How do I engage employees in the CSR agenda?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390780001006 |
| Pages | 7-7 |
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Author | Michael R. Kissida |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
7
Volume 6 Issue 6 September/October 2007
Q&A
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PRACTITIONER PROFILE
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HR AT WORK
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Q: How do I engage
employees in the
CSR agenda?
T
he Global Leadership and
Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness (GLOBE) research
project is an ongoing study that was
started by 160 social scientists and
management scholars from around the
world in 1992. They engaged in a series
of long-termprogrammatic studies of
cross-cultural leadership. One of the key
concepts learned is that it is important for
us to look at similarities across cultures
and to use these similarities to help
bridge our differences. To have global
employee engagement on the corporate
social responsibility (CSR) agenda, it is
important for organizations to accept
that cross-cultural situations are more
complex than uni-cultural situations and
to show respect for the differences
between cultures and geographies.
Organizations that understand the
value of CSR understand that business
success and improving the quality of
people’slives arenot mutually exclusive.
In fact, many companies incorporate the
CSR agenda into their core values. The
idea that the goals of the business,
employees and society can be aligned is
not new. The challenge is in how we do it
across time zones, geographical
boundaries, cultural differences, political
systems and economic constraints.
Embedding CSR in the organization’s DNA
Organizations that have a global mind
set know how to implement and sustain
the CSR agenda. They develop it by
building personal connections and
creating an environment of trust and
intimacy. These organizations create a
workforce that is open and honest,
shares ideas, can be flexible and
adaptive, and engages with and
embraces the challenges it faces. They
have a workforce that is curious and
always searching for a new and better
way of doing things – for the business,
employees and society.They nurture the
insight in individuals that the world is
bigger than they areand that all of us on
this planet areconnected in some way.
To create this perspective in
organizations, we need leaders who
have a global mind set and talent
management systems that find, develop
and deploy these special people to the
CSR agenda. When this is accomplished
the CSR mind set becomes embedded in
the DNA of the organization.
Keeping it genuine
Effective leaders know that if they
engage people in the CSR agenda it will
take on a life of its own. It will become
embedded in what they do. They will
find the most appropriate forums for
involvement. It will be something they
live, not some program that they are
supposed to follow.The more
programmatic the CSR agenda is, the
more it loses its heart. When the CSR
agenda comes from the heart it is
contagious, and nearly all employees
become ambassadors of positive change
and strive to find ways to get other less
engaged people involved.
Leadership must embrace the CSR
agenda in a genuine way.Leaders must
model the behavior they expect in
others and respect the fact that how
individuals perceive and supportthe
CSR agenda may be different, based on
wherethey live, their culture, their
personality and their individual values.
Leaders should create a work
environment that allows the input,
participation and engagement needed
to improve the global community at
large. When employees believe leaders
are genuine in their commitment to the
CSR agenda it will be easier for them to
commit. Most importantly, leadership
must confront other leaders who do
not “walk the talk.”
So the challenge is finding and
developing these special leaders and
workers who embrace the CSR agenda, as
well as building the desired environment
of engagement, mutuality,trust and
outward perspective.
Michael R. Kissida,
PhD is associate vice
president of global mind set
at Thunderbird, the school
of global management. Previous roles include VP of
enterprise integration at Limited Brands,VP of HR at
Limited Logistics Services and Limited Technology
Services and senior VP of HR at UTI.
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