Bangladesh University of Professionals

Assignment
On
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Course title: Strategic Human Resource Management
Course ID-HRM-8602

Submitted To:
Associate Professor Nadia newaz Rimi
Department of Management
Dhaka University

Submitted By:
Nargis Akter
ID: 1509002

Date of Submission:15 March, 2018

1. What is CSR?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of
society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders,
communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend
beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking
further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local
community and society at large.

Business ethics is a form of the art of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical
problems that can arise in a business environment.

In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the 21st century, the demand for more ethical
business processes and actions (known as ethicism) is increasing. Simultaneously, pressure is applied on
industry to improve business ethics through new public initiatives and laws.

Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career
specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The
range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at
odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically
during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today
most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values
under a variety of headings (e.g. ethics codes, social responsibility charters). In some cases, corporations
have redefined their core values in the light of business ethical considerations (e.g. BP's "beyond
petroleum" environmental tilt).

The term CSR itself came in to common use in the early 1970s although it was seldom abbreviated. The
term stakeholder meaning those impacted by an organization's activities was used to describe corporate
owners beyond shareholders from around 1989.

2. CSR and HR strategy

The world is a smaller place thanks to the Internet, global trading and new communication and
technology advances. More U.S. companies are expanding overseas, and now manage a global workforce
that has unique benefits, rules/laws, and different languages and currencies. With this global expansion
comes a responsibility.

When companies are global, an important challenge in garnering success is to respect other cultures and
workforce environments and start forming a global profile or social consciousness.

Recognize these differences with a sound Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan that can
simultaneously increase shareholder value, boost employee engagement and increase employer brand
recognition.
Human Resource Departments play a critical role in ensuring that the company adopts Corporate Social
Responsibility programs. Furthermore, HR can manage the CSR plan implementation and monitor its
adoption proactively, while documenting (and celebrating) its success throughout the company.

Human Resources technology can help with a Corporate Social Responsibility program, including
reducing the company's carbon footprint to benefit the planet. Start with these areas:

 Implement and encourage green practices.

 Foster a culture of social responsibility.
 Celebrate successes.
 Share and communicate the value of corporate social responsibility to employees and the
community.
 Implement and Encourage Green Practices for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Implement green practices to assist in environmental waste reduction, while promoting and encouraging
stewardship growth, better corporate ethics and long-lasting practices that promote both personal and
corporate accountability.

The value inherent in embracing green aspects of corporate responsibility is clearly understood, given the
direct impact that rising energy and utility costs have on employees' pocketbooks. Conservation has
become an accepted means of making our planet healthier.

Reducing each employee's carbon footprint is a great way of getting energy conservation and recycling
waste initiatives off the ground.

Here are suggestions to start:

 Recycle paper, cans, and bottles in the office; recognize departmental efforts.
 Collect food, and especially donations, for victims of floods, hurricanes and other natural
disasters around the globe.
 Encourage reduced energy consumption; subsidize transit passes, make it easy for employees
to carpool, encourage staggered staffing to allow after rush hour transit.
 Permit telecommuting and allow employees working remotely to the degree possible.
 Encourage shutting off lights; computers and printers after work hours and on weekends for
further energy reductions.
 Work with IT to switch to laptops over desktop computers. (Laptops consume up to 90% less
power.)
 Increase the use of teleconferencing, rather than on-site meetings and trips.
  Promote brown-bagging in the office to help employees reduce fat and calories to live healthier
lives and reduce packaging waste, too.

3. Relation between CSR strategies and HR activities.

HR plays a dynamic role in the evolution of CSR. It has an incredible presence in promoting CSR at
organizational and societal level. When we talk about CSR, we need not necessarily think about ways to
do something for the society directly every time to be tagged as CSR gurus.

We instead have to take an inward approach which can actually just be led by the rightful and responsible
HR managers. If they can think about society at large and design ways to invest in societal issues, they
can then definitely look inside the organization and develop this level of thinking in its workforce.

When they talk about society, they should think about their own organization first which is going to do
something for the society at large, and then think about the people who are going do it and then take
charge of each such single person who is going to become a member of that team working in this
initiative.

Initially it will be a few employees, then a team, but later each employee needs to carry the same message
in and out of the organization. If we need a long term impact, mindset change is required.

CSR is here to stay, however, if we don’t want it to be just an add on to a business, it should actually
become a life of any business. A CSR imbibed company culture should reflect how a company is
performing, what its core values are and how well it justifies or carries its values.

And for all this we need HR to support this and take the concept further to the minds of the employees
and make it a feel good factor for everyone. CSR strategies can help create a risk free environment where
employees can feel secure about their jobs and responsibilities and they feel happy to be attached to the
brand for which they work. Such organization thus becomes an employer of choice because of
internalization of CSR values, within its culture.

HR needs to be highly motivated to take up a leading role in embedding corporate responsibility into
organizational culture.HR mangers need to look beyond the traditional boundaries of HR areas and should
look at opportunities that CSR brings for them as professionals, for their organizations and for global
sustainability.

