Transformational Leadership Blog

Corporate Social Responsibility is rooted in human compassion. While business organizations want to maximize profits and revenues, we cannot deny our responsibilities to the planet, to the employees, to the community where the business is situated, and to the rest of the world. That is why, corporate social responsibility is a necessary component for the operation of business organizations. But if your organization’s intention is to mainly save taxes that should be paid to the government, you have to think again. In such an instance, CSR becomes nothing more than a means to further enhance the bottom line of the company and a way to cheat the government.

For the month of June, MightyRasing.com covered several articles on corporate social responsibility. In case, you missed these articles, just check the following links plus some excerpts from the articles:

Corporate Social Responsibility: Balancing Profits, People and the Planet

The concept of CSR simply means that organizations do not only take from the people and the society where they operate. They also have to give something in return apart from the products and services that they offer. Traditionally, corporations were viewed to be responsible only to their investors and stakeholders. CSR changed that! Organizations are also accountable to and must take into account its impact to its employees, suppliers, the customers, the government, the environment and the community or society where it operates.

CSR is a manifestation of ethical business principles and practices.

Compassionate Capitalism and Corporate Social Responsibility

Let’s get it straight. Corporate social responsibility is not a magic salve that would ease the conscience of those who practice unethical business practices. If you are polluting rivers, the water table and other environmental resources heavily, no amount of reforestation efforts and cleanup will ever change the minds of people regarding your business practices.

Corporate social responsibility should really be included in the overall strategy and perhaps the vision and mission of the organization. When a leader displays commitment to the company’s employees, to the stakeholders and to the environment, CSR is a logical step forward.

Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into the Organizational Culture

How can you integrate corporate social responsibility into the organizational culture?

Big businesses have been doing this for the past decade or so. When I was still with IBM Business Services Philippines, we did have several outreach programs connected with Gawad Kalinga and some other non-government organizations. Businesses operating on a smaller scale can learn from the multinationals in this regard. Here are a few tips in doing just that.

Corporate Social Responsibility starts with the leaders. Without the consent of the leaders, the CSR efforts of employees will fall short. So the leaders should show the example of commitment to CSR so that the employees will be motivated to follow through.

Corporate Social Responsibility Sucks If…

You just give money to a partner organization to do the “dirty work” of corporate social responsibility.

Only a handful of people in your company participates in it.

You just implement a one-time big time CSR event.

Your employees do not understand the implications and the importance of CSR.

The subject of Corporate Social Responsibility is very broad and takes on different angles and issues. The articles we presented here barely scratches the surface. Probably a few weeks from now, we can come up with other articles on Corporate Social Responsibility and related topics.

Related posts:

1. Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into the Organizational Culture
2. Corporate Social Responsibility Sucks If…
3. Compassionate Capitalism and Corporate Social Responsibility
4. Corporate Social Responsibility: Balancing Profits, People and the Planet
5. The impossibility of “Sustainable Consumption” and the Case against Corporate Social Responsibility