The emergence of CSR as a discipline of increasing importance in business management has brought a result, as had already occurred with other intangible areas such as Communications or Human Resources: the inexcusable debate regarding its functions, situation and profi le of the person responsible for it.

There are different visions and realities in companies regarding this question: in some, CSR initially emerges as an interest of the Communications Department, motivated by the need of external reporting or, in the worst case, by the need to create a socially responsible reputation.

In other companies, as an area of interest in the Human Resources Department, as a result of concern about issues related to the Talent Management, Internal Reputation or Labor Relations. In a few companies, as a special interest of the CEO by responding to a different business management model.

The profi le of the person responsible for CSRFor Dr. Argandona, Professor of Economics and holder of the ‘la Caixa’ CSR and Corporate

Governance chair at IESE, there are 4 clear responsibilities in the profi le of the Director or Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility:

1. Education, guide, awareness: someone who can raise awareness about the need for it in the heart of the organization.

2. Management of the CSR plan: someone who can plan the main lines, fi x the steps to be taken, and generate the indicators to track.

3. Communication, indicators and reports: someone who can explain the company’s progress with the matter.

4. Dialogue with interest groups: someone who can establish open relationship channels with stakeholders and manage a productive dialogue for both parts in which shared value is created.

For this reason, the person responsible for CSR must be in permanent contact and relation with stakeholders, but he must also have a global vision, he must believe in Corporate Social Responsibility and coordinate the CSR Committee, ensuring that directors feel responsible for each area and for their own responsibilities. This point is crucial.

Should there be a specifi c function dedicated to managing Corporate Responsibility or is it a transversal function which crosses all areas of a company? Is an internal committee suffi cient, should it be represented on the Executive Board, should it depend on Communications or be included within another Department?

Strategy DocumentsI06/2011

The functions and location of CSR in the company’s organization chart: a step forward

Public Affairs

Insights

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The vision of each department is also key to carrying out an integral management, integrated in CSR. Those who are responsible for each department in the company must endorse the CSR vision and mission and apply it to their stakeholder. Furthermore, he must have a strategic vision and a deep knowledge of the activity and operations of the company, knowing the company thoroughly, the business it integrates and, why not, maybe even being one of the possible CEO’s of the company.

The location of CSR is also a disparate matter in organizations, normally it is a second level function, integrated or not within the framework of other intangibles somehow associated with it (reputation, brand and identity) and in some cases a first level function in the Board of Directors (in these cases usually under the umbrella of ‘Sustainability’) or a direct line of reporting to the CEO, although this is something that is still evolving and under discussion.

Professionalizing the function to the maximum extentBut to achieve the required organic recognition it is necessary to previously prove the value of the function and its contribution to the business. For that reason it is essential that CSR management be professionalized as much as possible, that it is equipped with the most appropriate instruments and tools to achieve it and that it guarantees a process guided by planning and measurement.

There are 7 steps in this process of updating and advancing organically Corporate Social Responsibility:

1. Analysis of the starting point:• Reality of the organization.• History.• Corporate Culture.• Business.

2. Commitment:• Extension of the CSR mission, vision

and values in the entire company.

3. Analysis of the current situation:• Self-assessment.• Analysis of indicators (what

they say about us).• Knowledge of expectations and requests

from stakeholders (due diligence process, as recommended by ISO 26000).

• Analysis of strengths and weaknesses (identification of areas of improvement).

4. Planning, strategy and actions:• Dialogue with stakeholders.• Proposals for improvement.• Criteria assessment: effectiveness,

viability, cost-profit, impact, reputation.• Establishment of priorities.• Drawing up action plan: desired

results, objectives, actions, resources, budget, calendar, indicators.

5. Execution of plan:• Integration in the general strategy:

scorecard and annual plan.• Planning communication:

with stakeholders.6. Results:

• Evaluation of indicators.• Results communication.

7. Monitoring:• Continuous learning.• Review of the mission and vision.

A relationship model with stakeholdersOne of the key responsibilities in managing CSR and in general of the entire senior management of an organization is the management of relations with the different interest groups around the company. Fundamentally, we highlight 3 types of activities:

1. Dialogue:• Identification and classification

in groups and subgroups, in the most detailed way possible.

