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UNIT 2
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MODELS
Sustainability
Sustainability: from the verb to sustain meaning: to hold up; to bear; to support; to provide
for; to maintain; to sanction; to keep going; to keep up; to prolong; to support the life of.
Sustainable development means a lot of things because it is a big idea. More than that, it is
a big goal. There have been several debates about the use of the terms sustainable
development and sustainability. Some of the confusion over the term is simply a result
of the enormity (vastness or size) of the concept. It actually does take some effort to
understand, but it worth it.
The first global consensus on the meaning of sustainability appeared in the report of theWorld Commission on the Environment and Development (WCED 1987: p. 54). The
WCED summerized its view by saying, sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs. However the full version of the WCEDs is more complex and
refined. It states that sustainable development is whatever contributes to the Balance
endurance (continued existence) of a set of three relationships. These relationships are:
1. The relationship between humankind and the environment
2. The relationship between the present generations and future generation
3. The relationship among present generations in different parts of the world or different
global social classes (e.g. the global rich and the global poor, owner(s) and theworkers, managers and normal employees etc)
The first relationship between humankind and the environment includes issues such as the
hole in the ozone layer and global climate change. Environmentalists when scrutinizing
corporations tend to emphasize this relationship. At one extreme groups search as
EarthFirst and the earth Liberation Front rigidly focus on this relationship. Most subscribe
to Deep Ecology principles, which include a small human population living in harmony
with nature. At the other extreme, there are those who place little emphasize on the
relationship between human and the natural environment. An example is the rampant
disregard for the natural environment that accompanied the Victorian industrial revolutions
in much of Europe and North America and, more recently, in China and India. It ismanifested in a belief that the natural environment is inexhaustible.
The second relationship is between the current generations and future generations. Those
who over-emphasize this relationship tend to have either absolute anti development or pro-
development bias. You cannot say that you preserve everything for future generations and
you put your life in misery. For example saving everything for future and ending up
suffering. But again squandering the whole wealth and leaving nothing for the future
generations. A good example is cutting all the trees and turning the land into the desert
will actually make the human kind extinct and there will be no present and no future
generation.
The third relationship that has to be balanced for development to be sustainable is thatbetween different groups of people of current generations. In a company set up this will
include relationship between managers, owners, employees and community. In a nutshell
a sustainable organisation/company will be the one:
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Its employees value it as a great place to work
Its customers and suppliers value it as a great business to do business with The community value it as a great neighbour (as good neighbour anywhere they look
out for you as you look out for them). When we talk about the community look at it
using the wider perspective, including the community of interests.
Investors and financers value it as a business into which it is worth putting their
money.
Corporate Governance Model
The model depict that for good or effective corporate governance in an organizations, there
are a number of participants to be taken into consideration in the corporate structure,
including employees, suppliers, and customers as well as incorporating the community in
which firms operate, the political environment, laws and regulations, and more generallythe markets in which firms are involved. This reflects a stakeholder perspective on the firm
hence entail the needs of the organization to incorporate in CSR activities in its
governance structure. In this view the agency theory accommodates the stakeholder
agency theory. The theory entails that managers are the agents of all the stakeholders and
not only the shareholders.
Jensen and Meckling (1976, p. 308) define agency relationship as a contract under which
one or more persons (the principal(s)) engage another person (the agent) to perform some
service on their behalf which involves delegation of some decision making authority to the
agent. The principal can limit the divergences from the agent by establishing appropriate
incentives for the agent and incurring monitoring costs in order to prevent certain
performance of the agent (Jensen et al, 1976). Hill and Jones, (1992) integrated the
stakeholder theory with the agency theory. They expanded the principal agent paradigm of
financial economics that looked at the relationship of shareholders and managers. Agency
theory can be used to explain the explicit and implicit contractual relationship that exists
between the firm and stakeholders that is when the agency theory views the firm as a
nexus of contracts between resource holders. The resource holders are seen as supplying
the firm with critical resources and during the exchange they expect their interests to be
satisfied. Unlike agency theory, the stakeholder agency theory encompasses the implicit
contractual relationship between all stakeholders. Stated simply the resultant model is the
generalised theory of agency: one of stakeholder-agency (Hill et al., 1992).
The core of the agency theory is the assumption that the interests of the principal andagents diverge (Jensen et al., 1976). The similarities between stakeholder agent
relationship and principal agent relationship under agency theory are that they both involve
implicit and explicit contracts, with the purpose of reconciling divergent interests.
Managers are positioned at the centre in order to reconcile the interests of all stakeholders.
Interests of principals and agents differ because they have different utility functions.
Stakeholder-agency theory postulates that, stakeholders place claims on the firm, when
satisfied will reduce the amount of resources that management can use towards the pursuit
of growth which is in the interest of managers as it brings higher remuneration, power, job
security and status which are the function of the size of the firm. Hill et al (1992, p. 138)
remarked, an agency conflict is inherent in the relationship between management and all
other stakeholders. To some extent stakeholders and managers interests converge, for
example satisfying employees and better wages improve productivity, but there will be a
point when the convergence will be replaced by divergence.
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The difference in interests between managers and stakeholders give rise to utility loss,
which has been defined by Hill et al (1992 p. 138) as the difference between the utility
that stakeholders could achieve if management acted in the stakeholders best interests,
and the utility that is achieved if management acts in its best interests. This situation gave
rise to the incentive, monitoring and enforcement structures, which reconcile the interests
of stakeholders and managers in order to minimise the utility loss. Interest alignment
mechanism can be in the form of stock option plans, warranties, etc. In order to reduce
transaction costs of gathering information for the diffused stakeholders, the use of
institutional structures is relevant for the stakeholders in order to minimise utility loss 1.
Stakeholders can use a variety of enforcement mechanisms when management fails to
serve their interests; these include law, exit and voice. Incentives are given in terms of tax
breaks in pollution containment equipment, this is an example where local community and
the general public through their legislative agents use some form of reward in order toreconcile their interests with the management motives (Hill et al, 1992).
Carrolls CSR model (pyramid)
Carroll who did a number of studies on CSR came out with a model that is widely
acknowledged. Carrolls pyramidal layers are described (from the apex) as discretionary,
ethical, legal, and economic responsibilities layers. He went further to define the four
layers starting with the base where Economic responsibility is regarded as of paramount
importance for the business to be able to execute the rest of the responsibilities. A business
has to be profitable in the first place to survive and to fulfil statutory and legal
requirements. Economic responsibilities include creating employment, business growth,
supply of service or products and tax contribution to the government2
.The second layer of Carrolls CSR pyramid (from the bottom) is the legal responsibility
whereby the business is expected to abide by the laws of the country or the system at
which it operates. This includes fulfilling the minimum standards of operations and not
engaging in fraudulent activities. Further more, the businesses are expected to fulfil
various statutory requirements like contribution for pension for its employees.
