Social Responsibility Guidelines & Sustainable Development

Title: Social Responsibility Guidelines & Sustainable Development: Integrating a Common Goal of a Sustainable Society

Given the global sustainability challenge; effective organizational Social Responsibility (SR) guidelines must set best-practices that acknowledge environmental constraints and strive for a sustainable society. SR has historically underrepresented environmental issues and needs to shift from a reactive focus on societal stakeholder demands, to a proactive whole-systems planning framework. There is a risk that unless SR guidelines consider both social and environmental issues together, they may generate negative outcomes to organizational viability. This research finds key Sustainable Development concepts that should be integrated within SR guidelines and uncovers an overall goal of SR as assisting organizations in moving towards a sustainable society. A Sustainable Society is defined in the research according to a set of scientific principles, based on environmental constraints and fundamental social needs….

Contents

1 Introduction
1.2 Research Overview
1.3 Background on Organizational Social Responsibility
1.4 Strategic Sustainable Development
1.4.1 SSD – Take a broad systems perspective
1.4.2 SSD – Moving Towards a Sustainable Society
1.4.3 SSD – Backcasting Towards Success
1.4.4 SSD – Prioritizing Actions Strategically
1.4.5 SSD – Using a Structured Approach
1.4.6 SSD – Principles for a Sustainable Society
1.5 Research Scope and Limitations
1.6 Research Questions
1.7 Background on Case Study: ISO 26000
2 Methods
2.1 Research Design
2.2 Method 1: Literature Search
2.3 Method 2: Interviews/Meetings
2.4 Method 3a: Survey and Phone Interviews with Swedish Mirror Group Members
2.5 Method 3b: Surveys and Phone Interviews with SR Experts and Networks
2.6 Validity
2.6.1 Strengths of this Research:
2.6.2 Limitations of this Research:
3 Results
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Method 1 Findings: Literature Review
3.2.1 Recent SR Research
3.2.2 Lack of Clear Universal Definition of SR
3.2.3 Organizational SR Interpretations and Stages of Organizational Development
3.2.4 SR Driven by Social Issues
3.2.5 SR and SD Alignment
3.2.6 SD an Essential Component of SR
3.3 Method 2 Findings: SR Experts
3.3.2 SR Experts On-Line Survey
3.3.3 Sustainability Relationship to SR
3.3.4 Prioritizing between Social and Environmental Decisions
3.3.5 Relationship between SD and SR
3.3.6 The Goal of Organizational SR
3.3.7 Backcasting from a Clear Definition of Success
3.3.8 Future Organizational SR Challenges
3.3.9 Integration of SR into SD
3.3.10 Other Comments
3.4 Method 2 Findings: Follow-Up Telephone Interviews with SR Experts
3.5 Method 3a Findings: ISO 26000 Swedish Mirror Group On-line Survey
3.5.1 Sustainability Relationship to SR
3.5.2 Important SR Guideline Components
3.5.3 Setting Goals in SR Guidelines
3.5.4 What is the goal of SR?
3.5.5 Clarity of the Brundtland Definition
3.5.6 Requirements in Support of Brundtland
3.5.7 Other Comments
3.6 Method 3a Findings: Telephone Interviews with Swedish Mirror Group 29
3.7 Method 3b Findings: SR Networks
3.7.1 On-Line Survey
3.7.2 The Goal of SR
3.7.3 Historic Perspective of SR and SD
3.7.4 Strategic Decision in SR
3.7.5 Organizational Sustainability Guidelines
4 Discussion: Research Question 1
4.1 Research Expectations
4.2 Research Challenges
4.3 Scientific Principles building Universal Understanding
4.4 Defining Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development
4.5 Defining Sustainable Development
4.5.2 Sustainable Development not „Sustainable Growth‟ or „Viability
4.5.3 The Brundtland Commission Definition of Sustainable Development
4.5.4 Defining a Sustainable Society through SSD
4.5.5 Applying the Sustainability Principles to Brundtland
4.6 Defining Organizational Social Responsibility
4.6.2 SR as Social and Environmental Responsibility
4.6.3 The Trouble with Triple Bottom Line
4.6.4 Social Issues Affect the Environment
4.6.5 SR Literature Lacks „Environmental Dependency
4.6.6 Historical Perspectives of SR & SD
4.7 SD & SR; Same Goal, Different Perspective
4.7.2 Merging SD Concepts into Organizational SR
5 Discussion: Research Question 2
5.1 Integrating SD Concepts into SR Guidelines
5.1.2 SR Guidelines
5.1.3 Initial Findings: SD into SR Guidelines
5.2 Recommendations for the Integration of Critical SD Concepts into OSR Guidelines
5.2.2 Organizations are „Within‟ the Environment
5.2.3 A Strategic Framework towards Success
5.2.4 Science-based Principle Definitions of Success
5.2.5 Diagrammatical Representation
5.3 Application of SD to ISO 26000 Guideline
5.4 Recommendations for ISO 26000
5.5 Further Research and Challenges
6 Conclusion
6.1 SR towards a Sustainable Society
References
Appendices

Author: Anastasia Dewangga, Simon Goldsmith, Neil Pegram

Source: Blekinge Institute of Technology

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