• Information about its expectations, demands and interests, through meetings, investigations, interviews, suggestions boxes, observation, etc.

• Impact on the company: primary and secondary stakeholders.

• Impact on the company’s actions with stakeholders.

• Map of stakeholders: person responsible for each group in the company, spokesman on its behalf and methods of relating.

• Integration of petitions in the CSR planning process.

• Reply and communication model.2. Link:

• Shared vision of CSR policies.• Joint work at meetings, work

groups, commissions.• Collaboration in common projects.• Participation in the CSR planning process.

Ethics and business

Source: J & K business model and ethics, 2011.

The functions and location of CSR in the company’s organization chart: a step forward

‘To achieve the required

organic recognition it is neces-

sary to pre-viously

prove the value of the

function and its con-tribution to

the busi-ness.’

Business

Business Strategy

Ethics

CSR Strategy

Advice for the responsible

work

Insights 3

3. Communication:• Information about the company.• Information about CSR policies:

levels and content.• Styles and channels of

communication: messages, etc.

Identifying the 3 levels of responsibility in the companyA relevant task for the management of CSR is to identify the 3 levels of company responsibility in its context, sector and reality, according to Joan Fontrodona, Associated Professor of Business Ethics at IESE:

1. Primary: inherent in the company’s own activity, not only to satisfy clients and obtain an economic return (wrong focus of company’s primary responsibility), but also the prior respect towards the environment and human rights within the exercise of that activity, not as a palliative ‘after the event’ measure. In this section we also include the creation of wealth, the sustainability of the business or the improvement in clients’ quality of life through its products and services.

2. Secondary: improve the effects of the activities on stakeholders with complementary actions to the activity carried out in the Primary Responsibility, prioritizing those who are closer to the company. In this section we can differentiate the key stakeholders (employees and shareholders), the periphery ones (clients and usual suppliers) and the independent ones (potential clients and suppliers, local community and competitors).

3. Tertiary: contribute to the improvement of certain social issues through actions not included in the activity and to prevent the erosion or harm to the common good, acting as a good corporate citizen, outside of its own activity, not as a result of it. In this section Corporate Philanthropy is included.

We can also segment into 4 big groups the type of answer from organizations to social demands presented by interest groups:

1. Reactive: initial resistance, subsequent reply to the demand.

2. Inactive: without changes in the current situation.

3. Interactive: changes in the same direction as the environment.

4. Proactive: the demanded change is acted upon immediately.

3 CSR organizational modelsThe Associate Professor Antonio Vaccaro, from the Business Ethics Department at IESE, explains that there are 3 models of company management, defi ned according to their conception of CSR, and which correspond to 3 different types of organizations:

1. Traditional: typical of organizations in the old economy (1.0).• Bureaucratic.• Competitive.• Rigid.• Dehumanizing.• Tayloristic.• Not interested in CSR.

2. Handmade: typical of organizations in the social economy (NGO).• Disorganized.• Based on the community/society.• Flexible.• Centered on people.• Simplistic.

3. Hybrid: typical of organizations in the new economy (2.0).• Well organized.• Centered on people.• Flexible.• Humanizing.• Centered on CSR.

Conclusions: the future challenges for the CSR functionThere is a clear upward trend of this function within organizations, both in its organic recognition as in its weight in decision making, although its fi nal fi t is still not resolved, as also occurs with other intangibles such as Reputation, Brand or Corporate Identities.

But, irrespective of this, the professionalization of the function, the vision of contribution to the activity and to the real creation of value, and the provision of human and economic resources are the secure ways to obtain the necessary weight to infl uence important strategic decisions in organizations.

The functions and location of CSR in the company’s organization chart: a step forward

Source: Issues PR, 2011.

Example of each stakeholder management

‘The person responsible

for CSR must be in permanent

contact, relation and

dialogue with stake-holders and also have a global and

strategic vision.’

Consumers

Company

Focus groupFocus group and survey

staffReview

and meeting

Entrevistasfocalizadas

Focused interviews

Interviews

Continuous communi-

cation

Continuous communi-

cation

Staff

Customers Suppliers

Government NGOs

Special interest groups

Communities

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