Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a factor of vital importance for organizations, in addition to generating benefits for themselves, it offers advantages to society, from improving working conditions to promoting the economy and environmental management systems, The responsibility of organizations does not culminate in the delivery of their product or service, it ends until they pay back their generation of wealth through various activities aimed at reducing their impact on the performance of their activity.
The organization is an entity that generates social evolution, a fact that advantageously positions it to achieve changes in the population on economic, social, cultural and, of course, environmental scales, in this lies the importance of CSR.
Introduction
The company as an economic driver in society is not isolated from it, the basis of its operation is the population nucleus, its needs, employment, use of resources and other consequential factors for the creation of the company. Society could not be ignored if it were to address the corporate issue.
A company located anywhere in the world needs to absorb the resources of its environment, a fact that alone generates a change in the surrounding populations and even worldwide, this generation of wealth must be reflected in the responsibility that it must take to with society, from the care of the environment, to the labor relations of its human resources.
The emerging paradigms of the business world are analyzed and found by experts in the area having a direct or indirect relationship with the social impact of the organization. The current business market has taken a turn aimed at values and a sense of responsibility towards their environment, the objective of senior managers is to find the balance between the generation of capital and the impact on society as it is a factor demanded by government agencies and even a beneficial strategy for the organization. In this research the importance of corporate social responsibility will be addressed, starting from the basic terms to the consequences of its non-application.
Generalities
The issue of social responsibility plays an important role in current business issues. And it arises from the need to provide a solution to social problems that the State cannot fully cover, on the one hand, and from the perspective of controlling the impact generated by the industries in their different sectors. The implementation of policies in favor of social responsibility is not limited to the social performance of the company, it also encompasses the fulfillment of organizational goals that involve the worker achieving a greater sense of belonging, contributes to the positive perception that the real and potential client has.
CSR goes beyond its duty to provide high quality products and services, promote economic development, comply with regulations, taxes and generate wealth, but also to contribute to the sustainable development of humanity, which was described in the Report of the Bruntland Commission as a "development that meets the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (1987). To better dimension, this term considers four dimensions: society, the environment, culture and the economy, which are interconnected and interdependent. It can be achieved through the commitment and trust of the company towards its employees and their families,adequate conditions that will achieve greater productivity and personal development of them. Relations with shareholders that allow the growth of the company and its proper management.
A company that operates responsibly requires criteria according to its guidelines throughout its production chain in order to build a relationship based on the transparent exchange of information, technology and ideas. According to the social and environmental dimension, the organization makes a transcendental turn and takes into account voluntarily or imposed the remuneration that it must provide since consumers demand new qualities, investors and shareholders consider social and environmental practices as an indicator Importantly, civil society makes observations about its activities and government institutions begin to create legislative frameworks that encourage Corporate Social Responsibility.
What is CSR?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a concept has evolved over the decades, becoming an aspect of utmost importance today, it begins by relating to business ethics and continues to gain strength by establishing itself in the codes and laws of some countries, in a way broadly, CSR is a way of managing companies based on the administration of the impacts that their activity generates on their customers, employees, business partners, communities, the environment and on society in general.
Consumers have shown to be more committed to consuming certain products that are made with guidelines for environmental or social responsibility, according to James Austin, professor at Harvard Business School, rather than talking about corporate social responsibility, one should talk about opportunity social business, “the growing importance of the social dimension of the company is one of the recent changes with the greatest impact. You could think of an evolution of companies. Surveys indicate that populations around the world expect companies to contribute to solving social problems. This pressure and the discovery that investments in the social field are profitable, led to a new stage, in which the social and the economic are integrated in the search for sustainability ”.
On the other hand, The Green Paper (2001) refers to the concept of corporate social responsibility as "the voluntary integration, by companies, of social and environmental concerns in their commercial operations and their relationships with their interlocutors", As can be seen, it is approached from an aspect of will, a definition that contrasts to a great extent with that of the Forum of experts of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, since “… the Social Responsibility of the Company is, in addition to strict compliance with the obligations laws in force, the voluntary integration into its governance and management, in its strategy, policies and procedures, of social, labor, environmental concerns and respect for human rights that arise from the relationship and transparent dialogue with its stakeholders,thus taking responsibility for the consequences and impacts derived from their actions ”since, in addition to taking it as a voluntary act, it is cited as a way of holding the company responsible for the consequences generated by its activity or business line.
