By: Audrey Ballinger

Financial Report

Required by law Federally established

guidelines

Company’s formal record Overview of profitability

and financial condition

Non-financial Report

Not Required

Company’s responsibility for developing a Sustainable economy Environmental isssues Social Issues

Social Sustainability/Responsibility Report

-30-100+ pages

-Communicate to shareholders and customers

-Transparency and credibility

-Organizations have a great ability to exert positive change on the word’s economy, environmental and social conditions

-Leads to improved sustainable development, because it allows organizations to measure and improve their performance

“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” – World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Thesis Overview:

Diversity “a company that values diversity and employs a diverse workforce retains a competitive edge.” (Sue, 1991)

Derald Wing Sue, 1991

-American businesses have to prepare for the complexity of the global economic world

-Organizational behaviors differ internationally and a lack of understanding can lead to major loss in business

-Workforce should reflect the population

-Everyone in the organization needs to be comfortable dealing with issues that arise with a diverse population

Diversity Training has become a necessity for multinational corporation’s survival and success in capturing and retaining a diverse workforce (Wentling and Palma-Rivas 1999)

Three Approaches for diversity training (Plummer, 1998)

1. Abiding Law- Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity etc.

2. Valuing Differences-Improve work relations

3. Managing Diversity-Improving corporate productivity and teamwork

“Diversity Training is no longer perceived as the socially responsible thing to do; instead, it is now viewed as a strategic business objective with the capability to make the organization more competitive.” (Holladay, Knight, Paige, Quinones, 2003)

“(diversity training) in and of itself is unlikely to contribute to overall organizational change.” (Arai, Wanca-Thibault, Shodley-Zalabak, 2001)

2006 Study by Dobbin, Kalev and Kelley “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies”

Found the most effective diversity training structures contained:

-Accountability (annual evaluation of specific goals)

-Authority (appointment of staff to monitor diversity)

-Expertise (various departments to oversee diversity initiatives)

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

GRI is the most widely used sustainability reporting framework

-Most recent guidelines developed in 2006: Third Generation “G3”

-Can be used to measure performance of an organization with respect to laws, norms, codes, performance standards and voluntary initiatives

-Increasing number of companies are creating responsibility reports

According to the University of Amsterdam and KPMG’s Global Sustainability Services

Fortune 500 Companies issuing separate corporate responsibility reports in 2005

-33% of top 100 Fortune 500 Companies

-52% of the top 250 Fortune 500 Companies

Theory of Self

Self is socially constituted by adopting the attitudes and perspectives of others

“Body” – can act without the self being involved

“Self” – separate from the body, experienced indirectly through communication with others

“I” (subject) – initiates action and represents all of the possible choices of behavior

“Me” (object) – social self who is aware of cultural norms, attitudes and values

“conversation of gestures” – when one communicates they expect certain responses in others and will change action based upon the responses by other

“The Self, the I and the Me”

The Corporate “Me”

“Me” (company) – decides what to report based on reactions from previous reports or the “conversation of gestures”

Following the GRI guidelines will become an expectation.

Diversity Training- works to change negative attitudes of the trainees acquired from previous socialization

- Generalized other- Understand their “Me”- Use self reflection to create a culturally sensitive environment

Original study - “What are the top diversity leaders in corporate America doing to promote/implement diversity within their companies?”

Survey - closed and open questions at www.surveymonkey.com

Sample – DiversityInc magazine “2007 Top 50 Companies for Diversity”

A member of the company that deals directly with diversity initiatives was sent an email with a link to the survey

SAMPLE Fortune 500 Companies 2007 CorporateRegister.com

Information was coded from 10 CSRs that had direct correlation to the company’s diversity initiatives or reporting practices

90% used the GRI guidelines

50% mentioned using a third party to monitor the validity of the report

80% mentioned having programs to help the underserved populations in global communities

60% mentioned using language adaption to communicate

50% acknowledged the awareness of cultural differences in each community

40% mentioned providing diversity training for employees to help them understand how to work with the indigenous population ConocoPhillips “Sustainable Development Report”

“The United States and many countries have laws and regulations regarding business gratuities that may be accepted by government personnel. Because entertainment and business gifts are an important part of doing business in some cultures, it requires special training to determine to what extent these laws are permitted.”

60% provided information on women employed in company hierarchy

40% provided information on minorities employed in company hierarchy

COMPANY WOMEN EMPLOYEES

MINORITY EMPLOYEES

Exxon Mobil 24% 32.2%

General Motors 19.3% 22%

Chevron 21.5% 32.2%

General Electric 34% 24%

Citigroup 54.78% 34.6%

50% of companies provided statistics on the number of women and minorities they employ

Microsoft Office Word Document

Other forms of diversity were only briefly mentioned in either a definition of diversity or employee networks that the company supports

80% of reports referenced online links for more information about company diversity

70% mentioned providing some type of diversity training

0 2 4 6 8 10

Age

Nation of Orgin

Physical Ability

Religion

Sexual Oriention

Race/Ethnicity

Gender

The sustainability reports promote transparency and accountability of a company’s policies and understanding of diversity

Although 90% of reports used GRI guidelines, the information was not consistent

The CSR include selected positive information they are eager to boast about

Standardization must be required before the information provided can be taken as a serious program of cultural awareness rather than a marketing tool

Future: more reliable audits need to be administered, the progress of programs need to be tracked and more measurable information needs to be provided

Since the information that companies choose to report is voluntary, the amount of information regarding diversity can provide insight as to weather a company values diversity.

Every company mentioned improving diversity as a goal, yet only 50% gave statistical information regarding the amount of women and minorities in the workforce.

It can be inferred that America’s top companies realize that diversity is not currently a strength and there is need for improvement.

Trends in Corporate Sustainability Reports are paving the path towards more socially responsible and aware companies.

-Sample Size-Not a representative sample of Fortune 500 Companies

-No Laws / Monitors-Difficult to compare -Freedom of reporting provides insights regarding the extent to which each company values diversity

-Positive Skew-Aim to please

Make Connections to Diversity Leaders-attend a conference-face to face interviews

Identify what a company is doing for their diversity initiatives vs. what they are reporting