Working for the man is becoming obsolete. Employees and customers want to work for and support companies that share their ethical values, says Sanders. He believes we are in the midst of a "responsibility revolution" in which sustainable business practices and social responsibility will become something no company can afford to ignore. Ultimately, it's all about doing good at work -- why sustainability and corporate responsibility are becoming easier -- and necessary for survival.
What do you mean by is saving the world at work?
I mean two things: making a difference to the greater community and the planet while you do your job and helping your company survive the coming responsibility revolution. My research says there are huge changes coming to the business world starting with the dirtiest industries like carpets and cars and spreading to what you would think of as the cleanest industries like high-tech web programming. Historically, when there's a real business revolution like the quality movement of the '70s and '80s, the paradigm shift eventually spreads to every industry. The main point of the book is that anybody can make a real difference in their work career experience because one person at work can unleash the power of many.
Why are we more empowered to do good on our jobs than past generations?
Many CEOs, especially those who are excited about Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability, are better listeners than they've ever been before. The new generation of CEOs, regardless of age, seem to be very happy to adopt front line innovations and scale them. When I did the research for the book, we talked to over 300 CEOs and we ended up talking to executives of over half the Fortune 500. Remarkably, 80 percent of the time you show me a really cool green or community innovation and if I push a little bit, that executive will cough up the name of a non C-level person that actually came up with the idea.
So there's more openness to ideas from below?
Reverse mentoring during the dot-com revolution really opened the door to the C- suites. Even the kid with the tattoos, spiked hair, and ring in his noise got to show the CEO how the Internet worked. That really changed everything.
How has technology made companies more accountable?
Changes in technology have empowered people to find out more about companies and tell more about companies. This new transparency means that your reputation can no longer be controlled by corporate communications and fixed by advertising. You can't possibly buy enough greenwash ads to outrun Techcrunch and Facebook on Fire -- when a large community of friends get a burr in their bonnet about a company or decide they love a company and all of the sudden you see an explosion in the blogosphere. I mean, even
More important, at work you have a network that's very scalable because of e-mail, project tools and employee generated blogs. The thing that used to keep a company from moving forward -- its size -- can now be its tool. In my book, I tell the story of Joan Krajewski at
You speak about the responsibility revolution. What's that?
There is a broad based movement in the market -- consumers, talent, even young fund managers who expect companies to stand for more than profit. They expect companies to step up and help governments and NGOs fix broken communities and practice sustainability. They will punish the ones that don't and reward the ones that do. If your company isn't making strategic inroads towards being more sustainable, your replacement in the market will.
Is this related to why you see the end of the casual customer?
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Recent Comments | 89 Total
August 31, 2008 at 7:38am by Radhika Devi Padala
Saving the World at Work
My perception about the sentence that what ever we do, it should not harm society as well as planet. This will come from the responsibility towards community.
As per me, it is the responsibility of every citizen to save the world (planet). If they feel that what ever they are doing is not ethical, then its better to look into alternatives of doing the things. For example Mr. Seelam Raja Sekhar Reddy is a farmer who worked in some pesticide industry. Realizing the harms caused by pesticides, he started his own bio-products farming called Shresta natural bio-products. The cost of food items cultivated by using bio-products is more and so there used to be huge loss in the beginning. But later people realized the advantages of using bio-products and now the demand for the food items cultivated by using bio-products is more. Now this Shresta natural bio-products produces 6000 tons of organic food products, cultivated in 12000 acres of farms across 10 states of India.
In short Mr. Reddy felt that whatever he has done is not ethical & so he started farming by bio-products. This is what is called Responsibility revolution. Here you can see the customers that are not casual customer; they are looking for more than price and quality.
I agreed the point “For a lot of Web companies going off the grid is not a big deal because power requirements are low compared to manufacturing company”.
Because of web technologies & open sources revolution lot of new ideas are generated and were implemented like Wikipedia, Linux, etc. For example many are aware that using petrol cars resulting in pollution & is expensive. So Finland people started a new project from open sources (open farm) for converting a petrol car to an Electric car, which included people like electrical engineers, IT professions & other non professionals. In the manufacturing industry the price of electric cars varies between 30K $ to 400K $. But here from this open farm, they were able to convert the petrol car to electric car with in the range of 38K $ .
Every body is aware of that pollution caused by petrol cars & they do think that it would be good if they start using Electric cars. But it may not be possible for an individual to start working on generating an electric car, unless he has some group. To form a group through using web technology is easier than forming a group physically. So using the latest technologies, they formed a group by feeling to do something for the society and planet.
Now a days in the organization they started the portals for the innovation ideas. So ideas can come from any one in the organization. And all this is possible because of the technology.
Responsibility revolution should start from personal level.
