Key Terms

amenities

resources made available to employees in addition to wages, salary, and other standard benefits

descriptive approach

a theory that views the company as composed of various stakeholders, each with its own interests

diffused stakeholder

a stakeholder with an interest in a company’s decisions and whose impacts on a firm can be large even if the relationship is generally weaker than other types

enabling stakeholder

a stakeholder who permits an organization to function within the economic and legal system

ethical maximum

the strongest action a company can choose to behave ethically in a given situation

ethical minimum

the least a company might do to claim it holds an ethically positive position

exigency

the level of urgency of a stakeholder claim

functional stakeholder

a stakeholder whose relationships influence or govern an organization’s inputs and outputs

greenwashing

carrying out superficial CSR efforts that merely cover up systemic ethics problems for the sake of public relations

instrumental approach

a theory proposing that good management of stakeholders is important because it can help the bottom line

normative approach

a theory that considers stakeholders as ends unto themselves rather than means to achieve a better bottom line

normative stakeholder

a stakeholder in the organization’s industry who influences its norms or informal rules

social responsibility of business

the view that stakeholders are not the means to the end (profit) but are ends in and of themselves as human beings

stakeholder claim

a particular stakeholder’s interest in a business decision

stakeholder management

the process of accurately assessing stakeholder claims so an organization can manage them effectively

stakeholder prioritization

the process of deciding which stakeholders to focus on and in what sequence

triple bottom line (TBL)

a measure that accounts for an organization’s results in terms of its effects on people, planet, and profits