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“Changing Manager Mindsets”

Report of the Working Group on the Development of Professional Skills for the Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility

Department of Trade and Industry Corporate Responsibility Group

April 2003

CONTENTS

Foreword ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 3 Section One: The Working Group and Its Task........................................................................... 11

1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 1.2. Background .................................................................................................................... 12

Section Two: Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies ............................................................. 14

2.1 CSR – An Emerging Profession? ................................................................................... 14 2.2 Does Embedding CSR Practice Require Specialist CSR Practitioners?........................ 15 2.3 The Research Study ...................................................................................................... 16 2.4 Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies ...................................................................... 17 2.5 Core CSR Characteristics .............................................................................................. 20 2.6 Implications for CSR Practitioners.................................................................................. 22 2.7 Conclusions and Recommendations for Building CSR Skills and Competencies.......... 23

Section Three: CSR Training and Development Provision ......................................................... 25

3.1 Objectives of the Research ............................................................................................ 25 3.2 What Training Exists? .................................................................................................... 25 3.3 Course Format ............................................................................................................... 28 3.4 On-going Research in Training and Development ......................................................... 30 3.5 Training for Skills and Competencies............................................................................. 30 3.6 Training and Standards .................................................................................................. 31 3.7 Training and Learning .................................................................................................... 31 3.8 Conclusions and Recommendations CSR Training and Development Provision .......... 32

Section Four: Is There a Role for a CSR Academy?................................................................... 34

4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 34 4.2 Purpose of CSR Academy ............................................................................................. 35 4.3 Conclusions and Recommendations on the Tasks of a CSR Academy......................... 36 4.4 Conclusions and Recommendations on the Organisational Structure of the CSR

Academy ........................................................................................................................ 38 APPENDIX 1: Contributors to Consultations and Discussions.................................................... 40 APPENDIX 2: CSR Skills and Competencies ............................................................................. 42 APPENDIX 3: Survey Results ..................................................................................................... 45 APPENDIX 4: Education and Training Provision ........................................................................ 49

DTI/CRG Report – “Changing Manager Mindsets” 1

Foreword Our task was to make recommendations on how to create the people with the skills, competencies and commitment to realise the CSR agenda. We define CSR as the management of an organisation's total impact upon both its immediate stakeholders and upon the society within which it operates. Managerial decision-making needs increasingly to take into account a wide range of criteria relating to the financial, environmental and social implications of business operations. We believe the key task over the next 10 to 15 years is to change manager mindsets. There are many drivers to doing this but a key strategic driver will be promoting CSR competencies into the education, training and on-going professional development of all managers- not just the CSR specialists, important though specialists are as change agents in larger companies. Creating the people will require changes to what is offered in the business schools, universities and by training providers. It will require embedding in the competency frameworks of professional institutes and be a guide to companies' own investment in their people. Some of these agents are already spearheading change. These are the enthusiasts from large and small businesses and amongst the internal and external stakeholders of organisations who are driving the agenda onwards. We believe that CSR is relevant to organisations of all sizes whether in the private, public or voluntary sectors as a necessary underpinning of building trust in our pluralist, fast changing world. We hope that our recommendations will support a leap forward in promoting the understanding of how all managers can become CSR practitioners and in developing their ability to put that understanding into practice. Our deliberations were based on the excellent research and analysis undertaken by our consultants Ashridge and Accountability. The Secretariat of the Corporate Responsibility Group and the Department of Trade and Industry both ably supported us. The many people who took part in our consultations and generously offered us their work in progress and their insights helped shape our thinking. On behalf of the Working Group I offer grateful thanks to them all. Sue Slipman April 2003


Executive Summary

1. Introduction In December 2002, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Corporate Responsibility Group established a Working Group to report to the Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness, Stephen Timms. The task of the Working Group was to carry out a process of inquiry with three major objectives. These were to:

• Map and measure what specific generic skill sets are required for the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the inter-section with other professional practices.

• Examine how to incorporate CSR practice into the training, assessment and qualifications of general managers.

• Decide whether the establishment of some form of CSR Academy would be a valuable way to promote the development of CSR in the UK.

The Working Group was chaired by Sue Slipman, Chair, Financial Ombudsman's Service, and its members were: Richard Aylard, Director of CSR, Thames Water; Anna Bradley, Director Consumer Affairs, Financial Services Authority; Claire Hitchcock, Director, Europe International Community Partnerships, GlaxoSmithKline; Jerry Marston, Community Investment Director, Whitbread and Chair of Corporate Responsibility Group; Lance Moir, Senior Lecturer in Finance and Accounting, Cranfield University School of Management and representative of the European Academy of Business in Society; Henry Stewart, Managing Director, Happy Computers; Baroness Glenys Thornton; Lucy Varcoe, Manager Advisory Services, Business in the Community; Ed Williams, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Marks & Spencer; and Janet Williamson, Policy Officer ESAD, TUC. Despite having only a limited time for its work the Working Group consulted around 450 people from a wide range of organisations in its research and to inform its discussions. The Working Group's Approach to CSR The Working Group recognised that at the heart of its work lay the need for strategies to establish and grow trust between organisations and their stakeholders. Such trust requires increasing the accountability of an organisation to its stakeholders through active dialogue to inform and determine the organisation's policy and decision making so that these increasingly both benefit the business or organisation and at the least minimise damage to society and at best have a positive impact on society.


The Working Group believes that CSR concerns the management of an organisation's total impact upon both its immediate stakeholders and upon the society within which it operates. CSR is not simply about whatever funds and expertise companies chose to invest in communities to help resolve social problems, although many companies do make contributions in this way. It is about the integrity with which a company governs itself, fulfils its mission, lives by its values, engages with its stakeholders and measures its impacts and publicly reports on its activities. The Working Group recognised that the central need is for CSR practice to be embedded firmly within all business practice so that responsible business progressively becomes just the way we do business in the UK The Group believes that popularising CSR, getting more companies, both large and small to take up its practice and informing all sectors in changing practice requires a 'leap forward'. It concludes that the cornerstone of informing professional and managerial practice for embedding CSR practice in organisations is to define the competencies and skills required to underpin this practice and to ensure that they become part of the training of all managers at all levels in organisations. 2. Conclusions and Recommendations for Building CSR Skills and Competencies The DTI/CRG Working Group recognises the wealth of data available concerning the way the CSR profession is developing. However, the research undertaken for this inquiry has shown that much of this knowledge is fragmented and there is little clarity about a common set of CSR skills, competencies or behaviours. In the light of this, the Working Group supports and endorses the core CSR characteristics derived from the results of the extensive consultation process. These are shown in the diagram below.

HRHR

CSR CharacteristicsUnderstanding societyBuilding partnerships

Questioning business as usualStakeholder relationships

Strategic visionRespecting diversity

MARKETING

FINANCE

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS




MARKETING

FINANCE


COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS

© Ashridge/DTI/CRG


The Working Group makes the following recommendations based on the findings of the research. Recommendation 1 There is little evidence of any formal skills and competency frameworks either within individual organisations, or among professional bodies and institutions that seek to serve CSR practitioners. This stands in stark contrast to other professions. Participants in the consultation process argued there is a need for further work to extend current thinking on CSR skills and competencies. This is reinforced by the results of the survey that found 67% of respondents feel there is a need for a professional institution (or similar body) to help develop and maintain practitioner skills for CSR. Recommendation 2 The research has identified the core characteristics that are at the centre of management decision-making processes required to integrate CSR within organisations. These core characteristics are relevant to CSR practitioners and managers in a range of different functions. The Working Group strongly recommends the further refinement and testing of this model with CSR practitioners, across other management disciplines and among internal and external stakeholder groups. In particular, there is a real need to understand the perspective of smaller businesses and organisations outside the private sector. Recommendation 3 The Working Group recommends that the core CSR characteristics should be amplified to encompass more detailed statements describing how each of these principles translates into the range of management actions. Recommendation 4 The Working Group believes that the core CSR characteristics developed by this research can help companies integrate CSR into their business practice. For example, the core CSR characteristics can be mapped against existing competency frameworks to help managers develop their thinking in relation to CSR issues. In addition, companies should reflect on how the core CSR characteristics can influence the on-going development of managers. The Working Group believes that the core CSR characteristics represent behaviours that “can be learned, but are difficult to be taught.” It recommends that organisations consider a wide range of development interventions (mentoring, job shadowing, learning through experience, etc.) in order to better understand how to equip managers to integrate CSR practice into the decision-making processes.


3. Conclusions and Recommendations on CSR Training and Development Provision The CSR competencies are central to the development of CSR managers and should be highlighted as a key aspect of learning. The description (and subsequent understanding by potential trainees) of these competencies will however be facilitated by the generation of common definitions and their widespread promotion by significant CSR networks. Recommendation 5 The Working Group recommends that CSR training and development providers map their course provision against the CSR competencies to demonstrate to potential students and employers alike how these learning outcomes are built by their courses. Recommendation 6 When discussing the proliferation of CSR Standards such as GRI, AA1000 and others, participants in the consultation agreed that some standardisation of what thing is “vital” rather than “nice to have” could be helpful. The Working Group believes that the current confusion on the part of practitioners about which CSR standards to adopt will be resolved over time by convergence as more organisations use them and discover those that are most useful to them. In the meantime the Working Group recommends that training organisations should offer information about how their courses relate to various CSR standards, how the learning opportunities offered increase understanding of them and how this can be related back to the participants’ organisation. Recommendation 7 Training and development currently reflects the diverse needs of a new and growing market, offering a range of courses whose variety in structure and format can be confusing. The training market has not developed a clear structure and is still part of a fragmented market. Participants in the consultation identified the need for a dedicated website where all providers could post details of courses, conferences and other learning opportunities. The Working Group believes this website would operate best under the auspices of the CSR Academy (see Recommendation 25). The Working Group recommends that training organisations should collaborate to offer information on their courses for distribution through a dedicated website to encourage awareness, understanding and where relevant, take up of recognised qualifications. Recommendation 8 The Working Group recommends further research be undertaken to understand the full range of learning opportunities, including training, experiential and peer network learning available to managers and in what way these would be useful at each level of development identified in section 2 of the report.


