Acceptability of Operations

Abstract

Acceptability of activities; Acceptability of processes; Legitimacy of operations; License to operate Definition Acceptability is a value-bound social concept applied commonly when referring to societal relationships between an organization and involved groups, i.e., judges that evaluate operations or actions of the unit. The acceptability of a matter reflects the values of a society at a certain point in time and place. A value refers to choices are which are (1) adopted from the surroundings, (2) considered in common, (3) permanent, and (4) concerned with the defined targets (Allardt 1983). The other value-related feature is the matter of judgment. This entails the process that a judge evaluates the value-based matter and gives standards and criteria to the matter. Fredrick (1995) considered each person's having personal values, which characterizes values as capable of expressing relative human diversity in social time and space. Values tend to follow new social trends. The general substances of value characterize the concept giving the changing feature to the concept of acceptability. As a value, it is relatively permanent in nature, although value changes do occur for various reasons and can operate in different directions. Changes in social, cultural, demographic, economic, and technological factors can often be identified behind the value development (Karppinen 1998). The changing nature is one of the major limitations of the acceptability concept when standardizing organizational operations and process through the third-party judgment. The acceptance is closely related to operations that interact closely with surrounding societies. Consequently, the concept of acceptability is used in practice when referring to societal relationships within socially sensitive sectors, such as natural resources-based sectors, sectors related to basic needs, like food, water, and energy, or other type necessities, or health care and medical sectors.