The third layer of Carrolls pyramid constitute of ethical obligations. These are societal
expectations although are not codified into law hence do not qualify as legal responsibility.
The fourth layer is what is referred to as discretionary or philanthropic responsibility.
These are obligations that a business goes an extra mile because it considers a good
thing to do. Some companies refer these as social investments, i.e. activities with no directbusiness return and are done voluntarily.
Carrolls model has been very much referred to in the CSR academic world due to its
simplicity and acceptability of its underlying reasoning. Probably the most significant
achievement of Carrolls model was its ability to reduce the difference between the former
two schools of thoughts (shareholder model and stakeholder model). In fact, Carroll (1991)
has come to a stage of integrating Milton Friedmans CSR definition in his economic layer
of CSR responsibilities to an extent of showing how little the two schools of thought
differ.
1For example in Tanzania the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC), which monitors andsometimes enforce companies to consider environmental issues in their operations, so that they do not harm
the community2Contribution from Taxation is economic responsibility while the obligation to pay tax can be regarded as alegal or statutory requirement for a company
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Social Responsibility Categories (Carroll, 1979)
Carrolls pyramid (1979)
Carrolls Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility from top to bottom
Discretionary/Philanthropic Responsibilities
Contribute resources to the community; improved quality of life.
Ethical Responsibilities
Be ethical
Obligation to do what is right, just, and fair. Avoid harm.
Legal Responsibilities
Obey the lawLaw is Society's codification of right and wrong.
Play by the rules of the game.
Economic Responsibilities
Be profitable
The foundation upon which all others rest
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Legal
Responsibilitie
s
Philanthropic
Responsibilitie
s
Ethical
Responsibilitie
s
Economic
Responsibilitie
s
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Profit-Cantered Model to Social Responsibility Model
Over the years, CG has evolved from the traditional Profit-cantered model where it viewthe organization towards economic responsibilities perspective by placing high priority
and efforts on profit generation and being loyal to the owner. This had changed over the
decades, due the effects of CSR issues on the performance of the business, hence place
priority and efforts on CSR activities and change concentration on the Social
Responsibility Model. The two models below view governance as a zero sum game
because the economic role of the firm is fundamental to its survival; profit often drives out
social considerations.
Profit-cantered model to the Social responsibility model
Corporate Community Model or Stakeholder Model
As knowledge increases when shared, therefore collaborative partnerships between
management and stakeholders can be economically productive. According to Halal (2000),
the wealth-creating role of business arises directly out of integrating stakeholders into a
productive whole a corporate community. The corporate community model shown
below views the firm as a socioeconomic system in which wealth is created through
stakeholder collaboration. Note that this is not done just to be socially responsible, but also
it is a competitive advantage.
The New Perspective: Corporate Community Model
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Stakeholder Model of Corporation
The model by Donaldson and Preston (1995), the firm is situated in the centre, and the
interactions between the stakeholder and firm are demonstrated as bi-directional, implying
that interactions between the firm and each stakeholder happen as separate instances of
communication. Additionally, the model implies that the most important interactions for a
firm are those between the firm itself and each stakeholder. This portrays the importanceof the corporations to involve in CSR issues.
The Stakeholder Model
CSR and Stakeholde
r
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Governments
Suppliers
Trade Associations
Investors
Political Groups
Customers
Communities
Employees
FIRM
Source: Donaldson et al (1995, p. 69)
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Efforts were done by Carroll to combine the four responsibility layers of his pyramid and
stake holders views. Masoud (2004) outlines the idea which reflects that individual
stakeholders of the same company may demonstrate different priorities in as far as CSR
for that company is concerned. His choices of stakeholders were Owners, Consumers,
Employees, Community and Others (i.e. the rest). These groups of stakeholders were
assigned rankings (1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest) of priority to the four CSR
Carrolls layers of the CSR pyramid. Masoud (2004) quotes Mitchell et al (1997, pg 854)
who define shareholders salience as The degree to which Managers give priority to
competing stakeholders claims.. This definition augurs well with different scenarioswhereby Managers may find media or development partners (donors), for instance, of
paramount importance and hence consider them in the list of primary stakeholders. The
models were tested byMasoud, Temu and Lauwo (2007) in Tanzania through a survey
involving 115 managers (35 firms) in the state owned firms and 98 managers (30 firms) in
the privatized firms for comparative purpose. The results in the two categories of firms
support the Carrolls pyramid model of CSR. The relationship between stakeholders
salience and the components of the CSR was found to be significant between employees
and the legal component in the state owned firms only. The firms managers perceived in
similar manner the variables studied.
Below is the table on stakeholders views of CSR
Stakeholders views on CSR aspect
CSR component Owners Consumers Employees Community Others
CSR: Economics 1 4 2 3 5
CSR: Legal 3 2 1 4 5
CSR: Ethical 4 1 2 3 5
CSR: Philanthropic 3 4 2 1 5
Number in the cells indicate how particular stakeholder view significance of aparticular form of CSR. (The ranking is 1 for highest and 5 for lowest)
Source: Carroll (1995, p. 51)
Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL or 3BL or the three pillars), Economic, Social and
Environment or People, Planet and Profit (PPP)
The concept of TBL was developed as a response of the tendency for business to put
emphasis on financial bottom-line in their organization performance reporting. It was
observed that there are other important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which could be
used as another yardstick for organizations performance alongside its traditional
economic measure. The TBL refers to achieving balanced and integrated economic(profit), social (The people), and environmental (The Planet) performance. This implies
that the new added parameters for measuring organization performance i.e. social and
environmental aspects are not secondary to the more conventional business imperatives.
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The concept of TBL demands that a company's responsibility lies with stakeholders rather
than shareholders. In this case, "stakeholders" refers to anyone who is influenced, either
directly or indirectly, by the actions of the firm. According to the stakeholder theory, the
business entity should be used as a vehicle for coordinating stakeholder interests, instead
of maximizing shareholder (owner) profit only.
The triple bottom line is made up of "social, economic and environmental" the "people,
planet, profit". "people, planet, profit" succinctly describes the triple bottom lines and the
goal ofsustainability.
The People
"People" (human capital) pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labourand the community and region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL
company conceives a reciprocal social structure in which the well-being of corporate,
labour and other stakeholder interests is interdependent.
A triple bottom line enterprise seeks to benefit many constituencies, not exploit or
endanger any group of them. The "up streaming" of a portion of profit from the marketing
of finished goods back to the original producer of raw materials, i.e., a farmer in fair trade
agricultural practice, is a common feature. In concrete terms, a TBL business would not
use child labour and monitor all contracted companies for child labour exploitation, would
pay fair salaries to its workers, would maintain a safe work environment and tolerable
working hours, and would not otherwise exploit a community or its labour force. A TBLbusiness also typically seeks to "give back" by contributing to the strength and growth of
its community with such things as health care and education. Quantifying this bottom line
is relatively new, problematic and often subjective. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
(will be discussed in another unit) has developed guidelines to enable corporations and
NGOs alike to comparably report on the social impact of a business.
