Going Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility for Society Building

Abstract

Human Resources is no longer a function merely concerned either with maintaining canteens, latrines and crèches or a group of officers ensuring the compliance  with a set a regulations as required by a set of regulators. Today HR is a force to be reckoned with in any organisation. HR Managers are an integral part of the corporate decision making and decision executing processes at the strategic level. Their ambit of concern has gone beyond the walls of the company, well past the well-being of the stakeholders and into the future developmental growth of civil society as such. It is in this environment that business ethics and corporate governance combine to produce conditions for attaining organisational excellence. One of the manifestations of excellence is undoubtedly Corporate Social Responsibility. However, CSR itself has undergone a metamorphosis and from corporate charity it has moved to corporate philanthropy and thence to CSR coming to a stop with the Triple Bottom Line. In this paper the two authors argue that the concerns of HR extend beyond CSR and we need to get rid of the self-centred, close minded and blinkered attitude to people management. We need to adapt to the changing scenario and move fast if we are to even remain in the market. The charter given to the HR Manager is ipso facto extended and enhanced. The point we need to seriously cogitate upon and debate is: are we up to the task? And, if we are, how are we going to go about doing it?

Keywords: Corporate, society, social responsibility