infonet-economy

The concept of a mutually supportive, ‘symmetric’ relationship between institutionalization and professionalization is central to the institutionalist perspective on professional work. Our inductive qualitative study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers in multinational corporations (MNCs) prompts to rethink this assumption. We show that as the institutionalization of CSR advances and consolidates, CSR managers are pushed to the organizational periphery. This indicates that the relationship between professionalization and institutionalization can be ‘asymmetric’ under certain conditions. To advance the study of this asymmetry, we develop a conceptual framework and a set of corresponding propositions that explain why some groups are able to advance their professionalization projects, while others cannot. Our study makes three main contributions to the literature: First, we explicate under which conditions the relationship between institutionalization and professionalization is more likely asymmetric than symmetric. Second, our explanation of the shifting organizational positions of different professional groups allows for further delineating occupational from organizational professionals. Third, we contribute to the CSR literature by examining the dynamic yet ambiguous role of CSR managers as driving forces behind the implementation of CSR.

In front of the revived debate on sustainable development and the postulation that business organizations provide solutions to resolve social problems, firms are increasingly engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). While CSR is widely considered as “best practice”, its implementation remains limited as CSR requires a new way of conducting business, namely a systematic integration of social, environmental and ethical concerns into business conduct. While large firms face especially great pressures to adopt CSR, they have to undertake substantial efforts to coordinate the translation of CSR into organizational practices and processes. Against this background, this PhD project addresses the question of how large firms implement CSR. By means of an inductive qualitative research approach, the project investigates three different empirical aspects of how large firms implement CSR through an institutional theory lens. First, the focus lies on the CSR management function’s access to resources in the course of CSR implementation. Second, the attempt is made to model the relationship between institutionalization and professionalization in the CSR context. Third, the analysis addresses the industry-specific manifestation of a particular CSR practice, namely Socially Responsible Investing within banks and insurance companies. Based on the empirical insights gained into CSR implementation, the final section of the project aims at conceptually developing a morally reflective institutional theory.

---------
Im Zuge der Debatte um nachhaltige Entwicklung und der Verantwortung, welche Unternehmen dabei tragen, engagieren sich diese vermehrt im Bereich von Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR steht für die systematische Integration sozialer, ökologischer und ethischer Belange in das Geschäftsgebaren. Während CSR als Best Practice gilt, sehen sich Unternehmen bei der Umsetzung mit grossen Herausforderungen konfrontiert. Vor allem Grossunternehmen stehen unter hohem Druck, CSR zu implementieren. Sie müssen fundamentale Anstrengungen tätigen, um dieses Konzept in ihre Organisationsprozesse und –Strukturen zu überführen. Vor diesem Hintergrund widmet sich diese Doktorarbeit der Frage, wie Grossunternehmen CSR implementieren. Mithilfe eines qualitativ-induktiven Forschungsdesigns werden drei empirische Aspekte der CSR-Implementierung aus institutionentheoretischer Perspektive untersucht. Erstens liegt der Fokus auf dem Ressourcenzugang der CSR-Management-Abteilung im Zuge der CSR-Implementierung, zweitens geht es um den Zusammenhang zwischen Institutionalisierung und Professionalisierung im Rahmen von CSR und drittens dreht es sich um eine spezifische CSR-Praxis, «Socially Responsible Investing», in Banken und Versicherungen. Auf Basis des gewonnenen Einblicks in die CSR-Implementierung in Grossunternehmen wird schliesslich versucht, eine moralisch-reflexive Institutionentheorie konzeptionell zu erarbeiten.

Using the example of institutional research on moral issues in organizations and management, we show that most studies neglect values as research object and/or as basis for reflection. The precarious status of values has again a negative effect on institutional research’s (practical) relevance and its theoretical reflexivity. Therefore, we outline how institutional theory is able to equally consider values as object of research and basis for reflection. We label this approach morally reflective institutional analysis. Such an approach can contribute as follows: First, in line with pragmatist thinking, a morally reflective institutional analysis puts specific focus on how findings may be used in practice. This takes account of the concern that institutional theory has lost of its (practical) relevance. Second, by combining normative and descriptive examination, a morally reflective institutional analysis similarly responds to institutionalists calling for more attention to values and those indicating the lack of value-focused reflection. Finally, by developing an approach that considers morality in its descriptive and normative sense, the study allows for merging the hitherto separated paradigms in management research on moral issues, i.e. a normative approach rooted in philosophy and a descriptive approach underpinned by the social sciences.

