Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

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Why Attend

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the principle which drives businesses to support communities and people without expecting direct financial returns. This principle is best demonstrated when CSR practices are used to connect the business to the community by supporting social issues and interests. The diﬃculty is finding a balance between doing good for the community and its constituents and making sure the practices benefit your business as well. This course covers CSR methods, tools, principles and practices, the ethics of CSR, communicating CSR, as well as the challenges of CSR and how to deal with them.

Course Methodology

This training course is designed to be interactive and participatory. To maximize its effectiveness, the course relies on the use of films and videos, individual and team exercises, and case studies and scenarios.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Explain the history, concepts, and Caroll's four-part definition of corporate social responsibility
Outline the reasons why CSR is important in the public and private sectors
Recognize how business ethics, CSR and corporate governance are converging
Illustrate the evolution and revolution of CSR
Implement the ten rules for effective CSR communication to reach optimal communication outcome
Create a competitive advantage by identifying various CSR challenges

Target Audience

Professionals in private companies, NGOs, local, regional and international organizations and governments who are currently involved in CSR, or who would like to be involved in CSR, and wish to apply and embed the concept of CSR in their institution.

Target Competencies

Planning, organizing and leading

Written and verbal communication

Inspiring and building rapport

Analyzing and evaluating

Course Outline

Introduction to CSR

Preliminary definitions of CSR
Corporate citizenship concepts
Business criticism in a CSR cycle
Historical perspectives
Evolving view points on CSR
Caroll’s four-part definition

The importance of CSR

People, planet and profits theory
Two views of CSR
Should corporations be involved in CSR
Arguments for and against CSR

CSR and ethics

Definitions and relationships
Business ethics developments
Ways companies integrate ethics
Engagement in a global code of business ethics
Making decisions on ethical issues

The evolution and revolution of CSR

The rise and fall of CSR
The failure of CSR: three curses
Embracing the future: five principles
Shapeshifting: from CSR 1.0 to CSR 2.0

Rules for effective CSR communication

Characteristics of information relating to CSR
Rule #1: act first, talk later
Rule #2: the why and the wherefore
Rule #3: be prepared
Rule #4: CSR must be a boardroom priority
Rule #5: involve the employees
Rule #6: extract messages
Rule #7: everybody is different
Rule #8: embrace dialogue
Rule #9: become an example of good practice
Rule #10: responsible product brands

Challenges of CSR

- Friedman versus Russell
- Dimensions of CSR
- Models of CSR
- Features of CSR models
- CSR in developing countries
- Drivers of CSR in developing countries
- CSR implementation framework
- Common mistakes in CSR
- Factors to consider in a business case for CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Course Date

Course content

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Georgia