Page 66 - MARKETING & PUBLIC RELATIONS EBOOK IC88

benefit because they contribute directly to the activities and success of the organisation. The
activities have impacts on persons other than the stakeholders.
2. Organisations are powerful subsystems of the societal system. They are also instruments of
society to produce goods and services. They cannot function effectively if the society is not
healthy, just as organs of a body cannot function effectively, if the body as a whole is not
healthy. The health of the society has to be a matter of concern for any business organisation.
This is more so in the case of insurance companies. The underlying rationale of both life and
general insurance is the welfare of the society.

3. The activities of organisations have large multiplier effects on the society. The establishment of
the steel factory has given rise to the huge city that Jamshedpur now is. The origins of any huge
city may be found in the small business ventures that began in that area.

(b) Social Impact

1. Organisations are in command of large financial, human, technical and other resources. They are
the natural leaders of society. They transact with the society giving out and taking in. The people
go out from the organisation to the society and have their own interactions there. The nature of
these social interactions can be helpful to strengthen the fabric of the society or to weaken the
fabric. This depends on whether the practices of the organisation and the values underlying
them are consistent with those of the society or not.

2. The manner in which the press reports events (investigative journalism) tends to undermine
the faith of the public in institutions set up to safeguard the interests of society. In the process,
the press may also persuade some persons to commit breach of faith and disclose facts and
documents entrusted to their care and custody. They may also violate one's rights to privacy. All
these have impacts on society, on a long term basis.

3. An individual at work, who is used to being dependant, acting only on instructions and never on
his own, not used to taking responsibility, not decisive, who always seeks confirmation from
superiors on the correctness oil his thoughts, is unlikely to behave differently in his roles outside
work. As the head of the family or as a citizen, he would shun responsibility and main
dependant. But in those roles, he may be called upon to accept responsibility and be decisive
without a `superior' to confirm. Such demands cause stress. On the contrary, if organisational
practices are such that individuals are accustomed to taking responsibility in their respective
roles and striving to achieve what they have planned for, it becomes natural to perform their
other roles outside work comfortably and without stress. The consequential effects are also on
those whom they have to interact with in society.

4. Organisations have the capability to

 break down caste or parochial barriers through the secular fellowship that may exist within it
 develop appropriate hygiene and health care practices through provisions of medical facilities
and also through training, even for families

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