Book extract
Do the right thing – the practical, jargon-free guide
to corporate social responsibility
by Stephen Asbury and Richard Ball
£15 softback 144 pages
ISBN 978 0 901357 42 7
The scope of CSR
If an organisation is to harness these benefits, it needs to
consider a wide range of factors. These include community,
environment, ethics, human rights, responsibility in the market and
its workforce.* Each of these factors is summarised below, before
we analyse them more deeply afterwards.
Community
An organisation should consider its impacts on the local and
wider community. Investment into the community may take the form of
jobs and salaries, charitable donations, staff time and skills, and
donations in kind. Transport is an important factor – for example,
employees commuting to and from work will affect the local
roads.
Environment
An organisation should identify the impact its goods and
services have on the environment. As part of its planning, it
should seek to minimise negative impacts, for example by investing
in habitat creation schemes.
Ethics
An organisation will inevitably be judged on how it makes its
decisions, and how these decisions are implemented. For example,
would it be ethical to explore for fossil fuels in Antarctica, even
if it were allowed?
Ethical principles reflect the values of the organisation, which
are seen in the context of the values of its stakeholders and the
society in which it operates.
Human rights
A civilised society recognises the right of every individual to
liberty, freedom of association, free speech and personal safety.
These form the basis for codes of human rights found at the core of
national and international laws, such as the UN Declaration of
Human Rights.
Responsibility in the market
Organisations can have a real impact on society through their
marketing activities. For example, should cigarettes or sugary
drinks be advertised during screenings of films for children?
Responsibility in the marketplace can strengthen organisations'
competitive edge – or damage it.
The key issues include ethical advertising, relationships with
suppliers, relationships with customers, distribution, packaging
and the process of creating the product or service itself.
Workforce
Recognising organisations' impact in the workplace means
understanding the business benefits and the wider social impact of
good employment policies. This not only covers the traditional
areas of recruitment, remuneration, training and health and safety,
but also the growing concerns – and opportunities – of issues such
as diversity and equal opportunities.
We will now consider each of these elements in greater
detail.
Community
No organisation operates in a social vacuum. They employ people,
use suppliers and have relationships with customers. Organisations'
decisions on their location affect the local community, as do the
employment and procurement decisions they make.
In Chapter 2 we considered the potential impacts of the location
of a supermarket, but communities can be equally affected by
establishing a new major manufacturing plant or closing down a
mine, using local suppliers or investing in deprived areas.
By aligning the organisation's goals with the community's needs,
both can benefit. A technique that's gaining increasing interest,
particularly in connection with new projects, is the ESIA, or
environmental and social impact assessment.
The main steps in an ESIA are:
- baseline study
- impact assessment
- management planning
- monitoring
- community consultation.
Baseline study
Field studies are carried out to assess the local demographics
(including social groups), flora, fauna, water, soil and pollution
levels.
Impact assessment
All the social and environmental impacts associated with a
project are identified and evaluated.
Management planning
The measures aimed at avoiding, minimising and correcting the
negative impacts are detailed in a management plan. There is a
typical mitigation hierarchy included in management plans:
- prevent
- minimise
- restore
- compensate or offset.
Consultation and local development actions should take place
throughout the process.
Monitoring
A programme of monitoring is developed and implemented to make
sure that all management measures are being correctly and
effectively applied.
Community consultation
Throughout all steps in this process, contact is maintained with
interested parties. The most popular community initiatives tend to
be links with education and charities, but joint projects are also
becoming more common with local regeneration and arts
organisations. By investing in local education, for example in
projects such as work experience, organisations can help to develop
a future workforce that meets their needs. Organisations can also
consider the impact on the community of the decisions they make.
They can improve 'social capital' through donations to charities or
supporting voluntary organisations. In this way, organisations are
perceived to be profiting with the community rather than from
it.
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