Changing Manager Mindsets

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Changing Manager Mindsets

Report of the Working Group on the Development of ProfessionalSkills for the Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility

Department of Trade and IndustryCorporate Responsibility Group

April 2003


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CONTENTS

Foreword ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 3

Section One: The Working Group and Its Task...........................................................................111.1. Introduction.................................................................................................................... 111.2. Background.................................................................................................................... 12

Section Two: Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies ............................................................. 142.1 CSR An Emerging Profession?................................................................................... 142.2 Does Embedding CSR Practice Require Specialist CSR Practitioners?........................ 152.3 The Research Study...................................................................................................... 162.4 Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies...................................................................... 17

2.5 Core CSR Characteristics.............................................................................................. 202.6 Implications for CSR Practitioners.................................................................................. 222.7 Conclusions and Recommendations for Building CSR Skills and Competencies.......... 23

Section Three: CSR Training and Development Provision ......................................................... 253.1 Objectives of the Research............................................................................................ 253.2 What Training Exists?.................................................................................................... 253.3 Course Format............................................................................................................... 283.4 On-going Research in Training and Development......................................................... 303.5 Training for Skills and Competencies............................................................................. 303.6 Training and Standards.................................................................................................. 313.7 Training and Learning.................................................................................................... 31

3.8 Conclusions and Recommendations CSR Training and Development Provision.......... 32

Section Four: Is There a Role for a CSR Academy?................................................................... 344.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... 344.2 Purpose of CSR Academy............................................................................................. 354.3 Conclusions and Recommendations on the Tasks of a CSR Academy......................... 364.4 Conclusions and Recommendations on the Organisational Structure of the CSR

Academy........................................................................................................................ 38

APPENDIX 1: Contributors to Consultations and Discussions.................................................... 40

APPENDIX 2: CSR Skills and Competencies ............................................................................. 42

APPENDIX 3: Survey Results ..................................................................................................... 45

APPENDIX 4: Education and Training Provision ........................................................................ 49


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DTI/CRG Report Changing Manager Mindsets 1

Foreword

Our task was to make recommendations on how to create the peoplewith the skills, competencies and commitment to realise the CSRagenda. We define CSR as the management of an organisation's totalimpact upon both its immediate stakeholders and upon the society withinwhich it operates. Managerial decision-making needs increasingly totake into account a wide range of criteria relating to the financial,environmental and social implications of business operations.

We believe the key task over the next 10 to 15 years is to changemanager mindsets. There are many drivers to doing this but a keystrategic driver will be promoting CSR competencies into the education,training and on-going professional development of all managers- not justthe CSR specialists, important though specialists are as change agentsin larger companies.

Creating the people will require changes to what is offered in thebusiness schools, universities and by training providers. It will requireembedding in the competency frameworks of professional institutes andbe a guide to companies' own investment in their people. Some of theseagents are already spearheading change. These are the enthusiasts

from large and small businesses and amongst the internal and externalstakeholders of organisations who are driving the agenda onwards.

We believe that CSR is relevant to organisations of all sizes whether inthe private, public or voluntary sectors as a necessary underpinning ofbuilding trust in our pluralist, fast changing world.

We hope that our recommendations will support a leap forward inpromoting the understanding of how all managers can become CSRpractitioners and in developing their ability to put that understanding intopractice.

Our deliberations were based on the excellent research and analysisundertaken by our consultants Ashridge and Accountability. TheSecretariat of the Corporate Responsibility Group and the Department ofTrade and Industry both ably supported us. The many people who tookpart in our consultations and generously offered us their work inprogress and their insights helped shape our thinking. On behalf of theWorking Group I offer grateful thanks to them all.

Sue SlipmanApril 2003


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Executive Summary

1. Introduction

In December 2002, the Department of Trade and Industry and theCorporate Responsibility Group established a Working Group to report tothe Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness, StephenTimms. The task of the Working Group was to carry out a process ofinquiry with three major objectives. These were to:

Map and measure what specific generic skill sets are required forthe practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the inter-

section with other professional practices. Examine how to incorporate CSR practice into the training,assessment and qualifications of general managers.

Decide whether the establishment of some form of CSRAcademy would be a valuable way to promote the developmentof CSR in the UK.

The Working Group was chaired by Sue Slipman, Chair, FinancialOmbudsman's Service, and its members were: Richard Aylard, Directorof CSR, Thames Water; Anna Bradley, Director Consumer Affairs,Financial Services Authority; Claire Hitchcock, Director, EuropeInternational Community Partnerships, GlaxoSmithKline; Jerry Marston,

Community Investment Director, Whitbread and Chair of CorporateResponsibility Group; Lance Moir, Senior Lecturer in Finance andAccounting, Cranfield University School of Management andrepresentative of the European Academy of Business in Society; HenryStewart, Managing Director, Happy Computers; Baroness GlenysThornton; Lucy Varcoe, Manager Advisory Services, Business in theCommunity; Ed Williams, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Marks &Spencer; and Janet Williamson, Policy Officer ESAD, TUC.

Despite having only a limited time for its work the Working Groupconsulted around 450 people from a wide range of organisations in itsresearch and to inform its discussions.

The Working Group's Approach to CSR

The Working Group recognised that at the heart of its work lay the needfor strategies to establish and grow trust between organisations and theirstakeholders. Such trust requires increasing the accountability of anorganisation to its stakeholders through active dialogue to inform anddetermine the organisation's policy and decision making so that theseincreasingly both benefit the business or organisation and at the leastminimise damage to society and at best have a positive impact onsociety.


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The Working Group believes that CSR concerns the management of anorganisation's total impact upon both its immediate stakeholders andupon the society within which it operates.

CSR is not simply about whatever funds and expertise companies choseto invest in communities to help resolve social problems, although manycompanies do make contributions in this way. It is about the integrity withwhich a company governs itself, fulfils its mission, lives by its values,engages with its stakeholders and measures its impacts and publiclyreports on its activities. The Working Group recognised that the centralneed is for CSR practice to be embedded firmly within all businesspractice so that responsible business progressively becomes just theway we do business in the UK

The Group believes that popularising CSR, getting more companies,both large and small to take up its practice and informing all sectors inchanging practice requires a 'leap forward'. It concludes that the

cornerstone of informing professional and managerial practice forembedding CSR practice in organisations is to define the competenciesand skills required to underpin this practice and to ensure that theybecome part of the training of all managers at all levels in organisations.

2. Conclusions and Recommendations for BuildingCSR Skills and Competencies

The DTI/CRG Working Group recognises the wealth of data availableconcerning the way the CSR profession is developing. However, theresearch undertaken for this inquiry has shown that much of thisknowledge is fragmented and there is little clarity about a common set ofCSR skills, competencies or behaviours. In the light of this, the WorkingGroup supports and endorses the core CSR characteristics derived fromthe results of the extensive consultation process. These are shown inthe diagram below.

CSR Characteristics

Understanding societyBuilding partnerships

Questioning business as usualStakeholder relationships

Strategic visionRespecting diversity

HR

MARKETING

FINANCE

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS

CSR Characteristics




HR

MARKETING

FINANCE


COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS

Ashridge/DTI/CRG


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The Working Group makes the following recommendations based on thefindings of the research.

Recommendation 1There is little evidence of any formal skills and competency frameworkseither within individual organisations, or among professional bodies andinstitutions that seek to serve CSR practitioners. This stands in starkcontrast to other professions. Participants in the consultation processargued there is a need for further work to extend current thinking onCSR skills and competencies. This is reinforced by the results of thesurvey that found 67% of respondents feel there is a need for aprofessional institution (or similar body) to help develop and maintainpractitioner skills for CSR.

