It seems every decade must have its own managemen buzzwords and "Crporate Social Responsibility" or its shorter and sexier form: CSR may just be the one for the current decade.
However, to think that CSR is just another buzzword is to be overly cynical or even worse: naive.It is clear that many businessmen are ignorant or unmindful of the massive importance of being socially responsible. Even when major corporatons decide to be mindful of the role of CSR, they often do not do so in a holistic way. The fad now is to have CSR departments within the company or to have the CSR function performed by the Corporate Communiations or public relations departments.
I believe Corporate Social Responsibility should be a company-wide effort and should not be restricted to a department or unit. There should be a company-wide effort by management and staff to be socially reponsible and this effort should be shared by everyone, from the most junior employee to the C-Level executives. The need to be responsible to society and the community should be factored into most operational and strategic decisions. A good part of the Chief Executive's time should be spent on ensuring that workers imbibe the culture of social responsibility.
An Oil Company's drilling engineers should be aware of the Social and environmental aspects of their work, they need not wait for an "all knowing" CSR department to tell them so. Human Resource professionals should know that they have to seek a diverse workforce and hire, as much as possible, from their local communities. In essence CSR should be part of the employee's knowledge base and this knowledge should help to shape his everyday decisions.
Why is it so necessary for companies to be socially responsible? The answer is that it helps profitability in the long-run as sound and ethical business practices will most likely result inmore sustainable business model. The fate of a business or corporation is closely tied to that of the society in which it operates, to achieve long-term prosperity businesses must ensure that the society in which they operate is equally prosperous. A business model which degrades the environment or impoverishes the citizenery, cannot be a sustainable one. Henry Ford, who I believe was an early believer in CSR, when he decided to pay all the workers in his a factory a decent wage.
Henry Ford's action ultimately led to more profits for his company, as he had helped in creating a middle-class in early 20th Century America. The members of this class served as the bedrock of the demand for the automobile in the 20th Century. For a company in Southen Africa to contribute towards fighting the HIV/AIDS Scourge is a sound business decision and not a "nice thing" to do. If the HIV/AIDS andemic continues is not effectively tackled, it will drastically reduce both the labour force and the pool of potential customers.
Therefore, it may be that the surest way to long-term profitability is for a company to be mindful and responsive to the communities in which it operates. Because it is in the sustainable development and prosperity of those communities that its own prosperity and long-term profitability lies.
