Introduction
Measuring social performance is difficult, however, because of its link to the issue of organizational effectiveness an organization’s social performance is an indistinguishable component of its effectiveness. Social performance is adequately defined as the extent to which an organization meets the needs, expectations, and demands of certain external constituencies beyond those directly linked to the company’s services. It is also referred to as participant observation, ecological model, or external effectiveness. Its measurement, involving the perceptions of all external constituencies in an overall index, is at best impractical (). One approach is to develop reputational indices, listing companies exhibiting good or bad social performance. The relationship between social disclosure, social performance, and economic performance is best expressed by the view that social responsiveness requires from management the same superior skills required to make a firm profitable. Socially responsive firms in terms of social disclosure and social performance should outperform non responsive or less responsive ones in terms of profitability as measured by accounting variables such as a rate of return on investment, and market variables such as a differential stock price return ( ).
More recently the arrival of social issues into the organization debate has gained attention and is being seen by some as the next wave. These two trends are often put forward as being what sustainability is about the integration of social and environmental issues into decision making. One of the key outcomes of this evolution is a changing role for organizations in society. One of the reasons this is important is because when people see sustainability as only the incorporation of environmental and social questions into decision making (). If people will examine it in the context of some broader shifts in society, then responding to it becomes not only easier, but it also becomes an opportunity with a series of benefits. The environmental issue has moved from the fringe to the mainstream ().
It has shifted from being an issue which needed to be addressed, and into a basic part of society’s values and beliefs. Environmental and social movements tend to break down in similar ways. Despite public positions advocating radical change, many environmental and social change organizations are internally very conservative (). Organizations have very important responsibilities to the changing society. This responsibilities focus on the need of the public to know the actions by the organization and reasons for such action. An issue between societies and organizations involves the restrictions on entrance of a person to an organization. Organizations have the right to restrict those people who want to join their organization but the society’s problem with this is restrictions with regards to the gender, gender preference and religious beliefs. One organization that has restrictions on the gender, gender preference and religious beliefs is Boy Scouts of America. The paper will discuss about the Boy Scouts of America. The paper will also discuss why such organization has these kinds of restrictions.
Boy scouts of America
When , an Englishman and a soldier, observed how valuable outdoor survival skills were in time of war, he founded the Boy Scouts in England. Some Americans already had similar organizations. In 1910 American businessman joined and others to create the official Boy Scouts of America. By 1916 there were more than a quarter of a million Boy Scouts throughout America. The girls were not far behind. At a Boy Scout rally held in 1909 in England, a number of girls appeared and asked to join. felt a separate organization would be preferable, and he asked his sister to organize it. Juliette Low of Savannah, Georgia, observed the success of the English Girl Guides firsthand and when she returned to the United States in 1912, ten girls inspired by her experience formed their own troop. Low wrote the first Girl Scout handbook (). Camping and the outdoor life have been the primary focus of the scouting movement for both boys and girls, with the aim of making young teens independent and helpful to each other and to others ().
This goal has expanded and shifted to fit the changing times. During both world wars, the Boy Scouts were placed at the service of the U.S. government. Both Boy and Girl Scouts are encouraged to be active in their communities, whether rural or inner city. Scouting broadened the experiences of girls in ways not otherwise available to them. It provided inexpensive camp attendance and regular opportunities to talk to a non parental adult about teen concerns (). The Boy Scouts of America offers two programs for increasing adolescents’ knowledge of career roles. The first program, Career Awareness Exploring, is a series of in-school seminars in which a number of professional adults from the community speak about their training for and work in their respective occupations. These adults typically include role models from the students’ own background, including minorities and women who may be in nontraditional occupations. These seminars were designed to expose youth to a variety of careers in order for youth to understand a number of options available in choosing a career. The second program, Explorer Posts, is designed to give scouts an opportunity to learn about a particular hobby, sport, or general interest area. Most Explorer Posts are career related ( ).