For example, basic training might cover the core knowledge needs of a manager; a secondment would further build that individual’s competence against specific elements from the range of skills that lie behind the competence framework; and refresher courses would update and build upon that individual’s specialist skills. This research could then map out the best ways for continuous professional development of CSR competencies and skills. 4. Is There a Role for a CSR Academy? The Working Group examined the need for and purpose of a CSR Academy as well as a number of models either existing or proposed and concluded that such an Academy could have a major role to play in promoting a 'leap forward' in CSR in the UK Recommendation 9 The Working Group recommends the setting up of a CSR Academy to support the growth of CSR competencies at the heart of education, training and on-going development of both specialist and general managers.

5. Conclusions and Recommendations on the Tasks of a CSR Academy The Working Group believes there is a range of tasks a CSR Academy should perform if it is to be successful in embedding responsible corporate and organisational behaviour. Primarily the Academy should be a change agency, creating a learning space and acting as facilitator to encourage wider adoption of CSR within management education at all levels. Its tasks should include the following. Recommendation 10 In its role as the custodian of the competency framework, the Academy should keep the competency framework under periodic review through further research. It should base its work firmly within developing best practice at the cutting edge of large and small business and must secure its legitimacy by keeping professional practitioner standards current. Recommendation 11 Given its principle of not duplicating work that is being well done elsewhere, the Working Group did not believe the Academy should be a primary provider of education and training, although it might define an unmet need and either design provision itself or, work with partners to ensure provision be made. However, the Academy should 'licence' use of the competency framework and standards to ensure the production of appropriate courses and qualifications, working in partnership with suppliers in market based solutions for course provisions. However the Working Group do see a role for the CSR Academy in working with partners to give practitioners access to a range of experiential learning opportunities, such as secondments, peer group learning circles, learning exchanges and visits and best practice workshops.


Recommendation 12 The Academy should have an active advice and support role to enable other organisations, whether in business, public or voluntary sectors and professional disciplines to develop their education and training programmes to underpin the embedding of CSR practice. Its advice and support service should also include referral to other organisations. The Academy might also support organisations to interpret and make use of best practice standards and benchmarks that are appropriate to their continuous improvement in their journey to embedding CSR practice within organisational functions and performance management. It also seems likely that the Academy will find itself responding to request for advice from individual managers on courses to meet their specific needs. Recommendation 13 Any 'leap forward' for experiential learning, CPD (Continuous Professional Development) and qualifications require assessment and verification. The Working Group believes the Academy should be responsible for devising strategies for the provision of assessors and verification in partnership with providing and examination bodies. Recommendation 14 The Working Group does not believe that a prime role for the Academy should be the provision of CSR case studies as these are often supplied through reward and recognition schemes run by existing organisations such as Accountability/ACCA Awards and Business in The Community. However the Academy will undoubtedly throw up a range of useful case studies and could clearly have a role in assessing case studies against the criteria and standards, and in the dissemination and strategies for replication. Recommendation 15 The Academy should work through alliances with all relevant professional institutes by using the competency framework to support these professional bodies in their exploration of what CSR practice means for their own discipline. In doing so it should assist professional institutes to embed CSR principles within the profession and the on-going education and training of professionals and the qualifications to which this leads. Recommendation 16 The Academy should have an active marketing role to promote the take up of the competency framework and any qualifications it sponsors. Recommendation 17 The Academy should contribute to policy development in all relevant partner and stakeholder organisations. It should help inform the Government's strategy for the promotion of CSR in the UK and Europe and for UK companies operating in a global environment. Recommendation 18 The Academy should map the inter-connection between core standards and relevant disciplines in co-operation with partner organisations.


Recommendation 19 The Academy should have a special brief for devising tools and support for intermediate organisations working with small and medium sized enterprises, including Business Link, trade associations, RDA's, and the Small Business Consortium1. 6. Conclusions and Recommendations on the Organisational Structure of the CSR Academy The Working Group considered whether the Academy should have a physical presence or be virtual and, if physical, whether it needed to be a new organisation or could sit within an existing organisation. The Working Group believes that a major part of the CSR learning space itself will be supported by and disseminated through virtual networks. There will also be real added value in bringing people together to share best practice and encourage innovation and that this can only be done effectively if there is an organisation to manage the process. A number of potential existing 'homes' were considered for the location of the CSR Academy, but the Working Group concluded that given the multi-stakeholder nature of the Academy's remit and the trust it must develop it would not be appropriate for it to be sited within an existing body. Recommendation 20 The Working Group recommends that in order for the Academy to be effective and fleet of foot it needs to be an organisation with an appropriate governance structure and a small core staff. Recommendation 21 The Working Group recommends that the CSR academy should be a new and independent organisation able to develop trust with multi-stakeholder groups. The CSR Academy must be a CSR values based organisation. This should be embedded in its organisational structure and operational goals. It was recognised that the CSR Academy would need legitimacy both within the business community and also with wider stakeholders. In particular it needs to win the confidence and active support of CSR practitioners. It needs to be seen by the business community as an organisation that works in harmony with it and understands the role of business and the range of its concerns.

1 This grouping aims to raise the competitiveness of SMEs through improving the social, environmental and community impact, consisting of AccountAbility, Arts and Business, British Chamber of Commerce, Business in the Community, CSR Europe, The Federation of Small Business, Institute of Directors, The Forum of Private Business, Scottish Business in the Community, and also supported by Lloyds TSB.


Recommendation 22 The Working Group recommends a fair balance of the board membership that reflects the need to win the confidence of large and small employers, the specialist and general managers they employ, and the wider stakeholder community without becoming too large and over bureaucratic. Recommendation 23 The Working Group recommends that the CSR Academy should employ the methodologies of responsible corporate practice itself by being transparent and accountable and working through open consultation. In addition it should have a consultation infrastructure broadly accessible to wider stakeholder interests and the relevant linked managerial and professional disciplines. This might mean that the organisation should have a broader advisory council structure beneath its governing board. It should certainly facilitate learning circles as necessary to further the work. Recommendation 24 The Working Group recommends that the CSR Academy should have an open membership policy initially based upon organisational membership but should give consideration to an associate membership for interested individuals. Recommendation 25 The Working Group recommends that the Academy should initially have 4-5 staff members to manage administration, consultation infrastructure, membership building, the development of partnerships and alliances and the development of support and advice. These staff will also be responsible for creating and managing database and new technology functions including the CSR Academy website (see Recommendation 7). Recommendation 26 Given the medium to longer-term nature of the CSR Academy's mission, the Working Group believes that it will take some time before it could be expected to be financially self-sufficient. The Working Group therefore recommends that government invest in the start up and maintenance costs of the CSR Academy, but that the Academy should seek to earn some of its income and develop its income streams over time, including through membership fees. The working group believes it may also be possible to achieve sponsorship funding from forward thinking organisations and businesses that recognise the need for the Academy and its work.


Section One: The Working Group and Its Task 1.1. Introduction In December 2002, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Corporate Responsibility Group established a Working Group to report to the Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness, Stephen Timms. The task of the Working Group was to carry out a process of inquiry with three major objectives. These were to:

• Map and measure what specific generic skill sets are required for the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the inter-section with other professional practices.

• Examine how to incorporate CSR practice into the training, assessment and qualifications of general managers.

• Decide whether the establishment of some form of CSR Academy would be a valuable way to promote the development of CSR in the UK.

The Working Group was chaired by Sue Slipman, Chair, Financial Ombudsman's Service, and its members were: Richard Aylard, Director of CSR, Thames Water; Anna Bradley, Director Consumer Affairs, Financial Services Authority; Claire Hitchcock, Director, Europe International Community Partnerships, GlaxoSmithKline; Jerry Marston, Community Investment Director, Whitbread and Chair of Corporate Responsibility Group; Lance Moir, Senior Lecturer in Finance and Accounting, Cranfield University School of Management and representative of the European Academy of Business in Society; Henry Stewart, Managing Director, Happy Computers; Baroness Glenys Thornton; Lucy Varcoe, Manager Advisory Services, Business in the Community; Ed Williams, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Marks & Spencer; and Janet Williamson, Policy Officer ESAD, TUC. Despite the limited time available for its work the Working Group wanted to consult as widely with stakeholders as would be possible in the circumstances. It therefore invited written submissions on its grounds for enquiry and involved stakeholders from large and small companies, specialist institutes, NGOs and other interest groups in 4 working seminars held in February 2003. Including a written questionnaire sent to over 250 individuals, the Working Group had contact with around 450 individuals from a wide range of organisations during the course of its work. Many stakeholders objected to the term 'CSR'. Some object on the grounds that they think it suggests a limited concern with philanthropy or the role of business in local communities, when they are keen to assert that its reach and significance should be much wider. It was clear that there is not yet a common language.


