Question
Description
What is the difference between being ecologically responsible and being socially responsible? How does that impact the idea of global production? Global production is, largely, an economic decision based on globalization and ease of production in other countries. How can a company be socially responsible and still maintain a global production operation? You will likely have to address this question at some point in your career.
For this assignment, identify an existing product that you think represents the new era of design. This product should, using your reading terms, present a systemic solution to a social problem. Come up with a thesis exploring why and how this product is an example of the new paradigm.
Purpose
To explain how an existing product is an example of the new design paradigm.
Answer
The New Era of Design
Despite the fact that being ecologically responsible and being socially responsible, both concepts have significant differences. Ecological responsibility largely focuses on pushing companies and individuals to operate in a manner that they protect the environment to ensure that manufacturers and producers protect the ecology in the areas they operate. On the other hand, social responsibility seeks to attain a balance between profit-making activities in an organization with activities that benefit the society at large. Social responsibility seeks to develop a business that supports positive relationships with the society in which they operate (McDonald, 2014). Therefore, it is correct to state that social responsibility has higher benefits to the society compared to ecological responsibility. An example of a responsible ecological product in the society today is electric cars that help to minimize air pollution through the emission of carbon dioxide into the air.
In the recent past, air pollution has become one of the major social problems in the society. The higher level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has significantly contributed to global warming. However, with the introduction of electric cars in this generation, there is a higher chance of minimizing if not eliminating air pollution as a result of diesel and petrol vehicles. An electric car is electrically powered by motors that use electrical energies preserved in reversible batteries (McDonald, 2014). Therefore, electric cars are eco-friendly as they use electric power to run their engines and do not emit toxic smoke in the environment.
From the definition of social responsibility, it is evident that electric cars are socially responsible as they balance profit-making activities such as transportation as well as manufacturing and designing of the automobiles while at the same time providing benefits to the society. The fact that they do not emit toxic gases is a benefit to the society.
References
McDonald, S. (2014). Social responsibility clusters arising from social partnerships. Social Responsibility Journal, 10(2), 331-347. doi:10.1108/srj-12-2012-0152
Raines, G. B. (2009). Electric vehicles: Technology, research and development. New York: Nova Science