HR managers need to rise up to CSR and start implementing ways to drive a more inclusive and
responsive culture that help a business to do more than just make money. This is only possible if CSR is
not just adopted as a strategy but as a culture within an organization.

How HR can promote a CSR culture:

(1) Follow the Go Green fundamental – HR needs to promote and educate its employees on reducing
operating costs, rightful usage of paper for printing, recycling and waste reduction and thereby making its
employees, ambassadors of this go green campaign starting from office to society at large.
(2) Employee friendly policies – An organization which can invest a fortune in the wellbeing of its
employees can actually expect a fortune from them for its business. Investment in employee’s mental,
physical and emotional health pays in the long run. HR plans and processes which go beyond the
minimum requirements results in terms of reduced absenteeism, reduced health care costs, higher
productivity and longer job tenure. This is an ultimate goal which CSR indulged organization must adhere
to.

(3) Creating a forum to raise voice – It is important that HR ensures the openness of company culture that
promotes a forum where employees can raise voice against any injustice done to them or if their rights are
being taken away, they can stand up to fight for it. Doing it well protects and advances the business,
employees, and communities.

(4) Empowerment of managers – By giving the managers decision-making authority, it shall help in
executing social responsibility at local level. When managers have decision making authority they can
dispel their responsibility properly by carefully assessing the requirement in terms of social responsibility.

I believe charity begins at home is more suited a caption for understanding the relationship between the
two. Well the value added by CSR in the form of direct results, such as, economic savings and indirect
results like increase in employee satisfaction, or decrease in attrition rates are a good indicator of CSR
being imbibed in company culture.

4.CSR activities

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is a corporation’s initiative to assess and take responsibility for
the company’s effects on environmental and social wellbeing.

CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to the economic
development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as that of the
local community and society at large.

Basically this means “good company, good people, good environment.” No one wants to work for a
company that pollutes the environment around them, puts the workforce in difficulty working conditions.
So companies have the responsibility to ensure that they only contribute to the betterment and not the
detriment.

Now that we got a good idea about what it is its time to ask the next big question, Why is it important? I
know that we all understood the importance that CSR has by the definition alone but it is always
important to gain a little more clarity on the subject.

There are also a few stats about how important CSR is and how much companies pay attention to their
reputation.

Of the total populace, 55% of consumers are ready to pay more for products when they come from
socially responsible companies.

A whopping 65% of the fortune 500 companies in existence offer matching gift programs.

A total of 17.8 billion dollars is the amount that corporations have given to charities in the last year.
To help you out a little further, here are the top reasons why companies rely and adopt CSR strategies.

Better public image

Better media coverage

Boosts employee engagement

Attain and retain investors

More volunteer participation.

Varied sources of revenue

Examples:

Starbucks
In case some of you are unfamiliar with the brand, Starbucks is like Café Coffee day but much
bigger. The company has been in existence for more than a couple of decades. From the get go, it
has always strive to operate and conduct itself in an ethical manner. In Fortune’s Magazine the
company is ranked as the fifth most socially responsible company in 2012 (and that is a tough list
to crack). There are a lot of reasons for high ranking like how the company looks for better ways
to develop sustainable production of the coffee. Starbucks have a few guidelines in place called
the C.A.F.E practices which are to ensure environmental leadership, product quality and
economic accountability. The company also supports Ethos Water which is another company that
is known to provide clean water for more than a billion people.

Microsoft
I’ll bet you’re reading this article on a windows computer right now. The company behind one of
the biggest operating software in existence is also a company that takes a great effort in giving
back. The company was named as the best at CSR by the reputation institute. One way that
Microsoft helps out is through their annual employee giving campaign, where the employees
attend fundraising events that help out nonprofit organizations. The campaign has been held since
1983 and has raised more than a billion dollars in contributions which has helped more than
31,000 organizations.

5. Rationale of CSR

So what’s a CSR professional supposed to do when faced with such a varied response?
Typically, I step on top of my soapbox to declare the six business reasons why companies should
embrace corporate social responsibility. Companies that “get it” are the ones that are using CSR
(or sustainability as I prefer to call it) as a way to push the following business processes into the
organization:
 Innovation – I know, I know, it’s an over-used term. Just typing the word into Amazon will
bring up nearly 150,000 items. But in the context of CSR, innovation is a huge benefit to a
company and society. For example, I recently watched a video of a brief talk by Geoff
McDonald who is the Unilever Global VP for HR, Marketing, Communications and
Sustainability. Using the “lens of sustainability” as McDonald described it, Unilever was able to
innovate new products such as a hair conditioner that uses less water. Without sustainability, the
company’s research and development efforts possibly wouldn’t have led to such a product.

Cost savings – One of the easiest places for a company to start engaging in sustainability is to use it as a
way to cut costs. Whether it’s using less packaging or less energy, these savings add up quickly. For
example, General Mills is on a path to reduce its energy savings by 20% by 2015. According to its 2011
CSR report, after installing energy monitoring meters on several pieces of equipment at its Covington,
Ga. plant, the company saved $600,000.