Several different terms were offered including 'sustainability', 'durability' and more straightforwardly 'responsibility'. In the absence of a universally agreed terminology the Working Group continued to use the term CSR whilst noting its limitation. 1.2. Background The background to the Group’s discussions is part of a backdrop of a lack of trust between business and civil society. This is also part of a wider review of Corporate Governance, which includes both the Higgs and Smith reports. The operating environment facing business today is more demanding, complex and faster changing than ever before. Over the past five years there has been much greater public interest in the way businesses and organisations behave both at home and abroad. The driving force for such awareness often comes from pressure groups and community organisations, but increasingly an agenda to respond to public demand for accountability and transparency is being adopted by business itself and embedded across business functions. However, the Working Group believes that despite the many and growing examples of good business practice there is a long way to go for organisations as a whole to satisfy legitimate stakeholder demands. The Working Group sees CSR as the management of an organisation's total impact upon both its immediate stakeholders and upon the society within which it operates. In all industries and across all sectors, the managerial decision-making process needs to take into account a wide range of criteria relating to the financial, environmental and social implications of business operations2. This concept is what this report understands by the term corporate social responsibility. CSR is not simply about whatever funds and expertise companies chose to invest in communities to help resolve social problems, although many companies do make contributions in this way. It is about the integrity with which a company governs itself, fulfils its mission, lives by its values, engages with its stakeholders and measures its impacts and publicly reports on its activities. The Working Group recognised that the central need is for CSR practice to be embedded firmly within all business practice so that responsible business progressively becomes just the way we do business in the UK. CSR practice is still in its infancy. It needs to mature at a reasonable speed to keep pace with the requirement to re-build trust between institutions and their stakeholders. The Working Group believes that CSR strategies and methodologies are relevant to all organisations, although the immediate perceived need for their implementation is more pressing in the private sector where the focus of accountability to shareholders alone has not taken into account the wider social impact of the business, leading to a crisis of trust between civil society and business.

2 “Exploring Business Dynamics - Mainstreaming CSR” – Ashridge, CSR Europe and E&P


The public and stakeholders are concerned about the way business behaves in all its undertakings. Companies are concerned about the impact of damaged reputation upon the business. Failures of governance and integrity in companies such as Enron and Worldcom further damage trust between business and its stakeholders. But such issues are not unique to the private sector. The trust that previously existed between the public and the public sector can no longer be taken for granted. . The public sector, too, needs to change to meet the needs of widely diverse and plural stakeholders. Increasingly as the modernisation of public services takes place, there will be a great deal more partnership between sectors. For both the private and public sectors this will require the development of a new set of behaviours within the tolerances of public expectation. The methodologies of CSR are equally relevant to all organisations needing to build public trust. Government aims to stimulate business to assess their social impacts for themselves, and to work out what commitments they need to make that are consistent with their entrepreneurial drive and values and stakeholder expectations. If it is to mean something in the everyday behaviours of a company, CSR must be embedded as part of what that company wishes to be. In order to embed CSR the managers running the company must understand why they are doing it and learn how to do it within their company. In this context, the group specifically examined whether the provision of management training and qualifications was adequate to encourage greater understanding, development and embedding of CSR. The Working Group concluded that the cornerstone of informing professional and managerial practice for embedding CSR practice in organisations is to define the competencies and skills required to underpin this practice and to ensure that they become part of the education and training of all managers at all levels in organisations. As a result of its research and consultation work, the Group believes that popularising CSR, getting more companies, both large and small to take up its practice and informing all sectors in changing practice requires a 'leap forward'


Section Two: Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies

2.1 CSR – An Emerging Profession? CSR practitioners are largely represented through a number of membership networks, which exist at the international, European and national level. As yet, there is no single professional body representing all their needs and interests. There appears to be at least two major reasons for this. First, current practitioners are drawn from a number of diverse disciplines including marketing, communications, environmental management, public affairs, investor relations, community affairs and so on. The reality is that CSR has a relatively short history as a management discipline. A second factor that militates against the creation of a single professional discipline is the sheer breadth and complexity of the roles and responsibilities of the typical CSR practitioner. Many of those interviewed for this study highlight the need for the individual to operate at numerous levels, both inside and outside the organisation, interacting with a wide range of different audiences. The following quote is typical of many others, illustrating what this means on a day-to-day basis. “Each day brings different demands that require very different skills. I may talk with my CEO who wants advice on setting out our corporate priorities for the next 12-18 months. I then take the lead in turning these priorities into action, persuading and engaging with senior managers across the business about how to do this. . . Another day I might be talking, and trying to assess, the issues of external stakeholder groups. I have to assess and be aware of all the key issues, and the key players; and then select which ones we can work with. . . Another day might bring the media spotlight and requests for interviews where I become the ambassador for the company or the advisor to others who are going to be interviewed. I see my role as a bridge between the company and the external world.”

While this quote shows a variety of different demands on the CSR practitioner, it is by no means complete. Other issues that impinge upon the role can include: • Changing legislative demands and industry standards


• Supply chain management • Risk management • Diversity issues and employment relations • Ecology and sustainability • Community affairs. Hence, despite the growing interest in CSR as an emerging profession, there appears to be little clarity about the skills required by CSR professionals. 2.2 Does Embedding CSR Practice Require

Specialist CSR Practitioners? There is a debate as to whether or not the focus of skill definition in the competency framework and the education and training provision to support it should be geared to meet the needs of specialist or generalist managers (recognising that CSR specialists tend to be found in larger companies). Underlying this debate is a caricature of two positions. The first is that creating a specialist CSR profession makes it less likely that general managers will become competent in understanding the CSR dimension of their own functional role within the organisation. Further, as the goal should be embedding CSR in the mainstream, specialists stand in the way of this and are unnecessary. The second caricature is that only CSR specialists understand the goals and that they are therefore justified in striving for a closed shop CSR industry in which they become ever more necessary. As with most caricatures, these distort reality. The Working Group believes it is likely that at this stage in the process of establishing and responding to the CSR agenda, specialists who bring skills, focus and knowledge to CSR issues are necessary, but that if embedding is the goal, generalist managers need to develop those aspects of CSR skills that are relevant to their management discipline and function within the organisation. Even in companies where the CEO and the board are committed to adopting the CSR agenda in their organisation they may not know what to do and may require specialist support in achieving ‘their’ agenda. At this stage of the organisational learning journey, the skills gap is unlikely to be bridged simply by having non-executive directors on boards. The critical job to be done is an executive one, requiring operational directors and managers to develop appropriate policy approaches and strategies in order to deliver them in action. General managers have an ethical dimension within their own professional practice, but they are unlikely to have been exposed to the wider demands that the CSR agenda places on the organisation; are unlikely to have received education and training to meet those demands and may or may not innately posses the skills necessary to meet such new challenges.


The role of the board is strategic and may offer leadership or give permission, but there is a two-way process between the executive leadership teams and the board to fully embed CSR in the organisation. For a considerable period to come this is likely to require support from specialists, although the Working Group recognises this may be more applicable to large rather than small companies. It may well be that even in the longer term, companies that have embedded CSR into their every business practice still require on-going support from CSR specialists to keep abreast of changing times. A useful analogy might be the way in which the HR function in the organisation supports general managers in carrying out their people management functions, whilst it retains a specialist function of its own, or the way in which the finance function sets the budget and procedures but the company expects generalist managers who are budget holders to have sufficient financial literacy to run budgets effectively. The Working Group did not try to resolve a debate that only time will resolve. Its task was to examine how best to use education and training tools to enable all managers to develop the skills they need to meet the CSR agenda. However, in order to define those skills it seemed a good idea to look at the emerging best practice. Given where we are in the CSR journey this is likely to be developed most clearly by specialists. The work started with CSR specialists but expanded to take into account many other professional managerial groups. 2.3 The Research Study At its first meeting in December 2002, the Working Group decided that it needed to involve a wider cross section of CSR professionals and other stakeholders in a broad process of consultation and inquiry and agreed to appoint consultants to manage the research programme. A number of organisations were invited to submit proposals to identify: • The generic skills, competencies and knowledge required by CSR

specialists and other functional managers in relation to CSR issues. • The extent to which existing providers of management training and

development are meeting these needs. • The demands of external standards for increased performance in CSR issues. The Working Group managed a competitive tender process and appointed the Ashridge Centre for Business and Society (ACBAS) and AccountAbility who submitted a joint proposal.


In order to ensure the findings of the study reflected the reality of what is currently happening within the CSR profession the research was largely shaped through dialogue with practitioners, learning from their experience. The consultants worked with specialists to develop core competencies, then tested the outcomes against other manager disciplines to establish overlap and relevance and also with the wider groups of stakeholders concerned to see organisations adopt the CSR agenda. The research project comprised five strands of inquiry carried out in parallel from January 2003 to the middle of March 2003. These were:

• Desk-based and Internet search of relevant research and materials, including an analysis of current job descriptions of CSR specialists.

• Interviews with leading CSR practitioners. • A mapping exercise of the current provision of relevant training

and development opportunities and the CSR skills required by a range of relevant standards.

• Four expert reference workshops involving group discussions with CSR practitioners, representatives of professional institutions, training providers, government representatives and non-governmental organisations (a list of those invited the workshops is included in Appendix 1).

• A questionnaire survey circulated to over 250 CSR experts and wider stakeholders.

