What Corporate Social Responsibility Means to Me as An Individual

What Corporate Social Responsibility Means to Me as an Individual

Corporate Social Responsibility, a term mentioned in a Harvard Business Review Podcast a few months back, sparked my interest in the idea of of the role of the corporation today. To me CSR means three things: 1) balancing profits and ethics, 2) thinking with intentionality, and 3) true strategic leadership. 


Balancing  Profit and Ethics

I value the idea of a company taking responsibility for their footprint on society and the ecosystem. It is the idea of shared-value across the map that appeals to me and my perception of a company. In my research it seems as though the goal in CSR is to create shared value. 

Take Colgate for example,  you know, the toothpaste folks. On their website they share their three core values as caring, global teamwork, and continuing improvement. These values resonate through their sustainability efforts to create an organizational landscape teeming with shared value worthy of the triple bottom line in CSR. 

Their website on sustainability focuses on people, performance, and planet which says

"As a company that strives to be the best truly global consumer products company, we are committed to doing business with integrity and respect for all people and for the world around us" (Colgate-Palmolive, 2013).

People focuses on making their products safe and successful. Performance focuses on a continuous commitment to the financial expectations of the organization. Planet is focused on a cleaner and healthier environment in which the Colgate products leave little imprint. This is their definition and action of the triple-bottom  line. 

This sense of diverse efforts with a unified mission demonstrates a balance of profits and ethics. Colgate demonstrates their perception of corporate responsibility for their efforts and products. 

More in depth, their 2011 to 2015 strategy to focus on people, performance, and planet include:

• Promoting Healthier lives
• Promote health and wellness to reduce employee health risks by 15%
• Achieve a 5% reduction in health costs and an improvement in early diagnosis of chronic and treatable disease
• Continuous focus on safety to achieve the goal of zero lost-time incidents.
• Contributing to the communities where we live and work
• Commit to over $300 million to increase our impact in the community
• Partner with dental professionals to improve community oral health care
• Expand 'Bright smiles, bright futures' program externally to reach one billion children by 2020
• Provide hand washing awareness to over 50 million households
• Work with 250,000 veterinarians worldwide to educate pet owners and provide over !100 million in pet food to shelters
• Continue to provide Colgate products after natural disasters
• Involve more Colgate volunteers in our community programs.
• Delivering Products that delight consumers and respect our planet
• Increase the sustainability profile in all new products we produce and in the balance of our portfolio
• Ensure that ingredients continue to meet or exceed all recognized standards for safety quality and environmental compliance and biodegradability
• Reduce the environmental impact of our products and packages by 20%, by increasing the use of sustainable materials and recycled content. 
• Make every drop of water count
• Reduct the water consumed in the manufacture of our products by 40% vs. 2005 consumption.
• Reduce the use of water associated with our products by 15%
• Work with local and global organizations to help promote access to clean water
• Promote water conservation awareness among over two billion consumers
• Reducing out impact on climate and the environment
• reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with the manufacture and distribution of our products by 20%
• Reduce waste send to landfills from our operations by 15%
• Request that all key suppliers measure and disclose climate change information. 

Throughout this plan is a consistent blend of their people, planet, and performance values along with the balance of profit and ethics. This company is demonstrating how they are moving forward with society and the environment to created shared value across the spectrum.

Thinking with Intentionality

Take McDonalds for example, under fire for years regarding their lack of interests in nutritional value on their menu. It was 2004's monumental documentaries like Super Size Me that brought to light the nutritional negligence in America's staple fast food chain. In this documentary a regular guy named Morgan Spurlock eats McDonalds food, and ONLY McDonalds food for a 30-day period. During that time he documents regular doctor visits, personal diaries and daily emotional changes, as the so-called after effects of the McDonalds food. Needless to say this documentary drew much criticism with the argument that McDonalds draws profit at the expense of nutrition. This documentary aired around the time when obesity became a significant social issue in the United States. 

