Topics Manual

An Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility

Train4CSR | Topics manual | An Introduction to CSR | page 2 This handbook has been completed within the project Innovative training methodology for CSR topics Train4CSR Agreement No: 2008-1940/001-001. It has been developed and compiled through collaboration between the following organizations: KOVET is the leading Hungarian business organisation that promotes organisations on the road towards sustainability. KOVET are the leaders of the project and the partner consortium www.kovet.hu IKSZE provides vocational trainings and advisor services mainly for Hungarian non-profit and for-profit organisations and higher education institutions. www.ikszi.hu Impronta Etica is an italian non-profit association made up of companies, utilities and public sector organisations with the aim of stimulating enterprises to implement policies of social responsibility.. www.improntaetica.org Spanish association for the promotion of ethical and socially responsible policies among companies and institutions at the core of their corporate values, providing them with frameworks for auditable management systems. Foretica is member of CSR Europe. www.foretica.es Scottish Business in the Community is one of the Princes Charities in Scotland, it is the only organisation supporting and challenging its private sector members and its partners to improve their impacts in the workplace, marketplace, community and environment. www.sbcscot.com CSR Europe is the leading European business network for corporate social responsibility. www.csreurope.org

The use of this document and its partial reproduction are allowed only for noncommercial uses and with explicit reference to the source. www.train4csr.eu

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Table of contents
page 05

1. Introduction and objectives of the manual

Introduction to the topic

page 06

2. Objectives of the Training

Aim Who is the training for? Key competencies Attitudes Skills Knowledge

page 07 page 08

3. Terms and definitions 4. Overview of the topic

Keywords Historical background

page 09 page 11

Recent trends in Corporate Social Responsibility

5. Content
Principles Supporting information

page 13 page 14

6. Benefits of CSR for an organisation Best practices and examples of initiatives and tools for Corporate Social Responsibility Bibliography

page 15

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1. Introduction and objectives of the manual

This manual is designed to support the delivery of the training module, CSR Introduction. This module forms part of the 10 training sessions developed as part of the Leonardo Lifelong Learning Project, Train4CSR. The manual is a framework providing the trainer with the relevant background, information and guidelines to effectively deliver the training. However, to make this relevant within your country, sector and organisation, please use the supporting documentation to customise your training.

Introduction to the topic

Corporate Social Responsibility has been growing in prominence and importance over the last few years. With the economic crisis much of the developed world has recently been in, there is no better time for organisations to demonstrate their responsibility to the social challenges of the day, to addressing environmental concerns while at the same time using this to increase profits. Sustainability is vital for organisations to enjoy sustained growth, but what does it really mean? What are organisations actually doing and where does it all come from? This course aims to develop the concept of CSR and sustainability, giving participants an insight into the principles behind it, as well as practical activities they can engage in to increase the sustainability of their organisations.

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2.Objectives of the Training

Aim
This course aims to introduce and build upon the key concepts regarding corporate responsibility (CR), providing attendees with an insight into the history, global context and best practices of CR.

Who is the training for?

New CSR Managers or CSR Managers looking to refresh their ideas Other managers who have CSR within their job remit

Key competencies:
The course is intended to develop the following competencies in the participants. Please note that your specific course objectives should focus on those competences which are the most appropriate to your business.

Attitudes
CSR can only be embedded by demonstrating individual and collective responsibility for our own and the organisations actions A change to long term thinking (strategizing) must replace current short termism in order to build responsible enterprises Display the ability to act as change agents and leaders of sustainable change within the organisation The ability to challenge the status quo, to look for innovative partnerships and demonstrate lateral leadership.

Skills
Effective cooperation and collaboration Critical and creative thinking Research, planning and evaluation skills Communication Team working Project management Ability to question decisions critical thinking Ability to influence influencer Ability to act as change agent within the business

Knowledge
Current CSR activities Business benefits History of CSR Context which CSR sits within nowadays The triple bottom line and sustainability Available resources Basic implementation models

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3.Terms and definitions

UNGC
The United Nations Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Triple Bottom Line (TBL)

The triple bottom line captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organisational (and societal) success: economic, environmentall and social. Also sometimes referred to as `People, `Planet and `Profit.

Stakeholders
An organisations stakeholders are those groups who affect and/or are affected by the organisation and its activities. These may include, but are not limited to: owners, trustees, employees and trade unions, customers, members, business partners, suppliers, competitors, government and regulators, the electorate, non-governmental-organisations (NGOs) / not-for-profit organisations, pressure groups and influencers, and local and international communities.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

A multi-stakeholder process facilitated by an independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. GRI is a network-based organisation that has pioneered the development of the worlds most widely used sustainability reporting framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. In order to ensure the highest degree of technical quality, credibility, and relevance, the reporting framework is developed through a consensus-seeking process with participants drawn globally from business, civil society, labour, and professional institutions.