2.4 Identifying CSR Skills and Competencies The first phase of the research set out to understand how CSR is defined and applied – and what this means in terms of the skills and competencies for those in UK organisations today. From the outset it is important to recognise that the aim of this inquiry was to collect information on the skills and abilities practitioners need to undertake their work in a professional way, however these were described. As such, the research considered a wide range of skills, competencies, behaviours, attitudes, knowledge-sets, attributes and personal qualities. In the limited time available to this inquiry it was not possible to define precise distinctions between these different aspects of the role, as there is considerable overlap. Information gathered from the interviews and discussion groups was supplemented with a review of job descriptions and company frameworks to generate a number of skills and competencies considered important for CSR practitioners. The research confirms that there is no existing competency framework for the CSR role. A few examples were found of companies that have mapped CSR skills against competency


frameworks. However, the striking feature of the job descriptions considered by this research is the huge variety of different skills required3. The research gathered considerable data about the skills and attributes people believe are important for CSR practitioners. The dialogue process generated an initial list of around 50 to 60 CSR skills and competencies. The research team eliminated repetition and overlap between these to produce a revised list of 27 competencies considered important for CSR practitioners. At this initial stage, it became clear that the required skills and competencies could be described in a framework that comprised three discrete areas (see Figure 14): • Business skills • Technical skills (or knowledge sets) • People skills (including personal attributes or behaviours).

Figure 1 – CSR Skills and Competencies5

© Ashridge/DTI/CRG

BUSINESSBuilding insightCommunication skillsDecision makingCommercial awarenessBuilding internal partnershipsI.T.InnovationStrategic awarenessLeadershipHandling complexityProblem solving

TECHNICALTU

echnical expertisenderstanding impactstakeholder dialoguenternal consultancyicence to operateelling the business casenderstanding human rightsnderstanding sustainability

PEOPLEAdaptability and empathyDeveloping othersInfluencing without powerBuilding external partnershipsOpen mindedIntegrityPolitical savvySelf-development and learningTeamworkingQuestioning business as usual

SILSUU

3 Some organisations – such as Diageo and Royal Bank of Scotland – have gone further in formalising CSR skills beyond the individual level. The Royal Bank of Scotland’s research identified competencies gained by staff involved in volunteering. Diageo has developed a framework of Corporate Citizenship Capabilities for use with its CSR teams around the world. 4 The purpose of copyright is to ensure this work is acknowledged. 5 The full description of these skills and competencies are included in Appendix 2.


The competency framework tried to capture the key aspects of CSR decision-making. In order for CSR strategy to be successful, it must be closely linked to the company’s culture, values and strategy – hence the importance of business skills. Technical expertise (or subject knowledge) is also an extremely important element, but is insufficient in itself. People skills are also required to influence and communicate the message of CSR among internal and external audiences. Feedback at the workshops indicated that there was relatively close alignment between the skills and competencies identified through the research and those identified by participants in the discussions. However, there were a number of discussions about the nature of the framework and how the three areas overlapped and inter-acted with each other. In addition, there was great debate on how the competencies would apply in practice. For instance, was the framework equally well suited to decision-makers in the public and private sectors? Similarly, discussions focussed on whether the competencies were relevant to managers in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Although it was widely agreed that there is a need to address the issues from an SME perspective, it was felt wrong to offer a simplified version of a framework that is designed for use in large organisations. Few companies that employ less than 250 people have a CSR specialist, although very often they do operate in a way that accords to the definition of responsible behaviour cited earlier. As such, it was felt that further research was needed to develop a competency framework that includes the needs of: • Decision-makers in organisations other than companies. • Managers in SMEs. • Functional managers that have some responsibility for CSR issues. Beyond these considerations, there was much discussion about whether this relatively long list of skills and competencies could be distilled down into the critical or core CSR skills. It is interesting to note that respondents to the questionnaire survey identified three particular skills as paramount to integrating CSR into an organisation. These were: • Communication skills (identified by 53% of respondents) • Influencing skills (51%) • The skill to sell the business case (49%). However, the results of the in-depth consultation suggested that many felt these three skills were of relevance to all managers in all disciplines. Beyond these three areas, discussions centred on whether there is a distinction between the skills of CSR specialists and those of managers working in other functions. A key finding of the questionnaire survey was that 64% of respondents felt that there is “a particular dimension to the CSR function that sets it apart from other management disciplines”.


In particular, it was observed that several of the attributes identified by the research do appear to be qualities or innate behaviours rather than competencies - such as questioning business as usual. This distinction was not simply semantics. Participants in the group discussions felt that there were a core set of attitudes and behaviours (characteristics) that are essential in describing the way in which CSR is integrated into responsible decision-making processes.

2.5 Core CSR Characteristics Building on these discussions, the research team sought to consider the competencies required to integrate CSR into an organisation. An in-depth analysis of the results of the consultation process produced a new model that identifies the core characteristics that describe the way in which all managers need to act if they are to integrate responsible business decision-making into day-to-day operations. These core characteristics are a mixture of skills, behaviours and knowledge sets. In broad terms, they centre on the following themes: • Understanding the role of each player in society (government,

business, non-governmental organisations and civil society) and how they interact with each other.

• Building internal and external partnerships by taking a multi-disciplinary approach and creating strategic networks and alliances.

• Questioning business as usual by being open to new ideas and challenging others to adopt new ways of working.

• Identifying stakeholders, building relations with internal and external stakeholders, engaging in dialogue and balancing competing demands.

• Taking a strategic view of the business environment. • Understanding difference, respecting diversity and adjusting one’s

approach to different situations.

Figure 2 – Core CSR Characteristics




HR

MARKETING

FINANCE


COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS




HR

MARKETING

FINANCE


COMMUNICATIONS

OPERATIONS

© Ashridge/DTI/CRG


This model attempts to capture the core characteristics at the centre of management decision-making processes that are required to integrate CSR within organisations – whether this is undertaken by CSR practitioners or other managers within the organisation. There are four features of the model that need to be made explicit. 1. At this stage in its development the model describes the ‘high-level’

strategic characteristics required by all managers seeking to implement CSR within organisations. These characteristics could in time be supplemented with a more comprehensive list of business skills, knowledge sets and behaviours. As such, while the core CSR characteristics identified in this analysis represent the overarching principles, each of these principles could be supplemented with more detailed statements explaining how the principles translate into management actions.

2. A related issue is that the model can allow for differences to emerge

at different managerial levels, according to the depth of knowledge required and the management function. For example, although the model identifies core CSR characteristics that would apply to all decision-makers, the knowledge and skills required by an operations engineer or a communications manager are very different to those required by a director of finance. By the same token, these would be different again to those required by board members. Further development will be required to demonstrate how the core CSR characteristics translate into displayed behaviour at board level, among senior managers, and for those charged with implementing business decisions across the different business functions.

3. Building on this point, the model does recognise and allow for

different ‘levels’ of understanding of the core CSR characteristics relevant to different managers in different circumstances. The research team proposes five such levels, as described below:

I. Awareness – a broad appreciation of the core CSR

characteristics and how they might impinge on business decision-making.

II. Basic knowledge – a basic knowledge of some of the key issues underlying the core CSR characteristics and an understanding of their implications for business.

III. Competence – the ability to supplement this basic knowledge of the issues with the competence to apply this to specific activities (e.g. conducting stakeholder consultations or building partnerships with external organisations).

IV. In-depth understanding – an in-depth understanding of the issues and an expertise in applying this to business decision-making processes.

V. Change agent – the ability to help managers across the organisation operate in a way that fully integrates CSR into the business decision-making processes.

4. The fourth feature of the model is that to be successful in managing

its approach to CSR, these identified characteristics need to permeate the whole organisation – they do not simply reside in the


CSR specialist function. All decision-makers need to be alert to how these characteristics pertain to their own particular management responsibilities. As such, the model places CSR characteristics at the centre of other management functions.

Participants in the consultation process argued the need for CSR skills, knowledge sets and behaviours to be integrated in all management practice. The following quotes illustrate this point.

“There is a danger that expertise on CSR resides only in the specialist manager – there needs to be a way of sharing these skills across all disciplines.”

“The CSR profession needs help with skills and competencies, but in so doing it should not become a ghetto. CSR is everyone’s business.” So, for example, within any organisation it is important that the HR function is aware of the importance of understanding difference, respecting diversity and building relations with internal stakeholders. In the marketing function, managers should appreciate the need to engage with wider group of stakeholders in order to understand better the way in which the organisation is perceived. All management functions need to be able to question business as usual.

2.6 Implications for CSR Practitioners While the model set out in Figure 2 applies to managers in a range of functional areas, it does also point to the way in which CSR practitioners need to operate in order to integrate responsible business decision-making into the organisation. Because the CSR practitioner has no traditional functional ‘home’ they occupy a boundary spanning position at the centre of cross-functional teamwork. The findings of the research reinforce the message that a typical CSR practitioner will be constantly liaising with colleagues in a range of other functions. The CSR specialist has to be capable of thinking strategically and understanding the impact of a wide range of social, political and economic issues on the business. They are expected to have the ability to understand and interpret the external operating environment for others within the organisation. At the same time, they need to act as a bridge between the business and the outside world by being aware of emerging issues that are likely to influence any number of interested parties that feel they have a stake in the business.