Since the documentary McDonalds has attempted to change their rules in the game to offer more socially responsible menu options, such as fruit and salads as an alternative side meal. This shift of intentionality demonstrates swift social responsibility in a company wanting to add shared value to the community. McDonald's intentionality is held accountable by the Global Advisory Council (GAC) to add nutrition labeling to food. For example McDonalds has created "What I Eat, What I Do"  a well-being platform aiming to motivate children to eat more fruits and vegetables. (McDonalds, 2013). 

Soap Box Time...

In my opinion though, I find nothing inherently wrong with McDonald's nutrition in the first place because McDonalds is an option as a place for people to eat. What happened to people taking responsibility for their own eating habits? Instead, we have free willed Americans eating too often at McDonalds and blaming McDonalds for their health issues and weight issues. I don't know about you but I was raised to be responsible for my own choices. Too much of anything is unhealthy in all reality. So why is it McDonald's fault if you are too lazy to go to the grocery store to cook healthy food at home? Why is it McDonald's fault if you have no self control and you order a Big Mac and Super Sized fries every day and you develop diabetes. That is your own fault. However, it would be a different story if all grocery stores around the country got rid of  all their food and the only option was to eat at McDonalds. Here I am talking about dependency. If we Americans were dependent on McDonalds as our source of food, then this would be an issue. Otherwise....take care of yourself and quit blaming McDonalds.

On a lighter note though it IS great that I can get a Big Mac with a salad now....I don't have to feel AS bad for eating McDonalds :) I have the personal option for health now. BUT I have self control and eat there rarely. 

Steps Off Soapbox...

Strategic Servant Leadership

Back in June I wrote my service philosophy and added the definition of service as the act of submitting to, nurturing, and passing on what will outlive the character's story. In connecting the dots between CSR and my definition I want to focus on what I wrote in my service philosophy in which I stated, "Serving is never convenient." This statement is connected to CSR because balancing profits and ethics intentionally is NOT easy. This shift in mission requires creating departments, hiring employees, conducting research, connecting with the community, which costs money. But the benefit is found within the service CSR brings to society. Corporate Social Responsibility is important because it can be utilized as a strategic form of servant leadership to join business and society together to advance the community as a whole (Porter & Kramer, 2011). In other words, while CSR may cost money to develop, it is an opportunity to create a stronger relationship with customers. 

For example, if a community is suffering high teen pregnancy rates, a corporation can create or fund-effective sex education programs for surrounding schools. Instead of focusing efforts solely on profits, a CSR cognizant organization can now focus additional efforts on stakeholders in the community. A strategic move like the one previously mentioned helps an organization serve itself and the community simultaneously. 

In my own opinion I think that CSR is an opportunity cost. We live in a time where some corporations focus on their shareholders at the expense of the stakeholders. These corporations like Fannie Maw and Freddie Mac make unethical decisions that may cause world wide controversy. The byproduct of their decisions can hold the world economic systems hostage. With the corporation of modern day holding that much power, it is comforting to know companies that promote the well-being of society with CSR programs. I believe that companies who practice CSR show themselves as a more vulnerable and transparent. Thus, I am more inclined to want to invest in their product or service. It is the strategic servant leaders who win in the end and I believe we will see this as a corporate trend in the years to follow. 

References

Bennis, W. (2004). Why servant-leadership matters. In L. Spears (Ed.), Practicing servant leadership: Succeeding through trust, bravery, and forgiveness (pp. xi-xvi). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Burke, L. & Logsdon, J. M. (1996). How corporate social responsibility pays off. Long Range Planning, 29(4), 495-502. 

Fassel, D. (1998). Lives in the balance: The challenge of servant-leaders in a workaholic society. In L. Spears (Ed.), Insights on leadership: Service, stewardship, spirit, and servant-leadership (pp. 216-229). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. 

Kincaid, M. (2012). Building corporate social responsibility through servant leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 7(2), 153-171. 

International organization for standardization strategic advisory group on corporate social responsibility, preliminary working definition of organizational social responsibility, ISO/TMB AGCSR N4, 2002

Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011, January). Creating shared value. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value

Zohar, D. (1997). Rewiring the corporate brain. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.