Social responsibility. Narrative tenses

Economic aspects. Companies need to maintain strong economic interests so they can stay in business. Being profitable and providing value to shareholders is part of a company being socially responsible.
Legal aspects. A company must follow the law and have a legal obligation to do so. For example, car companies are required to meet a certain level of emissions standards in car production.
Ethical aspects. Acting ethically means going above and beyond the legal requirements and meeting the expectations of society. In a recent example, Apple Inc. policies were questioned when it was discovered the high suicide rate of workers producing iPhones in the Chinese Foxxconn factory. As a result of the newfound awareness, Foxxconn raised the salary for workers from 900 yuan ($143) to 1,800 yuan.Eaton, K. (2012, February 24). Apple and Foxconn’s ethics hit your gadget prices. Fast Company, accessed February 24, 2012, http://www.fastcompany.com/1819874/apple-and-foxconns-ethics-hit-your-gadget-prices?partner=gnews In other words, the ethical expectations (and outrage) of society can encourage companies to act ethically.
Philanthropic aspects. This is the expectation that companies should give back to society in the form of charitable donations of time, money, and goods. Some organizations, such as REI, based in Seattle, Washington, donate 3 percent of profit and thousands of hours to nonprofit community groups each year.REI Website, accessed February 25, 2012, http://www.rei.com/jobs/environ.html
Based on these areas, many believe business should go above and beyond the law to act ethically, meet expectations of society, and even go beyond by donating profit back to the communities in which the businesses operate. As we mentioned at the start of this section, businesses are not the only ones who engage in social responsibility. Since people run businesses, often we see business social responsibility initiatives that are directly related to individuals in the organization. For example, the Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick,Lyall, S. (2007, September 12). Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, dies at 64. New York Times, accessed June 2, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/style/11iht-obits.4.7467721.html cared deeply for the environment and for animals, and as a result, her organization (now owned by L’Oreal) focused on environmentally friendly products and products that did not test on animals. This is an example of how social responsibility in organizations can be a direct result of the individual’s care and concern.
Figure 5.5 The Four Areas of Social Responsibility

What are narrative tenses?
Narrative tenses are verb tenses that are used to talk about the past. You can often find them in stories, textbooks, spoken accounts and in descriptions of past events.
The following are examples of narrative tenses:
Past simple: 'We left for the airport on an exceptionally sunny day.'
Past continuous: 'The sun was shining and it was really hot by midday.'
Past perfect: 'It had been sunny on and off for the previous fortnight.'
Past perfect continuous: 'We had been waiting at the airport for what seemed like an eternity.'
Activities to practise narrative tenses 
The following games are designed to help students practise narrative tenses and don’t require teacher supervision. They need at least two players.
The games use 16 cards, which tell a short story when combined together. Each card has an example of a sentence using narrative tenses. Each sentence tells part of the story.
You can download a PDF template of all the cards, game boards and blank templates needed for all the games, and print them. Or, if you would prefer to make your own, write the following 16 sentences on 16 separate cards (one card per sentence).
It was raining outside when Sam got out of bed and looked out of the window.
He picked up his phone and sent a text to his friend James: 'No football today. How about going to the cinema?'
While he was waiting for a reply, Sam brushed his teeth, had a shower and got dressed.
After he finished getting ready, he checked his phone and saw that James had replied.
James said he wanted to play football anyway and he didn't care about the rain.
Sam changed his mind and decided he wanted to play too, and left the house to join James in the park.
While he was walking to the park, James met two of his other friends and invited them along.
When they all arrived, they saw that James had found some other kids to play with, and they had enough people for a full match.
While they were playing football, it stopped raining anyway and Sam was really happy he hadn't gone to the cinema.
After the game, Sam went home. On the way, he stopped at a shop to buy something for his lunch.
He was about to pay when he realised he had forgotten to take his wallet when he had left the house.
He apologised and left the shop. Sam felt hungry but he knew that he had plenty of food at home.
He was walking home, thinking about the goals he had scored that day, when he saw his mum drive past.
She saw him and stopped the car to give him a ride home. She had been working all morning, but she was in a good mood.
Sam sat back in his seat and looked forward to having his lunch. He was having a great day.
When they arrived, Sam cooked lunch for the whole family.
A. Warm-up activity
The aim of the first activity is to become familiar with the story of Sam and James playing a game of football. This story is used in different ways for all of the games.
Print a copy of the first page of cards from the PDF template.
Cut up the cards.
Shuffle the cards.
Work together with another student to put the story in the right order.
Check your answer (the correct order is on page two of the template).Then, flip all of the cards face-down and try to retell the story in your own words.