International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)

ISO is the worlds largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 163 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system.

NGO
Non-governmental organisation

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4.Overview of the topic

Keywords
Corporate Social Responsibility CSR Sustainability Triple Bottom Line CSR activities Business benefits History of CSR Global context Workplace Marketplace Environment Community Corporate citizenship Sustainable development Transparency Values

Historical background
While the term CSR may be a relatively new one, the concept behind CSR has been around much longer. The industrial revolution in the 19th century had two major impacts; the growth of `local business into what would become global corporations, and the apparent breakdown of existing social networks. The environment was considered an unlimited resource and much of our economic growth over the past century has been fuelled by what is now known to be unsustainable and/ or limited resources. This has had serious consequences to both the social fabric of our societies, as well as the environmental challenges that continue to persist today. While a general breakdown in social networks is well recognized, there were efforts by individuals to compensate for this. An example of this is New Lanark, in Southern Scotland. New Lanark was founded in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. Dale built the mills there to take advantage of the water power provided by the river. Under the ownership of a partnership that included Dales son-in-law, Robert Owen, a Welsh philanthropist and social reformer, New Lanark became a successful business and an epitome of utopian socialism. While the works were looked after in terms of their everyday needs, they did not however have any say in the management of the enterprises. Motives for these examples of early socially responsible businesses are varied, but included: Potential for social unrest Sense of duty Commercial benefits and binding workers to the organisation

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However, these examples were certainly not universally adopted, and were undertaken by the likes of David Dale and Robert Owen on a voluntary basis. General conditions in factories remained incredibly low, and social deprivation continued unabated in large areas of the UK. While these are indeed example of early businesses demonstrating a level of responsibility to their employees, in more recent times CSR would have been preceded by philanthropy. Philanthropy is now however seen as an easy option, a large corporate writing a cheque to engage in goodwill in their community is becoming outdated. While this is important, more direct mechanisms of engaging in the social communities has developed, enabling the staff to take a direct interest and appreciation for social challenges in geographical locations that an organisation may be based, or where they may have operational activities. From an environmental standpoint, NGOs such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were founded, bringing the unrestrained destruction of natural resources and our natural environment to our general attention. This had a remarkable impact on business, where suddenly responsible behavior, and being seen to be responsible for fear of reprisals from NGOs, moved the environment up the agenda, often into the realms of risk management. CSR has changed in time, but a common theme that can be traced throughout is the benefit to social and environmental consequences of business, the so called `right to trade. Government, business and NGOs have all been involved in the dynamics of this, with social, environmental or economic factors taking precedence according to the politics of a particular region, or the prevailing issue of the time. This means that CSR cannot be strictly defined for a global audience, but will have key drivers in different areas e.g. HIV/ AIDS affecting south African workers, Carbon Trading Schemes in Europe, diversity in the UK etc. The continued growth of CSR and sustainable development has seen many companies now reporting on their social and environmental activities. Government too is supporting this growth with ever increasing legislative requirements and mandatory reporting on elements of CSR.

Recent trends in Corporate Social Responsibility

Today, business, government and NGO are working closer together striving to identify the ways of how they can benefit from each other through CSR and sustainable development, raising social expectations on local and global levels, reducing environmental impact (and capturing the opportunities from this rapidly expanding market), while at the same time pursuing the (current) globally preferred measure of success- the continued and increasing GDP Growth. Some more specific trends include: Greenwash: Companies that were reporting environmental savings and credentials without fully embracing the principles behind this have faced scrutiny from environmental groups and stakeholders. There is a risk of greenwash, as public perception of the motives and actions that corporations are taking remains quite sceptical.

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Corporate Governance: The governance of organisations has been put under additional scrutiny following the collapse of financial institutions. Ethics and personal values in business: CSR is used as a tool to integrate personal values into the workplace thus enhancing the companys culture. Linking internal drivers and champions: Empowering motivated employees to drive the change within the workplace. Supply chain: Looking down the supply chain, supporting suppliers to become more socially and environmentally responsible; using procurement to ensure that supplies and suppliers are ethically sourced. Sectoral Cooperation: Innovative partnerships emerging, the need to work together and identifying synergies across sectors to work towards common goals. Urgency: Heralding new way of doing business. Choice editing: A term used in the report to describe instances where governments and / or businesses are making responsible choice for consumers (eg removing all non energy efficient lightbulbs from the market). Choice editing for sustainability is about cutting out unnecessarily damaging products and have enormous significance for the environment. Changing expectations due to the emerging economic climate.

