Woodseer Management Consulting www.woodseer.com Jean-Michel Piedagnel - Principal consultant
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is business The issue I have with CSR is that it is turning into a business opportunity. Consultants are starting to position themselves as CSR specialists. Some businesses are making sure they tick the boxes so that they can tender for international contracts more effectively. The introduction of an ISO norm is certainly the cherry on the cake as far as I am concerned. HSBC has scored second most ethical multinational in the Covalance ranking (http://www.covalence.ch). This is not going to help the credibility of CSR in this time of financial crisis. It shows the limitation of the survey and doesn’t help the cause. Being a social entrepreneur cannot be certified. This is my experience from working at the head of a major international organisation for years. It’s a state of mind. I believe charity starts at home. Managers should start aligning the values of their organisation and their internal culture. If a company wants to take its social responsibility seriously it should make sure it has the best and most advanced Human Resources policies. Fair, transparent, innovative with training and career development opportunities, its employees should be happy, if not proud, to work there. An important and necessary step is to look into the impact of the company on the environment. Finally, depending on its business, it should look at its supply chain and make sure it is as ethical as possible. Then only can company really look beyond their own direct impact and engage further in society at large. In the meantime, they should limit themselves to giving to reputable charities if they really need to tick that box for their tender or other legal requirement.
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Friday, August 14, 2009