Revista Multidisciplinaria Perspectivas Investigativas

Multidisciplinary Journal Investigative Perspectives

Vol. 1(1), 14-22, 2021

The current study had as a main objective to analyze social responsibility in public administration institutions from the context of the Territorial Balance Management of the Mayor's Office located in Miranda Municipality, Falcón State, Venezuela, during the first semester of 2019. Methodologically, it was developed under the quantitative approach and a non-experimental descriptive type with a field design. The population sample consisted of 11 persons. The study allowed concluding that equity must exist in all the broad sense of the word, both internally and externally in a department of a public administration institution. The principle of equity must be above any particular or group interest and in the direction of territorial balance. On the other hand, it was also evident that there is a planning for the development of the works they carry out as well as compliance with standards for the good performance of officials in their jobs.

Descriptors: local government; social responsibility; social welfare. (Source: UNESCO Thesaurus).

La presente investigación tuvo por objetivo analizar la responsabilidad social en instituciones de administración pública, desde el contexto de Dirección de Equilibrio Territorial de la Alcaldía del Municipio Miranda del Estado Falcón – Venezuela, durante el primer semestre del 2019. Metodológicamente, se efectuó desde el enfoque cuantitativo, apoyándose en un tipo descriptivo no experimental con diseño de campo, siendo la muestra poblacional de 11 personas. Se concluye que, en un departamento perteneciente a una institución de administración pública, debe existir la equidad en todo el sentido amplio de la palabra, tanto de modo interno como externo, la cual debe estar por encima de cualquier interés particular o grupal que pueda existir. Por otro lado, se evidenció que, en la dirección de equilibrio territorial, existe una planificación para la elaboración de las obras que realizan, asimismo, se evidencia el cumplimiento de normas para el buen desempeño de los funcionarios en sus puestos de trabajo.

Descriptores: administración local; responsabilidad social; bienestar social. (Fuente: Tesauro UNESCO).

Received: 15/9/2020. Revised: 22/9/2020. Approved: 26/11/2020. Published: 01/01/2021.

In recent years, the Venezuelan state has been promoting actions that involve citizen’s active participation in the various actions that the government takes through its public companies. These companies regard the national, regional, municipal and local measures that the government executes to consolidate a new society. In this sense, these government bodies have developed various departments in order to carry out works that benefit the community and seek a better quality of life for it.

This is how each of these entities are obliged to render accounts of their actions to the society, as indicated in article 138 of the Organic Law of Public Administration (2001). In this respect, the organs that benefit people are in the legal and moral obligation to render accounts to the population; in this way, they may provide a quality service of “Social responsibility”, which refers to actions that seek to guarantee the group the greatest possible satisfaction. (Published in Official Gazette N° 37305 on October 17, 2001).

Social responsibility must be carried out by public companies, because it is a human principle that constitutes a universal value for the preservation of life in all its dimensions. Venezuelan public companies must be marked by a strong commitment to apply social responsibility in their actions, with the aim of complying with constitutional precepts that oblige such action. However, as mentioned, they must do so beyond what is imposed by law, because one of the main actions of politics and the State is the preservation of life and the environment; therefore, social responsibility must be exercised in public entities in order to benefit the group (Guzmán-González, 2016).

Nevertheless, there could be problems within government entities, especially municipal ones, which are derived from an inappropriate practice of social responsibility, caused by various sources, within the same organization and by all levels of a State. In this regard, situations like fragile and undefined policies; governments favorable to acts of corruption coupled with the lack of ethical behavior, among others are presented and may promote irresponsible or unfavorable actions for social growth (Camacho-Solís, 2015).

In this sense, the Mayor's Office of the Miranda Municipality in Falcón State has various entities to promote a better quality of life to the group and, therefore, apply social responsibility in the communities. One of these entities is the Directorate of Territorial Balance, whose primary function is "the execution of works according to the existing needs and problems in the different sectors of the Miranda Municipality." Through the Directorate of Territorial Balance, the Mayor's Office at Miranda Municipality delegates trained and responsible professionals in the inspections of works taking into account the environment and the established priority to give exhaustive answers in relation to the physical progress of the inspected works for controlling their execution from its inception and completion.

