Corporate social responsibility: a stages framework

This article speculates whether British companies evolved more effective systems, practices, and procedures for implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental policies within the period 1994-2004. It is found out that CSR and environmental issues have become increasingly significant in large companies. This is because corporate image and reputation are often factors in the equation leading to competitive success. Benefits may not always be readily quantifiable, but the costs of reputational loss can be dramatic

Changing corporate attitudes towards environmental policy

Purpose – To report findings from an updated survey of environmental policy and practice among UK organizations. To draw conclusions about the relationship between environmental concerns and organizational strategy making. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports findings from a 1999 survey of 911 UK organizations, updated by interviews conducted with participant organizations in 2004. The paper represents an extension of a ten-year longitudinal study of environmental policy and practice in UK organizations. Findings – The gap between policy formulation and implementation in the environmental area has continued to narrow, but environmental concerns appear not to have moved towards the centre of the strategy making process in many firms. Organizations are still primarily influenced by short-term rather than long-term imperatives, and although recognition of opportunity offered by the environment is increasing, organizations are still liable to adopt a reactive position, increasingly so as the size of the organization decreases. Research limitations/implications – It offers a contribution to the debate over the ongoing relationship between organizational strategy and environmental factors as a determinant of organizational strategy. It locates the debate in the wider discussion of determinants of organizational strategy. Practical implications – It highlights the complex decision-making processes facing managers in satisfying a variety of stakeholders who may be making competing demands of their organization. Originality/value – The paper offers a longitudinal review of changes to environmental policy and practice among UK organizations, providing an opportunity to explore the nature of change over a ten-year period

Punctuated and continuous change: The UK water industry

Punctuated change is usually defined as a discontinuity in organizational development and is traditionally associated with environmental turbulence; it is also associated with step changes in the performance of an organization. Starting from Gersick (1991), we discuss the foundations of the punctuated�incremental change paradox, and lay out hypotheses regarding the moments when such change is adopted and its economic effect. We explore these ideas through a study of the UK water industry: a contrived macro experiment. Following privatization, the ten major companies all faced similar pressures to adjust, but adopted widely differing responses. We find that the response to privatization was not always punctuated change, and that punctuated change processes were not necessarily superior to continuous processes. We contrast our findings with Romanelli and Tushman (1994), exploring the reasons why our results are so dissimilar

The concept of ideology and work motivation

Shamir (1991: 405) noted that 'current reviews of work-motivation theories are unanimous in their dissatisfaction with the state-of-the-art'. He concluded that existing theories offer an inadequate account of the impetus of employ ment and should be 'supplemented by a self-concept based theory of work motivation'. This paper suggests that the concept of ideology can provide a foundation for this kind of theory. First, it attempts to elucidate the explanatory power of the concept of ideology in the context of understanding the effective performance of organizational members. Second, it indicates how ideology can be shown to address the issues of organizational dynamism which Shamir found to be problematic. Third, it shows how the nature of ideologic, in con junction with the substance of ideological belief, offers an explanation of the variety to be found in organizational behaviour

The domain of professional business ethics

This article attempts to further the discussion of Iain Mangham's (1995) consideration of Alistair MacIntyre's reflections on the moral character of the manager in Vol. 2(2) of this journal. In the same volume, Anthony suggests that, after the denigration of this moral character effected by MacIntyre and his ilk, both professors and practitioners of business management `need new ethics' (Anthony, 1995: 293). Other contributions by Rundles (1995), Goodpaster (1995), Deetz (1995) and Nash (1995) go some way towards satisfying that craving. They have brought us back to earth from the celestial heights of MacIntyre's panoramic vision of the moral malaise he claims afflicts the management world below. Following that lead this down-to-earth article specifically addresses the question: what are the constitutive requirements of a professional code of business conduct comparable with those of other professions? The objective of this exercise is to locate the absolute presuppositions of the moral obligations of business management in a free market economy and to spell out the logical requirements of their practical satisfaction

Complexity dynamics: managerialism and undesirable emergence in healthcare organisations

Managerialist approaches to change have been applied to many public sector organizations including health care, but little attention has been given to how complexity dynamics can lead to undesirable emergences in such contexts to the detriment of motivation, commitment, performance and long term organizational adaptiveness. This article describes complexity dynamics and explains why and how they can lead to undesirable and unethical emergences in top-down driven change programmes. In particular it considers the problem of toxic workplace cultures, a phenomenon which has flourished in some health care environments. Complexity dynamics can explain why such cultures emerge. Complexity theory suggests alternative management approaches which can deliver adaptive change without the human and organizational costs of such undesirable side-effects