One of the horizons of intervention in the social is to make visible what different veils, masks or uncertainties hide from the gaze. Your visualization may be implying the fear of being on that other side. (Lévinas, E. Totalidad e Infinito. Essay on exteriority)
The dissonances between the theories on Corporate Social Responsibility and institutional praxis generate a set of questions about the usefulness of this theoretical construction.
In addition, the analysis of the texts leaves us with the feeling that in various areas the concepts of social responsibility and social role are confused, considering the terms responsibility (based on voluntarism) and role (in function) as synonyms.
This situation contributes to confuse the functions that fall within society, each type of organization. And it is more burdensome in the design of public policies in emerging countries.
Reality informs us that, despite the voluntary efforts of the companies, the profound problems in Latin America are not solved and in many cases have worsened, even with a favorable international scenario until early 2008. Therefore, the need to find the conceptual clarity that allows the design of policies and strategies appropriate to our reality, through questioning ourselves about CSR and if it is actually Social Action, Philanthropy and / or a Marketing tool.
Hence, our central question: Social Responsibility or Social Role
INTRODUCTION
In 2002, the President of the Center for Social Economy Initiatives (CIES) of Spain (Vidal Martínez, 2002) considered that European governments were realizing the mutual benefits of joining forces and making strategic alliances with private economic agents operating in your country, your region or your city. Note that in this approach the traditional division of functions between the public sector and the private sector is questioned, when it was considered that the private sector should concentrate all its attention on producing benefits and the public sector on carrying out distribution tasks, building a framework institution that facilitates the security of economic and social agents and, ultimately, guarantee cohesion and social balance. It seems that this division of labor is currently being questioned.
This line of thought suggests that Europe and the European Union are in a position to take a step towards the implementation of corporate social responsibility and partnership1 between the public sector and the private sector (PPP), for profit and not for profit. Corporate social responsibility is thought to be beneficial not only for society as a whole, but also for the company in its long-term business success strategy and for its shareholders.
In 2007, the working group made up of 25 academics and 120 experts, constituted within the Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences (RACEF), coordinated by Juan Alfaro, director of the Master in Responsibility of the Instituto de Empresa, with an advisory committee co-chaired by the president of Banco Santander and by the president of the Instituto de la Empresa Familiar, and composed, among others, by representatives of Iberia, IBM Spain, HP Spain, Repsol, Novartis, Bankinter, La Caixa, etc., makes a report of around 1,000 Pages that cover all aspects of business management on which Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has influence. And one of the main conclusions is that CSR has become a new form of company economics. The report has, according to the president of the RACEF,Jaime Gil Aluja (2007), the purpose of reformulating the conception of liberalism, 'going from economistic capitalism to another humanist and more profitable one'. And in the words of the president of the Economic-Financial Accounting section of that entity, Aldo Olcese (2007), CSR is “a reformulation of liberal capitalism… it is the unknown that clears the equation between liberalism and globalization… One of the pending challenges, It is precisely that this self-regulatory area is completed with actions of private civil society that must manage this self-government, accompanied, in good harmony, by initiatives of protection and promotion by the public sector ”.And in the words of the president of the Economic-Financial Accounting section of that entity, Aldo Olcese (2007), CSR is “a reformulation of liberal capitalism… it is the unknown that clears the equation between liberalism and globalization… One of the pending challenges, It is precisely that this self-regulatory area is completed with actions of private civil society that must manage this self-government, accompanied, in good harmony, by initiatives of protection and promotion by the public sector ”.And in the words of the president of the Economic-Financial Accounting section of that entity, Aldo Olcese (2007), CSR is “a reformulation of liberal capitalism… it is the unknown that clears the equation between liberalism and globalization… One of the pending challenges, It is precisely that this self-regulatory area is completed with actions of private civil society that must manage this self-government, accompanied, in good harmony, by initiatives of protection and promotion by the public sector ”.is that this self-regulatory area is completed with actions of the private civil society that this self-government must manage, accompanied, in good harmony, by initiatives of protection and promotion by the public sector ”.is that this self-regulatory area is completed with actions of the private civil society that this self-government must manage, accompanied, in good harmony, by initiatives of protection and promotion by the public sector ”.
The analysis of the referenced texts and of others related to the subject, leaves us with the feeling that in different areas of discussion the concepts of social responsibility and social role are confused, considering the terms responsibility and role as synonyms.
This situation would not have too much importance, if it were not because in reality it contributes to confuse the functions that fall within society, to each type of organization.
This confusion is especially burdensome when it comes to designing public policies and the corresponding programs in emerging countries.
Likewise, it seems that the praxis adds more confusion.
Thus, for example, in the research, the results of which were published in eleconomista.es on 06-14-07, it was concluded that social responsibility ranks 21st (last) among the concerns of Spanish businessmen.
