Task 1

AC 1.1 Identify the purposes of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) the National Health Service of UK (NHS), the Red Cross and any cooperative society in UK that you are familiar with.

The purposes of all the organizations vary from each other because they deal in a diverse range of products. Primarily, the common objective of all the organizations is to expand the number of customers that would lead to an increase in the profit margin. Health organizations are also not an exception to this. The fact that different organizations have varying objectives is evident from the following:

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): It is a UK based pharmaceutical organization that provides people with various medicines for their diseases. This company aims to offer people with an advanced health care service and motivate the employees to do the same (Brandon, Joines, Powell, Cruse and Kononenko, 2012). The business management has opted to improve the quality of medicinal products which will prove to be beneficial for the health of the patients by providing them with longer lives.

National Health Service (NHS): Creating awareness among people regarding different types of diseases is one of the primary objectives of NHS. Based in UK, it provides health related services in UK as well as in other parts of the world. It also motivates the staff to improve the healthcare services that they offer to individuals.

Red Cross- Red Cross was initially formed to offer services to the wounded in wars and battles. It later expanded to provide help to the people suffering from natural disasters. However, with time the organization has not restricted itself to these two purposes. This organization engages itself in social care by helping people who are in need of blood. Red Cross does no aim to gain money from the services it offers to communities and individuals and a lot of people act as volunteers (Lindsay, 2011).

The Co-operative Bank- This bank in UK aims to provide financial help to cooperatives by following ethical and legal values. It tries to bring about a positive change in the lives of individuals.

AC1.2 Describe the extent to which GSK meets the objectives of its key stakeholders.

Stakeholders are people who are associated with an organization in some way or the other. They can be divided into two categories, namely, internal and external stakeholders. The internal stakeholders comprise of managers, investors, employees, etc. and the external stakeholders consist of suppliers, government, customers and so on. These stakeholders have certain expectations from the organization because of which the management follows various policies in order to meet them which holds true for GSK as well:

Employees:If the employees were not present, then it would not have been possible for the organization to work for the welfare of the common people. In order to retain the employees, the management of GSK provides them with increments and other financial benefits. The employees consider the financial accounting as rewards for their performances.

Consumers: No organization would have existed in the absence of customers. It is the primary duty of a healthcare organization like GSK to meet the requirements of the customers by providing them with superior quality services (Epstein and Buhovac, 2014). The medicines should be such that they help the customers to lead healthy lives. The researchers meet the patients individually for gaining proper knowledge about their diseases.

Suppliers:The suppliers are responsible for supplying raw materials to GSK. The management of GSK gives its suppliers proper payments so that the trustworthy suppliers do not quit working for the organization. The company also organizes audits for the suppliers so that they can work on the same line and towards the same objectives.

Shareholders: The shareholders must be informed about the future ventures of the firm (Kotler and Maon, 2016). GSK provides its shareholders with appropriate profit shares and also includes them in case the organization suffers from losses.

AC 1.3 Explain the responsibilities GSK has towards its key stakeholders and the strategies employed to meet them (Your answers should include at least one of each of the contractual, legal, and social responsibilities).

An organization holds several types of responsibilities towards its stakeholders while operating in a society. GSK is also expected to fulfill its responsibilities which can be divided as legal, social care and contractual responsibilities:

Contractual: GSK is bound by contract to fulfill the demands of the shareholders by providing them with appropriate returns for the money they have invested. They should also be informed about future endeavors before further investments. The management is also bound to provide the employees with equal opportunities in the workplace without any kind of discrimination on the basis of caste, color, race, gender, etc.

Legal: It is very important for an organization to maintain all the governmental rules and regulations during its operation. GSK, like any other firm, needs to pay proper taxes to the government (Ashton Acton, 2012). The workplace environment should be maintained abiding by the laws put down by the government. GSK safeguards the employees from any kind of possible danger. The environment of the workplace is safe and sound and does not act as a risk for the employees.

Social: The management of GSK uses the natural resources in a sustainable manner so that the production of its medicines does not cause threat to the environment. The medicines must not harm any consumer as well (Adi, Grigore and Crowther, 2015). The organization should also try to prevent environmental pollution as much as it can. It is very important to use recyclable materials for the packaging of medicines in order to reduce the amount of wastes in the society.

References

Adi, A., Grigore, G. and Crowther, D. eds., 2015. Corporate social responsibility in the digital age (Vol. 7). Emerald Group Publishing.
Ashton Acton, Q., 2012. Pharmaceutical Companies: 2011 Edition. Scholarly Editions.
Brandon, J., Joines, R., Powell, T., Cruse, S. and Kononenko, C., 2012. Developing Fully Engaged Leaders That Bring out the Best in Their Teams at GlaxoSmithKline. Online Journal of International System Analysis, 3(2).
Epstein, M.J. and Buhovac, A.R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in Business managementand measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Kotler, P. and Maon, F., 2016. A Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility: Pressures, Conflicts, and Reconciliation. Routledge.
Lindsay, B.R., 2011. Social media and disasters: Current uses, future options, and policy considerations.