The Environment (Planet)
"Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental practices. A TBL company
endeavors to benefit the natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and
curtail environmental impact. A TBL endeavor reduces its ecological footprintby, amongother things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewable and
reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing of it
in a safe and legal manner. "Cradle to grave" is uppermost in the thoughts of TBL
manufacturing businesses which typically conduct a life cycle assessment of products to
determine what the true environmental cost is from the growth and harvesting of raw
materials to manufacture to distribution to eventual disposal by the end user. A triple
bottom line company does not produce harmful or destructive products such as weapons,
toxic chemicals or batteries containing dangerous heavy metals for example.
Currently, the cost of disposing of non-degradable or toxic products is borne financially by
governments and environmentally by the residents near the disposal site and elsewhere. In
TBL thinking, an enterprise which produces and markets a product which will create a
waste problem should not be given a free ride by society. It would be more equitable for
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_(corporate)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholdershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structurehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structurehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_tradehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Reporting_Initiativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_capitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprinthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprinthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_gravehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_cycle_assessmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholdershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structurehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_tradehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Reporting_Initiativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_capitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprinthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_gravehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_cycle_assessmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_(corporate)7/30/2019 AC 311 UNIT 2
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the business which manufactures and sells a problematic product to bear part of the cost of
its ultimate disposal.
Ecologically destructive practices, such as overfishing or other endangering depletions of
resources are avoided by TBL companies. Often environmental sustainability is the more
profitable course for a business in the long run. Arguments that it costs more to be
environmentally sound are often specious when the course of the business is analyzed over
a period of time. Generally, sustainability reporting metrics are better quantified and
standardized for environmental issues than for social ones. A number of respected
reporting institutes and registries exist including the Global Reporting Initiative.
Profit (Economy)
"Profit" is the economic value created by the organization after deducting the cost of all
inputs, including the cost of the capital tied up. It therefore differs from traditional
accounting definitions of profit. In the original concept, within a sustainability framework,
the "profit" aspect needs to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host
society. It is the real economic impact the organization has on its economic environment.
This is often confused to be limited to the internal profit made by a company or
organization (which nevertheless remains an essential starting point for the computation).
Therefore, an original TBL approach cannot be interpreted as simply traditional corporate
accounting profit plus social and environmental impacts unless the "profits" of other
entities are included as a social benefits.
SIX Spheres of Influence Model
In our discussion of the six spheres of influence model (one of the model advocating the
practice of CSR) we shall use the University of Dar es Salaam Business School as the case
study. These concepts can be adopted in any organisation or company. The model is
shown in Figure 1 below adopted from IBLF3.
3About International Leaders Forum (IBLF): Independent, not-for-profit organisation. Founded in 1990 by HRH Prince ofWales . Started activities in Eastern Europe in the context of massive political and economic change to demonstrate the positive role of
business 90 countries. Over 20 years have accumulated knowledge and experience in responsible business practice. Thought leadership,working with companies to help them build their strategic approaches to CSR, stakeholder dialogue, facilitating cross-sector
partnerships, promoting collective action. Build capacity of companies in CSR and set up a network of partner organisations Head
office in London; offices in Moscow, Hong-Kong, New York, representative in India
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THE SIX SPHERES OF INFLUENCE MODEL
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Good leadership on vision
Clearly defined and
communicated values
Codes of conductEmployee training in values
and codes
CSR ownership
MARKETPLACE
IntegrityQuality
Safety
Reliability
Customer Relations
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTStakeholder Engagement
Economic DevelopmentEducation
Community HealthPartnerships with CSOs
Employee Volunteering
Public Policy Engagement
Sponsorships and donations
WORKPLACEBusiness Standards
Employment Creation
Labour Standards
Environmental Efficiency
Health and SafetyWorkforce Training
Diversity and Equality
Workplace Health
SUPPLY CHAIN
Standards
Shared Values
ENABLING ENVIRONMENTRegulations, Legislation,
Fiscal Incentives,Voluntary Guidelines and
Codes of Conduct, Public
Opinion, InstitutionalStructures, Financing
Mechanisms, Research,
Training and Capacity-
building, Media, etc.
Source: Adapted from Jane Nelson. Building Partnerships: Cooperation between the United nations system and the Business Community. UN and the International Business LeadersForum, 2002 and Nelson, Jane. Business as Partners in Development: Creating wealth from Companies, Countries and Communities. UNDP, IBLF and the World Bank, 1996.
At the centre of the Model we have Leadership and Management. This is where the seed
of sustainability, responsibility or ethical conducts start to grow. The acceptable conducts
will then diffuse to the employees in our case both UDBS academic and administrative
staff. The market place sphere depicts interaction mode with our clients that include ourfull time students, those seeking short courses and consultancy services and research
outputs. Supply chain is also important to be considered. Do we put into consideration on
ethical issues and our values when it comes to the relationship between the schools and
suppliers such as high schools and suppliers of other non human inputs? The other sphere
depicts our reaction to the community concerns. Is there a mechanism in place to bring
long term and beneficial relationship between the school and the community at large?
Finally, Enabling environment sphere considers the relationship between the school and
the government, media and seeking public opinion on issues related to CSR.
Leadership and management
Degree of responsible Leadership has consequences for the way the school is run andoperates.
The aspects that are ought to be considered by the Business Schools under leadership and
management sphere include:(1) Leadership, Values and Culture (2) Communications and
(3) Strategy and processes.
Leadership Values and Culture
Much of the success of a commitment to a responsible business school depends on the
leadership of the organisation the tone the leaders set and whether they are perceived to
walk the talk. Leadership is about aspirations which mean developing vision of thefuture and getting the people to buy into it. Responsible business schools need leaders who
strive in a multi-stakeholder and multi-values environment rather than being people who
just make decisions. It is proposed for such leaders to have competencies and qualities
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such as: The ability to lead and a desire to serve, to have sensitivity and empathy, to show
patience, serenity and humility, an ability to learn and willingness to learn. In addition aleader should demonstrate an ability to inspire, engage and facilitate others, to be seen
walking, talking and breathing symbols of corporate responsibility with strong ethical
values. A leader should be tuned to dialogue and to be good at listening rather than simply
communicating. He/she should be an influencerand to be able to build and add to ideas.
Furthermore, he/she should be capable of showing trust and to be trustworthy and
employees most valuable asset. These attributes are cemented by being an
entrepreneurial, with the assurance to take calculated risks.
