Corporate social responsibility: the risks and opportunities for HR: Integrating human and social values into the strategic and operational fabric

Abstract

Purpose

Advances the view that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has brought risks and opportunities for HR managers, and that managing the risks and exploiting the opportunities will require reappraisal of existing approaches to HR and the scope of its activities.

Design/methodology/approach

Argues that, more often than not, an organization's identity differs from that of its CSR program, because CSR is most often seen as complementary rather than integral to the organization's core strategy. Highlights, through the examples of BP and Bristol Myers Squibb, what can result from this corporate schizophrenia.

Findings

Shows that this corporate schizophrenia represents a major challenge for HR managers, who must ensure that employee‐development programs are geared to ensuring that the customer experience reflects the organization's values with respect to the community and that the human and social values that CSR programs profess to hold dear are fully integrated into the strategic and operational fabric of the organization.

Practical implications

Presents the human‐asset model, which recognizes that today's organizations are best defined as a network of human assets – managers, employees, suppliers, customers, and the wider community. In this model, success is determined by the extent to which these assets are motivated to work and collaborate in pursuit of a common vision or purpose.

Originality/value

Highlights the need for HR professionals to engineer their organizational‐development and transformation programs around the relevant human and social values.

Citation

Ledwidge, J. (2007), "Corporate social responsibility: the risks and opportunities for HR: Integrating human and social values into the strategic and operational fabric", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 27-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670730710820190