In Argentina, prof. JJ Gilli (2006), in his paper ´´Social Responsibility´´ affirms that ´´Social responsibility sells and generates a good reputation and, precisely for this reason, it can be manipulated and only appear in appearance… It would be necessary to evaluate, for example, if amounts that are allocated to help the indigent population are not less than those that are spent to disseminate the action or if, when some amount of the sales is allocated to a charitable purpose, it is not just an accounting pass, where the consumer is the true donor and the company ends up increasing its sales ´´
Telefónica2 Argentina was awarded for its social responsibility program, however a federal court ruling ordered the deactivation of cell phone antennas for not having the required environmental fitness certificates; but these are not exceptional cases: of a total of 600 transmission structures, only 23% have completed this process3.
In its Bulletin No. 116 dated 10-30-07, IARSE (2007) publishes under the title ´´Managers and Responsible for CSR Areas of Argentine companies, meeting to elucidate the steps to follow´´ that ´´among the final conclusions are It follows that… ´The subject is in its infancy´. …, We are also beginning to become aware that those who are not up to the task run the risk of being left out of the market´´ (italics ours).
To have a more complete picture, it may be necessary to remember that the concept of CSR, although its beginnings are earlier, began its systematic treatment in the 1990s, when a very clear orientation in the world economy prevailed and was strongly promoted starting in 2000 when important changes began to take place on the international scene. Studies were carried out, organizations were created, the theme was incorporated into universities, but fundamentally each of these actions or organizations was imposed on the collective knowledge through the mass media.
Consequently, we consider that it is necessary to search for a conceptual clarity that allows us to design policies and strategies appropriate to our reality, and fundamentally valid to question ourselves about CSR and whether it, in reality, is Social Action, Philanthropy and / or a Marketing tool.
One objective of this essay is to approach some guidelines for the search for this conceptual clarity, because the design of public policies and strategies and fundamentally their effectiveness depends on it. Reality informs us that, despite the voluntary efforts of the companies, the profound problems in Latin America are not solved and in many cases have worsened, even with a favorable international scenario until 2007 or early 2008. From there, our central question: Social Responsibility or Social Role?
BASIC DEFINITIONS
Organizations
For this work, we consider Organization to all social units, with a structured process in which people interact to achieve objectives, applying joint and individual resources, and according to Pfeffer (2000) «formally recognized by a government body».
Business
They are the organizations that are formed with the purpose of obtaining profit from their owners.
Social role
It is considered that to clarify the activities of the employer and public policies, it is necessary to define what strong action (social role) the company should have. Otherwise, for example, should you be concerned and actively act for a better distribution of income? Or for a more equitable tax system? Or should you only fulfill the production and sales functions? Or, explained in another way, What is running a business? Is it directing resources? Or is it acting actively on the context (not only economically, but also socially, educational, etc.) to favor society as a whole, your sector and your company? Or both performances? The answers would make up the social role. The rest of the obligations that society imposes on him would conform his social responsibility.
If we advance a little further, it would lead us to the following questions: How do we approach the development problem? By sectors? Each company confined to itself? With spheres of rigid limits? Or do we begin to have a more totalizing view?, more systemic ?.
Difficulties in conceptualization and definitions
Aware of the complexity (due to the diffuseness) of these conceptualizations and definitions (even more so in these stages) is that an approach to them is attempted, looking for some shared components.
Concept of Social Responsibility
Every organization, being part of a social system, has inescapable obligations to face. Responsibilities that will be of action or omission, material or immaterial. Likewise, the leaders and other members of the organizations must strictly conform their actions to the morals and ethics prevailing in the society in which they operate.
Social role concept
Accepting that there is this imprecise dividing line between the concepts of role and social responsibility, we agree that role consists of the obligations that a certain social function (and position) implies. That is, the role has an active, decisive, determining character. The role initially comes from the social division of labor. Therefore, it can be said that the role is a social responsibility, but not all social responsibility makes up the role. Because it is social responsibility, the role is changing according to each reality (in a specific time and space). The definition of the role of the organization in the social system will be reflected in the vision, values, mission, objectives and activities.
An example that tries to differentiate both concepts
In the assumed conception, the search for a more equitable tax system is part of the role of companies, because they, in addition to producing goods and services, must seek a scenario of equal opportunities, which ensures stability, continuity and growth, for their own benefit and of society as a whole. On the other hand, the fulfillment of the established tax obligations is part of the social responsibility, but not of the role.
Dimensions of the Social Role
- Economic Educational-cultural Socialization (institutionality) Political General Welfare - Health - Recreation - Socio-family integration
Development
We consider development as the comprehensive and sustained qualitative improvement of the population at all socioeconomic levels.
We estimate that growth (quantitative improvement) is not necessarily an indispensable condition to start a development path, although it does facilitate it.
Dimensions
- BiologicalEconomicPoliticalCulturalEnvironmental
Local strategy
Silva Lira (2005), states that in an increasingly globalized world, local and regional governments in Latin America must take on new challenges. Two of them are:
- to create or improve competitive capacities and transform local production systems.
The way to link them is to consider them when designing local policies, but primarily to install a territorial culture that integrates them.
Coinciding with the concept of systemic competitiveness, it states that it is not the companies that compete but that territorial competitiveness is established. For this reason, he suggests internalizing in companies the meaning of "companies of the territory" and banishing that of "companies in the territory" or "located in". As there are territories unequally prepared to face these challenges, it advises different types of intervention in terms of local and regional public policies aimed at improving competitive capacities.