Another of the attributes of the Directorate of Territorial Balance is to deliver reports on the physical progress of the works in the community, taking into account the Public Procurement Law, its regulations and other rules in force, for the correct execution of such work with efficiency, effectiveness and effectiveness. Another responsibility of this direction, is to establish the contracting processes of contractor companies for the execution of works, as well as establish the processes of contracting companies for the acquisition of goods that allow the optimization of the public services provided in the Municipality and financed with public resources.

According to the aforementioned, the Directorate of Territorial Balance of the Mayor's Office in Miranda Municipality, Falcón State has a series of responsibilities towards the community, which must be fulfilled not only according to what the current laws dictate, but, in based on the principles that govern social responsibility, with the purpose of optimizing the service provided to the collective. Therefore, it constitutes an opportunity for society to grow in quality of life and actively participate in the social control of the executed works.

In this sense, the people who work in the Directorate of Territorial Balance must not only ensure that the hiring is transparent and adheres to the law, but must also ensure that the work carried out is of quality. For this reason, the Directorate of Territorial Balance in conjunction with the community must become allies to establish links that allow them to exercise social responsibility.

On the other hand, the Directorate of Territorial Balance must have a social action plan that benefits the community of the municipality, since it is not enough to just execute the work, but also provide other benefits that may contribute to the integral development of the people. Likewise, it must promote the necessary training so that they may offer a quality service to the group who work in this unit. This training must be an added value that contributes to the strengthening of the employees’ skills, in this way, social responsibility would be implemented.

Due to the above, the research aims to analyze social responsibility in public administration institutions, from the context of the Territorial Balance Directorate of the Mayor's Office in Miranda Municipality, Falcón State - Venezuela, during the first semester of 2019.

Methodologically, it was carried out from the quantitative approach, relying on a non-experimental descriptive type with field design. The population sample consisted of 11 people who work in the Directorate of Territorial Balance of the Mayor's Office in Miranda Municipality, Falcón State – Venezuela. The information was collected by means of a survey and a questionnaire of 16 items on a Likert scale of four alternative responses, which was validated by the judgment of 3 experts. The pilot test was applied to five persons with similar characteristics to the study population. Then according to Cronbach's Alpha, the instrument was reliable, since it had a result of 0.91. Descriptive statistics were applied to process the results (Hernández-Sampieri, et al., 2014).

The results of the information gathering process during the field phase of the investigation are shown below:

According to the data collected in item 1, it showed that 18% responded to the option always, another 27% to the alternative almost always, 18% to the option almost never and 37% to the option never. Regarding items 2, 67% responded to the alternative always, while 33% responded to the option almost always, and the rest of the alternatives remained in a neutral state or without any qualification.

Based on the data collected in item 3, it was evidenced that 18% answered the option always, another 9% the alternative almost always, 37% the option almost never and 36% the option never. Regarding items 4, 18% responded to the alternative always, while 37% to the option almost always, 27% to the option almost never and 18% to the alternative never.

From the perspective of the data collected in item 5, it was confirmed that 9% said always, another 9% said almost always, 36% answered almost never and 46% selected the option never. Regarding items 6, 55% responded to the alternative always, while 45% responded to the option almost always. There were no answers to the rest of the alternatives.

In consideration of the data collected in item 7, it was evident that 40% responded to the option always, another 30% to the alternative almost always, 20% to the option almost never and 10% chose the option never. Regarding items 8, 46% responded to the alternative always, while 36% responded to the option almost always. The option almost never had 27% and the alternative never had an 18%.

Based on the data collected in item 11, it was evident that 9% answered the option always, another 18% almost always, 37% almost never and 36% chose never. Regarding item 12, 18% responded to the alternative always, while 9% responded to the option almost always, 37% chose the option almost never and 36% selected the alternative never.

