Pluralistic Society Characteristics

Pluralistic Society

• Power is dispersed among many groups and people, preventing concentration of power in a single institution or small group.
• Strengths of a pluralistic society include:
  • Preventing power concentration in the hands of a few
  • Maximizing freedom of expression and action
  • Creating a balance between monism and anarchy
  • Providing a built-in set of checks and balances
• Weaknesses of a pluralistic society include:
  • Creating an environment in which diverse institutions pursue their own self-interests, leading to no unified direction
  • Proliferation of groups and institutions, causing confusion about which organizations serve which functions

Special Interest Groups

• A pluralistic society often becomes a special-interest society with tens of thousands of special-interest groups, each pursuing its own focused agenda.
• Characteristics of special interest groups include:
  • Active, intense, diverse, and focused
  • Can attract a significant following
  • Often work at cross-purposes, with no unified goals
  • Make life more complex for business and government

Factors in the Social Environment

• Affluence and education create higher expectations of major institutions, leading to a revolution of rising expectations.
• Growing public awareness through media and the internet contributes to this phenomenon.
• Consequences of the revolution of rising expectations include:
  • Entitlement mentality
  • Rights movement
  • Victimization philosophy

Business and Power

• Business power is the ability to produce an effect or bring influence to bear on a situation or people.
• The Iron Law of Responsibility states that those who do not use power responsibly will tend to lose it.

Social Contract

• Elements of the social contract include:
  • Laws or regulations
  • Business
  • Society or societal stakeholder groups
  • Shared understandings of each other

Managerial Approach

• Managers deal with social and ethical concerns in a practical, balanced, and impartial way.
• Managers integrate traditional economic and financial considerations with ethical and social considerations.

Urgent versus Enduring Issues

• Short-term issues require quick responses from management.
• Long-term issues require thoughtful organizational responses.

Business Ethics and Sustainability

• Ethical questions arise during business operations, focusing on issues of right, wrong, fairness, and justice.
• Business ethics focuses on ethical issues in the commercial realm.
• Sustainability refers to preserving the environment for future generations, embracing environmental, economic, and social criteria.

Stakeholder Management

• Stakeholders are individuals or groups with which business interacts and who have a vested interest in the firm.
• Stakeholders include external stakeholders (government, consumers, natural environment, community members) and internal stakeholders (employees, corporate governance, others).