social responsibility - corporate roles and consumer expectations

Social responsibility encompasses the concepts of high ethical standards, philanthropy, human rights, community investment and environmental action. We could define “being socially responsible” as the process whereby a business, large or small, pays attention to the emerging values and expectations of society, and then purposefully establishes a plan to balance corporate decisions and behaviour with these values and expectations.

Corporate social responsibility has gained some notoriety of late with several high profile scandals involving publicly traded companies. Regrettably, corporations with high social responsibility values and well-defined plans to ensure that these values are reflected in actions, do not receive the same degree of press coverage. Notwithstanding this reporting disparity, we can learn some lessons from the more notorious side of the issue, and gain valuable insight by studying the practices of those corporations whose values are more admirable, albeit less visible. Businesses respond regularly to the needs of their customers, and as consumers generally become more aware and concerned about various aspects of social responsibility,

The Canadian hospitality industry is one of the country’s largest industries, and comprises both large corporations and small businesses that are widespread geographically, and disparate in terms of types and styles of operation and management. This makes it difficult sometimes to think about an “industry strategy” for social responsibility. This challenge does not however, diminish the accountability of the industry for its social and environmental activities.

Regardless of the size of the business, the effective discharge of social responsibility begins with the interest and action of an individual, to be followed in time with corporate plans and activities. In the perfect world, this would be the owner or manager of a property, however it is also possible, and sometimes desirable, for the process to begin informally within the employee base, with formalized corporate procedures to follow.

Given the broad scope of social responsibility as it is currently defined, it is clear that being “socially responsible” is not a simple task. Rather it is a complex process that evolves over a long period of time, and includes a wide variety of plans, procedures and activities. A reasonable starting point for any organization would be to do a self-assessment of where you stand. This can be accomplished by answering a few simple questions about your organization. The responses will, in most instances, provide some good news – that you are indeed being socially responsible in some areas. Additionally, the responses will highlight areas where policies and procedures could be developed.

As a starting point, here are some questions that you might consider:

The general impression of many of the above issues is that they represent additional costs to the business. This, to a large extent, is an erroneous line of thought. Firstly, many beneficial initiatives can be undertaken with little or no extra costs, and in some instances, there may be savings. Secondly, there is a growing consumer expectation that businesses will have defined policies and visible actions relating to social responsibility. Businesses that are judged by consumers to be lacking in important areas of social responsibility will experience declining support (i.e., revenues!) – hence a lack of action could negatively impact your business.

The key elements in responding to social responsibility issues are: “paying attention” and “the plan”. “Paying attention” involves becoming aware of the issues, and then looking at our day to day business operations to see where we could be more socially responsible. “The plan” (once we are aware of the issues) is taking one or more issues, and developing steps to address shortcomings, or to enhance your ability to be socially responsible. The first step in any endeavour is always an important one, and a good plan will help to identify what that step should be.

If individual owners and operators begin to have heightened interest in social responsibility (and some already do), then the entire industry will ultimately begin to move in a direction that is in keeping with the values and expectations of our society. The results will be good for business, and good for the social and environmental health of the communities in which we are located.

Dan Hill, Director
PKF Consulting