Corporate Social Responsibility (Subject) / Chapter 5: Managing Business Ethics, Lecture 2 (Managing CSR) (Lesson)

This lesson was created by Ben2607.

Learn lesson

This lesson is not released for learning.

back  |  next 1 / 1

• Motivation for engaging in CSR Profit Reputation cost reduction anticipating legislation competition developing new markets professional and industry standards Culture (organizational & national) Moral standards
• 3 main aspects of CSR management Setting Standards of ethical behavior Corporate codes (each company alone); Professional codes (professional associations, e.g. accountants) Industry-wide codes (e.g. Responsible Care for the Chemical Industry); Program or Group codes (e.g. Fair Labor Association - FLA)  Managing stakeholder relations  Assessing ethical performance   Auditing/Certifying; Reporting; Reporting assurance 
• 21st century CSR: the active political (i.e. regulatory) role of companies 20th century: companies passively comply with governmental legislation (do not actively participate in rule-creation / rule enforcement)  21st century: active participating in rule-creation & rule enforcement (while – of course – still complying with governmental legislation) via CSR standards But: some CSR standards are more stringent than others  Important criterion for stringency of CSR standards: are independent third parties (e.g. NGOs) allowed to participate in the creation and verification of the rules (multi-stakeholder initiatives)? 
• Stakeholder Management: Salience Model (Mitchell 1997) Power ability of stakeholders to influence organizational action Urgency the degree to which stakeholder claims are perceived to call for immediate attention Legitimacy whether the organization perceives the stakeholders actions as desirable, proper or appropiate
• Limitations of CSR standards Boiral (2007):  When implemented because of external, institutional pressure and without much involvement of employees CSR standards have little more impact than increasing the bureaucracy  Effective CSR standards are dependent on internal motivation and high employee involvement 
• The changing ontology of governance on the global playing field describes regulatory activities and regimes on a global level without the supreme authority of a government (Held & McGrew 2002, Scholte 2005)  involves originally non-political and non-state actors such as NGOs, intergovernmental organizations or transnational corporations (Castells, 2005) is increasingly following a “soft law” logic (Abbott & Snidal 2003, Ruggie 2008) Soft law is blurring the « lines between the strictly voluntary and mandatory spheres for participants » (Ruggie) 
• What is Business Ethics Management Business Ethics Management is the direct attempt to formally or informally manage ethical issues or problems through specific policies, practices and programmes Typical Components (of Ethics Management/CSR): Mission or values statements codes of ethics reporting/Advice channels Ethics managers, officers and commitees Ethics consultants Ethics education and training auditing, accounting and reporting
• Codes of Ethics Codes of Ethics are voluntary statements that commit organizations, industries, or professions to specitic beliefs, values, and actions and/or that set out appropiate ehtical behavior for employees Contents: labour standards environmental stewardship consumer protection competition... Most codes attempt to achieve one or both of the following: define principles or standards that the organization, profession or industry believes in or wants to uphold set out pratical guidelines for employee bahavior, either generally or in specific situations (such as accepting gifts, treating customers) Codes should: respect for core human values respect for local traditions
• Stakeholder Management relationship between company and stakeholder has been described as somewaht antagonist change due to environmental problems (partnerships between NGO´s, governments) and to increase working conditions, stamping out child labour, health problems
• Assessing Ethical performance social auditing environmental accounting sustianablility reporting  Approaches often tend to focus on internal management systems or individual level aspects of the business, such as compliance with codes of ethics, incidences of bribery, legal violations Tend to focus exclusively on the organizations´s impact on the natural environment approaches prefaced "social" tend to have a broader remit (health, safety, equal opportunities, human rights...) Apporaches prefaced "sustainability" tend to be concerned with the triple bottom line of social, economic and environmental considerations
• Advertisement
• Social Accounting Is the voluntary process concerned with assessing and communicating organizational activities and impacts on social, ehtical, and environmental issues relevant to stakeholders Engaging in social accounting: internal and external pressure identifying risks improved stakeholder management (improve reputation) enhanced accountability and transparency
• Organizing for business ethics management - Formal ethics programmes Compliance orientation main emphasis is on preventing, detecting, and punishing violations of the law employees are informed about the law and are motivated to do the right thing through fear of being caught Values orientation based on defining organizational values and encouraging employee commitment to certain ethical aspirations  External orientation focuses less on company values  more on satisfying external stakeholder values Protection orientation protecting from blaming in ethical issues or legal violations
• Typical components of CSR Management Mission or Value Statements Codes of Ethics Reporting/advice channels  Ethics managers, officers and commitees Ethics consultants Ethics education and training Stakeholder consultation, dialogue and partnership programs  Auditing, accounting and reporting

back  |  next 1 / 1