Principles of Corporate Social Responsibility
The management of CSR is based on its own principles. The classification of the principles of CSR is a broad topic and discussed from various points of view in theory. The most relevant ones are shown below.
It is based on the internal practices that the company establishes to follow the guidelines of social responsibility, ideas, guidelines and principles developed in the organization, specifically they are located in the policies and codes of values written and instilled in daily synergy, transparency is reflected in the publication of said guidelines to the society and entities that make it up since this externally informs their CSR behaviors.
2. The standards
Another fundamental aspect is the accreditation of the tasks carried out in favor of corporate social responsibility, which is evaluated by governmental or non-governmental entities external to it, since they must comply with a series of requirements to obtain their accreditations in any case. This is part of the implementation of internal audit systems to facilitate this type of practice. A company with CSR reflects a certain status for those who perceive its image.
3. Self-assessment
A company with social responsibility must implement indicators that allow it to evaluate itself to obtain premises, detect areas of opportunity and corrective measures, in the same way it can develop social responsibility management systems.
At this point, it is vital to know the guidelines to be taken into account in order to be accredited by external agents and to know the methodology and models that could be adjusted to the needs of your organization.
It is printed in the codes, standards and management models of CSR, it is the way to follow to achieve the objectives of this practice, specifically it involves the sustainability reports that the company must present. It includes all areas of the value chain and resources used by the company.
The interest groups in the product or service demand knowledge in the process of preparing what they consume, for this there are various communication channels between the consumer or customer and the producer, one of the most common is the product manufacturing labels with CSR specifications. Another example is acronyms, seals or certifications that can be included in product information in the form of images.
Implementation of CSR in the organization
For the implementation of a CSR system, there is still no reference standard that allows going beyond environmental management standards or procedures related to quality and production management.
The CSR management model tries to combine benefits and business principles that improve relationships with groups affected by business activity. The basis of the model is found in the set of cross-cutting policies and verifiable good practices, both internal and external, aligned with organizational values and principles. With these actions, the company improves its competitiveness, sustainability and the quality of life of its stakeholders (Pérez Domíngu ez Fernando, 2005).
Achieving these objectives requires several stages (Grossman, 2010):
- Preparation: It involves identifying the benefits that CSR can bring. It requires management and staff to understand what is expected of them and to commit to the project. At this stage it is necessary to have good planning that facilitates execution and control.
- Diagnosis: CSR management is based on an internal analysis of processes, systems, policies and practices and an external analysis of consumers, suppliers, communities and legal framework Strategic and operational planning: It requires clearly defining the strategies to be followed and the operations that must be followed to achieve the goals Implementation: Its purpose is that the company can prioritize its areas of intervention according to its strategic lines, its impact and its technical and economic capacities to carry them out Communication: Seeks to change the communication approach towards one focused on the relationship between the company and its stakeholders, through dialogue as a permanent process and the development of sustainability reports. Monitoring and measurement:Its purpose is to measure the progress of the processes and the obtaining of results to ensure that the system is effective and that the objectives are achieved. 7. Review and improvement Its purpose is to learn from experience to eliminate or mitigate the weaknesses detected and enhance the strengths in the next management cycle.
The origin of its importance
In the past century, globalization spearheaded a series of major changes for the industry. The projection indicated that everyone would win, both developed and developing countries. Globalization would produce an unprecedented development on a world scale, but all these expectations have been diluted by producing great imbalances nationally and internationally, of course it brought positive and negative consequences such as increasing the power of the company within the State system, diminishing more flexible policies or laws to attract foreign direct investment, use of human resources in various parts of the world, environmental pollution, among others. All this context has favored the rise of the debate on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),As a tool that serves to reduce the negative impact of national and transnational companies, on social and labor rights, the environment and ultimately, on human rights, in the latter framework, various agreements between nations have been developed and consolidated.
United Nations Global Compact
The United Nations formed a global pact related to corporate social responsibility that matters such as human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, this is based in the first instance on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, also on the Declaration of the International Organization of Labor on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development as well as the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The UN Global Compact asks companies to adopt, support and promulgate, within their sphere of influence, a set of fundamental values in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment and anti-corruption (Global Compact Spanish Network).
