C167 Managing Social and Environmental Responsibility
- Course Code:
- C167
- Unit value:
All organisations have objectives. For many decades, a strong argument has been made by economists that business firms have a single responsibility, which is to their owners, to make an economic return on investment. For other non-commercial organisations, efficiency is nearly always a consideration in measuring performance. But organisations have to look beyond their immediate objectives, beyond their mission statement, to consider the impacts of their activities in a wider context. These include the concerns of various stakeholders within and without the organisation, and the effects on space – the natural environment – and through time – the legacy effects for succeeding generations. As the 20th Century drew to a close, these ‘secondary’ responsibilities became important drivers of organisational strategy, often as a response to the spotlight shone by the media and activist organisations.
Much of the modern literature about managing social and environmental responsibilities concerns business firms and their contribution to sustainable development. Another feature of the evolving ethical landscape is that many other types of organisations besides business firms are being subjected to the same searching analysis: even activist organisations are having to account for their wider social impacts such as employment policies, and environmental impacts such as waste management and carbon emissions.
How these wider social and environmental responsibilities are conceived and managed by diverse organisations in an environmentally fragile global context is what this Module is about. The thinking and concepts which underlie the analysis of the changing moral environment can be traced back to the work of the philosophers of earlier centuries and millennia. The Module aims to present the key moral theories, concepts and approaches underlying the management of organisational responsibilities and to discuss how organisations can integrate social and environmental responsibilities within strategies and policies. It will introduce the social and environmental responsibilities and relationships between organisations and their stakeholders and explain the management tools and reporting processes whereby organisations engage with, and communicate to, their stakeholders.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
On completing this Module students will be able to:
- Discuss and criticise the arguments concerning the moral responsibilities of contemporary organisations for managing social and environmental impacts
- Explain the organisational practices and tools for managing internal and external social and environmental responsibilities
- Interpret the demands of stakeholders for voluntary and mandatory social and environmental management standards, practices and certification
- Identify how organisations can engage with stakeholders and policy makers to fulfil their social and environmental responsibilities
Scope and syllabus
The first three Units approach the subject of the moral responsibilities of organisations from a theoretical and conceptual viewpoint. The introductory unit opens up the scenario of moral responsibility for social and environmental issues, with key concepts covered in Unit 2. The dimension of time is covered by locating moral responsibility within the concept of sustainability. Unit 3 explores the ethical bases for exercising moral responsibility from diverse perspectives: traditional Western ethical theories, newer and alternative approaches, and also ethical considerations arising from other philosophical traditions. The first three Units end with coverage of decision making tools to help translate ethical theory into practical organisational management.
Units 4 to 10 address specific management challenges for exercising moral responsibility. Firstly, there is a strategic approach wherein the management of social and environmental responsibilities and the ‘drivers’ of socio-environmental consciousness are treated as an integral element of overall organisational strategy. This is related to the organisational policy-making process. Specific attention is paid to the social elements in Unit 5 and to environmental management in Unit 6.
The following Units 7-9 examine different dimensions of social and environmental management: responsibilities in the supply chain (Unit 7); specific standards and management systems (Unit 8); social marketing responsibilities in relation to consumers (Unit 9).
The final Unit considers the need to engage with and report to stakeholders about social and environmental performance, and also looks ahead to likely trends and factors affecting performance analysis and reporting.