The question that needs to be addressed here: Is the leadership of the business school
involved in setting the overall vision and framework for Social Responsibility? Does theleadership discuss issues relating to Corporate Social Responsibility? Is there reference in
the school vision statement to its role in society? The UDBS mission depicts a need to
produce responsible graduates and service to the community. UDSM mission statement
mentions sustainability while two of the core values are addressing these issues: (i)
Professional and ethical standards by upholding the highest professional standards and
ethical behaviour, and through openness, honesty, tolerance and respect for the individual
in all disciplines. (ii) Social responsibility by promoting an awareness of, and providing
leadership to respond to, the issues and problems facing society with a view to ultimately
solving and alleviating them.
The Responsible and ethical concerns are not supposed to end at the level of mission,vision and core values. There are further steps that need to be taken by the business
schools. These values are supposed to be reflected in the behaviour of the individual actors
and across the courses offered. We need to have an office which will be dealing with
ethics and standards which will eventually contribute to the reputation of the schools. The
Business schools are supposed to adhere to the relevant standards like the United Nation
Responsible Management Education. Efforts are needed to ensure that external evaluation
is conducted in these lines.
Managing a long term commitment to responsible and sustainable development requires
leadership across the schools, but particularly at the top. Serious commitment will mean
changes in the way schools conduct their businesses. It could alter how we deliver our
services such as efforts in reducing the consumption of electricity and papers. One of the
authors of this paper had a negative experience when he made an attempt to avail a pile of
one page printed papers around a heavy printing machine but the reaction among the
UDBS staff was negative. These papers were seen as waste that should be treated like that.
It could alter how we recruit employees for example encouraging diversity and approaches
other than human resource policies like time off for body exercising, provision of gym
facilities and time off for that, performance evaluation based on actions. It could alter how
and where we purchase supplies: purchasing office furniture only made from certified and
from renewable sources; look to increase the use of renewable power generation.
Construction of offices and classrooms to ensure less use of energy for ventilation andencouragement of water harvest practices.
Internal and External Communications
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Business schools are supposed to communicate their CSR initiatives to all interested
parties and its strategy towards achieving CSR is made publicly available. This can be
done by including CSR statement in the annual report and by having a CSR newsletter that
is distributed to the main stakeholders. Furthermore business schools are supposed to have
active participation and contribution to CSR related journals, conferences and workshops.
It is also expected to have the UDBS deans statement on CSR available on the school
website; The CSR statement is channelled to internal and external stakeholders through the
conduit of website and staff briefings. Information on CSR include value statements or
statements of school conduct intended for public policies of the enterprise and other codes
of conduct to which the school subscribes. Such information would include those related to
relationships with employees and other stakeholders. In undertaking communication
strategy, it is recommended that the school should explain environmental/social/economicperformance to stakeholders and consider their ideas as the school develops. The school
should also communicate school responsible activities to the students and other
stakeholders through the use of newsletter, flyers, notice boards, meetings, email, press
releases, annual reports, website, intranet, events, presentations, case studies, awards, a
corridor of pictures and stories.
Strategy and Processes
The issue at hand at this stage is the consideration as to whether CSR is strategically
managed or just regarded as the practice that end with its inclusion in the vision, mission
and core values or an existence of a policy. In the business school do we have appropriateand effective governance and budgets that deals with CSR responsibility. As for the
community engagement do we have an annual program plan with priorities for activity? At
the university wide level how is the CSR issue handled? Currently, at least,
Entrepreneurship Centre (UDEC), Quality Assurance Bureau and Institute of Development
Studies exist. We need to think who is going to be given the functional responsibility? Is it
going to be at the level of the director or coordinator appointed by the Dean or the vice
chancellor?
There is no single answer as to the location of the CSR coordinating function. Some
questions that the school/university might consider in determining the best location for
CSR co-ordination in their particular circumstance might include: What is the credibilityof the sponsoring department across the University? Is the sponsoring department where
the action is in the school? Are the senior people who are expected to be in the
sponsoring department passionate and committed to CSR? Does the location within the
school/university properly reflect where the most critical issues facing the school are? The
above list of questions emphasize the importance of the authority and respect given to the
leaders being seen to walk the talk.
It is worth mentioning at this stage that the business school needs to look at the available
policies and resources and strengthen them to accommodate CSR issues. We can look at
the current policies in terms of issues like environment and ask questions like are the new
employees inducted in environmental policies? Are incentives given for life-long learning?
Do current policies reward CSR impacts? Inconsistencies between what is written or
proclaimed and what is happening on the ground need to be avoided. The results will be
futile when we have policies, governance and a structure advocating CSR but water is
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flowing on the roads unnoticed for one week. Similarly examination booklets for the three
hours examination and two hours examinations are packaged in equal size.
Work place
Most lecturers and administrative staff at the business schools spend at least half of their
waking hours at work. The work environment significantly influences their quality of life,
their family life and can even affect their health. Through the promotion of professional
training and job experience, the flexibility and power of the workers at the business
schools will improve and hence their personal growth and fulfilment. Every business
school must have an interest in becoming an employer of choice and thus being able to
attract the most committed and talented staff. Being an employer of choice requires respect
for the talents of all individuals regardless of gender, race, tribe, religion, disability, age or
sexual orientation. Business schools ought to be fair in recruitment, promotion and
development and ensuring a safe, healthy and fair working environment. Some of aspects
of Workplace in the responsible business school context include: (i) The Equality and
Diversity of the workforce (ii) Health and Safety of the workforce (iii) Further
development of the workforce (iv) Environmental Management and Resource Efficiency.
The Equality and Diversity of the workforce
A responsible business school recognizes and values differences in staff, thus training is
provided to improve diversity knowledge, understanding and behaviour. It is strongly
recommended to have sessions that will enable the staff to behave responsibly.
Responsibility cuts across the issues regarding their work of teaching, research and service
to the community. Further more issues regarding the environment and community services
needs to be included in the staff trainings.
A key question is whether the management of Equality and Diversity integrated into the
school practice? For the school this could mean: A position is created or there is
responsible person who look at the diversity within the workplace; The workplace is free
from discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, tribe, colour, gender, religion,
political opinion, national extraction or social origin; School decisions on recruitment,
hiring, placement, training, compensation and advancement are based solely on
qualifications, performance, skills, experience and attitude. To a certain extent we could
argue that issues concerning qualifications are adhered to. It is expected that the school
respects different religions practices and deliberate practices that harm the religiousfeelings of its members of staff even if those members are the minority are avoided.