Recommendation 2

The research has identified the core characteristics that are at the centreof management decision-making processes required to integrate CSRwithin organisations. These core characteristics are relevant to CSRpractitioners and managers in a range of different functions. TheWorking Group strongly recommends the further refinement and testingof this model with CSR practitioners, across other managementdisciplines and among internal and external stakeholder groups. Inparticular, there is a real need to understand the perspective of smallerbusinesses and organisations outside the private sector.

Recommendation 3The Working Group recommends that the core CSR characteristics

should be amplified to encompass more detailed statements describinghow each of these principles translates into the range of managementactions.

Recommendation 4The Working Group believes that the core CSR characteristicsdeveloped by this research can help companies integrate CSR into theirbusiness practice. For example, the core CSR characteristics can bemapped against existing competency frameworks to help managersdevelop their thinking in relation to CSR issues. In addition, companiesshould reflect on how the core CSR characteristics can influence the on-going development of managers. The Working Group believes that the

core CSR characteristics represent behaviours that can be learned, butare difficult to be taught. It recommends that organisations consider awide range of development interventions (mentoring, job shadowing,learning through experience, etc.) in order to better understand how toequip managers to integrate CSR practice into the decision-makingprocesses.


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3. Conclusions and Recommendations on CSRTraining and Development Provision

The CSR competencies are central to the development of CSR

managers and should be highlighted as a key aspect of learning. Thedescription (and subsequent understanding by potential trainees) ofthese competencies will however be facilitated by the generation ofcommon definitions and their widespread promotion by significant CSRnetworks.

Recommendation 5The Working Group recommends that CSR training and developmentproviders map their course provision against the CSR competencies todemonstrate to potential students and employers alike how theselearning outcomes are built by their courses.

Recommendation 6When discussing the proliferation of CSR Standards such as GRI,AA1000 and others, participants in the consultation agreed that somestandardisation of what thing is vital rather than nice to have could behelpful. The Working Group believes that the current confusion on thepart of practitioners about which CSR standards to adopt will be resolvedover time by convergence as more organisations use them and discoverthose that are most useful to them.In the meantime the Working Group recommends that trainingorganisations should offer information about how their courses relate tovarious CSR standards, how the learning opportunities offered increaseunderstanding of them and how this can be related back to theparticipants organisation.

Recommendation 7Training and development currently reflects the diverse needs of a newand growing market, offering a range of courses whose variety instructure and format can be confusing. The training market has notdeveloped a clear structure and is still part of a fragmented market.Participants in the consultation identified the need for a dedicatedwebsite where all providers could post details of courses, conferencesand other learning opportunities. The Working Group believes thiswebsite would operate best under the auspices of the CSR Academy

(see Recommendation 25).

The Working Group recommends that training organisations shouldcollaborate to offer information on their courses for distribution through adedicated website to encourage awareness, understanding and whererelevant, take up of recognised qualifications.

Recommendation 8The Working Group recommends further research be undertaken tounderstand the full range of learning opportunities, including training,experiential and peer network learning available to managers and inwhat way these would be useful at each level of development identified

in section 2 of the report.


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For example, basic training might cover the core knowledge needs of amanager; a secondment would further build that individuals competenceagainst specific elements from the range of skills that lie behind thecompetence framework; and refresher courses would update and buildupon that individuals specialist skills. This research could then map outthe best ways for continuous professional development of CSRcompetencies and skills.

4. Is There a Role for a CSR Academy?

The Working Group examined the need for and purpose of a CSRAcademy as well as a number of models either existing or proposed andconcluded that such an Academy could have a major role to play inpromoting a 'leap forward' in CSR in the UK

Recommendation 9

The Working Group recommends the setting up of a CSR Academy tosupport the growth of CSR competencies at the heart of education,training and on-going development of both specialist and generalmanagers.

5. Conclusions and Recommendations on the Tasksof a CSR Academy

The Working Group believes there is a range of tasks a CSR Academyshould perform if it is to be successful in embedding responsible

corporate and organisational behaviour. Primarily the Academy shouldbe a change agency, creating a learning space and acting as facilitatorto encourage wider adoption of CSR within management education at alllevels. Its tasks should include the following.

Recommendation 10In its role as the custodian of the competency framework, the Academyshould keep the competency framework under periodic review throughfurther research. It should base its work firmly within developing bestpractice at the cutting edge of large and small business and must secureits legitimacy by keeping professional practitioner standards current.

Recommendation 11Given its principle of not duplicating work that is being well doneelsewhere, the Working Group did not believe the Academy should be aprimary provider of education and training, although it might define anunmet need and either design provision itself or, work with partners toensure provision be made. However, the Academy should 'licence' useof the competency framework and standards to ensure the production ofappropriate courses and qualifications, working in partnership withsuppliers in market based solutions for course provisions. However theWorking Group do see a role for the CSR Academy in working withpartners to give practitioners access to a range of experiential learningopportunities, such as secondments, peer group learning circles,

learning exchanges and visits and best practice workshops.


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Recommendation 12The Academy should have an active advice and support role to enableother organisations, whether in business, public or voluntary sectors andprofessional disciplines to develop their education and trainingprogrammes to underpin the embedding of CSR practice. Its advice andsupport service should also include referral to other organisations. TheAcademy might also support organisations to interpret and make use ofbest practice standards and benchmarks that are appropriate to theircontinuous improvement in their journey to embedding CSR practicewithin organisational functions and performance management. It alsoseems likely that the Academy will find itself responding to request foradvice from individual managers on courses to meet their specific needs.

Recommendation 13Any 'leap forward' for experiential learning, CPD (ContinuousProfessional Development) and qualifications require assessment andverification. The Working Group believes the Academy should be

responsible for devising strategies for the provision of assessors andverification in partnership with providing and examination bodies.

Recommendation 14The Working Group does not believe that a prime role for the Academyshould be the provision of CSR case studies as these are often suppliedthrough reward and recognition schemes run by existing organisationssuch as Accountability/ACCA Awards and Business in The Community.However the Academy will undoubtedly throw up a range of useful casestudies and could clearly have a role in assessing case studies againstthe criteria and standards, and in the dissemination and strategies forreplication.

Recommendation 15The Academy should work through alliances with all relevantprofessional institutes by using the competency framework to supportthese professional bodies in their exploration of what CSR practicemeans for their own discipline. In doing so it should assist professionalinstitutes to embed CSR principles within the profession and the on-going education and training of professionals and the qualifications towhich this leads.

Recommendation 16The Academy should have an active marketing role to promote the take

up of the competency framework and any qualifications it sponsors.

Recommendation 17The Academy should contribute to policy development in all relevantpartner and stakeholder organisations. It should help inform theGovernment's strategy for the promotion of CSR in the UK and Europeand for UK companies operating in a global environment.

Recommendation 18The Academy should map the inter-connection between core standardsand relevant disciplines in co-operation with partner organisations.


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Recommendation 19The Academy should have a special brief for devising tools and supportfor intermediate organisations working with small and medium sizedenterprises, including Business Link, trade associations, RDA's, and theSmall Business Consortium1.

6. Conclusions and Recommendations on theOrganisational Structure of the CSR Academy

The Working Group considered whether the Academy should have aphysical presence or be virtual and, if physical, whether it needed to be anew organisation or could sit within an existing organisation. TheWorking Group believes that a major part of the CSR learning spaceitself will be supported by and disseminated through virtual networks.

There will also be real added value in bringing people together to sharebest practice and encourage innovation and that this can only be doneeffectively if there is an organisation to manage the process. A numberof potential existing 'homes' were considered for the location of the CSRAcademy, but the Working Group concluded that given the multi-stakeholder nature of the Academy's remit and the trust it must developit would not be appropriate for it to be sited within an existing body.