Systemic local development
In summary, with the concept of systemic local development, we refer specifically to considering the set of characteristics that give the territory an identity, such as a fingerprint, which makes it unique, highlighting that the territory is not a mere geographical support of resources and economic activities but a social construction, product of the interrelationships and decisions of local actors around a development project agreed between all. For this, it is essential to consider social participation, multidimensionality and multisectoriality, the view of a local or territorial economy (and its actors) and greater institutional integration.
Partnership
The third concept, which complements responsibility and social role and allows us to close our position, is that of alliance / complementarity or partnership4.
International Handicap, in its Technical Manual for internal use (page 11), defines partnership as a form of collaboration, between two or more structures, which, a priori, favors cooperation over substitution, subordination or competition. It is a construction negotiated by the actors involved around a common goal. Therefore, the partnership is not an end in itself and only has substance in a relational dynamic provided with an object in relation to the raison d'être of organizations. Consequently, all partnerships are framed in a temporality and in a system of actors that must necessarily evolve based on the strategies of the actors involved and changes that affect their environment.
As we, we understand by public private partnership (PPP), the joint, allied, complementary work of two or more organizations in pursuit of common objectives. In other words, there is a conjunction of efforts, a pre-established form of collaboration, with the purpose of obtaining (or contributing to) the objectives that society has set for itself, within the guidelines, plans and / or programs that the State in its role. articulator has established.
In our conception, four characteristics stand out:
- conjunction of efforts; That is, joint work is prioritized over individual work, participation over separation, cooperation (or cooperation) over pre-established competition, understood as a construction agreed upon prior to actions. social objectives; that is, to contribute to the achievement of the objectives that society as a whole has determined public guidelines, which means to privilege joint action over isolated action, effectiveness over efficiency, unity of direction over voluntarism, a framework collective that unifies and efforts are not dispersed.
This alliance / complementarity between the public and private sectors (PPP) is not a privatization, and even less should it be a form of financing from the public to the private sector. There is an executive authority in decision-making, which the public sector may share with one or more private partners, within the institutional guidelines. Private partners will assume their investment, market, construction, maintenance, etc. risks for which they will be able to obtain a previously specified remuneration. In short, the public administration sets objectives, grants rights, determines conditions, and achieves the investment it needs without having to resort to debt.
Finally, the PPP allows the articulation between the state and the private sphere, in its three dimensions: functional (division of labor for social management), hierarchical (power relations between both spheres) and material (where the fundamental conflict arises, where it is decided «who receives what, when, how»).
For its part, Just (2000: 255) considers that it is a “process where two or more organizations come together to create something new, something that they could not achieve by themselves and even something that is more than the sum of their actions. In this process, it is essential that the union take place between organizations of different nature because, otherwise, we would only be talking about coordination… The existence of a common project is important because it facilitates establishing the partnership and obtaining results. However, the partnership is possible without such a project, as long as there is a confluence of interests ”.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Until the beginning of 2008, the problem of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was worked intensively in the academic and business fields.
The crisis that emerged in the middle of last year has left the treatment of the subject at hand relegated.
Consequently, it seems that the interest and the importance of the economic-financial measures that governments will adopt to rescue companies prevail.
The obvious question that follows is why?
Is it because CSR is only valid for boom periods?
Is it because business management is not suitable for periods of crisis?
If we share the systemic approach, which understands society as a whole made up of three subsystems: market - state - community, aren't alliances / complementarity between public and private organizations more effective than the actions of a single sector?
Why in a process of increasing unemployment the Bank of Spain asks to eliminate severance payments?
Why do they reinstall in the media the idea that you cannot grow with labor protectionism?
Why is the description of a catastrophe scenario appealing? (´´Labour protectionism has led Spain to the highest unemployment rate in the EU´´ stated the governor of the Bank of Spain, Miguel Angel Fernández Ordoñez7)
Is this proposal consistent with CSR in a country whose economic system has collapsed and a million jobs have been lost (which shows that the labor market is not as rigid as employers claim)?
Is it consistent with the research work and the final 1,000-page report, carried out by the Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences (RACEF) on the new status that CSR should have, which would generate a new conception in business management?
Why does the President of the Government, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, affirm that ´´a society with workers with more rights is more competitive; Welfare State that do not give satisfactory results''8? Or does President Ignacio ¨Lula¨ da Silva ask companies to stop their layoffs, stating that they are exaggerating9 ?. Both leaders have no notion of reality when making these claims.?
It seems that there is dissonance between the emphatic statements about CSR and the actions of the main companies. If this is the case, it can be argued that given the depth of the current global crisis, actors may lose sight of the whole to focus on sectoral and individual interests. Perhaps this is valid, although it entails sacrificing coherence and establishing double standards, which are so prominent defects in emerging countries.
But, what did Spanish businessmen think in mid-2007 about CSR? In the research carried out on the 1,000 most important companies in Spain, it is established that the main concern of managers is credibility and the least concern (it occupies the last place) is Social Responsibility10. Although coherence can be noted in some claims: in 200711 and in 200912 their main concerns were to make the dismissal process more flexible.
