Workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Leadership Course

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 viewpoints 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