arguments against CSR and some answers
Global Reporting Initiative - commentary
Mallen Baker's Blog
Remind me why you produce a CSR report again?
10 Jun 2009
The purpose of any communication is the impact you expect to achieve by making the communication, right?
If I have a meeting to present a business case to your CEO - that discussion is a failure if I don't at least make some progress in persuading the CEO to follow the recommended course of action.
If I praise you for a job well done, I've failed if I do it in such a way that makes you think I'm being insincere, or mouthing platitudes. I want you to be pleased and encouraged to keep doing more of what you did right in the first place.
If I shout out for you to duck because a cricket ball is flying towards you, the communication fails if you can't make out what I said and ask me to repeat it.
So I'm fascinated that I attended a very good seminar yesterday with lots of information about the trends in how companies are reporting. There were even top ten lists for CSR reporters, and online reporters. It was a useful snapshot of what companies are doing.
But none of it gave any insight into how effective these reports were being in terms of what we assume to be their primary objective - to communicate.
How do we know whether the trends are taking us in the right or the wrong direction if we don't get the feedback that tells us whether we were a success or failure?
One of the authors of the research told me afterwards - in his experience many of the companies producing the report were not starting with questions about who the audiences were, and what did they need. They started with the frameworks, and by checking what they did against what everyone else was doing.
That is a danger signal. It shows that CSR reporting has become self-referential and disconnected from the purpose of making the communication in the first place.
This is not a good idea if you want to persuade people that such reporting is an essential tool for the business. Not just this year, but in five, ten years time from now.
The impression is supported by how few companies actually use their websites to encourage any kind of dialogue or feedback.
There is a word for a person you meet at a party who insists on talking at you and doesn't care too much whether you're interested in, or even understanding, what is being said. That is a bore.
Tags: CSR reporting audiences stakeholders corporate social responsibility Mallen Baker
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Comment by: Reana Rossouw on 17 Jun 2009
Weblink: http://www.nextgeneration.co.za
I cannot agree more.
Firstly companies seem to be pushing out yet another marketing communication message through their sustainability reports, they forgot why they are doing it, namely to communicate with stakeholders. Hence, stakeholders are not reading information they have not requested.
Secondly, the report does not address the issues raised by stakeholders, so why read it?
Thirdly, the report does not reach the stakeholders, have you ever tried to get copies of sustainaiblity reports from some corporates - its like pulling teeth.
In this technologically advanced age, we can never replace human interaction, companies are now spending a fortune on trying to communicate through websites - they even do their stakeholder engagement through the Internet. I believe this attitude are also deterring stakeholders from engaging with reporting companies.
I am a stakeholder, talk to me - you will be surprised what I have to say about your report.