Based on 10 principles for its structuring, the following are observed;
1. Human Rights
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, without any distinction of nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other condition. These rights are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible, according to the definition provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The responsibility to respect human rights does not lie solely with governments or sovereign states. Human rights are important to both individuals and the organizations that individuals create. Part of the commitment made by the Global Compact is that the business community has a responsibility to uphold human rights both in the workplace and in its broader sphere of influence.
The ethical imperative is imposed as a safeguard of civic behavior; Furthermore, it is publicly recognized that respect for human rights contributes to improving the production of companies. Companies have a direct influence on society, so they must take into account the repercussions of their actions and strive to comply not only with current legislation in the country in which they carry out their activity, but also help it to improve as far as possible. possible.
2. Complicity
The term complicity refers to being involved in a case of human rights abuse that companies, governments or other types of entities are carrying out. Respecting human rights also refers to ensuring their compliance by other companies, which are part of the supply chain, beyond the direct business. The risk of being complicit in the abuse of human rights is particularly high in countries with weak governments or in which the violation of human rights is widespread; this risk of complicity exists in all sectors and countries.
The growth in private investment has seen companies expand their activities to countries that were previously out of reach thanks to globalization. In some cases, these countries have a negative track record due to the low respect shown for human rights issues and / or due to the limited capacity of their states to address the issue. In these cases, the role of the company in promoting and respecting human rights is particularly important.
3. Freedom of affiliation
The freedom of affiliation recognizes the right of employers and workers to form associations and unions according to their needs. Employers must not interfere in an employee's decision about her right to join or discriminate against her for joining, nor should they interfere with a representative of said employee. Freedom of association implies that employers, unions and workers' representatives can freely discuss their problems in the workplace in order to reach jointly accepted agreements. This freedom of association also allows workers (and organizations) to exercise their right to defend their economic and social interests.
4. Forced labor
Forced or coerced labor is any type of work or service that is obtained from a person through threat or punishment and for which that person has not volunteered to do so. Neither salary nor any other type of compensation offered to a worker necessarily indicates that the work is not being performed in a forced or coerced manner.
By law, work must be offered freely and employees must be free to leave following the rules that have been established.
5. Child labor
The term "child labor" should not be confused with "youth employment" or "student work." Child labor is a form of exploitation that constitutes a violation of human rights and is recognized and defined by international organizations.
Child labor deprives children of their childhood and their dignity. Many of the children work long hours without pay or in exchange for minimum wages, often in conditions that endanger their health and physical and mental development. They are deprived of an education and may become separated from their families. Employers must not use child labor in ways that are socially unacceptable and that may contribute to children losing educational opportunities.
6. Discrimination in employment and occupation
The definition of discrimination in employment and occupation is "any distinction, exclusion or preference that produces rejection or inequality in opportunities or in the treatment of job or occupation applications" made on the grounds of "race, color, sex, religion, political opinions, nationality of origin or social extraction ». Discrimination can also be based on a physical or mental disability. Obviously, distinctions made strictly on the basis of the inherent demands of the job are not considered discriminatory. Non-discrimination simply assumes that the selection of employees is made on the basis of their ability to perform the job in question and that there is no distinction, exclusion or preferences based on other issues.Employees who experience discrimination at work are denied opportunities and their fundamental human rights are violated. This affects the individual subject and has a negative impact that affects the great contribution that these workers can make to society.
7. Environment and prevention
Prevention consists in the adoption of measures, even before having scientifically proven evidence, that prevent a delay in the application of said measures from ending up harming natural resources or society. The key element of the preventive approach, from a business point of view, is the idea of preventing rather than curing. In other words, it is more profitable to adopt preventive measures that ensure that no damage to the environment will be caused.
Preventive measures are supported by a number of key concepts, such as:
- Safeguarding an ecological 'space' without interfering with ecological margins so as to protect and expand the assimilating capacity of the natural environment, which implies not misusing resources. Proportionality of the response to demonstrate that certain selective restrictions do not translate into excessive costs. In other words, take into account the risks that generations will face future life if essential life ecosystems are endangered Moral obligation to protect those who undertake an activity or make alterations in a given environment must demonstrate that they do not cause damage to the environment Promote the intrinsic rights of the environment by allowing processes natural resources function in such a way as to conserve the vital ecosystems that support life on the planet. Payment of ecological debt or compensation for past errors of judgment as indicated by the notion of 'common but differentiated responsibility' contained in the framework of The United Nations.