Compliance dominates the discourse on good corporate governance in business practice as well as in academia. But despite sophisticated compliance systems, unethical behaviour repeatedly occurs within or on behalf of companies. Objections to compliance can be raised on a personal, organisational and conceptual level: first, compliance assumes only a primary stage of moral reasoning; second, the development of internal control mechanisms and its orientation towards bureaucracy lead to organizational inertia; third, a compliance approach of corporate governance with its emphasis on risk management simply combats the symptoms and does not create free scope for reflecting on the sense of laws and regulations. On that basis, integrity is introduced as a fruitful counter- concept. Finally, good corporate governance includes compliance as well as integrity and will strike a balance between control systems preventing unethical behaviour and organisational latitudes facilitating moral reasoning.

-----------------------

Der Begriff Compliance dominiert sowohl die Praxis als auch den wissenschaftlichen Diskurs um gute Unternehmensführung (Good Corporate Governance). Trotz ausgefeilter Compliance-Systeme kommt es aber immer wieder zu unethischem Verhalten. So lassen sich Einwände auf personaler, organisationaler und konzeptioneller Ebene gegen Compliance ins Feld führen: Erstens geht Compliance von einer unterdurchschnittlichen ethischen Reflexionsleistung aus; zweitens führt der Aufbau von Kontrollmechanismen und die Ausrichtung am bürokratischen Prinzip zu einer passiv-statischen Organisationsform; drittens greift der Compliance-Ansatz der Corporate Governance zu kurz, da dieser als Risikomanagement- Strategie lediglich die Symptome bekämpft und den Akteuren keine Freiräume einräumt, um über den Sinn von Gesetzen und Regeln zu reflektieren. Auf dieser Basis wird Integrity als Gegenkonzept eingeführt. Schliesslich bedient sich gute Unternehmensführung aber sowohl Compliance als auch Integrity und geht den Mittelweg zwischen Regelsystemen und reflexiven Freiräumen.

In order to determine if firms implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) symbolically or substantively, the CSR management function’s access to resources has been used as a proxy for how entrenched CSR is within an organization. This multiple case study examines how seven firms take symbolic versus substantive responses over time and how this relates to the CSR function. The findings suggest that substantive CSR is associated with the CSR function’s decreased access to resources as CSR is incrementally taken over by business units. Their mounting involvement leads to the function’s disengagement and gradual reduction of its resource access. This insight concurs with institutional theory that provides an explanation of social processes that is not reduced to resources. All in all, this research adds a temporal understanding to the relationship of the CSR function’s amount of available resources and the different levels of CSR implementation.

Exploring the role of individuals in institutional change brings in the focus on the implementation process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in general and on the individual drivers of the CSR implementation in particular: CSR professionals, a relatively new actor in multinational enterprises. That interest leads to the following research question: "Which strategies do CSR professionals use to implement CSR?"
While CSR implementation relates to divergent change and therefor qualifies as institutional change, this change is highly process-like. The process view suggests understanding institutional entrepreneurs as sense makers who redirect change through sensegiving strategies. Eight different strategies are presented which are applied by CSR professionals for putting CSR into practice.
The work aims to expand our knowledge of institutional entrepreneurship and institutional change. The study is based on qualitative data collected mainly by semi-structured interviews with CSR professionals from various industries and independent CSR consultants in Germany. The research uses grounded theory methodology by combining it with multiple case study research.

In the course of globalization the sovereignty of the nation state and its democratically legitimated institutions are eroded. The economy does not develop under territorial regulatory frameworks anymore but rather defines the still residual latitude of the state. Multinational companies find themselves in a new political economic double role that implies ethical conflicts and poses big challenges for multinational companies.
Over the course of the last decades various corporate scandals were caused by unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation. The consequences of such scandals included serious damage to the concerned companies. As a reaction to the increasing risk of scandals many companies implemented compliance-based ethics programs.
To what extent such programs can provide ethical and legal business activities varies in practice. It can be assumed that the ethical dimension in particular is missed out because the discourse is dominated by a legal approach to the expanse of ethical considerations. This assumption is tested by analyzing the Business Conduct Guidelines of the company Siemens which is famous for its ethical program and has been used for best practice by other companies.

This paper presents a report on the first Swiss Master Class in Corporate Social Responsibility, which was held between the 8th and 9th December 2006 at HEC Lausanne in Switzerland. The first section of the report introduces the topic of the master class - ‚Corporations as Political Actors - Facing the Postnational Challenge' - as well as the concept of the master class. The second section gives an overview of papers written by nine young scholars that were selected to present their research. The brief summary of each paper also includes a summary of comments from the masters, practitioners, and NGO representatives at the event. The third section brings in the perspectives of one master and one NGO representative on the discussed issues. The final section offers a brief wrap-up of the discussed topics and outlines ways to structure future conceptual and empirical research.