"Individual Social Responsibility"

Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) is a moral belief where we as individuals, have a responsibility toward society. Being "socially responsible" is about all individuals behaving ethically and sensitively towards social, economic, and environmental issues.

Individual social responsibility is the responsibility of every individual for his/her actions. It is a moral responsibility that everyone should act in such a way that they do not affect people around them. Every individual should be committed towards upliftment of various social causes. Individual, instead of giving importance to material means should focus on the welfare of others, Individual social responsibility can only function if individual rise above the self-interest and opt for options which will benefit a large number of people. Every individual can make a small contribution to society in any form- from saving natural resources to doing charity & more.

Corporations do not make decisions; they simply set the milieu in which individuals make choices. Even that milieu is itself a product of a myriad of decisions made by individuals in the past. Hence, to expect corporations to change in a manner that enhances their “social responsibility” requires that multiple components of a system must be realigned; for example, Investors must make decisions that influence managers, managers must make decisions that influence employees who must make decisions that influence customers. Not all of these decisions are what economists call “Pareto optimal”. In other words, a corporation’s CSR policy may not be a “win-win” for all involved. Consumers may have to pay higher prices, employees may face workplace restrictions, and managers might lose control over aspects of their decision making power.

In addition, it is irrelevant to speak of corporate social responsibility (CSR) without understanding that for corporations to be socially responsible we all have to be socially responsible as individuals in our various roles. We are all consumers. We are all investors. We are all employees. Hence, we cannot expect CSR without ISR at the very least.

Some of the manifestations of Individual Social Responsibility are:

• Making decisions based on what is good for the greatest number of people;
• Promoting individual self-interest as long as it does not harm others;
• Making decisions with a belief that everyone has a fundamental right that should be respected and protected;
• Making decisions which treat everyone fairly and consistently;
• Individuals have an ethical responsibility to friends and family, and businesses are obligated to promote ethics in the workplace;
• Every individual must follow a moral path;
• All individuals must make sure that no action of theirs impacts the environment in a negative manner;
• All individuals must avoid engaging in socially harmful acts;
• The aim of every individual is to ensure that there is no harm of any sort but a benefit to society;

“Individual Social Responsibility is a state in which a person expresses an intention to take action directed toward remediation of social and environmental problems”.