In parallel to this external sensitivity, CSR specialists have to apply this holistic way of thinking to their own organisations. They have to be able to see the whole organisation and understand the interactions between the various parts of the business. They are often required to co-ordinate and facilitate the integration of CSR, rather than manage and control it directly. A further important aspect of their role is the ability to encourage and persuade others. It is becoming increasingly clear that the CSR specialist can have an enormous influence on the way the organisation behaves. This influence derives from the growing power of consumers, employees, investors and the media who are vociferous in their reactions to business behaviour. For the successful CSR specialist, the skill lies in using this influence acquired from external and internal pressures to get others in the company to act. The model generated from the results of the process of consultation attempts to capture all of these elements of the role of the CSR specialist. Beyond these important lessons for CSR specialists, it is clear there will also be implications for general managers. The CSR Academy will need to work with other professional institutions, helping to map the CSR competency framework into existing models of continuous professional development. While the core CSR characteristics are clearly most applicable to large organisations in the private sector, there are lessons here for smaller business and organisations in other sectors. In the future, it is hoped to develop the model further to respect the differences of organisations operating in different circumstances. 2.7 Conclusions and Recommendations for

Building CSR Skills and Competencies The DTI/CRG Working Group recognises the wealth of data available concerning the way the CSR profession is developing. However, the research undertaken for this inquiry has shown that much of this knowledge is fragmented and there is little clarity about a common set of CSR skills, competencies or behaviours. In the light of this, the Working Group supports and endorses the core CSR characteristics derived from the results of the extensive consultation process. In addition, the Working Group makes the following recommendations based on the findings of the research. Recommendation 1 There is little evidence of any formal skills and competency frameworks either within individual organisations, or among professional bodies and institutions that seek to serve CSR practitioners. This stands in stark contrast to other professions. Participants in the consultation process argued there is a need for further work to extend current thinking on CSR skills and competencies. This is reinforced by the results of the survey that found 67% of respondents feel there is a need for a professional institution (or similar body) to help develop and maintain practitioner skills for CSR. Recommendation 2


The research has identified the core characteristics that are at the centre of management decision-making processes required to integrate CSR within organisations. These core characteristics are relevant to CSR practitioners and managers in a range of different functions. The Working Group strongly recommends the further refinement and testing of this model with CSR practitioners, across other management disciplines and among internal and external stakeholder groups. In particular, there is a real need to understand the perspective of smaller businesses and organisations outside the private sector. Recommendation 3 The Working Group recommends that the core CSR characteristics should be amplified to encompass more detailed statements describing how each of these principles translates into the range of management actions. Recommendation 4 The Working Group believes that the core CSR characteristics developed by this research can help companies integrate CSR into their business practice. For example, the core CSR characteristics can be mapped against existing competency frameworks to help managers develop their thinking in relation to CSR issues. In addition, companies should reflect on how the core CSR characteristics can influence the on-going development of managers. The Working Group believes that the core CSR characteristics represent behaviours that “can be learned, but are difficult to be taught.” It recommends that organisations consider a wide range of development interventions (mentoring, job shadowing, learning through experience, etc.) in order to better understand how to equip managers to integrate CSR practice into the decision-making processes.


Section Three: CSR Training and Development Provision

3.1 Objectives of the Research The second strand of the Working Group's enquiry was an examination of existing CSR training provision in the UK. This was undertaken through desk research supplemented by workshop discussions and specific questions in the practitioner questionnaire. The Working Group had two principal objectives for this work: • To understand the extent to which existing providers of management

training and development are meeting the needs of CSR specialists and functional managers in relation to CSR issues;

• To inform the research project on how the training and development needs of CSR practitioners (both specialists and those in other relevant functions) can be more effectively met.

The research focused on training courses based in the UK; its scope was limited to web-based research and stakeholder discussions with known training providers who offered further detail. The research identifies a selection of prominent providers of CSR training and development, but is not a complete and comprehensive list. The findings do not exhaust the development opportunities open to UK managers, but it was felt that UK courses offered an adequate survey of the sorts of training that are available world-wide and the way in which these types of courses are marketed.

3.2 What Training Exists? CSR training in the UK has grown rapidly in the last five years as interest in professional development has broadened in the business and advisory communities and as the understanding and management of CSR issues has matured. However, this growth has been from a low base and the overall picture of provision remains patchy and unstructured; courses are difficult to access and evaluate (individually and in comparison) by potential user groups, and their long-term value to users is not always clear.6 6 The perception of long term value is of course influenced by market conditions in the CSR field, but also reflects concerns over quality of training and the professional recognition and ‘branding’ that is gained whilst training and certification are fragmented and at low-scale.


There are three main types of training providers of CSR. These are: i. Business Schools; ii. Universities; iii. Independent Training Providers (including professional bodies). (i) Business Schools The business school radar is increasingly picking up on the importance of CSR issues for its students. Typically, no formal structure has been generated for this CSR training, but issues such as business ethics, socially responsible investment, governance, sustainability and corporate citizenship are introduced into existing modules. A small number of schools, however, such as Warwick Business School, have recognised the value of CSR in a growing market and incorporated CSR modules into their traditional business-oriented and MBA programmes. This was commended by a participant in the DTI/CRG Working Group, identifying CSR skills and competencies: “[One should] integrate CSR into curriculum at business schools, so that anyone taking a management or business course/degree will also undertake an element in CSR.” More research needs to be done in order to evaluate where European Universities, and other training institutions, are in the CSR training market in comparison to the UK. INSEAD is one example where a number of CSR related electives have been integrated in their MBA course. It would be instructive to evaluate how widespread this is. (ii) Universities University strategy also follows this integration/separation split. The Imperial College Masters in Environmental Management includes a regular session on stakeholder engagement and social audit, whilst Glasgow University has introduced modules on business ethics and social, ethical and environmental reporting into its accountancy degrees. In addition, a number of universities have developed CSR courses as separate independent programmes that integrate learning from a variety of departments. Examples of specialist degrees in CSR in the UK include the MSc at Bath and the MBA at Nottingham; the growing market is indicated by the introduction of a new MBA programme based on Sustainability at Royal Holloway University that will be available as of September, 20037.

7 The development of the Royal Holloway MBA programme has been based on Professor Stephen Hill’s report (funded by the Aspen Institute) on ‘Dilemmas in Competitiveness, Community and Citizenship’. The Dilemmas discussions draw on “the argument that the CSR business agenda requires a set of management skills that are not currently being developed by mainstream business management education programmes.”


(iii) Independent Training Providers A significant cluster of CSR training providers stand outside of the university and business schools, providing a wide range of specialist and introductory courses. Given the longer history of environmental management, it is no surprise that the most numerous types of courses are focused on environmental and quality standards. A key provider is the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), which partners with 40 organisations to offer courses from an introductory to advanced levels on internal EMS auditing and Environmental management systems. In this case, training is also linked to professional certification for individuals. The certification company, SGS, extends the environmental focus to quality systems such as ISO9000 and EFQM, and has also delivered courses covering the labour standard, SA8000. COURSE PROVIDERS COURSE FOCUS Business Schools MBA Programmes with CSR content

MBA Programmes integrating CSR modules Long-term programmes

Universities Specialist postgraduate degrees in CSR and Sustainable business Modules within other programmes Related degrees with CSR content Medium- to Long-term programmes

Independent Training Providers Executive programmes Specialist courses Short-term programmes

A second category of CSR training has emerged in the last five years and covers the broad issues of accountability and sustainability and the business case for corporate responsibility. As with the environmental and quality courses, training is practitioner-focused, but is typically not linked to professional certification, except through the accountability-based professional qualification hosted by the Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility. Given the extensive subject area, most courses are general in scope and based on topics such as “understanding sustainable concepts and their business benefits”, a good example of which is the British Standards Institution which offers a course called “Making Sustainability Work.” However, other courses are beginning to address specialist CSR techniques, such as social auditing, accounting and reporting (offered by SGS and The National Centre for Business and Sustainability) and assurance and stakeholder engagement (offered by AccountAbility).


3.3 Course Format The youth and associated fragmentation of the CSR training market makes it a complex process for CSR manager to identify and assess courses to meet their needs. Different models of training and learning cater to different audiences. Executive Workshops are targeted at mid- to high-level managers, whilst distance learning courses and e-learning (New Academy) have also been introduced. E-learning modules (such as that offered by the New Academy of Business) give participants an overview of the topic being covered and its application to business. This type of learning can be a good way to provide a general introduction, but is necessarily limited in scope in terms of the in-depth learning of CSR issues, and in particular the learning of competencies such as “Adaptability and Empathy” or “Building Insight”. Indeed, the learning of competencies may be better suited to direct experience discussed in 3.7 below. Modular courses have the advantage of providing busy executives with the flexibility of taking short one-day courses when times and schedules permit, while part-time University courses (such as the Bath MSc) offer the dedicated CSR manager the possibility to work and study simultaneously and indeed to base their research on on-going work. Another important issue is that course formats vary to cater to different levels of individual work experience. Forum for the Future identified that “The training requirements of people currently in employment are vastly different to those yet to enter the workplace. Likewise, the training requirements of senior management are likely to be different to those in other grades in the organisation. The table below suggests different types of training and education needs for each group.”8

8 Forum for the Future “Feedback to the CRG”, March 12, 2003


Table 1: Training and Education Needs

Training and Education Needs

Current Senior Management (now)

To develop core skills and visionary thinking • Short courses/wake-up calls • Networking or close partnership initiatives

Function Specialists/ Middle Managers

(now) To develop core, technical and behavioural skills as well as an understanding of how that function contributes to sustainable business model • Function specific courses touching on all of the

competencies

Senior Management (<5 years) To develop core skills and visionary thinking with an

understanding how technical, functional and behavioural competencies can work together to promote an integrated approach to sustainable

business

• Short courses/wake up calls • Business schools e.g. MBA courses • Professional qualifications e.g. accounting

examinations, investment qualifications Senior Management (5-10 years) To develop core skills and visionary thinking with an

understanding how technical, functional and behavioural competencies interact to promote an

integrated approach to sustainable business

• Business schools • Professional qualifications • Under- and post-graduate university courses

Function Specialists/ Middle Managers (<5 years) To develop core, technical and behavioural skills as well as an understanding of how that function contributes to sustainable business model

• Under- and post-graduate courses • Professional qualifications e.g. accounting

qualifications, engineering qualification etc.