In this regard, companies should consider the following:
- Although the implementation of preventive measures can be an additional expense, the costs for the damages caused can be much more expensive Investing in unsustainable production methods produces a lower return in the long term than investing in sustainable installations Research and development in environmentally friendly products can yield considerable long-term benefits.
8. Environmental responsibility
Given the increasing role of the private sector in global governance issues, the public is demanding that companies conduct business in a way that not only translates into greater economic prosperity and promotes social justice, but also ensure environmental protection in the regions and countries where they are located. Through Principle 8, the Global Compact provides a framework for companies to address some of the key challenges posed ten years ago.
Such a change in business strategy carries a number of benefits. Among the reasons why companies should value improving their environmental approach are:
- The application of cleaner and more ecological production leads to an improvement in the productivity of resources New economic instruments (taxes, charges, trade permits) reward companies that act with ecological conscience Environmental protection regulations are tightened. Insurers prefer to insure green companies that pose lower risk.
- Banks prefer to give credit to companies whose activities do not burden the bank with lawsuits for infringing environmental law or huge expenses for clean-up work Environmentally oriented management has a positive effect on a company's image Employees prefer to work in an ecologically responsible company (this type of company also offers the good worker hygiene and safety measures at work). Environmental pollution is a threat to human health. Customers demand cleaner products
9. Environmentally friendly technologies
Encouraging the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technology is a long-term challenge for a company that will have an impact on both the managerial and investigative capacities of the organization. In order to commit to the Global Compact, the technologies considered as respectful with the environment are those described in Chapter 34 of Agenda 21 as
"Environmentally healthy".
10. Work against corruption
Principle 10 commits the signatories of the Global Compact not only to prevent bribery, extortion and other forms of corruption, but also to develop concrete policies and programs that address the issue of corruption. Companies are challenged to join governments, UN agencies, and civil society for a more transparent global economy.
conclusion
The concept of CSR includes the organization and its different areas in a comprehensive manner, addresses the impact it has within society and advocates the necessary commitment to take. It is not an unimportant term or series of steps, on the contrary, being located in a globalized context, the willingness of companies to contribute to social improvement is even monetarily beneficial. The activities proposed with respect to the implementation of this system must be linked in the first place with the basic activity of the company, be planned in the long term or permanently since the senior management must commit, take into account human rights, fair practices of work and health, care and restructuring of the environment, fight against fraudulent or corrupt practices, without forgetting the interests of the client,The information previously discussed shows a broad panorama of what must be taken into account when applying Corporate Social Responsibility, its importance is immersed in internal and external benefits, the company is not only perceived as a committed entity, but also its suppliers, shareholders and consumers are intrinsically part of this process, which contributes to creating a domino effect. The organization takes the first step and society collaborates, their interdependence continues even after achieving the economic objective of the existence of the company.Shareholders and consumers are intrinsically part of this process, which contributes to creating a domino effect. The organization takes the first step and society collaborates, their interdependence continues even after achieving the economic objective of the existence of the company.Shareholders and consumers are intrinsically part of this process, which contributes to creating a domino effect. The organization takes the first step and society collaborates, their interdependence continues even after achieving the economic objective of the existence of the company.
References.
- Observatory of Corporate Social Responsibility, (2017). Available at: http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/sec_trabajo/auto nomos / economiasoc / RespoSocEmpresas / Foro_expertos / conteni dos / INFORME_FOROEXPERTOS_RSE.pdf.
- Global Compact Spain - corporate social responsibility – rse – sustainability - sustainable development agenda and objectives - ods - human rights and business. (2017). 10 principles archivos - Global Compact Spain - available: http://www.pactomundial.org/category/apr endizaje / 10-principles /. Sanpedro C. 2014, Corporate Social Responsibility. Concept, internal dimension and communication. University of La Rioja.Bourne, L. and Hitchcock, J. (2016). Urban Housing Markets. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Brown Grossman, F. (2010). The principles of corporate social responsibility. Economics informs, (363).ORG. (2017). Sustainable development - education - united nations organization for education, science and culture. available at: http: //www.unesco.org / new / es / education / t hemes / leading-the-internationalagenda / education-for-sustainabledevelopment / sustainable-development /. UNDP (2011). Rural Colombia. Reasons for hope. (National Human Development Report 2011). Retrieved from http://pnudcolombia.org/indh2011/index.p hp / el-informe / Informe-completo
