Essay on Corporate Social Responsibility in eCommerce Companies

In the following article, the theory of knowledge management (TKM) is described as the systematisation of an organisation’s practices to facilitate consistent service and product delivery across divisions and regions. Organisation theory is approached from the postmodern perspective and expressed as comprising five separate elements: organisational activism, workplace humanism, societal context, multiple disciplines, and the value given to historical knowledge. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is addressed in its importance as a popular project for organisations, however, studies show that CSR does not present long-term value for most firms. Chia’s (1996) consideration of being-realism in organisational theory is evaluated, questioning the rationality of depicting strategies and goals with physicality in order to compare them. Mills, Boylstein, & Lorean (2001) provide an argument for a society heavily influenced by technology which causes individuals to feel a deep sense of impending doom, which is examined against related studies. Finally, Newton’s (1996) comparison of postmodernist theory, organisational theory, and feminist study within the context of actions in the postmodernist movement, is reviewed. The article concludes by critiquing postmodernist applications of organisational theory and their applicability when faced with real-world constraining elements, such as physical risks and time factors. It is suggested that this uneven transition outside of academics makes creating a functional organisational CSR model for ecommerce corporations impractical in long-range planning.