Responding to the Sustainability Agenda:
A special meeting of Sustainability & Environmental Advisory Group
08:30 - 13:00 Thursday 12 June 2008 at Salisbury Green Drawing Room, Pollock Halls
Workshop Objective
CMG has just reviewed the membership of the Sustainability and Environmental Advisory Group (SEAG) and approved an extended remit embracing wider issues of University's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
We shall investigate both the wider business context of CSR and its application in the HE setting – with emphasis on the tools & processes required to introduce and establish strategic direction for the University:
· As a 400-year old institution where should we be headed?
· Are we likely to be running beyond our means in a few decades’ time?
· How can we show the wider civic society that we provide value for money and earn stakeholders’ trust?
These are some of the issues we shall be discussing – alongside absolutely practical issues like ensuring compliance with environmental legislation, how we should be tackling the challenge of Climate Change and addressing Education for Sustainable Development. The aim is to set SEAG’ Agenda for the coming year
Invitees
Professor Mary Bownes, Vice Principal for Research Training & Community Relations (Convener of SEAG)
Karen Bowman, Director of Procurement
Professor Stephen Chapman, Vice Principal for Planning and Resources
Professor Michael Fourman, Head of School of Informatics
Dr Paul van Gardingen, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development, School of GeoSciences
Jon Gorringe, Director of Finance
Sheila Gupta, Director of Human Resources
Professor Peter Higgins, Moray House School of Education
Professor Simon van Heyningen, Vice Principal for Learning and Teaching
Dr John Martin, Depute Head of College of Science and Engineering
Professor April McMahon, incoming Head of College of Humanities and Social Science
Ben Miller, People & Planet Coordinator,
Adam Ramsay, EUSA President 2008-09
Dr Graham Russell, Senior Lecturer, Centre for study of Environmental Change & Sustainability
David Somervell, Energy & Sustainability Manager, Estates & Buildings
Neil Thin, Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, School of Social and Political Studies
Geoffrey Turnbull, Assistant Director, Estates & Buildings
Angela Lewthwaite, Secretary to SEAG
Unsure:
Professor Liz Bondi, Head of School of Health in Social Science
Professor Jeff Haywood, Vice Principal for Knowledge Management and Chief Information Officer
Professor Nick Oliver, Head of Management School and Economics
Professor Martin Siegert, Head of School of GeoSciences
Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Head of School of Chemistry
Apologies:
Mark Ballard, The Rector
Professor Vicki Bruce, Head of College of Humanities and Social Science
Professor Grahame Bulfield, Head of College of Science and Engineering
Dr Helen Cameron, Director of the Medical Teaching Organisation
Dr Alexis Cornish, Director of Planning & Deputy Secretary
Young Dawkins, Vice Principal for Development
Anna Hayward, EUSA Vice President, Academic Affairs, 2007-08
Josh McAllister, EUSA President 2007-08
Jane McCloskey, Principal's Policy & Executive Officer
Nigel Paul, Director of Corporate Services
Professor Sir John Savill, Head of College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Robert Tomlinson, Head of Media and Communications, Communications and Marketing
Agenda
¨ The rise and rise of CSR
2 What does Corporate Social Responsibility involve? 15 minutes 8.45 – 9.00
¨ Community
¨ Marketplace
¨ Environment
¨ Workplace
3 Locating the University on a CSR / Sustainability lifecycle 30 minutes 9.00 – 9.30
¨ Awareness / First Exercise
What is our current position on CR/SD Lifecycle?
Appraise and discuss current activity – how this is managed and by whom?
¨ Understanding
¨ Application
¨ Integration
¨ Leadership
4 The Business Case: The “Enablers” of the new Strategic Plan 30 minutes 9.30 – 10.00
¨ Quality People
¨ Quality Services
¨ Quality Infrastructure
5 Coffee break
¨ 15 minutes 10.00 – 10.15
6 Mapping CSR onto the University activities 30 minutes 10.15 – 10.45
¨ Corporate Social Responsibility / Second Exercise
Analyse and critically evaluate vocabulary of CSR Which term is appropriate for the University? What is the message we wish to project to stakeholders?