Recommendation 20The Working Group recommends that in order for the Academy to beeffective and fleet of foot it needs to be an organisation with anappropriate governance structure and a small core staff.

Recommendation 21The Working Group recommends that the CSR academy should be anew and independent organisation able to develop trust with multi-stakeholder groups. The CSR Academy must be a CSR values basedorganisation. This should be embedded in its organisational structureand operational goals.

It was recognised that the CSR Academy would need legitimacy bothwithin the business community and also with wider stakeholders. Inparticular it needs to win the confidence and active support of CSR

practitioners. It needs to be seen by the business community as anorganisation that works in harmony with it and understands the role ofbusiness and the range of its concerns.

1This grouping aims to raise the competitiveness of SMEs through improving

the social, environmental and community impact, consisting of AccountAbility,Arts and Business, British Chamber of Commerce, Business in the Community,CSR Europe, The Federation of Small Business, Institute of Directors, The

Forum of Private Business, Scottish Business in the Community, and alsosupported by Lloyds TSB.


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Recommendation 22The Working Group recommends a fair balance of the boardmembership that reflects the need to win the confidence of large andsmall employers, the specialist and general managers they employ, andthe wider stakeholder community without becoming too large and overbureaucratic.

Recommendation 23The Working Group recommends that the CSR Academy should employthe methodologies of responsible corporate practice itself by beingtransparent and accountable and working through open consultation. Inaddition it should have a consultation infrastructure broadly accessible towider stakeholder interests and the relevant linked managerial andprofessional disciplines. This might mean that the organisation shouldhave a broader advisory council structure beneath its governing board. Itshould certainly facilitate learning circles as necessary to further the

work.

Recommendation 24The Working Group recommends that the CSR Academy should havean open membership policy initially based upon organisationalmembership but should give consideration to an associate membershipfor interested individuals.

Recommendation 25The Working Group recommends that the Academy should initially have4-5 staff members to manage administration, consultation infrastructure,membership building, the development of partnerships and alliances and

the development of support and advice. These staff will also beresponsible for creating and managing database and new technologyfunctions including the CSR Academy website (see Recommendation 7).

Recommendation 26Given the medium to longer-term nature of the CSR Academy's mission,the Working Group believes that it will take some time before it could beexpected to be financially self-sufficient. The Working Group thereforerecommends that government invest in the start up and maintenancecosts of the CSR Academy, but that the Academy should seek to earnsome of its income and develop its income streams over time, includingthrough membership fees. The working group believes it may also be

possible to achieve sponsorship funding from forward thinkingorganisations and businesses that recognise the need for the Academyand its work.


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Section One: The Working Group and Its Task

1.1. Introduction

In December 2002, the Department of Trade and Industry and theCorporate Responsibility Group established a Working Group to report tothe Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness, StephenTimms. The task of the Working Group was to carry out a process ofinquiry with three major objectives. These were to:

Map and measure what specific generic skill sets are required forthe practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the inter-

section with other professional practices. Examine how to incorporate CSR practice into the training,

assessment and qualifications of general managers.

Decide whether the establishment of some form of CSRAcademy would be a valuable way to promote the developmentof CSR in the UK.

The Working Group was chaired by Sue Slipman, Chair, FinancialOmbudsman's Service, and its members were: Richard Aylard, Directorof CSR, Thames Water; Anna Bradley, Director Consumer Affairs,Financial Services Authority; Claire Hitchcock, Director, EuropeInternational Community Partnerships, GlaxoSmithKline; Jerry Marston,Community Investment Director, Whitbread and Chair of CorporateResponsibility Group; Lance Moir, Senior Lecturer in Finance andAccounting, Cranfield University School of Management andrepresentative of the European Academy of Business in Society; HenryStewart, Managing Director, Happy Computers; Baroness GlenysThornton; Lucy Varcoe, Manager Advisory Services, Business in theCommunity; Ed Williams, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Marks &Spencer; and Janet Williamson, Policy Officer ESAD, TUC.

Despite the limited time available for its work the Working Group wantedto consult as widely with stakeholders as would be possible in the

circumstances. It therefore invited written submissions on its grounds forenquiry and involved stakeholders from large and small companies,specialist institutes, NGOs and other interest groups in 4 workingseminars held in February 2003. Including a written questionnaire sent toover 250 individuals, the Working Group had contact with around 450individuals from a wide range of organisations during the course of itswork.

Many stakeholders objected to the term 'CSR'. Some object on thegrounds that they think it suggests a limited concern with philanthropy orthe role of business in local communities, when they are keen to assertthat its reach and significance should be much wider. It was clear that

there is not yet a common language.


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Several different terms were offered including 'sustainability', 'durability'and more straightforwardly 'responsibility'. In the absence of auniversally agreed terminology the Working Group continued to use theterm CSR whilst noting its limitation.

1.2. BackgroundThe background to the Groups discussions is part of a backdrop of alack of trust between business and civil society. This is also part of awider review of Corporate Governance, which includes both the Higgsand Smith reports.

The operating environment facing business today is more demanding,complex and faster changing than ever before. Over the past five yearsthere has been much greater public interest in the way businesses andorganisations behave both at home and abroad. The driving force forsuch awareness often comes from pressure groups and community

organisations, but increasingly an agenda to respond to public demandfor accountability and transparency is being adopted by business itselfand embedded across business functions. However, the Working Groupbelieves that despite the many and growing examples of good businesspractice there is a long way to go for organisations as a whole to satisfylegitimate stakeholder demands.

The Working Group sees CSR as the management of an organisation'stotal impact upon both its immediate stakeholders and upon the societywithin which it operates. In all industries and across all sectors, themanagerial decision-making process needs to take into account a widerange of criteria relating to the financial, environmental and social

implications of business operations2. This concept is what this reportunderstands by the term corporate social responsibility. CSR is notsimply about whatever funds and expertise companies chose to invest incommunities to help resolve social problems, although many companiesdo make contributions in this way. It is about the integrity with which acompany governs itself, fulfils its mission, lives by its values, engageswith its stakeholders and measures its impacts and publicly reports on itsactivities.

The Working Group recognised that the central need is for CSR practiceto be embedded firmly within all business practice so that responsiblebusiness progressively becomes just the way we do business in the UK.CSR practice is still in its infancy. It needs to mature at a reasonablespeed to keep pace with the requirement to re-build trust betweeninstitutions and their stakeholders.

The Working Group believes that CSR strategies and methodologies arerelevant to all organisations, although the immediate perceived need fortheir implementation is more pressing in the private sector where thefocus of accountability to shareholders alone has not taken into accountthe wider social impact of the business, leading to a crisis of trustbetween civil society and business.

2 Exploring Business Dynamics - Mainstreaming CSR Ashridge, CSREurope and E&P


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The public and stakeholders are concerned about the way businessbehaves in all its undertakings. Companies are concerned about theimpact of damaged reputation upon the business. Failures ofgovernance and integrity in companies such as Enron and Worldcomfurther damage trust between business and its stakeholders. But suchissues are not unique to the private sector. The trust that previouslyexisted between the public and the public sector can no longer be takenfor granted. .

The public sector, too, needs to change to meet the needs of widelydiverse and plural stakeholders. Increasingly as the modernisation ofpublic services takes place, there will be a great deal more partnershipbetween sectors. For both the private and public sectors this will requirethe development of a new set of behaviours within the tolerances ofpublic expectation. The methodologies of CSR are equally relevant to allorganisations needing to build public trust.

