Business and Professional Ethics

Last week I was in Madurai as a panelist in a Seminar on Business and Professional Ethics. It was organized by the Dept of Management Studies, Fatima College. This timely theme highlighted many facets of business and ethics. Inevitably, it gravitated towards a discussion on Corporate Social Responsibility . What intrigued me was the speakers invariably gave examples from Western countries. While there are many large and even smaller companies in India which has done work at the grassroots level, none of it was presented. It somehow gave the impression that CSR is the exclusive purview of MNCs working in India.

Finally, one speaker stood up and said what is lacking in India is Self Esteem. We tend to be very negative when it comes to our own people and over enthusiastic when it comes to foreigners. Though India needs to catch up on lot of fronts compared to the advanced countries, if we continue to run down our own people, we will not reach anywhere.

My only prayer at the end of the seminar was: "Where the mind is without fear and the head held high...into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my Country Awake!

CSR Practitioners -some insights

As more and more Companies embrace CSR there is a corresponding demand for competent professionals in the field. On the supply side, many young management and development professionals are keen to take up a career in corporate affairs. However, after joining they find the tasks ahead daunting and more so when their peers and managers do not recognize the work they do in the communities.The young CSR professionals in large MNCs /corporates do not have anyone to turn to. Sometimes even their reporting managers with a Communications or Marketing background may not understand what exactly they do.This makes them wonder what went wrong. They think they may be a complete misfit.

I find many development professionals who have built up a good career in NGOs coming to me and asking about switching to a career in CSR. Without trying to sound like I am putting them off, I often urge them to study the company that they plan to join and understand the CSR traditions within the company. Another suggestion is to network with CSR professionals, read CSR articles and develop their understanding of the challenges and constraints before venturing into CSR as a profession. If you are attracted only by the 'corporate tag' then you will not be ready to face the challenges ahead.

A recent article in CSR Asia - confessions of a CSR Practitioner brought out this very succintly. The author - a CSR manager - says: "I think one of the most challenging parts of my job is internal misunderstanding of what I do".  My thoughts are resonated exactly in the above quote. It is a fact that CSR practitioners do not do enough internal stakeholder engagement.

Aspiring CSR professionals must be prepared to engage with internal stakeholders, top management in the long haul for their own good. If they are not prepared to take the initiative in educating their peers and managers within their respective companies  -  they may have to re-assess their decision.

NEN -1st Dot showcase for Student Startups

The other day I was at the National Entrepreneurship Network's first dot showcase for student start ups. Sponsored by IBM and The Wadhwani foundation, the showcase provided a forum for student start ups to well, showcase their business model and interact with mentors and experts.

I had the daunting task of mentoring 2 student start ups. Mentoring techno-savvy youngsters of the digital generation should be challenging and I geared up by brushing up my 'techno-skills' by interacting with my son and daughter - who are way ahead and up to date on matters technical. Brimming with giga-bits of information disdainfully fed by my "i kids'  I felt confident of not getting stumped by my prospective 'mentees' (whoever invented this word needs mentoring!)

After few minutes into the mentoring session, I realized I need not have gone through the troubles of 'updating' my technical knowledge. The 'studentrepreneurs' are very clear that technology is important, but they are not going to 'depend' on it. They were more concerned with how their technology will actually benefit the people.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that both the teams expressed genuine concern for the country, its youth and how their venture could play a part in improving lives of people through technology.

These young start ups are not chasing dollars blindly or just geeks fanatic about their gadgets. These are real social entrepreneurs who wanted to make a difference in society. I liked their motive and conceptual clarity. I returned from the mentoring session with the reassurance that the future of India has its mind and heart in the right place!

CSR -The Game Changer - Workshop by NASSCOM Foundation

With more and more IT companies operating in India taking the CSR route, it is imperative to strengthen these efforts and provide a forum for sharing practices. NASSCOM foundation did just this on July 21st when they organized a workshop "CSR - The Game Changer" in Bangalore for its member companies.

The participants were given useful inputs on CSR strategy development and alignment with business goals. Participants also involved in 'developing CSR strategies' as part of a case study to get a hands on feel for coming up with sustainable CSR strategies.

Indian Companies lead by Example in CSR

A recent article in Harvard Business Review by Dr Cappelli commends Indian companies for their social mission. The research covered 100 business leaders of top Indian companies and comes out with the finding that every executive interviewed described the main objective of their company in terms of a social mission.

The article draws on the examples of Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Dr. Reddy's Pharma and INFOSYS among many other Indian companies. Of course the TATA's who 'also make steel' finds special mention for spending 65% of their profits for charity purposes.

The study concludes by saying that: "There is every reason to believe that these companies have done well precisely because they are doing good"

Another feather for Indian efforts in CSR, way to go...hope many more companies emulate the examples set by these top Indian companies

It is Official now, CSR keeps your employees happy!

In the ongoing discussions on CSR, it is often said that Companies use CSR to motivate and retain employees. Now a recent study by the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) confirms that Corporate Social Responsibility is a great way to engage employees and linked to how committed an employee is to the company.

Spanning over 2000 workers around the world, the CCL study sampled their opinions on their company's CSR. The main findings are:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility programs are linked to how committed an employee is to an employer
2. Employee perceptions about CSR remained constant during the depth of the economic decline
3. CSR programs are not a panacea for retention issues - CSR is related to organizational commitment but not to turnover, so companies can't consider CSR as a magic cure for all retention issues

The study has come at the right time when Indian IT companies are again struggling with attrition as recruitment efforts are picking up. It gives a fillip to CSR efforts as keeping employees committed and happy will sure impact the bottomline of any Corporate.

Guidelines for Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India released the Voluntary Guidelines for Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. The documents could be downloaded from the MCA website www.mca.gov.in

The comprehensive guidelines cover the core elements of Corporate Governance and CSR. Aimed at ushering in transparency in operations of small and big companies, the guidelines offer many suggestions. The CSR guidelines also specifies that every company should have a comprehensive CSR policy. The CSR policy should cover the following core elements:

1. Care for all Stakeholders
2. Ethical Functioning
3. Respect for Workers Rights & Welfare
4. Respect for Human Rights
5. Respect for Environment
6. Activities for Social and Inclusive Development

This is a progressive step and shows the intentions of the Government to bring in the much needed transparency and guidance for companies to discharge their social obligations. Hope Companies follow the guidelines in its true spirit and engage in inclusive and sustainable development