It is necessary at this juncture to come up with some suggestions that can be adopted in
order to enhance or improve the equality and diversity of workforce. There is a need to
ensure better work life balance for employees - Be open and create flex-time and other
work-life balance policies. It is not expected for those handling huge classes or
administrative positions to be treated equally in terms of remunerations and promotions to
those handling small classes and dont have administrative positions. It is important for the
mothers having very young children to have facilities such as day-care for children which
will enable them to work peacefully. If policies are there it is important to ensure that all
staff know the policies against discrimination.When advertising for the jobs it is important to think about where we advertise vacancies
and how we could reach a wider pool of recruits. In the absence of other barriers, jobs
advertised should be open to attract some foreign lecturers. Management is supposed to
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institute a mechanism which will enable talking to staff and find out what sorts of
opportunities they see for promoting more diversity. Schools are supposed to set relevant
targets for adding to the range of people among their employees, suppliers or customers.
We are supposed to address any physical or practical barriers by considering what
modifications might make it easier to accommodate for example foreign lecturers or links
with places that we dont have existing relationships. If the issue is low pay we are
supposed to institute a mechanism which will overcome the obstacle. Lastly but not least
it is important to train managers and employees on advantages of equal opportunities and
the benefits that the schools will reap by adopting these principles and enshrine them in
their policies and practices.
Health and Safety of the Workforce
Business schools are supposed to take great care of their employees health and safety and
minimise practices which will expose their employees to health risks e.g. by providing
some incentives which will reduce the working hours where the later is proportionate to
rewards. Consideration needs to be made on the structure of furniture for those who take
long hours sitting down. Tables can be made in a way that they are adjustable to allow
working while standing at times. Offices and class ventilations and quietness are supposed
to be given due consideration. The heat may cause health damage and the noisy may result
to exercise of more energy which may bring health problems. The schools are supposed to
provide information and training on health related matters. Such training include HIV,
stress release trainings and the importance of body exercising as proportionate to different
age groups.
We need to ask ourselves: Is the management of Health and Safety integrated into thebusiness schools practice? In the school this could mean: There is a member of the board
or manager who is responsible for the health and safety of the workforce; There is
compliance with national standards on work hours, overtime and benefits; There should be
Grievance and whistle blowing procedures for health and safety violations etc.
To ensure that these practices are adopted some suggestions are as follows:
- We must get commitment from the highest levels (Vice chancellor, DVSs, Dean) on
health and safety and support others who want to take this further in the various schools.
- Identify potential hazards in the workplace. Where these risks exist identify how serious
they might be and how likely they are to occur. Long working hours, a lot of part timing,
lack of exercise and balanced diet.
- Involve employees - they have a working perspective on problems and solutions.
- Check regularly that the school is complying with health and safety legislation.
- Make a regular place on the management agenda for issues concerning the health of your
staff. For example an agenda needs to be there in the board meetings which will look at
these issues presented by the responsible officer.
Further Development of the Workforce
Business schools ought to provide development opportunities for its workforce. This
means that school provides employees access to Employee Grades and salary scales. This
exists at the UDSM and UDBS in particular in terms of basic pay. Employees are
supposed to be offered well elaborated career development plans. These are not supposed
to end up with the explanations on how one may climb the ladder they have to go a bit
further to include a mechanism that will enable the concerned employees reach the top of
the ladder. What we mean here is that the schools must institute a clear and well elaborated
mechanism to enable its staff to acquire PhDs and be able to publish. Courses with regard
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to Skills and soft capacity (e.g. interpersonal skills) training are supposed to be offered to
all staff.
The management of workforce development issues are supposed to be integrated into core
business schools operations. There is supposed to be a member of the Board or manager
who is responsible for the workforce development; there should be regular performance
reviews and support provided for continuous professional development.
Some Practical Suggestions are:
- Provide educational assistance to employees. To a certain extent the links, school and
the university support have helped in this regard
- Provide training opportunities and mentoring to maximise promotion from within the
organisation. We need to enhance this aspect especially with regard to publications
where the issue of encouraging single authored articles may not be fruitful.
-Extend training to life management, retirement planning and care of dependents
- Think about the skills we need in the business schools, now and for what we hope to
achieve in the future. A complete plan is supposed to exist and implementation
procedures be put in place.
- Consider informal routes for spreading learning - like how employees with valuable
skills might transfer them to others through coaching or mentoring.
- Where off the job training is relevant and valuable, see how we can help trainees both
to accommodate their workload and to focus on their learning. Study leaves low work
loads are implemented but we need to ensure that they are utilised appropriately. It is
not healthy giving some one study leave and not monitoring his/her performance or
creating a mechanism to facilitate his/her studies. Treating equally those who
undertake trainings at home and outside the country is not likely to produce positive
results.
- There is a need to develop management skills too, by reviewing our own performance
and learning from experience, or talking to others.
Environmental Management
The main motive here is to inculcate issues of environmental management to the working
place. The schools are supposed to conduct their operations with environmental impact
reduction in mind. Putting in mind the work place, business schools are supposed to reduce
the negative impacts and increase the positive impacts of its operations on the
environment. The schools are supposed to have programs to properly dispose of waste
materials and institute programs which will lead to less energy and water consumption at
the work place. The use of electronic communication and presentation as opposed to paper
work and recycling the answer sheets instead of burning them need to be considered.
In order to ensure that environmental management issues are integrated into core business
schools operations schools can appoint a manager, responsible for the environmental
impact reduction and initiative and ensure that it complies with national standards and
relevant certification e.g. ISO 14000. Some Practical Suggestions include:
- Schools to Use 'Green' (i.e. renewable energy) power electricity suppliers and energy
efficient lighting. Buildings are supposed to be constructed in a way that reduces the
use of electricity in terms of lighting and ventilation.
-It may be desirable to have labels on top of every light switch to remind less sensitivestaff to switch off air conditions and light when they leave their offices even when it
means they do so for a short time. In the same vein it may also be useful to remind
staff on need to preserve water through such motto as every drop of water counts
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- Consider using video conferencing to meet potential partner or students rather than
always physically travelling to meetings. This would save fuel and energy.
-Do a green audit including solid waste and energy e.g. counting rubbish bags and
checking utility bills one year compared with the other and check how much has gone
down
- Set targets- aim for 5% reduction in key areas like reams of paper, energy, car, cab,
mileage, and water usage and update staff on progress.
- Discuss with staff concerning these issues. We may be surprised about the number of
ideas that they will come up with to help the schools reduce energy and waste.
Market place
The marketplace is a critical meeting point between business schools and society. What we
produce will determine the business schools impact on society in the marketplace.