A way that youth groups can augment school learning is to provide students with opportunities that may not be available in their schools. There are several organizations that are currently doing just that. The Boy Scouts of America Explorer program provides exposure to adult role models in occupations. Such innovative programs as these encourage the building of links between the community and the school (). The Boy Scouts of America provides various services to the community. This involves helping straighten out young people and making them better members of society. The Boy scouts of America engage in out reach programs to different groups of society. This organization also provided some assistance to soldiers and other casualties of the war era.
Issue in membership
With the Supreme Court signaling open season on any organization deemed by state law to be a public accommodation, the Boy Scouts of America soon became a leading target of antidiscrimination lawsuits. Activists accused the Scouts of violating state and local public accommodations laws by excluding gays, atheists, and girls. Gays are excluded because the Scouts’ leadership believes that homosexual activity violates the Scout Oath, which requires scouts to be morally straight, a provision Scout leaders have construed to forbid non marital sex, including homosexual sex (). Atheists and agnostics are excluded because the Scout Oath requires an acknowledgment of a scout’s duty to God. Girls are excluded because the Scouts believe that the moral education of boys is best undertaken in a single-sex atmosphere. Those who objected to the Scouts’ policies were free to found the Straight and Gay Scouts or the Godless Scouts or the Boy and Girl Scouts. Dissident scouts also could join one of the many established youth organizations that do not discriminate on the basis of sex, religious belief, or sexual orientation ().
Some activists nonetheless sued the Scouts with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, and eventually with help from local government anti discrimination agencies. Several courts rejected these claims, but only because the Scouts was not a public accommodation subject to the relevant anti discrimination law. Courts, meanwhile, consistently held that the Scouts had no constitutional expressive association right to discriminate to defend its creed (). The Boy Scouts of America excludes gays from its membership. Nor can gay men serve as adult scout leaders. The organization also excludes women. These exclusions have been tested under various state and federal public accommodations statutes. Some courts have ruled that the Boy Scouts organization is not a place of public accommodation as that term is used in the applicable statute (). Founded in 1910 the Boy Scouts of America was based on the nature survival book scouting for Boys written by British War veteran . had written a training manual for the military titled Aids to Scouting that he redrafted for the character training of boys into true manliness. wanted boys to have the training that would help them become the stuff of the British nation’s colonialist fantasies ().
But behind his physical prowess, knowledge, and character, the scout was in some general way to be a believer in a practical working religion, an ecumenical form of Christianity that presented as a new chivalry in which the knights appeared as the patrol leaders of the nation devoted to public service and honor. As the twentieth century wore on, the Boy Scouts of America became racially integrated and inclusive of all males except homosexuals, and at the dawn of the twenty first century, the Supreme Court upheld their right to make this one exclusion to the fraternity of men (). While the Boy Scouts of America have promised to integrate men of all races into national manhood, their exclusion of gay men suggests that the greater anxiety and threat to the cult of manhood is now homosexuality (). Racism has been the problem for the society since time immemorial. It has created human conflicts and it caused world wars. Measures have been used by society to counter such problems but it continues to exist in society and in every culture in the world. Racism involves not only the outcast of people not having the same color as the general public, it involves setting aside people with a different culture, religion, tradition or birth place. Even in organizations such as boy scouting Racism is imminent. The boy scouts of America known for their social activities and assistance to young people have been questioned with regards to having racist tendencies against people and their gender preference, religious beliefs and sexuality. The society tries to correct such problem with laws and other logical activities. But only the Boy Scouts of America can change this outlook and fix this issue with society.
Conclusion
The Boy Scouts of America provides various services to the community. This scouting organization may give much assistance to the society but it still has issues with society. One issue is the membership racism. Racism has been the problem for the society since time immemorial. Even in organizations such as boy scouting Racism is imminent. The boy scouts of America have been questioned with regards to having racist tendencies against people and their gender preference, religious beliefs and sexuality. Only the Boy Scouts of America can change this outlook and fix this issue with society.
References
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