ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the practicalities of contingency approach to management and organizational behaviour through many ways in which external environment influences business. Some people refer to the phrase business ethics as an oxymoron and it is a concept that not everybody takes seriously but, along with social responsibility. Although there are many bodies, individuals and entities with which business interacts through the operational environment and many of these could be regarded as stakeholders. Inevitably, there are different theoretical views about social responsibility and about the relevance and appropriateness of the concept of stakeholders. At the other extreme is the accountability theory, which takes the view that businesses receive their charter from society and are accountable to society for their behaviour. Like any other sector of industry, financial services are influenced by the external environment and, of course, financial services organizations have a major impact on the rest of society.