Responsible practice in the marketplace for the business school would be considering what
impact, value or harm our core products (students) and services generate for the society. A
school4 should also attempt as much as possible to keep its approach to marketing,
advertising, and procurement fair and honest, as well as effective. Key aspects ofMarket
Place management in the responsible business school context include: (i) Integrity and
Standards (ii) Service quality, reliability and safety (iii) Customer relations
Integrity and Standards
Business Schools are supposed to maintain clear and transparent dealings that affect the
clients being students, or users of consultancies and research outputs. Students admissions
are supposed to follow the laid down procedures which is the practice at the UDBS. Issues
related to marking and processing of examination results are supposed to be transparent
and to follow the laid down procedures. In the event when the existing procedures do not
accommodate transparency they ought to be changed. Regular internal and independent
audits and makes the data publicly available should be the norm. Seriousness on external
examinations, self assessment and external assessment of all operations related to the
delivery of services are supposed to be instituted. The University of Dar Es Salaam has
Quality Assurance Bureau in place which has some standards which we may use to
benchmark ourselves.
Service Quality, Reliability and Safety
Business schools are supposed to maintain the quality, reliability and safety of their
services. UDBS has to develop its services with clients (students) in mind by ensuring that
they are protected against possible defects. In particular, we should ensure that the services
we provide meet all agreed or legally required standards for our clients. We are supposed
to provide appropriate and clear information regarding the content of our services and the
provision of results. When it is known that we are supposed to teach for 45 hours in
semester it has to be 45 hours. Examination results must be provided on the agreed time.
We should also abstain from putting students examination papers in more visible places
rather distribute them in classrooms.
The environment that we put our students during the teaching sessions and where they stay
is supposed to be our concern. It is not proper to conduct our teaching when students donthave places to sit or in a very noisy or hot room. The kind of facilities we use to teach have
4 We shall consider the details on how we prepare students to behave responsibly in
the second section of this paper.
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to take into consideration the interest of the students. Constructing big theatres and not
putting in place a mechanism which will enable learning to take place in a comfortable
manner compromise the quality and hence lack of CSR practices on part of the business
schools.
We need to institute mechanism and infrastructure that will prevent plagiarism during the
examination period and when students submit their assignments, dissertations and projects.
It is important to have venues where students can sit comfortably and at a distance where
copying from one another becomes impossible. Installations of Camera and related devises
to monitor the process are important. Attendance of students needs to be looked at and the
use of smart card to take attendance for big classes is necessary as a short term measure. In
the long term the sizes of classes are supposed to be manageable ones.
Customer relations
The Business Schools are required to maintain good relations with their clients. In order to
achieve this customer feedback must be sought and valued. Business Schools are expected
to publish customer charter to accommodate both the students and other clients interests.
The charter must be adhered to and implemented. We are to provide transparent and
effective procedures that address our clients complaints and contribute to fair and timely
resolution of the disputes without undue cost or burden. A mechanism has to be in place to
ensure that these complaints are taken care of instead of just being a naive exercise and
nothing is happening or it takes long time for the concerns to be solved.
Business schools are supposed to ensure that the management of customer relations is
integrated into their practices. To help in ensuring that this becomes a practice like otherswe are expected to have manager responsible for customer relations. In the Business
school we have marketing Officer in place but whether she deals with customer relations
that may be in questionable. Customer feedback is obtained and fed into planning; we
utilize cause related marketing to link customer interests with our CSR; Grievance
mechanisms in place for customer complaints. We must decide how and when we
communicate with our clients, whether by telephone, e-mail, newsletter, feedback forms or
questionnaire, at point of delivery, or as a post delivery follow-up. This is supposed to be a
continuous process and it is not expected to wait until when we conduct Tracer Studies
which normally happen after five or ten years. A lot can be borrowed from the ongoing
work by the UDSM team on communication strategy for the university.
Management of customer services after the students are done with their studies, need to beenhanced. The newly established career counselling centre in the UDBS may be able to
handle this part provided the office is capacitated. Alternatively, strengthening the existing
alumni associations may also qualify. Issues of students request for their transcripts or the
provision of these documents to other institutions have to be simplified. Specific officers
must be responsible for these activities and in case of complaints for the non delivery of
appropriate services actions must be taken instantly.
Supply chainA business school should ensure, as far as possible, that the standards it sets for its own
operations are reflected in its partners. The degree of schools influence over its catchmentarea is sometimes difficult but the school can aim to help develop responsible local schools
and other partners through improving its own conduct across the supply chain to whatever
degree possible. A mechanism need to be instituted which well give a message when
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joining that school or when engaging with it in any business dealing to ensure that they
dont compromise with ethical, environmental and responsibility issues. They walk thetalk and abide to what they have written down and they have effective code of conducts.
Some of aspects of Supply Chain management in the responsible business school context
include: Shared values, Business Standards, Codes of Conduct and Capacity building
The business school must seek to work with partners, suppliers and students that reflect its
own values. The Business school values principles on CSR are supposed to be
communicated to its supply chain. A mechanism needs to be put in place to screen
potential students, other clients and suppliers for commitment to responsible practice. The
business school must seek to work with students and other partners that adhere to the same
Codes of Conduct and Standards. To enhance this practice a CSR responsible person mustbe put in place for supply chain management; Specific CSR related requirements are
stipulated within contracts with all actors found in the supply chain that will continuously
be monitored and audited against set standards for compliance. Set up a regular
communication such as a brief newsletter to keep members of the supply chain informed
on values and attitudes expected from them that are consistent with the business school
credo.
For effective implementation, capacity building is indispensable. The students, other
clients may come from the contexts where CSR is not well understood therefore it is
necessary to ensure that learning is shared along the supply chain. Practical suggestionsinclude to ensure that capacity building on responsible behaviour across the supply chain
is achieved include creation of framework with a set of standards on responsible practices
and give support to the members of the supply chain to help them achieve them. It may
also be desirable to organize events with the business school supply chain (like schools,
companies) to share learning on responsible practices and get them involved in our
community activities.
Community developmentWell managed business schools, can bring significant benefits to the community and the
businesses. This is primarily because of the knowledge it produces to the business leaders.
A business school can add an extra dimension to this by taking the initiative, and by
supporting and contributing to the community through active community engagement.
This can take the form of charitable donations, staff volunteering and providing other in-
kind resources, such as the use of professional skills or the use of equipment and premises.
Community development is often the most visible part of CSR and in many cases the latter
is defined in this limited perspective. However community development in this context
may have a negative impact. This might include poor working ethics of schools alumni on
issues of ethics and corporate citizenship, unacceptable working conditions of its
employees or the leaders of business school behaving irresponsibly. A good community
programme conducted by the business school should go hand in hand with measures to
keep these negative impacts to a minimum. Some of aspects of Community Development
in the responsible context include: Engaging and partnering with Civil Society
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Organizations: Economic Development, Education and Community Health: Sponsorship,
Donations and employee community engagement.
