Visiting Corporate Citizens

Prof. Sudipto Bhattacharya

Thoughts from a Global Indian of

all ages and times

The human world is made one, all the countries are losing their distance everyday, their boundaries not offering the same resistance as they did in the past age. Politicians struggle to exploit this great fact and wrangle about establishing trade relationships. But my mission is to urge for a world-wide commerce of heart and mind, sympathy and understanding and never to allow this sublime opportunity to be sold in the slave markets for the cheap price of individual profits.
Rabindranath Tagore

Paris, May 3, 1930

Five reasons to pay visit

The globalization of markets The establishment of the knowledge economy The omnipresence of global communication technology The coalescence of power, responsibility in hands of relatively small number of international and global corporations Need for new social partnerships between corporations, states and civil society seeking solutions to local and global problems

Addressing the host Corporate citizens or Organizational citizens?

Corporate citizenship applies to all organizations, and the implication that it applies purely to the private sector is misleading.

We live in a society of organizations and the concept can be renamed as organizational citizenship

Various Lifestyles of Organizational Citizens

Avoidance
Companies operate in areas such as illegal drugs, child prostitution and slavery. Discretionary The company that also finds it necessary to argue that it does no harm.

Compliance
Vast majority of legally incorporated companies, many are SMEs. Pro-active Identifies themselves as pro-active agents of positive social change delivering both private profit and public goods.

Checking the real life of Organizational citizens

All sorts of activities contribute to a good society based on fundamental rights and the delivery of public goods In this age of apparent rising transparency and accountability, many companies which wish to prove that their activities do no harm, or that if they do cause harm, that this is the responsibility of the purchaser, not the company

Bones of Contentions
Corporate citizenship has many cultural variants as a result of divergent capitalisms and much of the current debate and literature fails to recognize this reality
The core values and operating practices of many corporations and other organizations are antithetical to the possibility of becoming good corporate citizens serving the common good. They are selfish, selfcentered and non-altruistic as many individuals

Different Ethical Views on Social Responsibility

Communist View
Advocates an imposition of social responsibilities through legislation or force

Capitalist View
Business should not have any responsibility beyond obeying certain legal codes in achieving its goals Trusteeship View Enjoy the wealth by renouncing it. Earn your wealth but understand that it belongs to the people

Pragmatic View First caters, then anticipates and finally creates new public expectations by setting and following moral standards

Corporate Social Responsibilities towards different groups

Consumers and Community Employees and Workers

Shareholders and other businesses

State

Realizing corporate citizenship

Good governance Stakeholder management Political and social awareness Responsible supply chain management Human rights Business ethics Pollution prevention Product stewardship and clean technology

Institutionalizing corporate citizenship individual level

Provide training on citizenship issues, tailored to employees needs in the work and management environment Use action learning techniques that allow for shared experience and reflection on learning Develop recruitment procedures to build and enhance in-house knowledge and competence of citizenship concerns Expand performance targets, targets, rewards and incentives beyond traditional markers of achievement

Institutionalizing corporate citizenship firm level

Encourage empowerment of the individual through participatory decision making Generate a clear vision for company with well-articulated underlying values. Invite comments and communicate responses to encourage commitment and loyalty Share information across organizational levels to create trust and remove hierarchical barriers Use teams and work across functions, to share ideas and stimulate creativity

Institutionalizing corporate citizenship inter-firm level

Engage with industry associations to debate the issues and develop appropriate codes and standards Participate in business forums that raise awareness, educate and provide training in the area of corporate citizenship Contribute to cross-sector citizenship initiatives that involve civil society groups and government Work along supply chain with contractors and suppliers to develop and change practices

Developing Performance Indicators Social Audit

Comparing data with organizations social policies and standards Data checking of the cost of social programs and relating data to budgets, available resources, company objectives, etc. Information and response monitoring to external groups which makes demands on the organization Process audit of the business to evaluate satisfaction level of various in-process stakeholders

Trusteeship
Indian concept of corporate citizenship

The money he had already accumulated was not his, that he was only a channel and that his duty was to do good to the world and that God had given him all his wealth in order that he might have opportunity to help and do good to people.
Without looking at Rockefeller, Swami Vivekananda told him when he came to meet him in America
(Source: Indian Ethos for Management- Swami Jitatmananda, pg.146)

Outcome of the Interaction

Rockefeller Foundation
Funding for welfare activities for the underdeveloped countries. Under the Foundation initiatives, Dr. Norman Borlogue made his Noble peaceprize winning research in the arid deserts of Mexico and developed the first droughtresistant and disease-resistant wheat in 1965, which saved the world population from the jaws of a sure global famine.

Trusteeship
Indian concept of corporate citizenship

There is more to life than the accumulation of money. Money is only a trust in ones hand. To use it improperly is a great sin. The best way to prepare for the end is to live for others. In later life admission made by Rockefeller
(Source: Indian Ethos for Management- Swami Jitatmananda, pg.146)

Revealing the Indian host

TISCO is the first industrial organization in India to have carried out a social audit of its performance in 1979, by a committee under the chairmanship of Justice S.P.Kotval, former chief justice of Mumbai high Court.
The committee examined social and moral responsibilities to the consumers, employees, shareholders, society and the local community. Committee in its report praised TISCOs social welfare work and made a number of suggestions to improve its program. (Source: Principles of Management ~ Tripathi & Reddy, TMG, pg. 43)

Revealing the Foreign host

Unilever : Project - Pasig: River of Life, Philippines better known as SWIM ( Sustainable Water and Integrated Catchments Management)
Unilever operated in Philippines since 1927, started with the Pasig campaign to benefit the whole community near the banks of Pasig through Clean Up, Pollution Prevention, Greening, Advocacy. Employees and wider-community pro-actively support Pasig project to achieve results in the community and raise environmental consciousness throughout the company (Source: Living Corporate Citizenship- strategic routes to socially responsible business ~ McIntosh, Thomas, Leipziger, Coleman, FT P. Hall, pg.275)

Bidding Adieu
The patient listeners

Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others - Swami Vivekananda