Government aims to stimulate business to assess their social impacts forthemselves, and to work out what commitments they need to make thatare consistent with their entrepreneurial drive and values andstakeholder expectations. If it is to mean something in the everydaybehaviours of a company, CSR must be embedded as part of what thatcompany wishes to be. In order to embed CSR the managers runningthe company must understand why they are doing it and learn how to doit within their company. In this context, the group specifically examinedwhether the provision of management training and qualifications wasadequate to encourage greater understanding, development andembedding of CSR.

The Working Group concluded that the cornerstone of informingprofessional and managerial practice for embedding CSR practice inorganisations is to define the competencies and skills required tounderpin this practice and to ensure that they become part of theeducation and training of all managers at all levels in organisations. As aresult of its research and consultation work, the Group believes thatpopularising CSR, getting more companies, both large and small to takeup its practice and informing all sectors in changing practice requires a'leap forward'


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Section Two: Identifying CSR Skills andCompetencies

2.1 CSR An Emerging Profession?

CSR practitioners are largely represented through a number ofmembership networks, which exist at the international, European andnational level. As yet, there is no single professional body representingall their needs and interests. There appears to be at least two majorreasons for this.

First, current practitioners are drawn from a number of diversedisciplines including marketing, communications, environmentalmanagement, public affairs, investor relations, community affairs and soon. The reality is that CSR has a relatively short history as amanagement discipline.

A second factor that militates against the creation of a singleprofessional discipline is the sheer breadth and complexity of the rolesand responsibilities of the typical CSR practitioner. Many of thoseinterviewed for this study highlight the need for the individual to operateat numerous levels, both inside and outside the organisation, interactingwith a wide range of different audiences. The following quote is typical

of many others, illustrating what this means on a day-to-day basis.

Each day brings different demands that require very different skills. Imay talk with my CEO who wants advice on setting out our corporatepriorities for the next 12-18 months. I then take the lead in turning thesepriorities into action, persuading and engaging with senior managersacross the business about how to do this. . . Another day I might betalking, and trying to assess, the issues of external stakeholder groups. Ihave to assess and be aware of all the key issues, and the key players;and then select which ones we can work with. . . Another day might bringthe media spotlight and requests for interviews where I become theambassador for the company or the advisor to others who are going to

be interviewed. I see my role as a bridge between the company and theexternal world.

While this quote shows a variety of different demands on the CSRpractitioner, it is by no means complete. Other issues that impinge uponthe role can include:

Changing legislative demands and industry standards


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Supply chain management Risk management Diversity issues and employment relations

Ecology and sustainability Community affairs.

Hence, despite the growing interest in CSR as an emerging profession,there appears to be little clarity about the skills required by CSRprofessionals.

2.2 Does Embedding CSR Practice RequireSpecialist CSR Practitioners?

There is a debate as to whether or not the focus of skill definition in thecompetency framework and the education and training provision to

support it should be geared to meet the needs of specialist or generalistmanagers (recognising that CSR specialists tend to be found in largercompanies). Underlying this debate is a caricature of two positions. Thefirst is that creating a specialist CSR profession makes it less likely thatgeneral managers will become competent in understanding the CSRdimension of their own functional role within the organisation. Further, asthe goal should be embedding CSR in the mainstream, specialists standin the way of this and are unnecessary. The second caricature is thatonly CSR specialists understand the goals and that they are thereforejustified in striving for a closed shop CSR industry in which they becomeever more necessary.

As with most caricatures, these distort reality. The Working Groupbelieves it is likely that at this stage in the process of establishing andresponding to the CSR agenda, specialists who bring skills, focus andknowledge to CSR issues are necessary, but that if embedding is thegoal, generalist managers need to develop those aspects of CSR skillsthat are relevant to their management discipline and function within theorganisation.

Even in companies where the CEO and the board are committed toadopting the CSR agenda in their organisation they may not know whatto do and may require specialist support in achieving their agenda. Atthis stage of the organisational learning journey, the skills gap is unlikely

to be bridged simply by having non-executive directors on boards. Thecritical job to be done is an executive one, requiring operational directorsand managers to develop appropriate policy approaches and strategiesin order to deliver them in action.

General managers have an ethical dimension within their ownprofessional practice, but they are unlikely to have been exposed to thewider demands that the CSR agenda places on the organisation; areunlikely to have received education and training to meet those demandsand may or may not innately posses the skills necessary to meet suchnew challenges.


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The role of the board is strategic and may offer leadership or givepermission, but there is a two-way process between the executiveleadership teams and the board to fully embed CSR in the organisation.For a considerable period to come this is likely to require support fromspecialists, although the Working Group recognises this may be moreapplicable to large rather than small companies.

It may well be that even in the longer term, companies that haveembedded CSR into their every business practice still require on-goingsupport from CSR specialists to keep abreast of changing times. Auseful analogy might be the way in which the HR function in theorganisation supports general managers in carrying out their peoplemanagement functions, whilst it retains a specialist function of its own, orthe way in which the finance function sets the budget and proceduresbut the company expects generalist managers who are budget holdersto have sufficient financial literacy to run budgets effectively.

The Working Group did not try to resolve a debate that only time willresolve. Its task was to examine how best to use education and trainingtools to enable all managers to develop the skills they need to meet theCSR agenda. However, in order to define those skills it seemed a goodidea to look at the emerging best practice. Given where we are in theCSR journey this is likely to be developed most clearly by specialists.The work started with CSR specialists but expanded to take into accountmany other professional managerial groups.

2.3 The Research Study

At its first meeting in December 2002, the Working Group decided that itneeded to involve a wider cross section of CSR professionals and otherstakeholders in a broad process of consultation and inquiry and agreedto appoint consultants to manage the research programme.

A number of organisations were invited to submit proposals to identify:

The generic skills, competencies and knowledge required by CSRspecialists and other functional managers in relation to CSR issues.

The extent to which existing providers of management training anddevelopment are meeting these needs.

The demands of external standards for increased performance inCSR issues.

The Working Group managed a competitive tender process andappointed the Ashridge Centre for Business and Society (ACBAS) andAccountAbility who submitted a joint proposal.


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In order to ensure the findings of the study reflected the reality of what iscurrently happening within the CSR profession the research was largelyshaped through dialogue with practitioners, learning from theirexperience. The consultants worked with specialists to develop corecompetencies, then tested the outcomes against other managerdisciplines to establish overlap and relevance and also with the widergroups of stakeholders concerned to see organisations adopt the CSRagenda.

The research project comprised five strands of inquiry carried out inparallel from January 2003 to the middle of March 2003. These were:

Desk-based and Internet search of relevant research andmaterials, including an analysis of current job descriptions ofCSR specialists.

Interviews with leading CSR practitioners.

A mapping exercise of the current provision of relevant trainingand development opportunities and the CSR skills required by arange of relevant standards.

Four expert reference workshops involving group discussionswith CSR practitioners, representatives of professionalinstitutions, training providers, government representatives andnon-governmental organisations (a list of those invited theworkshops is included in Appendix 1).

A questionnaire survey circulated to over 250 CSR experts andwider stakeholders.

2.4 Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies

The first phase of the research set out to understand how CSR isdefined and applied and what this means in terms of the skills andcompetencies for those in UK organisations today.

From the outset it is important to recognise that the aim of this inquirywas to collect information on the skills and abilities practitioners need toundertake their work in a professional way, however these weredescribed. As such, the research considered a wide range of skills,competencies, behaviours, attitudes, knowledge-sets, attributes and

personal qualities. In the limited time available to this inquiry it was notpossible to define precise distinctions between these different aspects ofthe role, as there is considerable overlap.