Business school engagement or partnering with local civil society organizations will
include Projects which are periodically delivered in conjunction with local civil society
organizations or the local community is consulted on issues that may have an impact on
them like at the time of developing the curriculum. The business school is supposed to
contribute to economic, social and environmental progress with a view to achieving
sustainable development. Short term programmes like the ones conducted by UDEC and
MDCB are geared towards achieving this objective. Civil society and community
engagement management is supposed to be integrated into the business school practice. An
officer responsible for the civil society and community engagement is supposed to existand present the development to the school board. Some practical suggestions which will
enable the partnering be more effective include: (i) Buy from local suppliers and strive to
hire locally most especially those positions which do not need sophisticated skills. (ii) Find
out more about issues in our local community from newspapers, our employees, students,
the Internet and the local authority. (iii) Look at our existing resources and how we can use
them to benefit the community and our school at the same time. The business school is not
supposed to be a burden to its community instead it has to be a blessing. The symbols of
CSR are supposed to be noticed by the community and civil society without any difficulty.
The business school is expected to contribute to the economic development, education and
health of the community in which it operates. The school is expected to provide work
experience to local businesses. This can be done by setting projects or assignment which
will enable students provide services to the businesses surrounding the business school and
at the same time enable them to learn and create good relationship with the local
community. The school must seek to prevent any health emergencies resulting from its
operations. It is not expected to hear or read from the newspapers that sewage water is
flowing out of the premises of the business school and cause health problems to the local
community. The business school can support economic development through low cost
education programmes and through sponsorships, donations and partnership activities tohelp those disadvantaged in the society like the orphans or disabled individuals. These
helps are not expected to be one off measures but most importantly we expect them to be
sustainable. The UDSM and UDBS support to Mbagala Bombing provide occasional
support done by UDBS. Some supports have also been made to orphans.
When it comes to Sponsorship, Donations and Employee community Engagement it is
important for the school to have a clear rationale for sponsorship and donation and to
encourage employees to volunteer in their own time. We are expected to have a strategy
for sponsorship, donations and employee engagement that complements the CSR
approach. To have a systematic approach on these issues a senior management ownershipof the sponsorship and donations approach is supposed to exist. Sponsorship and donations
are measured and reported for their value and impact on business school reputation and
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employee engagement is leveraged into all CSR activity. Some suggestions which will
help in increasing efficiency in this aspectare:
- Encourage employee volunteering in the community and with financial contributions
and help in kind.
- Find out the opinions of employees and get them involved in our community
programme.
- Find out enthusiastic volunteers among our staff are and how they think the school can
support them.
- Discuss possible structures for our school programme (maybe match funding, time
allowed, awards)
- Identify relevant community partners wanting to volunteer support, a local broker or
volunteer centre may help
Enabling environment
When a business school makes a firm decision to incorporate responsible practices in its
operations and produce responsible leaders may differ with the prevailing practices in the
society. Under this situation the business school should attempt, as far as possible, to help
create an enabling environment for the school to flourish by helping to improve the
operating climate (legal, institutional etc) in which it operates. Borrowing an example of
UDEC when it started it had to work hard to change the mindset of the students and
lecturers and up to the country policy level. Similar campaigns are supposed to be
undertaken by first creating a CSR unit which will spearhead the battle. Key aspects of
Enabling Environment in the process of creating a responsible business school are:
Government relations, engaging with media and public opinion and capacity building.
Business Schools are expected to maintain proper relations with relevant authorities and
government in order to advocate for the responsible conducts. The business school is
supposed to lobby to government on business standards and codes of practice.
The business school has to focus on maintaining a good relationship with the government.
This can be done by dedicating significant resources into ensuring it maintains a good
working relationship with government regulatory authorities, particularly the Ministry of
Education, Finance and Industry and Trade. These relationships contribute to creatingenabling environment for the responsible business education, and thus contribute to the
social well-being of the society. It is important to have a person in place who will ensure
that these relations are fostered and flourished.
Engaging with media and public opinion is important to reflect the importance of
responsible practices in the society and that the business school is in the forefront on the
facilitation change towards good CSR practice. It is expected that the business school is
going to use the media to portray its own practice as examples of CSR. The school can
also sponsor awards in collaboration with other partners for corporate/business good CSR
practice. It is important to emphasise the need to have business school profiling its practice
as a good example of CSR.
Capacity building and research is important to enable the business school to share
responsible practice with others. For the business school this entails participating and
speaking at CSR training seminars and conferences. We need to mention here that this
paper is a result of some of the academic members of staff participation in CSR training
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seminars. We need to go further and facilitate CSR case writing and CSR conferences. WE
can use our Business Management Journal to encourage CSR papers and probably having
a special issue after sponsoring research on CSR. We need to start thinking organizing
CSR conferences. CSR can also be looked at when we are seeking for partners in other
countries.
Conclusion on the Six Spheres of Influence
We expect that when the business school accommodate the six spheres of influence in its
practices then it will be in a position to profile itself as practicing CSR. This will have an
impact on the products it produces in terms of students, consultancies, research outputs
and other services to the community. Responsible practices will reach a stage where their
motive will be self direct interest of the school; the strategy will be organizational
ownership where the majority will be breathing the symbols of CSR; CSR will be at all
management levels in which all boards and sections will have CSR discussed, integrated
with all functions and daily decision making. Challenges are there which will require
building the capacity and capabilities of our staff to deliver the attributes of the 6 spheres
of influence as provided in the model.
To make this work we need to look at CSR as an opportunity and not as a process of risk
mitigation. CSR is supposed to driven by the motive to earn reputation as opposed to quick
fix image making like visiting the orphanage centre once a year or occasional financial
support to the victims of various disasters. CSR is supposed to be driven by proactive
behaviour and not reactive behaviour. We should not think of CSR in terms of
philanthropy but it has to be our core function and strategic investment cutting across
leadership and management, work place, market place, supply chain, community andenabling environment. Sustainable CSR is supposed to be value driven and to a large
extent is not expected to be top down driven.
We need to ensure that CSR is built and not bolt on in our business schools. CSR practices
are supposed to be led by opportunities and not fear and risk. We need to link them to our
strategy and operations by ensuring that the materiality of CSR to our core practices are
clear to every actor. We need to manage CSR professionally with practices, policies,
processes and systems. We must learn that we can not do it alone.
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THE FOUR WAVE APPROACH TO CSR
On the left hand side of the table we see nine parameters and at the top of the table the four
waves. For each parameter there is an indication under each wave on how it is tackled by
an organisation. The CSR we are advocating under the four wave approach is for an
organisation to try and move to the fourth wave which we think that it is going to make
CSR sustainable and more beneficial to all the stakeholders. It is important at this juncture
to point out that an organisation/company may sometimes be in different waves depending
on the parameter under consideration. It has to be noted that the purpose is not todiscourage completely the first wave but we want to encourage the movement from the
first wave to the subsequent waves.