Brand differentiation – In the past, brand differentiation was one of the primary reasons companies
embraced CSR. Companies such as Timberland were able to find their voice and incorporate the
company’s values into their business model. However, as CSR has become more commonplace, using it
to differentiate your brand is getting harder to do. For example, the “Cola Wars” is one of the longest
running rivalries in business. Coke and Pepsi are constantly looking to grab as much market share as they
can from each other. Yet they are both adopting similar, although slightly different, approaches to CSR.
Both Pepsi and Coke are pursuing strategies of zero net water usage. Both companies offer water bottles
made from sustainable packaging as well. In the end, although neither company is necessarily going to
see strong differentiation benefits, I see the diminishing returns on brand differentiation as a sign that
CSR is taking hold and is not just a fad.

Long-term thinking – “The only reason we’re doing sustainability is to drive the growth of Unilever,”
McDonald said in the video mentioned above. Indeed, CSR is an effort to look at the company’s long-
term interest and ensuring that the company’s future is… well… sustainable. Hence, that’s why I prefer
the term sustainability to CSR. It is a shift from worrying about the next fiscal quarter’s financial results
to the impact business decisions today have on financial (and social) results ten years from now.

Customer engagement – What’s the point of doing CSR if no one knows about it? For the past few
years, Walmart has established itself as a leader on environmental efforts. Yes, you read that correctly,
Walmart is a leader in environmentalism. In 2008, Walmart ran an ad campaign designed to raise
awareness about the environment and the product choices consumers could make. Using CSR can help
you engage with your customers in new ways. Since the message is about something “good,” it can often
be an easier way to talk to your customers. This is an underused tool for business-to-business company
communication.

Employee engagement – Along similar lines, if your own employees don’t know what’s going on
within your organization, you’re missing an opportunity. Companies like Sara Lee created a cross-
functional, global Sustainability Working Team to help create a strategy for sustainability. At a more
grass roots level, the Solo Cup Company created the Sustainability Action Network to activate employees
in community service focused on the company’s CSR priorities.

6. Six principles of CSR

The basis for developing a CSR strategy is provided by the Competency Framework of the CSR
Academy (2006), which is made up of six characteristics:

1. Understanding society – understanding how the business operates in the broader context and know in
the social and environmental impacts that the business has on society.

2. Building capacity – building the capacity of others to help manage the business effectively. For
example, suppliers understand the business’s approach to the environment and employees can apply
social and environmental concerns in their day-to-day roles.

3. Questioning business as usual – individuals continually questioning the business in relation to a more
sustainable future and being open to improving the quality of life and the environment.

4. Stakeholder relations – understanding who the key stakeholders are and the risks and opportunities they
present. Working with them through consultation and taking their views into account.

5.Strategic view – ensuring that social and environmental views are included in the business strategy,
such that they are integral to the way the business operates.

6. Harnessing diversity – respecting the fact that people are different,which is reflected in fair and
transparent business practices.

7.How to develop CSR strategy

To develop and implement a CSR strategy based on these principles it is

necessary to:

●● understand the business and social environment in which the firm operates

●● understand the business and HR strategies and how the CSR strategy should be aligned to them
Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 187

●● know who the stakeholders are (including top management) and find out their views and expectations
on CSR

●● identify the areas in which CSR activities might take place by reference to their relevance in the
business context of the organization and an evaluation of their significance to stakeholders

●● prioritize as necessary on the basis of an assessment of the relevance and significance of CSR to the
organization and its stakeholders and the practicalities of introducing the activity or practice
●● draw up the strategy and make the case for it to top management and the stakeholders

●● obtain approval for the CSR strategy from top management and key stakeholders

●● communicate information on the whys and wherefores of the strategy comprehensively and regularly

●● provide training to employees on the skills they need to use in implementing the CSR strategy;

●● measure and evaluate the effectiveness of CSR.

Conclusion

A business with fewer stakeholders to satisfy, their greatest concern appears to be their customers and
their own ability to satisfy the demand for products effectively. Businesses are demonstrating that well
managed corporate responsibility actually supports business objectives, especially amongst large
corporate where improved compliance, reputation and relationships has been shown to increase
shareholder value and profitability. For privately held businesses, the pressure to act can stem from the
demands of the supply chain; with large multinationals increasingly demanding that suppliers conform to
ethical business practices. Incorporating corporate responsibility into a business’s core strategy can also
enhance its attractiveness as an employer.

References:

Michael Armstrong handbook of strategic human resource management

https://www.thebalance.com/the-hr-role-in-promoting-corporate-social-responsibility-1917743

http://indiacsr.in/relationship-between-csr-and-hr/

https://doublethedonation.com/why-corporate-social-responsibility-is-important/)

http://www.echovme.in/blog/corporate-social-responsibility-activities-top-brands/