I. INTRODUCTION
There is an increasing world-wide expectation that organizations will become more socially responsible and contribute toward improving the health and welfare of society and ensuring healthy eco-systems. More than ever before, social, socio-economic, and environmental influences are being considered in measuring and evaluating an organization’s performance. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is in the process of developing a new international standard potentially applicable to all organizations to provide guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility. Seven core areas of social responsibility are defined: organizational governance, human rights, labor practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development.
While these various principles and practices of social responsibility are in the process of being developed for the organization, nowhere are there parallel efforts being made to allocate responsibility to individual professions within the organization, or even to identify opportunities for contribution. Each profession through its professional associations must thus take stock of its purpose and define and redefine itself in a process of continual improvement in order to maintain its relevancy and rise to the evolving public demand for a more responsible society.
II. THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER
It may be appear obvious that of the seven developing core areas of social responsibility, the environment is one that should coincide well with the responsibilities of the professional environmental manager. However, social responsibility requires an understanding that goes beyond the rule of law and recognizes obligations that are not mandated by law. This expanded perspective is broader than the most common expectations of the environmental manager and include not only protection of the natural environment and pollution prevention, but also sustainable resource use, restoration of the natural environment and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Thus the environmental management profession needs to redefine itself in this regard.
Similarly, there are aspects of the remaining six core areas of social responsibility that have elements that coincide with the responsibilities of the environmental manager, particularly when the profession is integrated with areas of occupational health and safety, and requisite understandings that go beyond what has been common in the past.
What we want to know here involve the obligations we face and the opportunities that may be available to us as we move toward a more socially responsible future.
April 2, 2008 by
Brian Butler | Filed under: Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »
Csutora, Mária, Sándor Kerekes, Wetzker Konrad, Gábor Harangozó, and Léda Szőnyi. “Electrolux Lehel – more than a profitable enterprise”. Budapest-Jászberény, July – August, 2006. Corvinus, University of Budapest; School of Management.
Today’s practices of corporate social responsibility were defensive in nature and were about mitigating or remedying operational harm. “Most of what constitutes CSR or corporate philanthropy today is about doling out money to those who don’t like you, about establishing relations with those who don’t like you,” said Porter. “We need to move away from these defensive strategies and start thinking in terms of efficiency and value creation. There is no inherent conflict between social and economic objectives, both can contribute to improved competitive advantage.”
Accepting Porter’s stand, we attempt to track down and find out through the practice of Electrolux and their Hungarian affiliate, Electrolux Lehel Kft to what extent social responsibility can be considered as a business case or as a case of ”doling out money to those who don’t like you”.
April 2, 2008 by
Brian Butler ,
NEIL MILLER and
| Filed under: Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | 2 Comments »
Garriga, Elisabet and Dome`nec Mele. “Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory”. Journal of Business Ethics. 53: 51–71, 2004.
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field presents not only a landscape of theories but also a proliferation of approaches, which are controversial, complex and unclear. This article tries to clarify the situation, ‘‘mapping the territory’’ by classifying the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups: (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena; (3) integrative theories, in which the corporation is focused on the satisfaction of social demands; and (4) ethical theories, based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society. In practice, each CSR theory presents four dimensions related to profits, political performance, social demands and ethical values. The findings suggest the necessity to develop a new theory on the business and society relationship, which should integrate these four dimensions.
April 2, 2008 by
Brian Butler | Filed under: Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »
Haugh, Helen, Nelson Phillips, and Paul Tracey. “Beyond Philanthropy: Community Enterprise as a Basis for Corporate Citizenship”. Journal of Business Ethics. (2005) 58: 327–344.
In this article we argue that the emergence of a new form of organization – community enterprise –provides an alternative mechanism for corporations to behave in socially responsible ways. Community enterprises are distinguished from other third sector organizations by their generation of income through trading, rather than philanthropy and/or government subsidy, to finance their social goals. They also include democratic governance structures which allow members of the community or constituency they serve to participate in the management of the organization. Partnerships between corporations and community enterprises therefore raise the possibility of corporations moving beyond philanthropic donations toward a more sustainable form of intervention involving long-term commitments to communities. At the same time they change substantively the nature of any collaboration by allowing relationships to proceed on the basis of mutual advantage, thereby broadening their appeal and scope. In doing so, partnerships build capacity and enfranchise communities in a way that avoids the paternalism that has traditionally characterized relationships between corporations and voluntary sector organizations. Power relations are transformed because partners are seen as sources of valuable assets, knowledge and expertise, rather than recipients of patronage or charity.
January 15, 2008 by
John Morelli and
Brian Butler | Filed under: Overview,Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »
Welcome to the discussion! Researchers working on this important subtopic include: Sándor Kerekes, Neil Miller, and Ayoub Mohamed. Below are the various postings from the research team. Some will be abstracts of and links to relevant literature. Others will be original work posted here for comments, criticisms, suggestions, questions, etc. from professional environmental managers who visit this site. If you are interested in participating on this professional research team, or learning more about it, please contact us by clicking here.
January 13, 2008 by
Brian Butler ,
John Morelli | Filed under: Literature Review,Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »
This paper deals with the integration of environmental management and Corporate Responsibility in UK in a utility company which could develop into a more holistic approach towards corporate sustainability. This case highlights the role of environmental managers as a combination of social responsibility champions and sustainability champions in making links between the organization’s business purpose, its environmental performance and its social responsibility in terms of the long term sustainability of the region and the company’s future.
The author points out that that the environmental manager had given most thought to the integration of social and environmental issues and focused mostly on the environmental, social and cultural and economic regeneration of the region in which the company operated. The manager linked the company’s organizational purpose, its environmental performance and its social responsibility engagement and thus established sustainability with these three elements for the company’s and region’s long term future. The manager also played an important role in figuring out the companies strengths and taking actions which were most successful in promoting company’s image in the wider society. In summary, dealing with environmental soundness and starting to integrate environmental and social issues and management can be a simultaneous process and need not be a sequential process. Personal values and priorities particularly of top management have a strong influence on policy decisions and on the organizational culture with respect to environmental management, corporate responsibility and management for sustainability.
January 13, 2008 by
Brian Butler ,
John Morelli | Filed under: Literature Review,Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »
This paper examines two critical strands in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) debate, profitability and environmental performance. Since there is growing evidence suggesting that the win-win situations are progressively becoming less apparent , it looks into the choices and implications for an environmental manager. The author claims that, under the conventional economic situation, at work, the manager is the first and foremost an employee of the firm and the best way for society to function is for each firm to maximize profits. Thus if green behavior is fundamentally unprofitable the environmental manager is placed in an unenvious situation. There is an additional suggestion in the paper that since the environmental manager has to protect the corporate image and attaching a financial value to it is subjective, the environmental manager could opt for the green behavior. In short, the author emphasizes the role of an environment manager and the importance of their eco heroism, in promoting green behavior.