First wave: For the organisation under this wave the purpose of CSR is just philanthropy
that is giving back to the community without considering the long term benefits to the
concerned community. For example providing lunch to the orphans and organising a party
for them once a year. The purpose here is moral concern that is the orphans are not in a
position to have good food and it is a good thing to make them happy at least once a year.
There is no any strategy that is established processes in place and the party is just
organised on ad hoc manner. There could be an administrator who undertakes this activity
on a part time basis. This is a situation where by there is no any existing structure in theorganisation which looks at CSR and the initiative is just passive that is something
incremental or periphery. The CSR here is completely detached from business activities
and just looked at as cost or burden and there is little business benefit expected from CSR.
Under this CSR will involve contribution of cash or some goods and will just depend on
the managers willingness and if that manager is changed then the activity will stop. Under
this kind of CSR we dont expect the practice to be sustainable in most cases it is a one off
activity.
Second Wave: An organisation in this wave will continue with the purpose of
philanthropy but the giving to the community will be to a certain extent strategic. That is
the donations will be related to the promotion of the organisation activities. For example
UDSM ties its contributions to the education related activities or a bank contributing to the
activities which help it securing future customers for example CRDB and the school buses
projects. It can obviously seen that the motive of CSR here is the long term interest of the
of the firm and the strategy will be more systematic and not ad hoc as there will be a
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manager though dealing with other activities but will also deal with the CSR activities. To
a certain extent CSR will start to be linked to the business interests though not entirely.
Before contributions are made questions will be asked in the management meeting how are
these contributions going to benefit the company? The questions will then lead to
contribute to certain target areas and not everywhere for example TIGO is mainly targeting
educational institutions and it is not a surprise it has many student customers. Under this
wave contributions will be in terms of cash, skills and there will be some guidelines in
place which will be followed irrespective of who is the manager. These guidelines are not
necessarily linked to business they are just sketchy and changes are frequent. The CSR
will be to a certain extent sustainable on the specific issues that have been identified for
assistance VODA Com and football sponsorship.
Third Wave: This is a higher level of looking at CSR than the second wave. In this level
it is no longer strategic philanthropy but the organisation will be seeking long termcommunity investment. Contributions will be made in projects which are going to benefit
community in the long term like helping the farmers in increasing their productivity and
producing quality products. This example is valid for the manufacturers who depend on
their raw materials from the peasants like sugar companies who have long term direct self
interests on peasants. At this stage the activities will be conducted in a strategic manner
and the organisation will involve consultant in its CSR activities to attach more importance
into it. The organisation will no longer just wait for requests on assistance but it will be the
one initiating the projects where it is going to direct its CSR activities. The specific
business resources will be tied to CSR activities through a proper budget which will have
to be defended and its benefit to long term interests of the business are properly presented.
It has to be known that the CSR drivers at this stage must be linked to business and therewill be guidelines indicating which kind of projects are going to be financed and their
linkage to business activities will have to be clearly identified. At this wave the business
will be involving NGOs in form of consultants but will also be building the capacity of
these NGOs and some of its contributions will be passing through the selected NGOs.
Fourth Wave: Under this wave the purpose of CSR will be looked at as something
contributing to the healthy business environment. That is the practice of CSR will be
looked at its totality and the motive is going to be companys self direct interest, any CSR
issue will be seen as contributing to the wealth of the company. There will be a complete
organisational ownership of CSR at all levels as CSR will now be occupying the agenda at
all management levels. At every level CSR issues will be discussed and accommodated inall decision making. It will now be seen that CSR is part of business and is contributing
positively to the growth goals of the firm. CSR at this stage will become part of the
business strategy and it is expected that the company will now have its own experts on
CSR and it will be part of ongoing business management goals and appraisals. There will
be proper reporting mechanism of CSR which will not be necessarily linked to
compliance. A company at this stage will be the one accommodating the triple bottom
lines and Six Spheres of Influence.
Review Questions:
1. Among the various concepts linked to CSR is Sustainability. What it is your
understanding of the concept? Discuss the concept purring into consideration on itsapplication in the Tanzanian context and the world.
2. It is not possible to detach CSR from Corporate Governance. Do you agree or not.
Why?
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3. Agency theory is relevant to CSR when considering it in its wider perspective.
Elaborate the agency theory in support of CSR existing in the body of literature.
4. Carroll model of CSR which is also known as a pyramid model lays down four level of
CSR. Outline the four levels indicating their emphasis on CSR issues.
5. Is the Carroll model of SCR applicable in the developing countrys context? Why do
you think so?
6. Discuss the linkage between the Carroll model of CSR and the various stakeholders.
What are the short coming of this linkage?
7. Triple bottom line (TBL) represents three items in two different ways. What are these
three items and what are their relationships?
8. A TBL company is a company that is well managed and can be referred to as aresponsible Company. Discuss the relevant characteristics of a TBL company citing
relevant examples of companies existing in your context with evidence.
9. Six Spheres of influence model is the current CSR model, list down the six spheres in
the order of their importance.
10. Leadership and Management is one element among the six spheres, where is this
sphere place in the model and why? Explain the various issues that are supposed to be
considered under leadership and management provide relevant examples on your
explanation.
11. Charity begins at home What are your views on the statement putting into
consideration the six spheres of influence model and the position of the work place
content?
12. Satisfying CSR issues with respect to the employees of a company is not an easy task.
Discuss the various issues that need to be considered by a CSR company which are
relevant to the work place.
13. Ethical, quality and good relationship issues are of paramount importance for a CSR
corporation when dealing with its customers or consumers. Elaborate these issues
providing good examples of a company you are familiar with.
14. A CSR practicing organisation is expected to ensure that members of its supply chain
emulate its practices. There are various methods which can ensure that CSR ispracticed in the whole supply chain. Discuss these methods providing their
significance with practical examples.
15. Community development is wrong perception of CSR. Do you agree or disagree?
What are your reasons for your agreement or disagreement? In your answer provide
valid reasons from the literature and the practice in your context.
16. A CSR practising organisation is not expected to be satisfied by its own practice of
CSR and forget its own context of operation. Outline and explain in detail the various
actions that can be taken by an organisation to provide an enabling environment of
CSR practices.
17. One of the methods used to identify the level of CSR practices in an organisation is a
four waves approach. Describe the four waves by outlining the various parameters
used and their meaning in describing the waves.
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18. Do we expect a company to move from one wave to another in a systematic way?
Provide detailed explanation on your answer.
19. Write short notes on the following:
i. CSR is an opportunity and not a process of risk mitigation
ii. CSR is driven by the motive to earn reputation as opposed to quick fix image
iii. CSR is supposed to be driven by proactive behaviour and not reactive
behaviour
iv. Sustainable CSR is supposed to be value driven and to a large extent is not
expected to be top down driven
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