Pass Along a Slice of Kindness

A business as a whole is not entitled to conform to any social responsibility, however every individual contains a certain set of ethical principles that reflect in the way they work. For instance, if a person feels compelled to devote “[their] own money or time or energy,”[1] then they are doing so voluntarily. In some cases, when an individual working for the business highlights their ethics through their work, the entire business is placed on a positively viewed platform amongst the public. For example, the owner of Rosa’a Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia, Mason Wartman, has allowed his ethics to be highlighted in his work. Previously working on wall street at a desk job, Wartman decided to quit his job and open up his own pizza parlour that would soon become a success. Rosa’s Fresh Pizza is well-known amongst the community of Philadelphia due to its unique charitable program called “pay-it-forward.”[2] Customers are encouraged to donate a dollar to pre-pay for a slice of pizza for someone in need. In a city like Philadelphia that is consumed with thousands of homeless people, the pay-it-forward program allows the community to support one another. This display of ethics in the business world highlights the Stakeholder Theory that R. Edward Freeman discussed in an interview. A business will not be successful without the realization that each group of a business-employees, customers, the community, etc.- is important and they need to work together “to create something that no one of them can create on their own.”[3]

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[1] Published in: The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970. Copyright @ 1970 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission of The New York Times Syndicate, Paris, France.

[2] Ali, Maz. “A Customer Walked into His Pizza Shop and Changed Philadelphia with $1 and a Single Post-it Note.” Upworthy.com. 4 Mar. 2015. Web.

[3] What Is Stakeholder Theory? Perf. R.Edward Freeman. Youtube. N.p., 01 Oct. 2009. Web.

Ali, Maz. “A Customer Walked into His Pizza Shop and Changed Philadelphia with $1 and a Single Post-it Note.” Upworthy.com. 4 Mar. 2015. Web.