Corporate social responsibility reports
I recently read Richard Edelman’s Oct. 10 entry “From Defense to Offense - The Next Phase for CSR” about corporate social responsibility reports and it raised many questions for me about the role of public relations in a for-profit corporation. It seems that in public relations we perceive our role to not only be that of management that serves the profit-making function of the company, but also to ensure that the company is contributing to society and maintaining a humanitarian reputation. Many of us believe that reputation management is essential to the long term survival of an organization, including for-profit companies. Obviously, not all PR professionals feel that way. What is your perspective on the place of social responsibility, including issues such as environmental concerns and human rights, in a for-profit versus a not-for-profit organization?
posted by prteacher @ 10/11/2006 06:23:00 PM
2 Comments:
This is the very article that I was going to bring into my first blog post! You got me, Dr. Robinson.
First of all, the terms that Ms. Jones of Nike used when she argued about reputation management as top priority for corporate social responsibility, defense and offense, somewhat offended me. I’d rather call reputation management as proactive measures. It also seems to me, as Richard Edelman has similarly addressed, that Ms. Jones has narrow or limited interpretation of reputation management. Corporate social responsibility involves improving organization to meet higher ethical standards of demanding society which we live in. It will eventually drive organizations to trusting relationship with stakeholders.
As Cutlip et al. (1999) quoted in the textbook, “a new bottom line for business really is social approval” (p. 468).
The sad thing about practicing Corporate Social Responsibility is that there are more than a few multi-billion corporations doing so well without CSR on the roll. Maybe this was another reason is why Ms. Jones felt confident enough to assert that Corporate Social Responsibility is a defense mechanism for reputation management rather than a ongoing, proactive methodology for a corporation to meet higher standards.
It is true that corporations engaging in community giving and making social contributions are becoming the trend. There are active consumers out there who will dedicate their soul to protest against a corporation found engaging in actions that do harm to the environment, human rights and so forth. Then again, there are also many naïve consumers not really considerate whether a corporation is doing good deed to the community. This is a focal aspect why it is so difficult to convince certain corporations to tie into CSR: the fundamental purpose of a corporation as making profit faces no obstacles on doing so.
Corporate Social Responsibility is more than just a tool to gain good reputation. It is a window to reach out to your public’s higher needs, a chance to practice noble actions, and even a source to investigate future markets. A corporation must remember that without the love of their publics, it will eventually collapse. Sure, it may not seem evident to some mega companies, but look what happened to Exxon by one wrong move.
Post a Comment
<< Home