Information gathered from the interviews and discussion groups wassupplemented with a review of job descriptions and companyframeworks to generate a number of skills and competencies consideredimportant for CSR practitioners. The research confirms that there is noexisting competency framework for the CSR role. A few examples werefound of companies that have mapped CSR skills against competency


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frameworks. However, the striking feature of the job descriptionsconsidered by this research is the huge variety of different skillsrequired3.

The research gathered considerable data about the skills and attributespeople believe are important for CSR practitioners. The dialogueprocess generated an initial list of around 50 to 60 CSR skills andcompetencies. The research team eliminated repetition and overlapbetween these to produce a revised list of 27 competencies consideredimportant for CSR practitioners. At this initial stage, it became clear thatthe required skills and competencies could be described in a frameworkthat comprised three discrete areas (see Figure 14):

Business skills Technical skills (or knowledge sets) People skills (including personal attributes or behaviours).

Figure 1 CSR Skills and Competencies5

BUSINESS

Building insight

Communication skills

Decision making

Commercial awareness

Building i nternal partnerships

I.T.

Innovation

Strategic awareness

Leadership

Handling complexity

Problem solving

Ashridge/DTI/CRG

TECHNICAL

T

U

echnical expertise

nderstanding impacts

takeho lder dialogue

nternal co nsultancy

icence to o perate

elling the business case

nderstanding hum an rights

nderstanding sustainability

PEOPLE

Adaptability and empathy

Developing others

Influencing without power

Building external partnerships

Open minded

Integrity

Political savvy

Self-developm ent and learning

Teamworking

Questioning b usiness as usual

S

I

L

S

U

U

3

Some organisations such as Diageo and Royal Bank of Scotland havegone further in formalising CSR skills beyond the individual level. The RoyalBank of Scotlands research identified competencies gained by staff involved involunteering. Diageo has developed a framework of Corporate CitizenshipCapabilities for use with its CSR teams around the world.4

The purpose of copyright is to ensure this work is acknowledged.5 The full description of these skills and competencies are included inAppendix 2.


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The competency framework tried to capture the key aspects of CSRdecision-making. In order for CSR strategy to be successful, it must beclosely linked to the companys culture, values and strategy hence theimportance of business skills. Technical expertise (or subjectknowledge) is also an extremely important element, but is insufficient initself. People skills are also required to influence and communicate themessage of CSR among internal and external audiences.

Feedback at the workshops indicated that there was relatively closealignment between the skills and competencies identified through theresearch and those identified by participants in the discussions.However, there were a number of discussions about the nature of theframework and how the three areas overlapped and inter-acted witheach other.

In addition, there was great debate on how the competencies would

apply in practice. For instance, was the framework equally well suited todecision-makers in the public and private sectors? Similarly, discussionsfocussed on whether the competencies were relevant to managers insmall and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Although it was widely agreed that there is a need to address the issuesfrom an SME perspective, it was felt wrong to offer a simplified version ofa framework that is designed for use in large organisations. Fewcompanies that employ less than 250 people have a CSR specialist,although very often they do operate in a way that accords to thedefinition of responsible behaviour cited earlier.

As such, it was felt that further research was needed to develop acompetency framework that includes the needs of:

Decision-makers in organisations other than companies. Managers in SMEs. Functional managers that have some responsibility for CSR issues.

Beyond these considerations, there was much discussion about whetherthis relatively long list of skills and competencies could be distilled downinto the critical or core CSR skills. It is interesting to note thatrespondents to the questionnaire survey identified three particular skillsas paramount to integrating CSR into an organisation. These were:

Communication skills (identified by 53% of respondents) Influencing skills (51%) The skill to sell the business case (49%).

However, the results of the in-depth consultation suggested that manyfelt these three skills were of relevance to all managers in all disciplines.Beyond these three areas, discussions centred on whether there is adistinction between the skills of CSR specialists and those of managersworking in other functions. A key finding of the questionnaire survey wasthat 64% of respondents felt that there is a particular dimension to the

CSR function that sets it apart from other management disciplines.


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In particular, it was observed that several of the attributes identified bythe research do appear to be qualities or innate behaviours rather thancompetencies - such as questioning business as usual. This distinctionwas not simply semantics. Participants in the group discussions felt thatthere were a core set of attitudes and behaviours (characteristics) thatare essential in describing the way in which CSR is integrated intoresponsible decision-making processes.

2.5 Core CSR Characteristics

Building on these discussions, the research team sought to consider thecompetencies required to integrate CSR into an organisation. An in-depth analysis of the results of the consultation process produced a newmodel that identifies the core characteristics that describe the way inwhich all managers need to act if they are to integrate responsiblebusiness decision-making into day-to-day operations. These corecharacteristics are a mixture of skills, behaviours and knowledge sets.

In broad terms, they centre on the following themes:

Understanding the role of each player in society (government,business, non-governmental organisations and civil society) and howthey interact with each other.

Building internal and external partnerships by taking a multi-disciplinary approach and creating strategic networks and alliances.

Questioning business as usual by being open to new ideas andchallenging others to adopt new ways of working.

Identifying stakeholders, building relations with internal and externalstakeholders, engaging in dialogue and balancing competing

demands. Taking a strategic view of the business environment. Understanding difference, respecting diversity and adjusting ones

approach to different situations.

Figure 2 Core CSR Characteristics

CSR Characteristics




HR

MARKETING

FINANCE


COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS

CSR Characteristics




HR

MARKETING

FINANCE


COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS

Ashridge/DTI/CRG


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This model attempts to capture the core characteristics at the centre ofmanagement decision-making processes that are required to integrateCSR within organisations whether this is undertaken by CSRpractitioners or other managers within the organisation. There are fourfeatures of the model that need to be made explicit.

1. At this stage in its development the model describes the high-levelstrategic characteristics required by all managers seeking toimplement CSR within organisations. These characteristics could intime be supplemented with a more comprehensive list of businessskills, knowledge sets and behaviours. As such, while the core CSRcharacteristics identified in this analysis represent the overarchingprinciples, each of these principles could be supplemented with moredetailed statements explaining how the principles translate intomanagement actions.

2. A related issue is that the model can allow for differences to emerge

at different managerial levels, according to the depth of knowledgerequired and the management function. For example, although themodel identifies core CSR characteristics that would apply to alldecision-makers, the knowledge and skills required by an operationsengineer or a communications manager are very different to thoserequired by a director of finance. By the same token, these would bedifferent again to those required by board members. Furtherdevelopment will be required to demonstrate how the core CSRcharacteristics translate into displayed behaviour at board level,among senior managers, and for those charged with implementingbusiness decisions across the different business functions.

3. Building on this point, the model does recognise and allow fordifferent levels of understanding of the core CSR characteristicsrelevant to different managers in different circumstances. Theresearch team proposes five such levels, as described below:

I. Awareness a broad appreciation of the core CSRcharacteristics and how they might impinge on businessdecision-making.

II. Basic knowledge a basic knowledge of some of the key issuesunderlying the core CSR characteristics and an understanding oftheir implications for business.

III. Competence the ability to supplement this basic knowledge of

the issues with the competence to apply this to specific activities(e.g. conducting stakeholder consultations or buildingpartnerships with external organisations).

IV. In-depth understanding an in-depth understanding of the issuesand an expertise in applying this to business decision-makingprocesses.

V. Change agent the ability to help managers across theorganisation operate in a way that fully integrates CSR into thebusiness decision-making processes.