The survey responses further reflected the variety of ways in which CSR specialists have developed their skills and knowledge in the field. The most popular way of learning is involvement in peer network learning groups involved with CSR like the Corporate Responsibility Group, as well as working with best practice companies, learning from stakeholder research and dialogue and completing Masters courses at University. The general feeling of variety and an unstructured market is reflected in one respondent’s remark: “There needs to be a strategic programme of investment in those few organisations innovating in this area to help more programmes get off the ground. A web portal identifying existing training and other provision would also be very useful.”


3.4 On-going Research in Training and

Development A number of on-going and in-depth research programmes have been set up to analyse current CSR education and training in the UK and internationally. The most notable work has been done by the Aspen Institute in “Beyond Grey Pinstripes”, CSR Europe and the European Academy for Business in Society and on-going survey work by Nottingham University in “Corporate Social Responsibility Education, Training and Research in Europe”. 3.5 Training for Skills and Competencies Here, the term ‘skills’ refers to the technical skills identified in Figure 1 (Section 2.4) of this report. The technical skills include knowledge and understanding of sustainability issues, human rights, the ability to manage stakeholder dialogue, and so on. Overall, most CSR training concentrates on building specific technical skill sets rather than on building the people skills identified in Figure 1 as important to CSR Management such as “Adaptability and Empathy” and “Influencing without Power”. However, discussions with training providers reveal that they believe certain business and people competencies are taught as 'natural fallout' of training even though they are neither the main focus of the course nor a specified learning objective or outcome. Whilst providers believe these skills are a natural learning outcome, they have no way of knowing whether or not this belief is justified because relevant CSR business and people competencies of the kind identified in section 2 are not made explicit in course design or evaluated as learning outcomes. Training providers in particular felt that all good managers should possess the majority of the competencies identified, such as “building external partnerships” and “handling complexity” and that these should not be remits only for the CSR specialist. As a consequence, we should not be surprised that CSR training providers focus on only developing some of the CSR skill sets. However, the current approach appears to the Working Group to lead to a lack of transparency about what skills students will acquire as a result of participating in courses. In turn this may create confusion that proves to be a barrier to employers who might want to invest in employees gaining CSR skills but will also want demonstrated value for money. It is certainly confusing for potential students themselves to understand what courses best meet their learning needs. The Working Group concludes that managers seeking to develop their CSR skills need better information and advice on which courses are best able to develop those core CSR competencies and skills identified in this report.


3.6 Training and Standards It is also clear that the skills and competencies demanded by the various existing and emerging CSR standards and guidelines are not covered adequately by training provision within the UK. Key technical skills implicitly required by standards include: stakeholder engagement, company guidelines, codes of conduct and key reporting initiatives, awareness of new developments in the CSR field, legal and other specialist knowledge related to environmental and labour issues. Furthermore, the key business and people skills essential for the implementation of these standards include decision making, leadership, handling complexity, stakeholder dialogue, open minded and strategic awareness, adaptability and empathy, communications skills, building insight, innovation, strategic awareness, legal expertise, commercial awareness and technical expertise. Although specific skills like stakeholder dialogue and leadership are addressed by some programmes, it is less obvious which courses will develop competencies such as strategic awareness, innovation, adaptability and empathy.

3.7 Training and Learning The research workshops highlighted that training is only one tool of learning and is certainly too narrow a field to capture all CSR learning. Other preferred methods of learning were proposed including mentoring, secondments, partnering and networking with companies to share best practice. Practitioners felt that businesses were a lot further ahead in learning and implementing CSR practice than current training course providers and that these other avenues for learning should be explored. One member of the Working Group noted the following: “Many companies such as AWG, Boots, Cadbury Schweppes, and Marks & Spencer use interaction with their local community as part of their HR training and development tool-kit. Also, in view of the fact that many of the competencies or qualities identified are about developing partnerships, stakeholder dialogue and respecting diversity, some of the most interesting experiential learning comes from training in, and secondments into community-based organisations. Business in the Community broker different types of community assignments including Partners in Leadership (business leaders and school head teachers sharing experience and issues with each other) 100-hour community assignments and team challenges for employees. Other organisations such as Common Purpose bring together business people with the public sector and community organisations in a town or city in a powerful learning network”.


The majority of stakeholders in the workshops concluded that CSR training is particularly useful as an introduction to learning the issues and skills around corporate responsibility and that training would be particularly useful to company directors. For the CSR manager, secondments and sharing knowledge and best practice will often be better means to fill the experiential gap that training cannot provide as well as the competencies that one needs to build. One such venture set up by Forum for the Future in partnership with Cambridge University’s Programme for Industry aims to do just that. The ‘Sustainability Learning Networks,’ is a work-based cross-sector collaborative learning network that also offers expert seminars for mid-to-senior level management to tap into experiential learning and best practice.

3.8 Conclusions and Recommendations CSR Training and Development Provision

The CSR competencies are central to the development of CSR managers and should be highlighted as a key aspect of learning. The description (and subsequent understanding by potential trainees) of these competencies will however be facilitated by the generation of common definitions and their widespread promotion by significant CSR networks. Recommendation 5 The Working Group recommends that CSR training and development providers map their course provision against the CSR competencies against the elements to demonstrate to potential students and employers alike how these learning outcomes are built by their courses. Recommendation 6 When discussing the proliferation of CSR Standards such as GRI, AA1000 and others, participants in the consultation agreed that some standardisation of what thing is “vital” rather than “nice to have” could be helpful. The Working Group believes that the current confusion on the part of practitioners about which CSR standards to adopt will be resolved over time by convergence as more organisations use them and discover those that are most useful to them. In the meantime the Working Group recommends that training organisations should offer information about how their courses relate to various CSR standards, how the learning opportunities offered increase understanding of them and how this can be related back to the participants’ organisation.


Recommendation 7 Training and development currently reflects the diverse needs of a new and growing market, offering a variety of courses whose variety in structure and format can be confusing. The training market has not developed a clear structure and is still part of a fragmented market. Participants in the consultation identified the need for a dedicated website where all providers could post details of courses, conferences and other learning opportunities. The Working Group believes this would work best under the auspices of the CSR Academy (see Recommendation 25). The Working Group recommends that training organisations should collaborate to offer information on their courses for distribution through a dedicated website to encourage awareness, understanding and where relevant, take up of recognised qualifications. Recommendation 8 The Working Group recommends further research be undertaken to understand the full range of learning opportunities, including training, experiential and peer network learning available to managers and in what way these would be useful at each level of development identified in section 2 of the report. For example, basic training might cover the core knowledge needs of a manager; a secondment would further build that individual’s competence against specific elements from the range of skills that lie behind the competence framework; and refresher courses would update and build upon that individual’s specialist skills. This research could then map out the best ways for continuous professional development of CSR competencies and skills.


Section Four: Is There a Role for a CSR Academy?

4.1 Introduction The third strand of the Working Group's enquiry was to examine whether the establishment of a CSR Academy would be a valuable way to promote the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) in the UK. In order to get to grips with this issue the working group examined 3 models of what a CSR Academy might look like. The first was a theoretical model proposed by the think-tank Demos9. The Demos model was designed to promote a much higher impact form of CSR where companies would proactively make bigger and more replicable contributions to tackling tough social issues. Moreover it sought to bring together leading CSR bodies and help create a “quality” culture of raised expectation, coupled with methods to maximise the spread of ideas. Amongst existing initiatives the group looked at the European Academy of Business in Society and The New Academy for Business. The former is a pan-European alliance that see its role as a strategic move to link CSR into the agendas and curricula of European business schools, to bring CSR into the formal training of today’s and tomorrow’s managers. Its purpose is to galvanise the academic community at large. It aims to undertake quite large-scale research into the relationship of CSR and business, within six research domains - just one of which is “Learning and Innovation” After two years of incubation, the European Academy was launched at INSEAD in July this year. Its initial members are Ashridge, Cranfield, INSEAD, ESADE, the Copenhagen Business School, Warwick, the College of Europe and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. This group is being widened. The European Academy has EU backing and is currently seeking substantial Commission funding for an ambitious programme of work. The third model, The New Academy for Business functions as an independent business school with a strong advocacy element. It has been prominent in running a joint MSc with Bath University in Responsibility and Business Practice (part-time, two years) and MBA modules at other universities. In addition it undertakes research and organisational learning, with an emphasis on action research. 9 “Getting down to business: an agenda for corporate social innovation” Rachel Jupp, Demos 2002


The Working Group saw value in each of the models proposed. However, on balance it decided that if an Academy were to play a valuable role it should not seek to duplicate the work of organisations already in existence or produce yet another range of CSR initiatives that would complicate the existing accessibility for business and stakeholders alike. The Working Group believes that a CSR Academy could play a critical role in making a 'leap forward' in the development of CSR in the UK and internationally if it develops its own unique contribution and seeks to add value to the many bodies busily engaged in pushing forward different aspects of the CSR agenda, working alongside and in partnership with them where relevant. Stakeholders welcomed the idea of a CSR Academy both directly in consultations and through the survey questionnaire. The majority of respondents, 67%, agree on the need for a professional institution or similar body to help develop and maintain practitioner skills for CSR.

However, stakeholders in the consultations disliked the name CSR Academy, believing that it suggests either an academic or somewhat ossified institution. What stakeholders want to see is the creation of a dynamic organisation operating as a learning network to share and give focus and shape to work in progress in developing competency frameworks and in education and training provision.