These dissonances lead us to ask ourselves:
- What is the place of ethics? In other words, in pursuit of efficiency, productivity and competitiveness, ethical neutrality is not adopted? Is the final purpose of the administration (especially in Latin America) to seek the efficiency of organizations? Does the Social Responsibility approach have incidence on the actions of organizations? Does it produce the impact that is affirmed in society? Is it not a discourse imposed by large companies, shaping strategies for their own interests and ideology? Academically, production on Social Responsibility, has autonomy ? Or does the imposed discourse follow? Why is the Social Responsibility approach based on the voluntarist attitude of the organizations? Can the Administration in Latin America provide mechanisms to face the processes of deinstitutionalization,desocialization and depoliticization that different countries have suffered, to varying degrees? In Latin America, can the Administration not adopt the systemic perspective? It is widely accepted that the systemic approach, in its look inside the organization, requires the subsystems from the same to fulfill its purposes (its reason for being) in the larger system, in a coherent perspective, why is there not the same obligation towards the ´´exterior´´ of the organization ?, that is, consider the organization as a subsystem of a larger system If we follow Bunge or Mosterín, in their concepts of rationality, can a mandatory attitude towards the interior and another voluntarist towards the exterior of organizations be accepted? Shouldn't we replace the concept of Social Responsibility based on the willful attitude,by one based on an inescapable (or even imperative) attitude? In this case, for semantic reasons, is it not convenient to use the expression "Social Role", establishing a clear separation between the current discourse and the new one? Will it be the final purpose of the Administration in Latin America seek the effectiveness13 of the organizations?
THE SYSTEMIC ASSUMPTIONS IN CSR
Typologies of CSR
Garraga and Melé (2004) observe that the different positions on CSR could be grouped into four sets, determining the following typology.
Instrumental Theories, in which, maintaining the traditional approach of the company as an instrument for the creation of wealth, it is sought to find economic justifications for CSR actions. We will then talk about CSR strategies to achieve competitive advantages, proposing for example the concept of social investment (philanthropic activities that can create social value in the sense of a better competitive positioning) or marketing with a cause.
Political Theories, which refer to the power of companies in society and a responsible exercise of that power on the political scene. We will thus speak of the responsibilities derived from the social power of companies (a modern version of the old "noblesse oblige"). Reference will be made to corporate citizenship and even to the role of the business community in the face of failures or deficiencies of the State.
Integrative theories, the best known of which is that of stakeholders (groups involved). This English expression seeks to express that corporate management must focus on people who are affected by corporate policies and practices. The underlying idea is to seek a greater sensitivity of the company towards its environment, together with a better understanding on the part of the stakeholders of the dilemmas that the organization faces. Closely linked to this concept is that of social legitimacy or license to operate.
Ethical Theories, principles that express a reflection on what should and should not be done. (…) Concepts of sustainable development, and its correlate of "triple bottom line" that includes not only the economic aspects of the firm, but also social and environmental. Also the concepts of contribution to the common good and respect for the dignity and inalienable fundamental rights of people.
In the more limited scope theories (the instrumental ones in the indicated typology), the look towards the context and the recognition towards the mutual influence in the company-context relations is implicit.
The systemic approach is seen more clearly in the three remaining groups. Thus, political theories speak of a responsible exercise of power on the political stage. In integrators, social legitimacy, license to operate and sensitivity towards the environment. In ethical theories, what should be done with respect to sustainable development, the common good and respect for the dignity and inalienable rights of people.
We can conclude that in CSR theories there is a recognition that companies make up and are parts (that is, they are a subsystem) of a larger system.
Consequently, the question is what are its obligations as a subsystem?
Kliksberg (2009), affirms that the societies that have obtained the best results in the management of the social, have managed to systematically articulate the possibilities of contributions of the different actors, creating networks and meta-networks that integrate the State, NGOs, companies, churches, workers, public interest organizations, etc. All organizations working in networks in pursuit of greater social objectives. Among other cases, the operation of these networks for the improvement of education seems to have been the key to the advances of the leading countries. In Latin America, it is necessary to move from the dispersion of individual efforts to the fabric of networks. This improvement means moving from a sectoral vision to a more comprehensive understanding. This has direct implications in terms of action.Rather than carefully "protect" sectoral boundaries, it is instead essential to achieve greater ultimate effectiveness, explore interconnections and formulate work designs based on this comprehensive vision.
This position is consistent with the official IDB14 and other international institutions, insofar as the competitiveness of a country (or area of it) is a systemic issue (generating the concept of Systemic Competitiveness).
For its part, ESSER (1994) affirms that competitiveness is the result of a set of forces that interact complexly and dynamically from the State, companies, intermediate institutions and the organizational capacity of society.
According to the description of the existing theories and the proposals made by international organizations, can it be concluded that companies have an obligation to contribute so that all parts function properly and, together, promoting the growth and development of the entire company? community?
ETHICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF CSR
Adela Cortina15 (2005), faced with the dissonances between the great theoretical development and the business reality, argues the urgent need to review the application of CSR, since it must be strongly based on ethics. Consequently, she is telling us that CSR becomes a marketing tool.
In the referenced document, Cortina states that there is good news and bad news. The good news, that ethical practices attract, do not repel, generate reputation; that is, ethics sells. The bad news is that precisely for this reason it can be manipulated, remaining only in the appearance of a good performance.
He affirms that CSR is not philanthropy, that it is not about carrying out charitable actions, but about designing the company's actions considering the interests of all those affected by it. The benefit is not only economic; in addition, it is social and environmental. The beneficiary is not only the shareholder, but all those directly or indirectly affected by the company.
He also maintains that CSR should allow something more in the management of the company. It should not be an added handout that happily coexists with low wages, poor product quality, precarious jobs and even exploitation and violation of people's basic rights, to conclude that reputation is earned with good practices and not with a social marketing that makes up an unpresentable face.
In the same line of thought, Gómez Fulao (2005: 14) exhorts us to seek an alternative proposal to our tribulations, which means helping to reach a more just and supportive place, integrating all individuals, a place where the man's freedom, his educational training and his potential development.
The fashion of ethics and the use of it
In the 90s, in Latin American countries, the discourse of ethics was installed with force, possibly due to the vertiginous changes that took place in society, the consequent loss of reference to traditional values, the commercialization of society and the frustration of the expectation of the citizens regarding what they expected of the politicians elected with their vote in the exercise of representative democracy (which in Argentina concludes in the “Que se vayan todos”).
On the other hand, it seems that there was a need to cover, with the cloak of ethics, issues that were not really; that is, showing a semblance of ethics when in reality it is not. All of this has led scholars from different backgrounds to consider the '90s as the decade of ethical fashion.
With the rise of neoliberalism, where the individual prevails over the collective, the claim arises with greater emphasis, since there is a contradiction between individual and collective interest. It appears as a dichotomy freedom-equality. The option is freedom even to the detriment of equality.
That ethics has become a fad, all it does is bring to light the existence of a dominant social thought, the so-called "neoliberalism" or "single thought", which either prevents any type of dissent regarding the deformations of the system, or the margin of resistance and freedom of expression is limited so that only their voice can be heard.
The socio-economic changes mentioned, led to raising issues clearly at odds with ethics, which touch our professions. As examples we can individualize:
- tax evasion labor precarization neglect of the environment unrespect for the consumer unfair competition (including professional) fraudulent bankruptcy of large corporations (in 2001/2002 WordCom, Parmalat), collusion between administrators and auditors to carry out fraud (Arthur Andersen) harming shareholders and Status, misleading advertising or subliminal stimuli, offering “returns” (commissions) from a potential supplier as a daily practice, spreading false rumors about competitors, negotiating favorable evaluations of a candidate, using materials that are toxic to personnel or the environment to lower costs, and as such. closing of this illustrative list, the current crisis.
This has led to the incorporation of the theme in Congresses, Conferences, Training Programs, which sometimes are nothing more than laying down the same fictitious mantle that we mention in the other items. For this reason, in the conclusions of the V Congress on Social Responsibility, it is claimed that it is not to attend to hear a message (see CSR in Praxis, item Some conclusions about CSR in practice).
The question is, can we base a theory on ethical assumptions, which praxis repeatedly shows us are not respected?
THE POSTMODERN SCENARIO
The global stage
Undoubtedly it is redundant to describe the global scenario today. Therefore, the intention of this subsection is only to recall some of its characteristics17, which frame the actions and therefore it is necessary to be able to correctly interpret those actions and their results, especially in the construction of collective knowledge about CSR.
- Center societies and peripheral societies; social fragmentation; exacerbated individualism; according to Bauman (2006) with the imposition of the immediate and the liquid, which are combined in the lightness of being; lightness and speed together; combination that identifies human relationships; society that is one of flows, of movements, with redefined spaces and times; with social actors without physical presence in the territory; As stated by Touraine (2006), where the important thing is not in the city or in the country, it is on the road, which produces de-structuring, deinstitutionalization and depoliticization of the social reality. A space that cannot be defined as a space of identity, neither as relational nor as historical, will be defined as a non-place;the man of no place is not only an anonymous man, above all he is a lonely man. (Augé, 1993). The non-places barely allow an exchange of glances between people condemned not to meet again, to be relational deaf-mutes. Augé (2005) affirms that it is not otherness that puts identity in crisis; identity is in crisis when a group or a nation rejects the social game of encountering the other, but a family and illusory relationship is not produced; For example: through the media we learn about characters that become familiar to us, but what knowledge do we have of them? The different classes and class fractions are engaged in a properly symbolic struggle to impose the definition of the most social world. according to their interests, Bourdieu (2000) tells us when he describes the symbolic power,further explaining that the ideological positions taken by the dominant are reproduction strategies that tend to reinforce in the class and outside the class, the belief in the legitimacy of the domination of the class.