Radhika Devi Padala
IMDR, PUNE, INDIA
August 31, 2008 at 7:48am by saurabh deshmukh
The interview talks about carbon foot print and being 'Green’. From the very first line to the last line of the interview Mr. Sanders has been talking about the Eco concerns of web companies. He is successful in quoting the difference of consumer behavior that is arising out of these Eco-concerns. It’s a very interesting observation i must say. But the real question remains is " Is it always the consumer because of whose behavior the corporations will realize their responsibility?" Had the consumer not behaving the way they are shouldn't it be for the corporation to behave responsibly? I must say the word Corporate Social Responsibility is a farce, metaphorically. the author talks about Eco nutrition which can be defined as - it is a voluntary trademark that is awarded to products deemed, to be less harmful to the environment than other products within the same category. There is another observation by Mr. Sanders about the focus on stock prices and that all the investments have to be accreted by the next quarterly earning call. This situation for a commoner is trivial. By commoner I mean a regular/ ordinary corporation whose only motive is to earn profit and more profit. What is Community development for them? Forget about Alternative energy. Some of the organizations which have keen interest in Wind Energy etc. and if at all doing something about it then it is commendable, with the hope that CSR does not remain a mere page in the respective website.
Saurabh Deshmukh,
IMDR Pune
INDIA
August 31, 2008 at 7:53am by saurabh deshmukh
The interview talks about carbon foot print and being 'Green’. From the very first line to the last line of the interview Mr. Sanders has been talking about the Eco concerns of web companies. He is successful in quoting the difference of consumer behavior that is arising out of these Eco-concerns. It’s a very interesting observation i must say. But the real question remains is " Is it always the consumer because of whose behavior the corporations will realize their responsibility?" Had the consumer not behaving the way they are shouldn't it be for the corporation to behave responsibly? I must say the word Corporate Social Responsibility is a farce, metaphorically. the author talks about Eco nutrition which can be defined as - it is a voluntary trademark that is awarded to products deemed, to be less harmful to the environment than other products within the same category. There is another observation by Mr. Sanders about the focus on stock prices and that all the investments have to be accreted by the next quarterly earning call. This situation for a commoner is trivial. By commoner I mean a regular/ ordinary corporation whose only motive is to earn profit and more profit. What is Community development for them? Forget about Alternative energy. Some of the organizations which have keen interest in Wind Energy etc. and if at all doing something about it then it is commendable, with the hope that CSR does not remain a mere page in the respective website.
Saurabh Deshmukh,
IMDR Pune
INDIA
August 31, 2008 at 8:00am by Garima Bharati
Hello,
Every corporate tries to get the work done in the simplest way possible. All the means that were used to get work out of employees failed after certain period of time. There were revolts, strikes etc and the corporates getting run out of business due to closures in work.
So what do you do in this situation. What is thge biggest problem in the world right now. Its the survival.. of the planet itself... Say to the employee that he is working for BIGGER CAUSE... Saving the environment... Turn Eco-friendly and it gives him a fake assurance...
Corporates have to make profits... How do you make them without the employee working? So tell him he working for Eco Friendly cause, to make the world a better place live...
It is also a good ploy to capture the customers also... Tell them its environment friendly, show them the so called eco friendly technology used and snap its a step towards profits...
The relity is that the employee works with determination and dedication under this influence and feels satisfied as he has worked for better cause and the corporates get the profits the easy way....
August 31, 2008 at 8:04am by ankita birla
In today’s global arena, corporate social responsibility is an important consideration for the effective execution on a daily basis. It is now a global trend that invites a great deal of attention and asks corporations to do the right thing. In my understanding, corporate social responsibility is about voluntarily serving the society at both the community as well as at the global level. Today organizations are using CSR strategically to create for themselves an image of “socially responsible organizations” in the minds of their stakeholders. CSR initiatives by companies in developing countries can make a huge difference in their development. There are few examples of CSR initiatives undertaken by some of the Indian companies: Infosys Technologies has created Infosys Foundation which focuses on healthcare, education, art and culture and social rehabilitation; Hero Honda has set up integrated rural development center on Delhi-Jaipur highway, vocational training center, adult literacy programs, etc. Some other companies who have taken CSR initiatives are Vodafone, HSBC Holdings, Carrefour, etc.
Integrity and profitability are at the forefront of corporate social responsibility. There are eight principles for creating and preserving integrity and profitability. These eight principles are leadership & governance, transparency & integrity, community, customer care, valuing the worker, respect for the environment, equality & diversity and lastly, globalization. Companies performing CSR indirectly performs these eight principles. Some of the results of this are that workers have a feeling of ownership in the company as they are given importance and are being heard and hence they perform better, transparency leads to trust build up in the minds of the stakeholders and the society. CSR is an important tool in the hands of PR and corporate communication department. It depends on them how they utilize the CSR initiatives in benefiting the organizations. Social responsibility provides corporations various benefits such as reputation building, building positive corporate image, increasing profit margins, enhanced efficiency, etc.