According to the data collected in item 13, it was confirmed that 27% responded to the option always, another 18% to the alternative almost always, 46% chose the item almost never and 9% the option never. With respect to the item 14, 9% responded to the alternative always, while 36% responded to the option almost always, 46% answered the option almost never and 9% chose the alternative never.

Considering the data collected in item 15, it was confirmed that 9% responded to the option always, another 18% to the alternative almost always, 55% selected the option almost never and 18% the option never. Regarding items 16, 18% answered always, 9% responded to the option almost always, 27% chose the alternative almost never and 46% the alternative never.

In a department that belongs to an institution of public administration, there must be equity in all the broad sense of the word, both internally and externally. This principle of equity must be above any existing particular or group interest. In relation to this, the communities and individuals who come to the direction of territorial balance in search of support to build a certain work must find treatment based on equity and on the universal principles of the human being (Olvera-Esquivel, et al., 2015).

This makes it possible to develop social responsibility in the best possible way for the benefit of the collective. This is how the company (in this case, public) may not only comply with the obligation of the law, but also with a humanistic perspective , based on principles of social responsibility that benefit the collective in all aspects involved in the construction of a work.

However, through the collection of information, it is evident that optimal equity is not fully produced in the department and, with this, social responsibility is diminished, which contradicts the opinion of (Yucra-Mamani, 2016), who states that the priority of the poor will not be fully addressed from the principles of social responsibility, since that word must be understood as one who lacks something or needs something.

Therefore, each person or community that resorts to the services of the territorial balance management, must find favorable answers to their concerns, but not only conducive from the tangible point of view to be able to build a work, but also, in the construction process of this. The principles of responsibility must be implicit as a service for the benefit of individuals and communities that approach this direction, as part of a process management that leads to the quality of the service provided (Cabrera, et al. ., 2015).

Part of social responsibility has to do with justice, conceived as a benchmark to raise the quality of work life, but there may be no true quality if the officials state that there is no equity and justice towards them and towards the communities that request service in the direction. As there is no fair process for human talent in order to promote an efficient and fair organizational culture, it affects them and social responsibility is diminished, since it is evident that there is not a good development of justice in the institution under study. Such a reality may result in poor service to the public, lack of interest or officials’ demotivation to carry out their work, among other situations, which may put aside the highest social and moral values of the human being and might cause inconveniences and discomfort among the people to whom the service is provided (Sacristán, 2016).

It is evident that the communities are not educated from the direction of territorial balance so that they may exercise the social control of this. From this point of view, there are no educational actions that foster the promotion of the human being as the main value of society, which is in contrast to the vision of the officials of such direction, who express that it is necessary for companies to provide social contributions that reinforce the holistic strengthening of communities. In this sense, it is clear that the main office responsible for supervising and carrying out everything related to the construction of works does not leave traces beyond the merely formal in the community; however, they have the vision that the external companies must make such a contribution. In both cases, human development is hampered, because there is no planning that involves the growth of people beyond receiving the work, since they are not given enough education to maintain and make life in the best possible conditions (Ordóñez-Barba & Ruiz-Ochoa, 2015).

Regarding ecological heritage, the officials of the company take into account its preservation, likewise, state that it is important to educate the community regarding the ecological impact that a certain work can cause. In this way, it would be faced with the possibility of compliance with social responsibility in an area that, today, is of vital importance for human beings, such as the ecological one (Marí-Farinós, 2016).

Hence, it is necessary for the company to take initiative to preserve the ecological environment. In relation to this, the community must be educated, because it is as much about building the work as it is about educating. In this sense, it has an impact on the environment that may worsen if the necessary precautions are not taken. According to this, it is important to promote this principle of social responsibility as a fundamental axis for the human beings development, since the human cannot be understood without the ecological and the ecological without the human. Both coexist, therefore, fostering human respect for the ecology is a primary task of the company that would help comply with social responsibility for a better society (Severiche-Sierra, et al., 2016) .

