Corporate responsibility can too easily come across as just so much spin if it is not taken seriously within the company at the highest level

The headlines abound: "Business takes on board the need for social responsibility", "local firm gives a hand to society", "companies to seek out greener energy". But does business really care, or is it hype to project a positive image? Over the past few months, I have been trying to put together a research centre for corporate responsibility at the university. This will cover the environment, sustainability, community engagement, human resources and the marketplace. In the process, I have been contacting firms to find out what their CSR issues are, where the function lies in their organisations, how it contributes to their bottom line, and so on. 

What has surprised me is how dispersed these activities are. Some companies do have a dedicated sustainability manager or CSR (now more often termed "corporate responsibility") manager, but for the most part the co-ordinating role seems to be in the corporate communications function.

Cynically, you could say that the green agenda is so politically prominent that organisations want to project their green credentials, highlighting their positive activities around sustainability, community and/or the environment. For some companies this is probably the main driver, although they would never admit it.

For others, the various activities are so dispersed that different parts of the organisation have embedded them within their business model, and corporate communications tries to act as the focal point for "joined-up CR". The difficulty with this model is that it is rarely well funded, or even well joined up.

We are at a turning point for CR issues, with the green and sustainability issues at or near the top of the political and corporate agenda because of its visibility in the media and elsewhere. We now need to consolidate and integrate our efforts in such a way that the outside world does not perceive this important issue for the future of our planet, our businesses and our employees, as simply a PR exercise.

I have no problem with a company highlighting its successes in this area, whether it is about involvement with the local community, conserving energy, or highlighting ethical behaviour and good governance. But we may need a focal point for this activity that is not perceived as potential spin.

This is likely to happen soon enough in any case with the arrival of the Global Reporting Initiative, which is trying to encourage a standards framework for formally reporting not only the economic indicators of a
business but also the environmental, social and other CR indices. These include employee health and wellbeing, biodiversity, waste, energy, engagement with the community, social relations, ethical behaviour, and so on.

Reporting standards will certainly focus the mind on this area, but we also need more investment in all aspects of CR. The EU's report in 2001 on Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility said: "Being socially responsible means not only fulfilling legal expectations, but also going beyond compliance and investing more into human capital, the environment and the relations with stakeholders."

The problem with CR is that most of us would broadly agree with its goals on an individual level, but are worried about its consequences for the investment costs—both direct and upfront, and indirectly in terms of people's time and effort. 

There is an increasing amount of new research indicating the enormous benefits to businesses that have really embraced corporate responsibility, but this has not been promoted as much. As a result, many feel CR is just another demand or an unwelcome addition to an already overstretched workload.

It is important for business school academics to highlight the benefits, particularly the real, hard-nosed financial benefits, to companies, before we can move from "we'd better do it to appear green" to actually being green and sustainable.

Remember the old saying: "If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got."

Cary L Cooper CBE is professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School and chair of the Sunningdale Institute