About corporate responsibility

One of the most significant changes to affect the business environment, in recent years, has been the growing interest in questions to do with the scope and nature of corporate responsibility.

At the same time there has been steady growth in the number of concepts on offer for those who would capture the essence of contemporary debates about how business should interact with the physical and social environment that sustains it, over time. Managers now wrestle with ideas such as the 'triple bottom line' – in which financial performance must be matched by environmental sustainability and social responsibility, sustainability, social capital, social and ethical accounting, corporate citizenship and so on.

We have been working on ways to integrate these concepts – hoping to present a simple map of the terrain to be traversed by the business community and those who advise and regulate them. Our analysis suggests that the range of issues falling under the heading 'corporate citizenship' can be related to two fundamental questions:

1. What are (or should be) the key relationships of significance to the organisation?
2. What should be the character and quality of these relationships?

Each question is of central concern in the discussion of ethics. For example, the first question asks us to consider the extent to which we recognise ethical obligations to others as we define the boundaries of our 'moral universe'. Do we recognise obligations only to ourselves, or our immediate families; or do we recognise the claims of strangers – even non-human forms of life? In management circles, we might ask the same question by considering the range of 'stakeholders' that a corporation recognises. Does the corporation look solely to the interests of shareholders; or does it bear in mind the interests of employees, customers, suppliers and so on?

The second question can only be answered in the light of an organisation's ethical framework of core values and principles. Core values are an organisation's answer to the question: “What is good?” They are a statement of what is worthwhile and therefore, worth pursuing and having. Core principles are an organisation's answer to the question: “What is right?” Principles provide a basis for regulating the means that can be employed by an organisation in the pursuit of what it values.

An organisation that values 'trust' and applies the principle of 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' will behave in a manner very different to one that values deception and operates according to the principle, “do unto others before they do it to you”! It is in this sense that an ethical framework operates as if it were a kind of 'organisational DNA'. As in nature, relatively small changes in this structure can have very large effects.

The point of this should not be lost on advocates of corporate responsibility. For the greatest threat to their aspirations is that organisations will fail to realise that they need to base their commitments on a program of building 'from the inside out'. The alternative is that corporations simply 'bolt on' their commitments to the community – a strategy that risks being perceived as a form of window-dressing.

Indeed, lessons from abroad suggest the principle challenge for business is to ensure a consistency of approach across all relationships – lest uneven treatment be taken as evidence of insincerity.

St James Ethics Centre has spent the past decade developing a practical expertise in the area of business and professional ethics – a commitment that has naturally led it to become a recognised leader in the field of corporate responsibility. This means that the Centre is in an ideal position to assist people as they etch their commitment to the principles of social responsibility into the 'bones' of the organisations they are a part of. It also lies at the heart of our decision to extend our work in this area by sponsoring the establishment of a new organisation to act as a focal point for businesses supportive of the principles of corporate citizenship.

Achieving this result is a significant challenge – especially when combined with the need to maintain an open and reflective approach to each relationship. However, those who meet the challenge are likely to reap significant rewards – both in terms of performance and (perhaps more importantly) in creating an organisation that serves as a source of real meaning for those who interact with it.

Beyond this, we might hope that business leaders will grasp the opportunity to re-connect the world of industry and commerce to the broader society in which it operates. The myth of a radical separation between the two sectors has been allowed to stand for too long. The principles of corporate responsibility provide an opportunity for business to demonstrate a hands-on commitment to the task of building better communities – not just to profit a few, but for the common good – on which we all ultimately depend.