To these characteristics, one must add recent advances in neuroscience. These discoveries help us to understand in greater detail the postmodern individual (or supermodern according to Augé, with its three characteristics: excess speed of time, space and individualism). For an introduction to this topic, it is enough to take some statements by Antonio Damasio (2006). One of them, the bad diagnosis and the wrong decision to invest only in science and mathematics. He maintains that the two processes, rational and emotional, although they have different origins and times, complement each other and the importance of the emotional has even been demonstrated for moral and ethical issues, which depend on a game of social emotions.
"Evidence shows that even adults who have grown fully and normally, have been fully developed, and have been strong citizens lose the compass of their fine morale after a brain injury affects their emotional systems… is the strong evidence for the connection between emotion and the construction of a citizen. … We know that children who suffer damage to their emotional systems18, very early in life, are not capable of learning social conventions and ethical rules… »(italics ours).
The Latin American scene
Kliksberg (2004) presents us with the picture of “paradoxical poverty” relating the general production capacities and / or food that Latin American countries have, but that nevertheless present high poverty rates (44%), affecting more severely children under 5 years old (58%) and 6 to 12 years old (57% are poor), with 36% of children under two years old at "high dietary risk." Malnutrition in ages under 5 years causes deficits in intellectual development, acute respiratory diseases, infectious diseases in general and can end as happened in Tucumán (Argentina) in death. From 6 to 12 years it can bring rickets, deficits in growth, vulnerability and disturbance of the functions of the nervous system. According to the Pan American Health Organization, 190.000 children die each year from preventable diseases linked to poverty.
Regarding education, the author states that while advanced countries are achieving that all their children complete from preschool to secondary school, in Latin America 1 in 5 goes to preschool, and although almost all start primary school, 37% of the young people drop out of school and about half drop out of primary school. The extremely high dropout and repetition rates primarily affect poor children.
Regarding the family, he comments that emotional balance, affective and psychological development, the acquisition of a preventive health culture, the development of basic intellectual qualities, depends on the family, which is the decisive institution in life and according to today knows of great weight in the institutional and macroeconomic performance of the countries.
Today the family is in involution
Kliksberg (2003) also affirms that inequalities in education contribute to the generation of inequalities in health, which later affect the possibilities of work and basic socioeconomic conditions, later translating into problems in education and in the family. Thus a perverse cycle of poverty is configured.
For its part, the Aparecida document of the V Conference of the Latin American Episcopate (2007: 31-33), maintains that there is an exacerbated affirmation of individual and subjective rights, in a pragmatic and immediate way, without concern for ethical criteria. The imposition of individual and subjective rights, without a similar effort to guarantee social, cultural and solidarity rights, is detrimental to the dignity of all, especially those who are poorest and most vulnerable. Individual rights to access to goods are promoted, while paradoxically access to them is denied to the great majority; goods that constitute basic and essential elements to live as people.
The Inter-American Development Bank (2008) in its Report on Economic and Social Progress 2007 (IPES) maintains that Latin America has the highest income inequality in the world. This is partly explained by the social exclusion of the region. "(Exclusion) is a dynamic but inefficient and dysfunctional social, political and economic process, by which individuals and groups are denied access to quality opportunities and services so that they can lead productive lives out of poverty."
What to do to end this gap? The report states that it is essential to promote social inclusion. “Inclusion comes on three levels. The normative, the institutional and the level at which the policies themselves are implemented. For there to be inclusion, there must be a constitutional and legal framework that recognizes collective rights as well as individual rights, ”says part of the IPES.
For the President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno, “achieving social inclusion demands not only that past injustices be repaired with resource transfers and affirmative action programs, but also - what is more important - that the way in which decisions are made, resources are allocated and policies are implemented ”.
The report concludes that a decisive element for developing inclusion processes in Latin America is the existence of democratic systems. With consolidated democracies, it is possible to reach acceptable levels of representation and participation, two essential variables to speak of inclusion itself.
The question that is posed to us in this section is: if these conditions continue, can we imagine the situation in our countries 10, 15 or 20 years from now?
CSR IN PRAXIS
Walt-mart
In the report of the V INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CSR (2007: 7), the work of Walt-Mart is highlighted as CSR action, which promotes energy efficiency, the reduction of gas emissions and reduction of packaging. It should be noted that in 2007 it met in just 8 months the one-year goal of selling 100 million low-consumption lamps. In addition, that for 2013 it expects to reduce the packaging material by 5%, with which it expects to take 213,000 trucks off the road with the benefits that this provides.
Avon cosmetics
Through the Lazos Solidarios program of its foundation, it summons staff in the event of natural disasters to carry out collaboration campaigns with affected people. In addition, in America, Avon's crusades against breast cancer constitute the largest corporate contribution in health programs on this topic.
During the 1998 floods, a team of 629 people was assembled to collect food, clothing and medicine for the flooding of the Litoral.
Last March, 344 people participated in the search for products for the flooded in Córdoba, Santiago del Estero Tucumán.
