03-2017-0287/full/html

Khattak, S.I., Jiang, Q., Li, H. and Zhang, X., 2019. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and leadership: Validation of a multi-factor framework in the United Kingdom (UK). Journal of Business Economics and Management, 20(4), pp.754-776. https://journals.vgtu.lt/index.php/JBEM/article/view/9852

Miller, K.E. and Akdere, M., 2019. Advancing organizational corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda: Implications for training and development. European Journal of Training and Development, 43(9), pp.860-872. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJTD-10-2018-0107/full/html

Nadaf, S.M. and Navi, B.S., 2017. Corporate Governance: Issues, Opportunities and Challenges. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335159502_Corporate_Governance_Issues_Opportunities_and_Challenges

Nyame-Asiamah, F. and Ghulam, S., 2019. The relationship between CSR activity and sales growth in the UK retailing sector. Social Responsibility Journal. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/srj-09-2018-0245/full/html