As mentioned in the article regarding consumers, I do agree that consumers have a good image of companies performing social responsibility but I do not agree to the example given of car buying behaviour. I think consumers are still interested in price and quality, and ask questions also regarding the same. Also there is a lot of energy crisis in the world today and as a result of CSR steps are being taken by many companies in setting up wind power to generate energy. One of the companies I have seen is WIPRO and there are many more who have taken steps in this area. Responsibility revolution has helped in huge development.
Regards
Ankita Birla
IMDR,Pune,India
August 31, 2008 at 8:43am by Mahesh Shinde
I think the article is all about corporate social resposibility.many companies are nowadays getting into this kind of work were they are providing some kind of their help to under previeleged or NGO's.As the saying goes charity begins at home but all this comes at some cost and the cost is fame that is been received bye these corporates.All this is performed by the corporates with lot of hype were they leave no space untouched so that each and every individual comes to know about their activities.I would say people should do such kind activities in such a manner that if done through right hand then the left hand shouldn't come to know.I know some small scale organization which are involved in such kind of activity but thier activities are seldom known to public.
The second issue that has been put forward in the article is about the reverse mentorship.I would really appreciate this concept but how many higher level authorities are really in the state of mind were in they readily accept the ideas given by their subordinates.If the concept of reverse mentorship if taken in right spirit would definitely help each and every individual.Reseach shows that a childs brain is more active and is with lot of ideas than that a grown up adult, hence the ideas given by them would definitely help in some or other ways to get out of problems.And the saying "waqt aane par ghada(donkey) ko bhi baap(father) bana na padta hai" in this world of fearsome competitive world you have to mould yourself as and when the situation demands.
The third issue that has been discused inm the article is that of greenry-environment.I this concept is some what old to us which has been followed since 80's where company norms have been given to them taht to some extent they have to follow inorder to keep this environment live able.Otherwise if not followed would led to lot of hazards and not a single indiviual wouldn't be able to live on the earth.Infact all the corporates have been planting trees in and around the campus so keep the environment eco friendly but would it really help you out if produce 100 toonns of wastage and in return will grow 50 trees that to in vicinity of your campus were as the wastage is thrown 100's of 1000's of kms away from the campus, point to be noted.
At last i would like to sum up my comment by saying that follow your mind and heart as they are the one whom you know very well and also they are the one's who know what is right and what is wrong.In other words as our course says what is ethical and what isn't..
regards,
mahesh shinde,
PGDM-2, IMDR,
PUNE.
August 31, 2008 at 1:58pm by Varinder Singh
Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable business practices are something, which no company can dare to ignore today. In other words, these have become important for the survival of any business. The principle of sustainable development clearly states that an enterprise should make decisions based not only on financial factors i.e., profit and dividend but also on long-term environmental consequences of their activities.
In my opinion, there should be a continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their family members as well as of the local community and society at large. Researchers estimate that the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talented employees many of which pay attention to corporate social and environmental.
It is absolutely true that it is the end of casual customers. No, company can build an everlasting image on the customers through branding and advertising. Both customers and stakeholders today expect companies to become more responsible and help government and NGO’s fix broken communities and practice sustainability. By tapping into the trend of consumer preference for green products the profits and revenue can be increased.
Technological advancement has also manifested itself in dual way. The reputation and brand image of the company can no longer be manned and controlled artificially. The internal culture and work environment of the company will any ways reach out to people through unorganised and informal ways (blogs and social networking sites). Thus, the reputation of the company can no longer be controlled by corporate communication and fixed by advertising.
Thus, the interdependence between business and the external environment and its employees is an ongoing process. Companies that show an environmental and social responsibility tend to be viewed as less risky and that can translate into cost avoidance, lower insurance premiums, reduced legal and regulatory cost, preferred rates on loans, greater investor appeal and avoidance of lost revenue from consumer activist’s action. Therefore, the corporate sector should reach out from within the company to the society outside in order to benefit both business and society.
Varinder Singh
IMDR, PUNE, INDIA
September 2, 2008 at 3:51am by Jaime Castell�
There is also a production revolution going on ... we (at least we, the first world) do not need a factory to produce output (in the form of knowledge), and that changes the whole equation of how a company is thought of and designed, both in terms of production and relationships. For me, the "responsability revolution" is a welcome change that we, knowledge workers are experiencing as we develop a new model of company, very much related with what artisans did in the past. We now put our own values and our own individual search of meaning in what we do ... our jobs.
Jaime, from Spain