American express
It has a brigade of active volunteers who bear the name of Good Citizens. Currently there are 60 employees who regularly visit, bring food, meet needs or carry out different types of activities for the benefit of internees in different institutions. The money they use to buy groceries and other items comes from collecting lunch tickets donated by the different departments of American Express. For its part, the company doubles the value of the amount collected. This foundation also annually donates money to the institutions in which its employees volunteer. This is part of the Global Volunteer Fund program.
BankBoston
The actions of its Aguilas Solidarias. The axis of the institutional program is to cooperate with those most in need and also to dedicate time to share games and entertainment. Groups of employees have also joined the Crece Program. Said program consists of the educational and community promotion promoted by the financial entity in Villa Soldati schools.
The solidarity Eagles -565 employees from all over the country- in a year and a half of existence, among other actions, remodeled and painted twelve schools in towns in the interior; developed a campaign to collect medicines for the Reconquista Hospital in Santa Fe.
They gave children's theater performances in hospitals; They visited institutions where children are at risk, and distributed toys to homes and hospitals in the towns where the bank has a branch.
Chase Manhattan Bank
At the urging of the New York headquarters, it began seven years ago to celebrate Volunteer Day. This day is destined to carry out tasks in institutions that need help. El Chase has approximately 60 volunteers who with their enthusiasm infect family, friends and, since 2000, members of other companies.
In the country, the volunteers set up a reading room in the Kindergarten No. 910 in the Los Tilos neighborhood of Pilar. They renovated bedrooms of the boys of the Association of the Homeless Childhood. They donated a machine to produce diapers in the Home for Battered Women and repaired the hospital room of the Casa Cuna.
Belgo-Mineira Foundation
The system allows each team of volunteers to freely decide on which subject area and audience they want to act. In this line, one of the groups of volunteers chose to place its competence in quality management at the service of leadership training for non-profit organizations, while a second team preferred to act directly in the education of children and young people, a third chose along the way of working in harmony with the projects supported by the Belgo-Mineira Foundation.
Shell Chile
Shell Group is one of the few companies in Chile to have established a volunteer program. The program, "Manos Unidas", is initiated and managed by employees, encouraging them to work on a specific project.
To date, shell employees have worked together with local residents to build a children's garden, a multipurpose sports field, and restore the community's central plaza.
Some conclusions about CSR in practice.
The final report of the V INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (2008: 8) establishes that promoting responsible practices through the value chain can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can incentivize small suppliers to adopt these practices to access the markets of larger companies or even export markets. But on the other hand, it can be used, consciously or unconsciously, to discriminate against smaller companies that due to their lack of knowledge or are not capable of meeting the standards demanded by large buyers, in the same way as good intentions to promote labor practices and Responsible environment in free trade agreements can hinder exports from developing countries.
The same final report provides some recommendations, among which we can highlight:
- Present not only the experiences and opinions of the top executives of companies or organizations, but also invite employees to know the impact that CSR has had on their lives Carry out field work related to CSR, that the practices can be seen of CSR in reality Follow up on what is being raised in this conference to be able to evaluate in the next activity Try to extend the time to develop the Conference and allow more feedback between speakers and participants Allow greater interactivity in the Conference, that participants ask questions directly to the speakers.
The question of this chapter would be, are the CSR plans and actions carried out by companies up to now, not more similar to social action, philanthropy and worse still to an improper use of marketing?
CSR AND THE MEDIA
It is important to note that in most of the news appearing in the mass media, the concept of ´´Employer or Corporate Social Responsibility´´ is not dealt with or made explicit. An implicit concept is formed, contextualized in a partial reality described in the journalistic note. Thus, it is common to find a headline such as ´´The NN company and CSR´´ and in the cap a description of the company's actions and the specific problem to which it is directed. Later in the text, there is a greater explanation of the same, but without deepening or properly contextualizing22. This prevents the community from using the journalistic piece as an element of analysis of the problem and the identification of programs and actors responsible for its solution. Usually,the result is the non-solution of the problem in its entirety and there are no measurements that indicate, at least, the degree of progress in the partial solutions. In other words, the problem continues or remains latent, despite the efforts of the company.
Note, furthermore, that the similarity of treatment or exposure in the journalistic notes, make up a discursive convergence23, defining successive catastrophic contexts, in which the implicit message is the absence of the State and its unnecessaryness, which, in the extreme, leads to the denial of it. In socio-economic terms, the implicit message affirms that the market is fit, and more efficient, and therefore can (or should) replace the state.
Following Van Dijk (1996: 19), we can affirm that the set of discourses makes it possible to form social representations, typical of the driving group, that optimally carry out its aims and interests. These representations, in conjunction with others (such as sociocultural knowledge and attitudes) influence the specific knowledge and beliefs of individuals, language users.
Depending on their position, each group will select from the repertoire of social norms and values, typical of the general culture, those that optimally fulfill their goals and interests and will use these values as the components that build their group ideologies. (Van Dijk, 1996: 19).
Social representations are specific to groups, insofar as they are shared by (the minds of) members of social groups (Farr and Moscovici, 1984). This means that it is necessary to reduce the distance between these social cognitions and the personal cognitions (such as personal knowledge and experiences) that underlie individual text and speech. Through other social representations, such as knowledge and sociocultural attitudes, ideologies also influence the specific knowledge and beliefs of individual language users. These personal cognitions represented in mental models of concrete events and situations (including communicative situations), in turn control discourse, for example in recounting personal experiences,or in the argumentation around personal opinions (Van Dijk, 1996: 19).