4. The fourth feature of the model is that to be successful in managingits approach to CSR, these identified characteristics need topermeate the whole organisation they do not simply reside in the


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CSR specialist function. All decision-makers need to be alert to howthese characteristics pertain to their own particular managementresponsibilities. As such, the model places CSR characteristics atthe centre of other management functions.

Participants in the consultation process argued the need for CSRskills, knowledge sets and behaviours to be integrated in allmanagement practice. The following quotes illustrate this point.

There is a danger that expertise on CSR resides only in thespecialist manager there needs to be a way of sharing these skillsacross all disciplines.

The CSR profession needs help with skills and competencies, butin so doing it should not become a ghetto. CSR is everyonesbusiness.

So, for example, within any organisation it is important that the HRfunction is aware of the importance of understanding difference,respecting diversity and building relations with internal stakeholders.In the marketing function, managers should appreciate the need toengage with wider group of stakeholders in order to understandbetter the way in which the organisation is perceived. Allmanagement functions need to be able to question business asusual.

2.6 Implications for CSR Practitioners

While the model set out in Figure 2 applies to managers in a range offunctional areas, it does also point to the way in which CSR practitionersneed to operate in order to integrate responsible business decision-making into the organisation. Because the CSR practitioner has notraditional functional home they occupy a boundary spanning position atthe centre of cross-functional teamwork. The findings of the researchreinforce the message that a typical CSR practitioner will be constantlyliaising with colleagues in a range of other functions.

The CSR specialist has to be capable of thinking strategically andunderstanding the impact of a wide range of social, political and

economic issues on the business. They are expected to have the abilityto understand and interpret the external operating environment for otherswithin the organisation. At the same time, they need to act as a bridgebetween the business and the outside world by being aware of emergingissues that are likely to influence any number of interested parties thatfeel they have a stake in the business.


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In parallel to this external sensitivity, CSR specialists have to apply thisholistic way of thinking to their own organisations. They have to be ableto see the whole organisation and understand the interactions betweenthe various parts of the business. They are often required to co-ordinateand facilitate the integration of CSR, rather than manage and control itdirectly.

A further important aspect of their role is the ability to encourage andpersuade others. It is becoming increasingly clear that the CSRspecialist can have an enormous influence on the way the organisationbehaves. This influence derives from the growing power of consumers,employees, investors and the media who are vociferous in theirreactions to business behaviour. For the successful CSR specialist, theskill lies in using this influence acquired from external and internalpressures to get others in the company to act.

The model generated from the results of the process of consultation

attempts to capture all of these elements of the role of the CSRspecialist. Beyond these important lessons for CSR specialists, it is clearthere will also be implications for general managers. The CSR Academywill need to work with other professional institutions, helping to map theCSR competency framework into existing models of continuousprofessional development. While the core CSR characteristics areclearly most applicable to large organisations in the private sector, thereare lessons here for smaller business and organisations in other sectors.In the future, it is hoped to develop the model further to respect thedifferences of organisations operating in different circumstances.

2.7 Conclusions and Recommendations forBuilding CSR Skills and Competencies

The DTI/CRG Working Group recognises the wealth of data availableconcerning the way the CSR profession is developing. However, theresearch undertaken for this inquiry has shown that much of thisknowledge is fragmented and there is little clarity about a common set ofCSR skills, competencies or behaviours. In the light of this, the WorkingGroup supports and endorses the core CSR characteristics derived fromthe results of the extensive consultation process. In addition, theWorking Group makes the following recommendations based on the

findings of the research.

Recommendation 1There is little evidence of any formal skills and competency frameworkseither within individual organisations, or among professional bodies andinstitutions that seek to serve CSR practitioners. This stands in starkcontrast to other professions. Participants in the consultation processargued there is a need for further work to extend current thinking onCSR skills and competencies. This is reinforced by the results of thesurvey that found 67% of respondents feel there is a need for aprofessional institution (or similar body) to help develop and maintainpractitioner skills for CSR.

Recommendation 2


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The research has identified the core characteristics that are at the centreof management decision-making processes required to integrate CSRwithin organisations. These core characteristics are relevant to CSRpractitioners and managers in a range of different functions. TheWorking Group strongly recommends the further refinement and testingof this model with CSR practitioners, across other managementdisciplines and among internal and external stakeholder groups. Inparticular, there is a real need to understand the perspective of smallerbusinesses and organisations outside the private sector.

Recommendation 3The Working Group recommends that the core CSR characteristicsshould be amplified to encompass more detailed statements describinghow each of these principles translates into the range of managementactions.

Recommendation 4

The Working Group believes that the core CSR characteristicsdeveloped by this research can help companies integrate CSR into theirbusiness practice. For example, the core CSR characteristics can bemapped against existing competency frameworks to help managersdevelop their thinking in relation to CSR issues. In addition, companiesshould reflect on how the core CSR characteristics can influence the on-going development of managers. The Working Group believes that thecore CSR characteristics represent behaviours that can be learned, butare difficult to be taught. It recommends that organisations consider awide range of development interventions (mentoring, job shadowing,learning through experience, etc.) in order to better understand how toequip managers to integrate CSR practice into the decision-making

processes.


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Section Three: CSR Training and DevelopmentProvision

3.1 Objectives of the Research

The second strand of the Working Group's enquiry was an examinationof existing CSR training provision in the UK. This was undertakenthrough desk research supplemented by workshop discussions andspecific questions in the practitioner questionnaire. The Working Grouphad two principal objectives for this work:

To understand the extent to which existing providers of managementtraining and development are meeting the needs of CSR specialistsand functional managers in relation to CSR issues;

To inform the research project on how the training and developmentneeds of CSR practitioners (both specialists and those in otherrelevant functions) can be more effectively met.

The research focused on training courses based in the UK; its scopewas limited to web-based research and stakeholder discussions withknown training providers who offered further detail.

The research identifies a selection of prominent providers of CSR

training and development, but is not a complete and comprehensive list.The findings do not exhaust the development opportunities open to UKmanagers, but it was felt that UK courses offered an adequate survey ofthe sorts of training that are available world-wide and the way in whichthese types of courses are marketed.

3.2 What Training Exists?

CSR training in the UK has grown rapidly in the last five years as interestin professional development has broadened in the business and

advisory communities and as the understanding and management ofCSR issues has matured.

However, this growth has been from a low base and the overall pictureof provision remains patchy and unstructured; courses are difficult toaccess and evaluate (individually and in comparison) by potential usergroups, and their long-term value to users is not always clear.6

6The perception of long term value is of course influenced by market conditions

in the CSR field, but also reflects concerns over quality of training and the

professional recognition and branding that is gained whilst training andcertification are fragmented and at low-scale.


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There are three main types of training providers of CSR. These are:

i. Business Schools;ii. Universities;iii. Independent Training Providers (including professional bodies).

(i) Business SchoolsThe business school radar is increasingly picking up on the importanceof CSR issues for its students. Typically, no formal structure has beengenerated for this CSR training, but issues such as business ethics,socially responsible investment, governance, sustainability andcorporate citizenship are introduced into existing modules. A smallnumber of schools, however, such as Warwick Business School, haverecognised the value of CSR in a growing market and incorporated CSRmodules into their traditional business-oriented and MBA programmes.

This was commended by a participant in the DTI/CRG Working Group,

identifying CSR skills and competencies: [One should] integrate CSRinto curriculum at business schools, so that anyone taking amanagement or business course/degree will also undertake an elementin CSR.

More research needs to be done in order to evaluate where EuropeanUniversities, and other training institutions, are in the CSR trainingmarket in comparison to the UK. INSEAD is one example where anumber of CSR related electives have been integrated in their MBAcourse. It would be instructive to evaluate how widespread this is.

