No such thing as a free drink?
A good friend of yours who studies at the same university has been complaining for some time to you that he never has any money. He decides that he needs to go out and find a job, and after searching for a while, he is offered a job as a bartender in the student bar at your university. He gladly accepts and begins working three nights a week. You too are pleased, not only because it means that your friend will have more money, but also because the fact is that you often go to student bar anyway and so will continue to see him quite frequently despite him having the new job. The extra money is indeed much welcomed by your friend (especially as he has less time to spend it now too), and initially he seems to enjoy the work. You are also rather pleased with developments since you notice that whenever you go up to the bar, your friend always serves you first regardless of how many people are waiting at the time.
After a while though, it becomes apparent that your friend is enjoying the job rather less. Whenever you see him, he always seems to have a new story of mild, but annoying treatment at the hands of the bar manager, such as getting the worst shifts, being repeatedly chosen to do the least popular jobs, and being reprimanded for the kind of minor blunders which go uncensured for the rest of the staff.
This goes on for a short while, and then one day, when you are in the bar having a drink with some of your other friends, your friend the bartender does something that you are not quite sure how to react to. When you go up to pay for a round of four beers for you and your other friends, he discreetly only charges you for one. Whilst you are slightly uncomfortable with this, you certainly don’t want to get your friend into any kind of trouble by mentioning it. And when you tell your friends about it, they of course think it is very funny and congratulate you for the cheap round of drinks! In fact, when the next one of your friends goes up to pay for some drinks, he turns around and asks you to take his money, so that you can do the same trick for him. Although you tell him to get his own drinks, your friend the bartender continues to undercharge you whenever it is your turn to go to the bar. In fact this goes on for a number of visits, until you resolve to at least say something to him when no one else behind the bar is listening. However, when you do end up raising the subject he just laughs it off and says, ‘Yeah, it’s great isn’t it? They’ll never notice and you get a cheap night out. Besides, it’s only what this place deserves after the way I’ve been treated.’
Here are 3 definitions of corporate social responsibility. Two of them are in French, and the other one in English.
« CSR is concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a responsible manner. “Ethically or responsible” means treating stakeholders in a manner deemed acceptable in civilized societies. Social includes economic and environmental responsibility. Stakeholders exist both within a firm and outside. The wider aim of social responsibility is to create higher and higher standards of living, while preserving the profitability of the corporation, for people both within and outside the corporation. »
« Des initiatives corporatives volontaires à caractère social et environnemental allant au-delà des obligations fixées par la loi. »
« L’intégration volontaire des préoccupations sociales et écologiques des entreprises à leurs activités commerciales et leurs relations avec leurs parties prenantes. »
Smart corporations follow these simple rules in their effort to become sustainable:
This "CR Salience Model", used by Cranfield University, is interesting and worth sharing.
Source, p.18