¨ Corporate Responsibility
¨ Corporate Citizenship
¨ Social Responsibility
¨ Corporate Sustainability
7 Strategic Control of CSR (Tools and Processes) 60 minutes 10.45 – 11.45
¨ Policy / Strategy Review / Third Exercise
Review current Policy control mechanisms;
Where are the areas of risk or exposure?
¨ Risk Management
¨ Strategy Development
¨ Measurement / Control / Validation
8 Conclusions / Next Actions – 45 minutes over lunch 11.45 – 12.30
¨ Who / What / Why / How / When?
Intended Outcomes
Information gleaned from attendees, the views emerging from these exercises and the overall conclusions generated by the workshop will provide an exceptional opportunity for identifying a new way forward for the reconstituted Sustainability & Environmental Advisory Group (SEAG).
SEAG will shortly invite engagement from the wider University community for specific contributions which can generate practical and intellectual foment to deliver the new Sustainability and Social Responsibility theme under-pinning the emerging Strategic Plan 2008-2012 adopted by the University Court on 9th June.
The Opportunity facing the University
Over the last decade promotion of the concept and practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown immensely in impact and influence. The full understanding of the drivers for CSR, and the movement to taking action has been a little slower. The majority of leading companies now all have a CSR Policy and almost all of the FTSE 100 companies publish CSR reports. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) is in the process of preparing an authoritative CSR standard that will be published in 2010 as ISO 26000.
The growth of the CSR agenda – which effectively embraces Sustainable Development (SD) – is not a temporary fad. The need for both private and public sector organisations to manage environmental and other organisational impacts, and to operate in a socially responsible manner promoting high ethical standards, is increasingly driven by public expectation and legislative requirement.
One question that we are faced with is: Can this increased familiarity promote positive change?
The language used to describe the concept can be a challenge – consistency of terminology has yet to be established. “CSR” was dominant in the early 2000’s, with the terms Corporate Responsibility (CR) or Corporate Sustainability (CS) emerging to rule in commercial and industrial circles.
The meaning of CSR is converging towards the socially responsible treatment of organisational stakeholders, while environmental issues tend to come under the heading of Sustainability. The vital issue of responsible governance remains firmly in the business process arena and is not often considered along with CSR concerns.
Corporate Social Responsibility is increasingly recognised by commercial organisations as capable of delivering commercial advantage and impact. However, in order for CSR to be a meaningful advantage for the business it must be built into the company structure and not bolted on as some sort of additional activity. Organisations that are attempting to empower staff to effectively deliver the core values of that organisation understand that consistency of behaviour is the key to success.
The way an organisation manages its environmental impacts, its involvement within the community in which it operates and its approach towards equality and diversity within the workforce must be consistent. This consistency will only be achieved when an organisation has established why they manage their activities and impacts the way they do, what measurement systems they use and what advantage this delivers to the organisation. It is about responding to internal drivers and empowering staff with the understanding of:
1. This is who I work for
2. This is what we stand for
3. Therefore, this is how I should behave. This is conviction CSR – which is values-led.
CSR could also be understood as a process through which organisations respond to commercial and legislative expectations. This is about responding to external drivers and taking action because:
1. We should
2. We must
3. It is necessary for the Environment, Survival, Scotland etc. This is compliance CSR.
Unfortunately, the actions and behaviours that many companies in the UK are developing look less like conviction CSR and more like compliance CSR. These organisations now comply with the expectations of society but very few actually communicate to their employees, their members or their stakeholders a clear sense of the vision and values that distinguish their organisation from its competitors.
There is a great opportunity for the University of Edinburgh to differentiate itself as an institution that clearly and consistently delivers on its vision and values and proactively empowers its staff and students with a clear ethos. No matter what term – CSR, CR, SD or Social Responsibility – is appropriate for an organisation, unless the concept comes from within it will be an empty and ultimately fruitless exercise.
MMcR / DS / GT June 2008
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