CSR Managers Can Benefit from Corporate Citizenship Management Framework

If you're a CSR manager, you may be interested in the Corporate Citizenship Management Framework (CCMF) developed by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. The Center has 20 years+ of working experience with companies, and its framework looks at corporate citizenship with a business lens that evaluates the "risks, opportunities and value creation that drive business strategy," according to the Center's website. CSR managers can benefit form the CCMF, which outlines four realms of business that need to be addressed when considering what they call corporate citizenship management:

Corporate Values, Mission, Principles, Policies -- Integration and Accountability. The gist here is about including corporate citizenship into both the governance of the organization and its management structure. This sphere focuses on how an organization's mission, core values, vision and governance systems assist or preclude the organization from 'getting' as well as managing corporate citizenship as a key piece of its strategy. (This sphere is not an insignificant area of CSR).

Community Engagement -- Addressing Social Challenges. In other words, how are an organization's assets activated to deal with social issues and provide support to "social well-being" that's more than job creation and tax payments. The range here can go from just philanthropy to "participation in multistakeholder social issue partnerships" that tap a series of organizational resources. (I think the role of community engagement in CSR is critical).

Operations -- Responsible Business Practices. This area covers the implementation of responsible CSR practices so as to maximize desirable impacts while minimizing the negative ones. It includes the way in which an entity chooses to handle and report to internal and external audiences on a wide number of topics, "from health to safety to sustainable environmental practices to respect for human rights in the supply chain." (Given that reporting and 'accountability' are closely related, corporate social responsibility managers ought to champion genuine transparency in their operations).

Products and Services -- Market Strategy. This sphere is about the company's approach to handling the needs of society with "marketplace solutions that return a profit to the company." The framework accounts for a range that can go from current product and service adaptations so they yield higher social benefits or eco efficiencies to a complete overhaul of the organizations services or products. (This is where that tricky balance of how much "good" the company commits to while ensuring a "profit" returns to the company).

Ultimately, of course, the conundrum about frameworks or guidelines related to CSR is the extend to which the company will be thorough in its implementation of some but not all of the recommended parameters. Granted, not all aspects may be as contextually appropriate for all organizations. But unless the company has integrated values-based support from the bottom and the top, I'm not convinced that the majority of companies are consistent in what pieces they'll choose to leave out under the banner of 'not appropriate' when in fact they ought to be part of the basics.