BSBMGT624 Develop and implement corporate social responsibility

Housekeeping

• Emergency procedures
• Mobiles and security issues
• Break times and smoking policy
• This course is interactive – ask questions
• Practise respect and confidentiality
• Ground rules

Objectives

• Discover how to identify context for corporate social responsibility Identify context for corporate social responsibility
• Know how to engage stakeholders in setting objectives and policy
• Learn how to implement corporate social responsibility policy
• Understand how to monitor and evaluate corporate social responsibility
• Gain skills and knowledge required for this unit

Identify context for corporate social responsibility

1.1 Establish the environment for corporate social responsibility in the enterprise context

What is corporate responsibility?

• Corporate responsibility is something that has developed to protect society, the environment and the economy from any negative effects organisational practices may have on these areas.
• It is about doing the right thing and being responsible, but also dealing with other businesses e.g. suppliers, who are also responsible.

Areas

How can we demonstrate a commitment to sustainability?

Show how you are constantly thinking of new ways to improve economic efficiency, environmental and social sustainability in all aspects and levels of your organisation.

The enterprise context

• Will your enterprise have an effect on the environment, society, or economy?
• Each industry will have different contexts for social responsibility and issues that are the most important to them.

Activity 1A

Identify context for corporate social responsibility

1.2 Qualify and quantify the drivers for corporate social responsibility

Drivers for corporate social responsibility

For example:

• Ethical conscience
• Legal reforms and regulations
• Profit
• Sustainability
• Promotion of brand/products/organisation itself (to gain good reputation).

Global issues

Many drivers are global issues that no one country, or government can take on itself, such as:

• Climate change
• Ozone layer depletion
• Depletion of fisheries and forests
• Biodiversity loss
• Hazardous waste
• Migrating microbes
• Invasive species
• Air and water pollution.

Life cycle analyses

Life cycle analyses involve assessing the whole life of products and services to measure advantages and disadvantages of using the product or service in question.

Activity 1B

Identify context for corporate social responsibility

1.3 Identify the current and expected benefits to the enterprise from corporate social responsibility

Expected benefits

• Benefits may be instant such as the instant cash rewards for using less electricity, paper, fuel, ink, water etc. OR
• They may be long term things such as building a good reputation, which will have lasting benefits for the business.

Activity 1C

Identify context for corporate social responsibility

1.4 Analyse legislation, regulation, standards and enterprise policy that impacts on corporate social responsibility

Legislation, regulations, standards and policies

• Sustainable procurement
• Product stewardship
• Supply chain management
• Sustainability covenants/compacts
• Triple bottom line reporting
• Competition and Consumer Act 2010
• Confidentiality requirements and privacy laws
• Consumer protection laws
• Fair trading laws
• Work health and safety (WHS)

Activity 1D

Identify context for corporate social responsibility

1.5 Identify opportunities for, and barriers to, socially responsible practices

Opportunities for socially responsible practices

• Reducing resources e.g. recycling, using energy efficient lights, screens, toilets.
• Life-cycle management approaches - think about ways to prolong the life of products e.g. donating old computers.
• Reduce toxic material and hazardous chemical use like acids, oxidizers, poisons and solvents found in cleaning products, ink cartridges etc.

Who are your stakeholders?

• Customers
• Employees at all levels of the organisation
• Government
• Investors
• Local community
• Other organisations
• Regulators
• Suppliers.

Activity 2A

Engage stakeholders in setting objectives and policy

2.2 Determine appropriate forms of engagement for different stakeholder groups

2.3 Engage and consult stakeholders to develop corporate social responsibility objectives and policy

Forms of engagement

Think about what is important to your key stakeholders and how you can promote social responsibility to them.

• Does it reduce their costs?
• Does it enhance their reputation?
• Does it mean recognition from the Government?
• Does it mean you are abiding by regulations?
• Does it mean savings for the company that you can use elsewhere? (E.g. is there a pay rise for staff?)

Methods

• Host meetings either face to face or via video link
• Create a website or add a page to an existing website about proposed changes.
• Write letters, emails or newsletters to investors, customers, suppliers and staff to keep them updated.
• Get involved with the local community.

SMART objectives

• Specific – state exactly what you want to achieve
• Measurable – quantifiable and measurable
• Achievable – realistic in the current market
• Relevant – related to organisational objectives
• Timed – have deadlines for achievement.