The Working Group wishes to record stakeholder dissatisfaction with the name ‘CSR Academy’ and suggest further consideration of this issue as part of brand development, but for simplicity within this report the Working Group has continued to use the working title of the CSR Academy.

4.2 Purpose of CSR Academy The Working Group believes the CSR Academy needs to be a powerful agent for change: developing and supporting the people who will make change happen. The Academy should encourage change in corporate and organisational behaviour, leading to embedding responsible behaviour in organisations, to the benefit of those organisations, their stakeholders and wider society. The work of the Academy should encourage the development of qualities of integrity, transparency and accountability within organisations and their managers, giving learning opportunities and support and advice to them as they embed these qualities into their own practice and the structures and processes of their organisations. The key tool to use in its work is the CSR competency framework outlined in Figure 2 in Section 2. To carry out its mission the CSR Academy will need to make strategic use of the competency framework to explore and support the embedding of principles of responsible corporate operation in management and professional standards, in peer


group and experiential learning methods and in all forms of management education and training and the qualifications to which they lead. In order to win legitimacy the competency framework itself must be relevant and accessible to all sizes and types of organisation and to both specialist and generalist managers. To enhance and underpin public trust the competency framework must be credible with stakeholders. It will only achieve this if the Academy works with the full range of relevant practitioners, employers, and the diverse range of internal and external stakeholders. The Working Group concludes that the CSR Academy should work to change the manager mindset through utilising and developing the competency framework, combining theoretical approaches to functional management with experiential learning and development. The Working Group believes that this should be viewed as a ten to fifteen year mission. Recommendation 9 The Working Group recommends the setting up of a CSR Academy to support the growth of CSR competencies at the heart of education, training and on-going development of both specialist and general managers.

4.3 Conclusions and Recommendations on the Tasks of a CSR Academy

The Working Group believes there is a range of tasks a CSR Academy should perform if it is to be successful in embedding responsible corporate and organisational behaviour. Primarily the Academy should be a change agency, creating a learning space and acting as facilitator to encourage wider adoption of CSR within management education at all levels. Its tasks should include: Recommendation 10 In its role as the custodian of the competence framework, the Academy should keep the competency framework under periodic review through further research. It should base its work firmly within developing best practice at the cutting edge of large and small business and must secure its legitimacy by keeping professional practitioner standards current Recommendation 11 Given its principle of not duplicating work that is being well done elsewhere, the Working Group did not believe the Academy should be a primary provider of education and training, although it might define an unmet need and either design provision itself or, work with partners to ensure provision be made. However, the Academy should 'licence' use of the competency framework and standards to ensure the production of appropriate courses and qualifications, working in partnership with suppliers in market based solutions for course provisions. However the Working Group do see a role for the CSR Academy in working with partners to give practitioners access to a range of experiential learning opportunities, such as secondments, peer group learning circles, learning exchanges and visits and best practice workshops.


Recommendation 12 The Academy should have an active advice and support role to enable other organisations, whether in business, public or voluntary sectors and professional disciplines to develop their education and training programmes to underpin the embedding of CSR practice. Its advice and support service should also include referral to other organisations. The Academy might also support organisations to interpret and make use of best practice standards and benchmarks that are appropriate to their continuous improvement in their journey to embedding CSR practice within organisational functions and performance management. It also seems likely that the Academy will find itself responding to request for advice from individual managers on courses to meet their specific needs. Recommendation 13 Any 'leap forward' for experiential learning, CPD (Continuous Professional Development) and qualifications require assessment and verification. The Working Group believes the Academy should be responsible for devising strategies for the provision of assessors and verification in partnership with providing and examination bodies. Recommendation 14 The Working Group does not believe that a prime role for the Academy should be the provision of CSR case studies as these are often supplied through reward and recognition schemes run by existing organisations such as Accountability/ACCA Awards and Business in the Community. However the Academy will undoubtedly throw up a range of useful case studies and could clearly have a role in assessing case studies against the criteria and standards, and in the dissemination and strategies for replication. Recommendation 15 The Academy should work through alliances with all relevant professional institutes by using the competency framework to support these professional bodies in their exploration of what CSR practice means for their own discipline. In doing so it should assist professional institutes to embed CSR principles within the profession and the on-going education and training of professionals and the qualifications to which this leads. Recommendation 16 The Academy should have an active marketing role to promote the take up of the competency framework and any qualifications it sponsors. Recommendation 17 The Academy should contribute to policy development in all relevant partner and stakeholder organisations. It should help inform the Government's strategy for the promotion of CSR in the UK and Europe and for UK companies operating in a global environment.


Recommendation 18 The Academy should map the inter-connection between core standards and relevant disciplines in co-operation with partner organisations. Recommendation 19 The Academy should have a special brief for devising tools and support for intermediate organisations working with small and medium sized enterprises, including Business Link, trade associations, Regional Development Agencies, and the “Small Business Consortium”. 4.4 Conclusions and Recommendations on the

Organisational Structure of the CSR Academy The Working Group considered whether the Academy should have a physical presence or be virtual and, if physical, whether it needed to be a new organisation or could sit within an existing organisation. The Working Group believes that a major part of the CSR learning space itself will be supported by and disseminated through virtual networks. There will also be real added value in bringing people together to share best practice and encourage innovation and that this can only be done effectively if there is an organisation to manage the process. A number of potential existing 'homes' were considered for the location of the CSR Academy, but the Working Group concluded that given the multi-stakeholder nature of the Academy's remit and the trust it must develop it would not be appropriate for it to be sited within an existing body. Recommendation 20 The Working Group recommends that in order for the Academy to be effective and fleet of foot it needs to be an organisation with an appropriate governance structure and a small core staff. Recommendation 21 The Working Group recommends that the CSR academy should be a new and independent organisation able to develop trust with multi-stakeholder groups. The CSR Academy must be a CSR values based organisation. This should be embedded in its organisational structure and operational goals. It was recognised that the CSR Academy would need legitimacy both within the business community and also with wider stakeholders. In particular it needs to win the confidence and active support of CSR practitioners. It needs to be seen by the business community as an organisation that works in harmony with it and understands the role of business and the range of its concerns. Recommendation 22 The Working Group recommends a fair balance of the board membership that reflects the need to win the confidence of large and small employers and the specialist and general managers they employ and the wider stakeholder community without becoming too large and over bureaucratic.


Recommendation 23 The Working Group recommends that the CSR Academy should employ the methodologies of responsible corporate practice itself by being transparent and accountable and working through open consultation. In addition it should have a consultation infrastructure broadly accessible to wider stakeholder interests and the relevant linked managerial and professional disciplines. This might mean that the organisation should have a broader advisory council structure beneath its governing board. It should certainly facilitate learning circles as necessary to further the work. Recommendation 24 The Working Group recommends that the CSR Academy should have an open membership policy initially based upon organisational membership but should give consideration to an associate membership for interested individuals. Recommendation 25 The Working Group recommends that the Academy should initially have 4-5 staff members to manage administration, consultation infrastructure, membership building, the development of partnerships and alliances and the development of support and advice. These staff will also be responsible for creating and managing database and new technology functions, including the CSR Academy website (see Recommendation 7). Recommendation 26 Given the medium to longer-term nature of the CSR Academy's mission, the Working Group believes that it will take some time before it could be expected to be financially self-sufficient. The Working Group therefore recommends that government invest in the start up and maintenance costs of the CSR Academy, but that the Academy should seek to earn some of its income and develop its income streams over time, including through membership fees. The working group believes it may also be possible to achieve sponsorship funding from forward thinking organisations and businesses that recognise the need for the Academy and its work.


APPENDIX 1: Contributors to Consultations and Discussions Alan Bretherton, Director of Social Inclusion Strategy, South East England Development Agency Alan Roberts, Ethical Trading Initiative Alistair Townley, Ethical Performance Andrew Currie, Community Relations Director, BAA Beth Egan, Deputy Director, Social Market Foundation Campbell Robb, IPPR Chris Staples, Community Affairs Director, Zurich Financial Services Chris Tuppen, Head of Sustainable Development and Corporate Accountability, BT plc Coralie Abbott, Corporate Programmes Manager, Earthwatch Corrine O'Brien Craig MacKenzie, Head of Investor Responsibility, Insight Investment Management Limited David Ratcliffe, Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Trade and industry Debra Massey, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Marketing Dominique Be, Deputy Head of Unit, EU Commission Dominique Gangneux, Deloitte and Touche Ed Metcalfe, South East England Development Agency Emma Hunt, Head of Sustainable Finance Education, Forum for the Future Frieda Line, Employer Relation and Strategy Manager, Employers Forum on Age Graham Leigh, Charities Aid Foundation Helen Lo, Head of UK Social and Environmental Affairs, Unilever plc Ian Wylie, Principal Advisor, Rio Tinto Jan Walsh, Crescent Consultant Services Ltd Jennifer Woodward, PricewaterhouseCoopers Jill Manistre, Corporate Responsibility Adviser, BSkyB John Butlin, Royal Holloway Jonathan Baume, General Secretary, Association of First Division Civil Servants (FDA) Judith Barnard, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Leonard Cheshire Judith Rutherford, Chief Executive, Business Link London Julie Haney, Head of Marketing, Chelsfield plc Kate Cavelle, Manager DB Citizenship UK, Deutsche Bank Ken Peattie, Director, University of Cardiff Leonie Smith, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Tesco Linda Minnis, Head of Community Affairs, Littlewoods Mark Barthel, Head of Environment, Sustainability and CSR, British Standards Institution Mike Emmott, Adviser, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development