(ii) Universities

University strategy also follows this integration/separation split. TheImperial College Masters in Environmental Management includes aregular session on stakeholder engagement and social audit, whilstGlasgow University has introduced modules on business ethics andsocial, ethical and environmental reporting into its accountancy degrees.In addition, a number of universities have developed CSR courses asseparate independent programmes that integrate learning from a varietyof departments. Examples of specialist degrees in CSR in the UKinclude the MSc at Bath and the MBA at Nottingham; the growing marketis indicated by the introduction of a new MBA programme based onSustainability at Royal Holloway University that will be available as ofSeptember, 20037.

7The development of the Royal Holloway MBA programme has been based on

Professor Stephen Hills report (funded by the Aspen Institute) on Dilemmas inCompetitiveness, Community and Citizenship. The Dilemmasdiscussions drawon the argument that the CSR business agenda requires a set of managementskills that are not currently being developed by mainstream business

management education programmes.


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(iii) Independent Training ProvidersA significant cluster of CSR training providers stand outside of theuniversity and business schools, providing a wide range of specialist andintroductory courses.

Given the longer history of environmental management, it is no surprisethat the most numerous types of courses are focused on environmentaland quality standards. A key provider is the Institute of EnvironmentalManagement and Assessment (IEMA), which partners with 40organisations to offer courses from an introductory to advanced levels oninternal EMS auditing and Environmental management systems. In thiscase, training is also linked to professional certification for individuals.The certification company, SGS, extends the environmental focus toquality systems such as ISO9000 and EFQM, and has also deliveredcourses covering the labour standard, SA8000.

COURSE PROVIDERS COURSE FOCUSBusiness Schools MBA Programmes with CSR content

MBA Programmes integrating CSRmodulesLong-term programmes

Universities Specialist postgraduate degrees in CSRand Sustainable businessModules within other programmesRelated degrees with CSR contentMedium- to Long-term programmes

Independent Training Providers Executive programmes

Specialist coursesShort-term programmes

A second category of CSR training has emerged in the last five yearsand covers the broad issues of accountability and sustainability and thebusiness case for corporate responsibility. As with the environmentaland quality courses, training is practitioner-focused, but is typically notlinked to professional certification, except through the accountability-based professional qualification hosted by the Institute of Social andEthical AccountAbility.

Given the extensive subject area, most courses are general in scopeand based on topics such as understanding sustainable concepts andtheir business benefits, a good example of which is the BritishStandards Institution which offers a course called Making SustainabilityWork. However, other courses are beginning to address specialist CSRtechniques, such as social auditing, accounting and reporting (offered bySGS and The National Centre for Business and Sustainability) andassurance and stakeholder engagement (offered by AccountAbility).


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3.3 Course Format

The youth and associated fragmentation of the CSR training marketmakes it a complex process for CSR manager to identify and assess

courses to meet their needs. Different models of training and learningcater to different audiences.

Executive Workshops are targeted at mid- to high-level managers, whilstdistance learning courses and e-learning (New Academy) have alsobeen introduced. E-learning modules (such as that offered by the NewAcademy of Business) give participants an overview of the topic beingcovered and its application to business. This type of learning can be agood way to provide a general introduction, but is necessarily limited inscope in terms of the in-depth learning of CSR issues, and in particularthe learning of competencies such as Adaptability and Empathy orBuilding Insight. Indeed, the learning of competencies may be better

suited to direct experience discussed in 3.7 below.

Modular courses have the advantage of providing busy executives withthe flexibility of taking short one-day courses when times and schedulespermit, while part-time University courses (such as the Bath MSc) offerthe dedicated CSR manager the possibility to work and studysimultaneously and indeed to base their research on on-going work.

Another important issue is that course formats vary to cater to differentlevels of individual work experience. Forum for the Future identified thatThe training requirements of people currently in employment are vastlydifferent to those yet to enter the workplace. Likewise, the trainingrequirements of senior management are likely to be different to those inother grades in the organisation. The table below suggests differenttypes of training and education needs for each group.8

8Forum for the Future Feedback to the CRG, March 12, 2003


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Table 1: Training and Education Needs

Training and Education Needs

Current Senior Management

(now)To develop core skills and visionary thinking

Short courses/wake-up calls

Networking or close partnership initiatives

Function Specialists/ Middle Managers

(now)To develop core, technical and behavioural skills as well as anunderstanding of how that function contributes to sustainablebusiness model

Function specific courses touching on all of thecompetencies

Senior Management(


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3.4 On-going Research in Training andDevelopment

A number of on-going and in-depth research programmes have been setup to analyse current CSR education and training in the UK andinternationally. The most notable work has been done by the AspenInstitute in Beyond Grey Pinstripes, CSR Europe and the EuropeanAcademy for Business in Society and on-going survey work byNottingham University in Corporate Social Responsibility Education,Training and Research in Europe.

3.5 Training for Skills and Competencies

Here, the term skills refers to the technical skills identified in Figure 1(Section 2.4) of this report. The technical skills include knowledge andunderstanding of sustainability issues, human rights, the ability tomanage stakeholder dialogue, and so on.

Overall, most CSR training concentrates on building specific technicalskill sets rather than on building the people skills identified in Figure 1 asimportant to CSR Management such as Adaptability and Empathy andInfluencing without Power.

However, discussions with training providers reveal that they believecertain business and people competencies are taught as 'natural fallout'

of training even though they are neither the main focus of the course nora specified learning objective or outcome. Whilst providers believe theseskills are a natural learning outcome, they have no way of knowingwhether or not this belief is justified because relevant CSR business andpeople competencies of the kind identified in section 2 are not madeexplicit in course design or evaluated as learning outcomes.

Training providers in particular felt that all good managers shouldpossess the majority of the competencies identified, such as buildingexternal partnerships and handling complexity and that these shouldnot be remits only for the CSR specialist. As a consequence, we shouldnot be surprised that CSR training providers focus on only developing

some of the CSR skill sets.

However, the current approach appears to the Working Group to lead toa lack of transparency about what skills students will acquire as a resultof participating in courses. In turn this may create confusion that provesto be a barrier to employers who might want to invest in employeesgaining CSR skills but will also want demonstrated value for money. It iscertainly confusing for potential students themselves to understand whatcourses best meet their learning needs. The Working Group concludesthat managers seeking to develop their CSR skills need betterinformation and advice on which courses are best able to develop thosecore CSR competencies and skills identified in this report.


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3.6 Training and Standards

It is also clear that the skills and competencies demanded by the various

existing and emerging CSR standards and guidelines are not coveredadequately by training provision within the UK. Key technical skillsimplicitly required by standards include: stakeholder engagement,company guidelines, codes of conduct and key reporting initiatives,awareness of new developments in the CSR field, legal and otherspecialist knowledge related to environmental and labour issues.

Furthermore, the key business and people skills essential for theimplementation of these standards include decision making, leadership,handling complexity, stakeholder dialogue, open minded and strategicawareness, adaptability and empathy, communications skills, buildinginsight, innovation, strategic awareness, legal expertise, commercial

awareness and technical expertise. Although specific skills likestakeholder dialogue and leadership are addressed by someprogrammes, it is less obvious which courses will develop competenciessuch as strategic awareness, innovation, adaptability and empathy.

3.7 Training and Learning

The research workshops highlighted that training is only one tool oflearning and is certainly too narrow a field to capture all CSR learning.Other preferred methods of learning were proposed including mentoring,

secondments, partnering and networking with companies to share bestpractice. Practitioners felt that businesses were a lot further ahead inlearning and implementing CSR practice than current training courseproviders and that these other avenues for learning should be explored.

