Shared Value requires
Shared Responsibility: Whose Responsibility is Corporate Social
Responsibility?
Watching some of the discussion on corporate social
responsibility it sometimes seems like governments, communities, NGOs and
everyone else expects to sit back and have somebody (aka business) deliver CSR
to them on a silver platter.
WRONG!!
Corporate Social Responsibility is not something a company
does to or for communities, governments or others.
To be successful and
sustainable it takes a shared and collective responsibility with all
stakeholders. How could it be any other
way?
Yet, far too often we see major stakeholders, governments,
communities, NGOs and others, placing all the responsibility on companies,
almost as if they expected them to play the role of Government (or Santa
Claus).
Sometimes too, we see companies sitting back and trying to
leave the responsibility to other stakeholders, including often other companies
or industries.
Neither approach will work very well.
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All partners are in the same boat.
If the boat floats all will benefit. If it sinks everyone gets wet.
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Those communities and organizations that are pro-active in
organizing and planning CSR activities and sharing in the responsibility with
companies, will find that they simply get more value at the end of the
day. And, they will gain more capacity
as well, and more ownership over their destiny.
Those companies that take the lead AND have projects where
ALL stakeholders take appropriate responsibility will find that more value is
created for stakeholders and shareholders.
If CSR is about aligning interests so that more benefits can
flow to more stakeholders (including shareholders) how does it make sense that
all responsibility should be on the company or other partner to organize and
do.
Surely Shared Responsibility is where everyone should be trying
to get to.
Let’s assume that through a collaborative consultation
process a mining company and local community identified that improvements in
education and health were priorities.
- What is the role and responsibility of the community and local organizations?What is the role and responsibility of local government?
- What is the role and responsibility of the Sector Ministries (Education & Health)?
- What is the role and responsibility of the company?
- What is the role and responsibility of NGOs and other development actors with an interest in education and healthcare?
Think about what the roles and responsibilities should be. Then think about how the project would
normally play out.
This way works: In successful examples the various
stakeholders will all play a proactive part in the overall project, exhibiting
leadership, collaboration and initiative as required.
The project is truly made up of partners, working together
and through their collaboration and collective responsibility helping to
achieve results that none of them could achieve on their own.
This way, not so
much: In other cases one partner (often
business, but not always) is looked at to lead and take the bulk of the
responsibility. Other stakeholders sit
back and expect benefits to come to them.
Regardless of which partner, or partners are left with the
bulk of the responsibility, the project won’t succeed nearly as well as if
there was a collective sharing of responsibility.
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| Do your CSR projects sometimes end up looking like this? |
Ironically, in projects where the bulk of the responsibility
is left to one or two partners, they are the ones that get blamed if things
don’t work perfectly.
Is it any wonder that some get frustrated and, if they keep
going, end up frustrated and cynical.
So, Whose Responsibility is Corporate Social Responsibility?
Look at any CSR projects that you are involved in. Is there
a collective responsibility?
If not, why not?
And, what will you do to change that and facilitate
collective responsibility.
Blaming the partners who have been carrying the responsibility
probably isn’t the most productive response.
Training and encouraging all partners to accept a fair share of
responsibility is a far better way to go.
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| Sharing responsibility across partners and stakeholders can drive project success and make the work more fun |
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To read other CSR Articles and Thoughtpieces by Wayne Dunn click here>>>