Mike Morley Fletcher, Head of Risk Assessment & Group Insurance Services, Marks and Spencer plc Nick Bent, Policy Network Nicky Bishop, Group Manager, Education and Professional Development, Royal Bank of Scotland Nicola Roberts, Director, British Bankers' Association Nicole Lovett, Corporate Citizenship Manager, Diageo plc Olivia Lankester, Senior Analyst Governance and Socially Responsible Investment, ISIS Asset Management Plc Patricia Peter, Corporate Governance Executive, Institute of Directors Patrick Margaria, European Foundation for Quality Management Paul Burke, Social Accountability Manager, Co-Operative Insurance Society (CIS) Peter Naude, Director of Postgraduate Programmes, Bath School of Management Peter Truesdale, The Corporate Citizenship Company Philippa Foster-Black, Director, Institute of Business Ethics Polly Courtice, Director, Cambridge Programme for Industry Ray Baker, Director of Social Responsibility, B & Q Richard Blakeley, UNIFI Richard Jones, Director, Premier Oil Sandra Rose, Head of Community Investment, The Boots Company plc Sophi Tranchell, Chief Executive, Day Chocolate Company Stephanie Draper, Principal Sustainability Adviser, Forum for the Future Stephen Alambratis, Federation of Small Businesses Stephen Hill, Principal, Royal Holloway Stephen Serpell, Board Advisor, Corporate Responsibility Group Steve Downing, Henley Management College Tim Fisher, Group Environmental Manager, P&O Tracy Smeathers, Public Relations Manager, Scott Bader Trevor Dahl, Woolworths Group PLC Yo Fung, Public Information and Advice Manager, Ethical Investment Research Services


APPENDIX 2: CSR Skills and Competencies Below is an extended statement on the CSR skills and competencies identified in Figure 1 of this report: Adaptability and Empathy Having the flexibility to adjust your approach, language and views to suite differing influencing situations, cultures and sectors Business Insight Understands the business, its customers and markets, the way it works, its structure and culture and how it relates to CSR Communication Skills Conveys ideas and information clearly and in a manner appropriate to the audience – in writing, presenting and public speaking Decision Making Evaluates the implications of various options before deciding on a course of action and then showing commitment to and accountability for that decision Developing Others Develops staff to their full potential, providing timely, constructive feedback on performance, setting challenging work assignments and objectives, and monitoring progress Commercial Awareness Understands the concepts of profit and loss, cash flow and managing budgets and using financial information effectively Building Internal Partnerships Understands the significance of and is able to take a multi-functional perspective on `strategic implementation’ issues Technical Expertise Understands trends in social and environmental issues and how they impact on organisations Influencing without Power Adapts behaviour and communication style with others to persuade, gain agreement and commitment to ideas and action Information Technology Understands how to use new technology in business and its value as a source of information


Innovation Demonstrates an enquiring mind, encourages new ideas and translates ideas into action Leadership Takes charge and adapts own leadership style to suit the situation to inspire, influence and motivate others to perform Handling Complexity Understands the implications of change in the social and political arena and its impact on the organisation Building External Partnerships Builds networks and alliances with individuals and organisations Stakeholder Dialogue Identifies stakeholders, engages in dialogue and balances competing demands Open Minded Listens to range of opinions and learns from the experience of others Integrity Has a genuine concern for social issues and acts as the conscience of the business Understanding Impacts Knows how to manage, measure and report on social impacts of the business Licence to Operate Understands the requirements of legislations, CSR standards and public opinion Questioning Business as Usual Is prepared to move away from familiar ways of thinking and working and challenges others to deal with uncertain situations comfortably Selling the Business Case Ability to communicate effectively how managing social and environmental impacts contribute to the delivery of the organisation’s strategy Internal Consultancy Personal effectiveness as a change agent and champion of CSR issues Political Savvy Understands agendas and perspectives of others, recognises and balances needs of stakeholders and the organisation


Problem Solving Identifies issues, gathers all relevant information, interprets the facts and explores all possible solutions Self Development and Learning Takes responsibility and control for own development and learning; plans for future direction Strategic Awareness Takes a strategic view of the business environment, clearly understands the business strategy Teamworking Works well in cross-functional groups with peers, subordinates and seniors; encourages participation and involvement by team members through being open and approachable.


Appendix 3: Survey Results

Below are the results of the stakeholder consultation questionnaire:

Skills and Competencies For CSR specialists % Managers in other

functions %

Influencing without power 73 Leadership 49

Selling the business case 72 Commercial awareness

48

Technical expertise 68 Decision making 47

Licence to operate

68 Developing others

Building internal partnerships 67 Communication skills 38

Communications skills 67 Respondents were asked to consider a list of 27 skills and competencies and consider how important these were for CSR specialists and for managers working in other functions (these skills and competencies are listed in Appendix 2). The majority agreed that many of these skills were important and the table above outlines the top 5. Respondents were also invited to identify any additional skills and competencies required to integrate CSR into organisations - 41% of respondents made additional suggestions. Interestingly, many of these provide more detail on certain aspects of the skills and competencies identified by the research interviewees. 64% of respondents believe there is a particular dimension to the CSR professional that sets it apart from other management disciplines. External Standards As shown below, there are a number of important external standards or guidelines that are used by companies. Just over half the respondents (51%) felt these external standards require the development of new skills, competencies or knowledge. Many of the comments made refer specifically to the need for “reporting skills” for social and environmental impacts.


Are any of the following external standards or guidelines a key part of your company’s approach to CSR? % London Benchmarking Group (LBG) 65 External awards, e.g. Business in the Community (BitC) 63

Business in the Environment – BiE Index 60 Global Report Initiative (GRI) 60 AccountAbility Principles – AA1000S 27 Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) 23 Supply Chain Standard – SA 8000 4

Training and Development The survey asked respondents about how they had gained their CSR skills. As shown in the next table the most likely approaches are keeping up to date by reading, networking, and/or by doing the job (selected by 92% or more). Which of the following have you used to develop the skills and knowledge to integrate CSR into your work? % Keeping up to date by reading 95 Networking 92 Learning by doing the job 92 Attending conferences 89 Knowledge of the activities of other companies 85 Formal external training programmes/workshops 63 Corporate Responsibility Group 60 In-house programmes/workshops 42 Experience in the voluntary sector 40 “Seeing is believing” type programme 38 Coaching from line manager 29 Other trade or professional associations 28 Experience in the public sector 23 e-learning training 11


As the data below reveals a high proportion of respondents say it is not easy to find out what CSR training is available, and a majority (61%) feel that insufficient training is available in the UK. Is it easy to find out what training and development is available in CSR? % Yes 44 No 48 Don’t Know 8 In your view are there sufficient training and development opportunities relevant to CSR issues? Yes

% No %

Don’t know %

Available in the UK 23 61 16 Available elsewhere in Europe

2 29 70

Respondents were also asked “What could be done to improve the provision of CSR training and development in the UK?” and 75% of the sample commented on this issue. Many suggestions reinforce the research findings of the report – for example, the need to move beyond a “haphazard” set of skills and to establish a definitive source of information on training. A number of questions were also raised about the value of the proliferation of CSR conferences. Most respondents (67%) believe there is a need for a professional institution to develop and maintain practitioner CSR skills. Respondents The response rate of 25% represents 68 returned questionnaires, which compares well with response rates of similar surveys. The questionnaire was distributed to a group of 267 individuals. The profile of respondents is reported below. The majority of respondents are senior managers, directors or chief executives (62% of the sample); have 3 years+ experience in a CSR related role (75%) of whom 19% have 11 years+ experience; and nearly half describe themselves as CSR specialists (46%)


How many years experience have you had in a CSR-related role? % Less than 1 year 5 1-2 years 20 3-5 years 42 6-10 years 15 11-15 years 8 16 years or more 11 What is your managerial level? % Chair/Chief Executive 9 Director/Partner 22 Senior Management 31 Middle Management 25 Junior Management 7 Other 6 What is your job function? % CSR specialist 46 Community Affairs 22 Public Affairs 0 HR 3 Marketing 1 Other 25 Within your organisation which function is primarily responsible for CSR? % CSR Specialist Team 41 Public Affairs 3 HR 0 Marketing 5 External Affairs 2 Communications 5 Government Relations 0 Environmental Management 6 Cross-functional 25 Other 14


APPENDIX 4: Education and Training Provision The research team conducted an initial analysis of current training and development provision relevant to CSR in the UK. It is clear that this is a fast moving and growing field with many institutions developing new programmes, courses and conferences. Since a comprehensive assessment of training provision was beyond the scope of this study the list below illustrates some of the current providers. Selected Training and Development Providers in the UK AccountAbility – http://www.accountability.org.uk Ashridge Centre for Business and Society - http://www.ashridge.org.uk/ British Standards Institution – http://www.bsi-global.com Cambridge Programme for Industry (Prince of Wale’s Business and the Environment Programme) - http://www.cpi.cam.ac.uk/home.html Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School - http://www.cf.ac.uk/carbs/index.html CIRIA - http://www.ciria.org.uk/ IEMA - http://www.iema.net/ Institute of Business Ethics - http://www.ibe.org.uk/Events.htm New Academy of Business - http://www.new-academy.ac.uk/ Nottingham University - http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ SGS - http://www.sgs.co.uk/ The Environment Council – http://www.the-environment-council.org.uk The National Centre for Business and Sustainability - http://www.thencbs.co.uk/ University of Bath School of Management - http://www.bath.ac.uk/ University of Cambridge - http://www.cam.ac.uk/ Warwick Business School - http://users.wbs.warwick.ac.uk/ccu/

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