In relation to the above, there is a diminished assistance by the territorial balance management towards the assistance of the worker's family group. This brings with it the lack of a clear policy that directly involves the relatives of the employees in plans that benefit them, either in an educational, welfare or recreational way. As a result, the direct quality of life of the official's family environment is degraded, which of course, affects the official. This could cause that they must assume extra responsibilities not directly linked to their job position giving rise to emotional, physical and intellectual wear, among others (Jiménez-Figueroa & Moyano-Díaz, 2008).

Therefore, it is necessary for the direction of territorial political balance to take prompt steps that allow it to provide its officials and direct family members with an integral well-being that goes beyond the salary and other benefits derived from the service provided. In other words, they must encourage extra benefits that satisfy the needs of officials and their families, so that they dedicate the necessary time to work and to their families. This is a social responsibility that management must assume for the welfare of its employees (Prieto-Fernández & García-Machín, 2012).

The officials, in their great majority, express that when delivering a work to the community, they do not carry out extra social actions that benefit it, that is, they are limited to the sole fact of delivering the work without further action that goes from the information of the benefits included in the work until the realization of social conferences (Orellana-Pino & Perotti, 2014). In this sense, it is necessary for the direction of territorial balance to propose the implementation of actions in its planning that allow the development of social responsibility in all areas where it operates (González, & Chuquiguanga, 2018).

There is evidence of a decline towards the development of social activities and improvement with external clients. This indicates that there is no permanent training plan that involves both updating officials in order to provide a better service to the group, and incentives that carry out social activities for the community. As a consequence, their work is relegated to what they usually do in the office, being a permanent challenge the constant and pertinent training of the public official, with the purpose of formalizing a quality service based on global social competition (Monje-Reyes, 2015).

In the direction of territorial balance, there is a planning for the development of the works that people carry out. Similarly, compliance with standards for the good performance of officials in their jobs is evidenced. However, these actions must go further and must be in accordance with the communities, since these are the main beneficiaries of the actions that this direction carries out. Public administration institutions may implement social responsibility actions aimed at generating minimum costs. This is how the community should be involved in the process of planning, execution and control of the works, only, in this way, there will be a commitment to develop social responsibility. From this perspective, the communities may contribute to a joint effort between one organization and another, which might lead to the optimization of resources that, in turn, might also benefit the collective in social works.

There is no conflict of interest with people or institutions linked to the research.

Thanks to the Directorate of Territorial Balance of the Mayor's Office located in Miranda Municipality, Falcón State – Venezuela.

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Nº	Items	Always		Almost always		Almost never		Never
Nº	Items	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
5	Communities are educated on the proper maintenance of the works executed.	1	9	1	9	4	36	5	46
6	It is necessary to ask companies to make contributions that help to the integral growth of the communities in which they carry out their work.	6	55	5	45	0	0	0	0

Nº	Items	Always		Almost always		Almost never		Never
Nº	Items	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
7	The actions carried out by the company are aimed at maintaining the ecological balance.	4	40	3	30	2	20	1	10
8	The company must inform the community about the ecological impact caused by a work and the risks that it can cause to ecology.	5	46	4	36	1	9	1	9

Nº	Items	Always		Almost always		Almost never		Never
Nº	Items	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
11	Activities aimed at the employee's family are sponsored: seniors group.	1	9	2	18	4	37	4	36
12	Family events are created for all the members to participate.	2	18	1	9	4	37	4	36

Nº	Items	Always		Almost always		Almost never		Never
Nº	Items	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
13	The company establishes operations that contribute to the improvement of social activities	3	27	2	18	5	46	1	9
14	Actions are carried out towards the improvement of relations with external clients	1	9	1	36	4	46	5	9

Nº	Items	Always		Almost always		Almost never		Never
Nº	Items	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
15	Social days are held for the benefit of the communities when delivering a certain work	1	9	2	18	6	55	2	18
16	The company carries out social activities that contribute to a better society	2	18	1	9	3	27	5	46