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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