Discussing policies

General requirements of a policy may include:

• Consistency
• Assessable
• Enforceable
• Be justified
• Clearly defined issues
• Clearly defined policy goals
• Consequences of violation should be clearly defined
• More information about policy – for example:
  • if any legislation governs the policy
  • citations of regulators and professional bodies.

Activity 2B

Implement corporate social responsibility policy

3.1 Prepare and distribute clear documentation regarding rights and responsibilities for corporate social responsibility

Rights and responsibilities for corporate social responsibility

Human rights have an important part to play in the economic, social and environmental elements of organisation activity:

• Labour rights demand employers pay fair wages and affect the economic element.
• Human rights like non-discrimination affect the social element, and environmental elements to activities are relevant to human rights such as the right to clean water to drink.

Preparing documentation

The main elements to include (presented in a logical order) are:

• Purpose and context/background:
• Definitions
• Policy statement
• Procedures that come with the policy
• Policy body
• Best practice guidelines.

Distributing documentation

It is a good idea to distribute organisational documentation across different channels to ensure that it is accessible to all relevant stakeholders:

• Organisational website
• Website forum
• Staff newsletter
• Customer newsletter/letter
• Email
• Handbook/induction booklet
• Training guides.

Activity 3A

Implement corporate social responsibility policy

3.2 Provide for effective learning and coaching and other change management strategies

Change management

To manage the transition you will have to plan a tactical approach to encourage a positive experience and reaction to change.

• Consulting with staff/stakeholders
• Make changes gradually
• You may need to reassure staff and provide them with additional training.

Ways to learn

• Coaching
• External training
• Mentoring
• On-the-job training
• Performance feedback
• Self-directed learning
• Work rotation

Activity 3B

Implement corporate social responsibility policy

3.3 Negotiate with relevant stakeholders to integrate corporate social responsibility into relevant systems, procedures and processes

Steps to integration

• Make a list of all of your activities and ask yourself – where do they encroach on corporate social responsibility?
• Establish your priorities – anything that is in breach of the law?
• Review the organisational mission, vision, strategy and goals
• Identify risks and potential problems and opportunities – you could use a SWOT analysis to help you
• Raise awareness of social responsibility
• Build social responsibility into systems, procedures and processes.

Activity 3C

Monitor and evaluate corporate social responsibility

4.1 Conduct regular reviews of corporate social responsibility integration with relevant persons

Conducting regular reviews

You may be able to monitor policies and procedures through:

• Regular audit and spot checks
• Meeting notes/minutes
• Complaints, feedback and suggestion forms
• Staff incentives/rewards
• Disciplinary statements for staff.

Have you found any trends?

• A trend in this context is a pattern or general tendency appearing in the data.
• For example, you may find that people are being rewarded for recycling.
• This suggests that the recycling procedures and policies are clear and everybody is happy with them.

Activity 4A

Monitor and evaluate corporate social responsibility

4.2 Evaluate corporate social responsibility against organisational goals and expected benefits

4.3 Identify and recommend improvements to corporate social responsibility policy and practices

Investigating and evaluating success

• Positive/negative feedback
• What procedures are being completed correctly/incorrectly?
• Why people are being rewarded?
• What people are complaining about?
• Who is complaining?
• What are the reasons for any discipline? E.g. do they need more training?

Finding a solution

• You should now try to find solutions for the problems identified and modify the policy and procedures accordingly.
• This can be done by using a Root Cause Analysis tool.
• A Root Cause Analysis can be applied to many different situations and scenarios and can be very useful for identifying and resolving problems.

A root cause analysis

Problem

• The new procedures for electronic equipment are not working effectively.

How?

• Staff are not turning computers off when they have finished working with them/overnight
• Staff are not reducing margin settings so that the printer uses less paper
• Staff are not printing double-sided.

Why?

• Confused
• Reluctant to change behaviour
• Not been informed

Solution?

• Eliminating the need for a procedure e.g. Install EMO software to turn computers off automatically in non-working hours i.e. overnight or
• Altering procedures to improve their
• Train or retrain staff

Activity 4B

Skills and Knowledge Activity

Major Activity

• This activity should take anywhere between an 1-2 hours to complete and can be found at the end of your workbook.
• Your instructor will let you know whether they wish for you to complete it in session time or your own time.

Summary and Feedback

• Did we meet our objectives?
• How did you find this session?
• Any questions?