In this brief analysis it is necessary to compare it with positions from other disciplinary fields. Thus, for example, Sartori (1998: ch. 2) indicates that we are immersed in a society of opinions. This statement generates the basic question, how are these opinions formed? The same author gives us the answer when he affirms that they are formed through the crossing of information received, deliberately prepared, for which it is easy to conclude on the induction of opinions. He affirms that this situation worsened with the appearance of television, which induces us to replace the act of passing by the act of watching. We interpret that the author affirms that feedback is no longer a process of analysis, of meeting ideas, of sharing, of joint search for solutions to common problems.Feedback is produced only by seeing, since the eye believes what it sees, and therefore what is seen is the cognitive authority. What is seen is real, true, it does not matter if it is partial and there is manipulation.
We base the interpretation, too, on Sartori's assertion that reporting is providing news, and consequently is not knowledge; even when the so-called notional knowledge is transmitted, this does not mean understanding them. He even comments on some tools used to put together the ¨information¨: statistics manipulation, casual and / or precooked interviews, pseudo events, eccentricities, attacks, aggressiveness, etc.
And according to Augé's conception of non-places, associated with Damasio's teachings when the social emotional game is prevented, can we deny or ignore that the discourse of CSR, ambivalent and above all ambiguous discourse, skips the places anchored in memory (Which are the ones that allow the construction of identity in otherness) to install a discourse of no places?
CONCLUSIONS
The ultimate purpose of the work is the attempt to contribute to the discussion on whether it is convenient, from the academic field, to continue supporting the theories on CSR, based on voluntarism and, in general, individualism of companies, which the facts indicate not They have been effective in transforming the Latin American reality, not even alleviating its fundamental problems, despite a favorable international context. The quality of life only improved for a minority, access to education, health, decent work, etc. is still inaccessible for a wide range of the population, the most affected being young people (with a worrying sense of anomie today and even more in perspective), the unskilled and the usual poor, desirable political clientele only in electoral periods.
It is enough to review the Millennium Goals, committed to being achieved by 2015, to verify the ineffectiveness of public-private action:
1.) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2.) achieve universal primary education, 3.) promote gender equality and empower women, 4.) reduce infant mortality, 5.) improve health maternal, 6.) combat HIV / AIDS, malaria and other diseases, 7.) ensure environmental sustainability, and 8.) foster a global partnership for development.
In turn, the 2008 Social Economic Progress Report (IDB, 2009) establishes ¨… one of the most pressing concerns facing governments in Latin America and the Caribbean…, a large part of the intense debate on the economic and social policies necessary to achieve sustainable and equitable growth revolves around the issue of social inclusion. This report shows that achieving social inclusion demands not only that past injustices be redressed with resource transfers and affirmative action programs, but also - more importantly - that the way decisions are made, are assigned resources and policies are executed….¨
Gomez Fulao (2005: 207), who explicitly recognizes the dissonances between theory and praxis, proposes that to face situations of corruption, economic violence and the others exposed, it is necessary to reform the habits of conduct in business activity, beyond the ethical codes that are usually mere formalities.
To achieve the purpose of this essay, we have briefly described the theories about CSR, the thinking of entrepreneurs, the global and Latin American scenario, the problems of these countries, the construction of collective knowledge and the CSR actions carried out by companies and its foundations.
If, as Elías (1990: 157) argues, as the chains of actions become more numerous, for the individuals interwoven in that network, the interdependencies of needs and capacities become more imperceptible, which finally is increasingly difficult to distinguish which is the means and which is the end, in this evolution of questions about CSR, it arises if this confusion between means and end has not occurred. Confusion that also raises: if it is a means, to what end? And if it is an end, then is it a means?
If the purpose of CSR is a continuous improvement of the quality of life of the majority of the population (in which we primarily include company workers, many of whom provide their services through the so-called "garbage contracts" and internships that disguise the labor relationship, among other mechanisms that prevent them from fully enjoying their rights, especially health coverage for him and his family), then we can admit as a conclusion that, after two decades, CSR in Latin America has failed. Therefore, the administration, the discipline responsible for the effectiveness of organizations, must assume this reality and truly begin to change it. We visualize two paths:continue the current guidelines (surely with the known results) or seek a total rethinking of the role that companies must assume in a concrete reality that, we insist, is characterized by broad exclusion and low quality of life for the majority of Latin America.
We are persuaded of the need for a critical approach to CSR theories. In general, in academic settings there is a linear orientation favorable to the current approach. We estimate that in Latin America, the chairs that have the subject in their content, should concretely raise these two positions, until now antagonistic: social responsibility as a voluntary action or the social role based on the obligations of a subsystem (the company) to the larger system (its territory, in the conception of systemic local development). And, possibly, this second alternative will lead us to another one / s that surpasses both. But it must be generated in the academic field and the transforming role that the university has (its reason for being).
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