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0:00
My name is Professor
Christine Cross
and I work at the
Kemmy Business School
at the University of
Limerick in Ireland.
Today's topic is Corporate
Social Responsibility
and Human Resource Management.
0:14
Society expects
business to adhere to
certain social and
ethical standards.
By that, I mean to meet its
corporate social responsibility,
or what's often termed CSR.
While a business needs
to make a profit
in order to survive and grow,
profit maximisation is not
the only concern of business,
in relation to Human
Resource Management,
how a company treats
its employees is
part of its corporate social
responsibility agenda.
Firms are also exposed
to reputational risk
in relation to how
contractors and workers
in supplier firms are treated.
In other words, the HR
practices of a company
and of its suppliers
increasingly
matter to the outside world.
0:59
What exactly is CSR
and what does society
expect of a business?
CSR is a broad umbrella
term and there is
no one clear definition of
exactly what it entails.
While there is a
shared acceptance
in the literature that business
has a responsibility to
a wider societal good,
different definitions stress
different dimensions.
We can identify corporate
social responsibility
as the duty of a
business to go beyond
profit maximisation
and act responsibly
and contribute
positively to society.
Interestingly,
definitions of CSR
don't mention obeying the law.
This is because while
the legal framework
sets minimum standards,
CSR is about a higher standard.
The phrase often
used by CSR managers
is going 'beyond compliance'.
CSR is about voluntary
action and self-regulation
by firms to go beyond what
the law requires of them.
Also, many writers in the
field of CSR and firms who
engage with CSR no longer
use the word 'social',
preferring instead to use
'corporate responsibility',
'responsible business',
'corporate citizenship',
or some other broad title.
This is because the CSR
agenda has widened
beyond social issues
to include the
environmental and sustainability
issues of our time.