One member of the Working Group noted the following:

Many companies such as AWG, Boots, Cadbury Schweppes, andMarks & Spencer use interaction with their local community as part oftheir HR training and development tool-kit. Also, in view of the fact thatmany of the competencies or qualities identified are about developingpartnerships, stakeholder dialogue and respecting diversity, some of the

most interesting experiential learning comes from training in, andsecondments into community-based organisations. Business in theCommunity broker different types of community assignments includingPartners in Leadership (business leaders and school head teacherssharing experience and issues with each other) 100-hour communityassignments and team challenges for employees. Other organisationssuch as Common Purpose bring together business people with thepublic sector and communityorganisations in a town or city in a powerfullearning network.


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The majority of stakeholders in the workshops concluded that CSRtraining is particularly useful as an introduction to learning the issues andskills around corporate responsibility and that training would beparticularly useful to company directors.

For the CSR manager, secondments and sharing knowledge and bestpractice will often be better means to fill the experiential gap that trainingcannot provide as well as the competencies that one needs to build. Onesuch venture set up by Forum for the Future in partnership withCambridge Universitys Programme for Industry aims to do just that. TheSustainability Learning Networks, is a work-based cross-sectorcollaborative learning network that also offers expert seminars for mid-to-senior level management to tap into experiential learning and bestpractice.

3.8 Conclusions and Recommendations CSRTraining and Development Provision

The CSR competencies are central to the development of CSRmanagers and should be highlighted as a key aspect of learning. Thedescription (and subsequent understanding by potential trainees) ofthese competencies will however be facilitated by the generation ofcommon definitions and their widespread promotion by significant CSRnetworks.

Recommendation 5The Working Group recommends that CSR training and developmentproviders map their course provision against the CSR competenciesagainst the elements to demonstrate to potential students and employersalike how these learning outcomes are built by their courses.

Recommendation 6When discussing the proliferation of CSR Standards such as GRI,AA1000 and others, participants in the consultation agreed that somestandardisation of what thing is vital rather than nice to have could behelpful.

The Working Group believes that the current confusion on the part ofpractitioners about which CSR standards to adopt will be resolved overtime by convergence as more organisations use them and discoverthose that are most useful to them.

In the meantime the Working Group recommends that trainingorganisations should offer information about how their courses relate tovarious CSR standards, how the learning opportunities offered increaseunderstanding of them and how this can be related back to theparticipants organisation.


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Recommendation 7Training and development currently reflects the diverse needs of a newand growing market, offering a variety of courses whose variety instructure and format can be confusing. The training market has notdeveloped a clear structure and is still part of a fragmented market.Participants in the consultation identified the need for a dedicatedwebsite where all providers could post details of courses, conferencesand other learning opportunities. The Working Group believes this wouldwork best under the auspices of the CSR Academy (seeRecommendation 25).

The Working Group recommends that training organisations shouldcollaborate to offer information on their courses for distribution through adedicated website to encourage awareness, understanding and whererelevant, take up of recognised qualifications.

Recommendation 8The Working Group recommends further research be undertaken tounderstand the full range of learning opportunities, including training,experiential and peer network learning available to managers and inwhat way these would be useful at each level of development identifiedin section 2 of the report. For example, basic training might cover thecore knowledge needs of a manager; a secondment would further buildthat individuals competence against specific elements from the range ofskills that lie behind the competence framework; and refresher courseswould update and build upon that individuals specialist skills. Thisresearch could then map out the best ways for continuous professional

development of CSR competencies and skills.


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Section Four: Is There a Role for a CSR Academy?

4.1 Introduction

The third strand of the Working Group's enquiry was to examine whetherthe establishment of a CSR Academy would be a valuable way topromote the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) inthe UK.

In order to get to grips with this issue the working group examined 3models of what a CSR Academy might look like. The first was a

theoretical model proposed by the think-tank Demos9. The Demos modelwas designed to promote a much higher impact form of CSR wherecompanies would proactively make bigger and more replicablecontributions to tackling tough social issues. Moreover it sought to bringtogether leading CSR bodies and help create a quality culture of raisedexpectation, coupled with methods to maximise the spread of ideas.

Amongst existing initiatives the group looked at the European Academyof Business in Society and The New Academy for Business. The formeris a pan-European alliance that see its role as a strategic move to linkCSR into the agendas and curricula of European business schools, tobring CSR into the formal training of todays and tomorrows managers.

Its purpose is to galvanise the academic community at large. It aims toundertake quite large-scale research into the relationship of CSR andbusiness, within six research domains - just one of which is Learningand Innovation

After two years of incubation, the European Academy was launched atINSEAD in July this year. Its initial members are Ashridge, Cranfield,INSEAD, ESADE, the Copenhagen Business School, Warwick, theCollege of Europe and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. Thisgroup is being widened. The European Academy has EU backing and iscurrently seeking substantial Commission funding for an ambitious

programme of work.

The third model, The New Academy for Business functions as anindependent business school with a strong advocacy element. It hasbeen prominent in running a joint MSc with Bath University inResponsibility and Business Practice (part-time, two years) and MBAmodules at other universities. In addition it undertakes research andorganisational learning, with an emphasis on action research.

9 Getting down to business: an agenda for corporate social innovation RachelJupp, Demos 2002


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The Working Group saw value in each of the models proposed.However, on balance it decided that if an Academy were to play avaluable role it should not seek to duplicate the work of organisationsalready in existence or produce yet another range of CSR initiatives thatwould complicate the existing accessibility for business and stakeholdersalike.

The Working Group believes that a CSR Academy could play a criticalrole in making a 'leap forward' in the development of CSR in the UK andinternationally if it develops its own unique contribution and seeks to addvalue to the many bodies busily engaged in pushing forward differentaspects of the CSR agenda, working alongside and in partnership withthem where relevant.

Stakeholders welcomed the idea of a CSR Academy both directly inconsultations and through the survey questionnaire. The majority of

respondents, 67%, agree on the need for a professional institution orsimilar body to help develop and maintain practitioner skills for CSR.

However, stakeholders in the consultations disliked the name CSRAcademy, believing that it suggests either an academic or somewhatossified institution. What stakeholders want to see is the creation of adynamic organisation operating as a learning network to share and givefocus and shape to work in progress in developing competencyframeworks and in education and training provision.

The Working Group wishes to record stakeholder dissatisfaction with thename CSR Academy and suggest further consideration of this issue as

part of brand development, but for simplicity within this report theWorking Group has continued to use the working title of the CSRAcademy.

4.2 Purpose of CSR Academy

The Working Group believes the CSR Academy needs to be a powerfulagent for change: developing and supporting the people who will makechange happen. The Academy should encourage change in corporateand organisational behaviour, leading to embedding responsiblebehaviour in organisations, to the benefit of those organisations, their

stakeholders and wider society. The work of the Academy shouldencourage the development of qualities of integrity, transparency andaccountability within organisations and their managers, giving learningopportunities and support and advice to them as they embed thesequalities into their own practice and the structures and processes of theirorganisations.

The key tool to use in its work is the CSR competency frameworkoutlined in Figure 2 in Section 2. To carry out its mission the CSRAcademy will need to make strategic use of the competency frameworkto explore and support the embedding of principles of responsiblecorporate operation in management and professional standards, in peer


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group and experiential learning methods and in all forms of managementeducation and training and the qualifications to which they lead.In order to win legitimacy the competency framework itself must berelevant and accessible to all sizes and types of organisation and to bothspecialist and generalist managers. To enhance and underpin publictrust the competency framework must be credible with stakeholders. Itwill only achieve this if the Academy works with the full range of relevantpractitioners, employers, and the d

Changing Manager Mindsets

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