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5. Content

relevant. Below is some additional information to help in your preparation for delivery. It has been included to increase your knowledge around the topic and covers key principles, issues and themes considered

Principles
The overarching principle behind CSR is one of responsible business practise. Key questions however are what constitutes this `responsibility, and how can this lead to organisational sustainability? This course will demonstrate that much of this will be down to the culture and core business of the organisation, with taught CSR simply providing a framework within which responsible business can flourish. Some key principles within this framework include: Leadership and strategy Top down, bottom up approach The companys values and mission Know and understand your business drivers Core business products and services Integration, measurement and reporting Communication Personal values Stakeholders and partnerships

Supporting information
An introduction to CSR covers a variety of topics related to CSR or sustainability. One of the key objectives of this course is to move CSR from a concept to practical actions that employees could take in order to make their businesses more environmentally friendly, socially inclusive and sustainable in a long term period. Specific activities which are taken by the course participants fall under four key headings: Environment - With the Copenhagen accord and grwing worldwide interest in the environment, it has never been so important to stay ahead of legislation while saving money, increasing your brand and limiting your impact on the environment. Marketplace - Marketplace examines four key aspects of responsible business practice: products and services, suppliers, procurement and marketing. Engagement in these different areas will ensure that CSR is embedded in core business and is not simply an / add-on.

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Workplace - This identifies how business creates a responsible and productive culture and environment in the workplace in order to ensure the most effective use of knowledge, skills and talent of the workforce. Community - The proven connection between a healthy and profitable business and the wellbeing of the community around it. Another key tool that is used is the concept of the Triple Bottom Line (see the figure below). It represents the need and benefits of measuring and reporting on the three key areas: social, environmental and economic.

Social

Bearable

Equitable

Sustainable

Environment

Viable

Economic

The phrase was coined by John Elkington in 1994. It was later expanded and articulated in his 1998 book Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. Sustainability, itself, was first defined by the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations in 1987. Another tool used by organisations to determine CSR activities that could: a) Have most impact and b) Be most easily implemented, is shown below.

Impact v Blockage

Blockage

Dont touch

Patience required Go for it!

is it a quick win?

Impact

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The very basic model of CSR integration into the company strategy will/will not be presented, depending on the level of participants (see the figure below).

Steps along the road...

Evaluate and improve

6.

Conduct a CR assessment

1.

Improve
Verify and report on progress

Plan
Develop a CR strategy

5.

2.

Check
4.

Do
3.

Implements CR commitments

Develop CR commitments

6. Benefits of Stakeholder Engagement for an organisation

A well implemented CSR strategy has been known to benefit an organisation by: Enhanced reputation Support to risk management Cost reduction Innovation Human Resources Enhancement of internal image Creation of new markets Identified synergies within the business and across sectors Improved stakeholder engagement Increased personal development Improved recruitment and retention of key staff All these benefits lead to improved performance and results

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Annex: Best practices and examples of initiatives and tools for Corporate Social Responsibility Database, guides
What CSR Europe database on mainstreaming CSR Embedding sustainability in organisational culture Another important resource for references and practices is the Accountability website: Video: WBCSD: The Role of Business in Tomorrows Society Where http://www.csreurope.org/pages/en/revolutionary_business_models.html http://www.cbsr.ca/sites/default/files/file/CultureReport_Final.pdf http://www.accountability21.net/default. aspx?id=256 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xox7Z0Bq7jY

Standards Regulations
What AA1000: standard for evaluation of the stakeholder relations established by companies AA1000: a handbook Global Reporting Initiative (4.14-4.17): ISO26000: an International Standard providing guidelines for social responsibility An Implementation Guide for Business by IISD FTSE4 Good Index Series. 2008 Inclusion criteria G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. Global Reporting Initiative ILO Conventions: human and labour rights ISO 14001: 2004. Environmental Management System. Requisites with instructions for use ISO 19011:2002. Guidelines for Quality and or/ Environmental management systems auditing ISO 26000 (process of development) ISO 9001:2000. Quality Management System Requisites OECD Guideline for Multinational Enterprises Where http://www.accountability21.net/uploadedFiles/ publications/SES%20Exposure%20Draft%20-%20 FullPDF.pdf; www.accountability21.net/.../Stakeholder%20Engagement%20Handbook.pdf http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/ ED9E9B36-AB54-4DE1-BFF2-5F735235CA44/0/G3_ GuidelinesENU.pdf http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink?func=ll&objId= 3935837&objAction=browse&sort=name www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/csr_guide.pdf www.ftse.com/Indices/FTSE4Good_Index_Series/ F4G_Download_Page.jsp www.globalreporting.org www.ilo.org www.iso.org www.iso.org www.iso.org/sr www.iso.org www.oecd.org/department/0,2688,en_2649_34889_ 1_1_1_1_1,00.html

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Bibliography
http://www.responsiblepractice.com/english/introduction/eu/ www.sbcscot.com www.maydaynetwork.com

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.