Managing Corporate Responsibility/Corporate Citizenship
MD 845
Spring 2004
Dr. Sandra A. Waddock
Boston College
Carroll School of Management
http://www2.bc.edu/~waddock/
Work Phone: 617-552-0477
e-mail: waddock@bc.edu
Fax: 617-552-0433
Office Hours: Fridays, 11-12:00
Mondays 5:00-6:30, by arrangement
Companies today are caught in a crossfire of external (and sometimes internal) demands
related to how they manage their responsibilities to a wide range of stakeholders,
including employees, investors, suppliers, customers, communities, and national
governments where they operate, particularly where long supply chains exist in
developing nations. This course explores the evolution and implementation of
responsibility management systems that operationalize corporate citizenship, which are
comparable in many respects to quality and environmental management systems. Many
global companies, particularly those with long global supply chains, have been hard hit
by negative media reports about their corporate practices. Such companies have
implemented codes of conduct and are rapidly evolving responsibility management
systems that enable them to cope with their multi-faceted stakeholder responsibilities.
Topical coverage includes: systems thinking, responsibility management approaches,
vision setting and leadership commitment processes, integration of values, systemic
approaches to responsibility management, stakeholder dialogue and relationship-building,
innovation and improvements, and indicators (measurement and assessment systems).
Students will undertake a hands-on (work-based or action) learning project in an
organization of their choice, preferably their employer although other organizations
where changes can be initiated are also feasible subject organizations.
Course format: Pre-readings will be required and students will undertake a hands-on,
work- (or other organization-) based learning project to implement ideas discussed in the
course and present their project at the end of the course. The course will meet in a
condensed format for three Friday/Saturday and one Saturday only session at which the
projects will be presented. Pre-reading is required for each session. The general session
schedule is below:
Schedule 2005
Meets: Fridays: 1-5
Saturday 8:30-3:30 (bring lunch/snacks/drinks)
Dates January 21-22
January 28-29
February 4-5
Project write-up due: February 26 (Paper copy required to me at my office.)
Project presentations: April 3, 9:00-1:00
Course Objectives
The objectives of this course are:
 To have students develop an understanding of how companies are currently managing
stakeholder and environmental responsibilities throughout their organizations and
supply/distribution chains.
 To develop the organizational change processes and leadership skills needed to
implement a responsibility management process in the context of an real organization.
 To understand the benefits and limitations of responsibility management in the
current globally competitive context of business.
Grading Criteria
Because this course is in an intense format with an action-learning orientation, the course
grade will be based on five factors, leading discussions of assigned readings, active,
engaged participation in learning activities during the class, project proposal and action
plan, the final work-based learning project, and a peer-evaluated final presentation.
Attendance is mandatory. Grading will be structured as follows:
Participation
Reading discussion leadership
Project proposal and action plan
Final project
Project presentation
25%
10%
15%
40%
10%
100%
(throughout)
(as assigned)
(due week 2)
(due at presentation)
(peer evaluated, mandatory)
Reading Discussion Leadership
All participants are required to lead a discussion of one of the assigned readings for the
whole class (this may be done in pairs, depending on numbers in the course). To do this
effectively, you should prepare a one-two-page handout summarizing the key points of
the reading and raising 3-5 key questions to be discussed by the class. Because the
course is highly interactive and depends on students having read the materials, you are
responsible for ensuring adequate participation in the discussion of the reading by the rest
of the class.
Written Reports
Two written reports are required. All written reports need to integrate theory and practice
by citing and using relevant readings/theories to build a ‘case’ for the change, and
provide conceptual links between the theories studied (here or elsewhere). You need to
include (and reflect on) the organizational practices that you believe need to be changed,
as well as your own (potential) leadership/change agent role in that process. The final
paper needs to show personal reflection on the effectiveness of your own role in the
change process you initiate. Papers without adequate reference to readings or reflection
cannot and will not receive a grade above “C.” All papers should be stapled (upper left
corner), single spaced, double spaced between paragraphs (no covers, please), with a
cover/title page with your name on it. Exhibits do not count in the page limit and should
be included as necessary to convey your points, show your analyses, and provide
background reflections or information. Reflective components of the paper should
provide insight into your thinking, rationales for action, effectiveness in action, how well
the theories actually worked for you, and what you would change next time and why.
Project proposal and action plan
The project proposal and action plan (3-5 pages, single space, double-spaced between
paragraphs) should contain the following elements:





Inspiration: Description of the proposed responsibility management project and
needed changes, including details of why the change is needed.
 Description of organizational context in which the change is to be made,
including expected allies, opportunities, and obstacles to the change.
 Rationale for the proposed responsibility management change with citations to
assigned (and other related) readings to provide a conceptual rationale for the
need for the change.
 What stakeholders/natural environmental processes are involved and need to be
included? Why?
Integration: How will you integrate your idea into current practices? If fully
implemented, how would your idea change strategy? What management systems,
functions, or practices need to change and how? How will you go about gathering
allies to help with this change, getting management support for it, and actually
integrating the change into practices? You should also reflect on your own potential
leadership role in effecting the change.
Improvement and Innovation: Describe your hoped-for outcomes and provide a
rationale for why you believe this outcomes would represent an innovation or
improvement.
Indicators: How will you assess the effectiveness of your initiative?
What is your action plan going forward?
Final Report
The final project (10-12 pages or as needed) should contain:
 Revised and improved versions of all of the above (Inspiration, Integration,
Improvement/Innovation, and Indicators), including the addition of relevant
references to readings done since the first draft, plus…
 Implementation: A description of what actually happened (to date) as you began the
implementation process, an honest assessment of your role in that process, provision
of any results (indicators) to date. Use of the readings to reflect on how well the
theory works in practice is required here.
 What next? A projection of the project’s future and its implications for the
organization, especially as they relate to responsibility management.
 Personal reflection: A reflection on your leadership, what you learned, and how you
would have done things differently to make the initiative even better.
Note: Some (many or most?) projects will likely not be fully implemented within the
short time frame of this course, so you may well have to report on a work-in-progress.
That is OK as long as you cover all of the relevant sections in your final project report.
Project Presentation
All projects will be presented individually with peer comments and feedback during the
morning of the last session. Consolidation of learning and steps for the future will be
considered during the final session.
MD 845: Managing Corporate Responsibility
Syllabus
Note: All readings must be done prior to the session in which they are to be used so that
the discussion can be focused and fruitful and the readings can be applied to the
development ideas and projects for this course. At least one person is responsible for
leading the discussion on each reading, and preparing a short handout summarizing key
points and articulating 3-5 questions raised by the reading for class discussion.
Session 1: Context, Inspiration, Responsibility Management, Change Management
Project development and planning, Action planning, Leadership
Friday Afternoon:
Systems Thinking:
 Peter Senge, The Leader's New Work: Building learning Organizations, Sloan
Management Review, Fall 1990, 7-23.
 Peter Senge: Appendix 2: System Archetypes, from The Fifth Discipline, Free Press,
1990, pp. 378-390.
Is Responsibility the New Business Imperative
Activity: Is change needed? Project brainstorming.
Discussion: Leadership: What is the leader’s new work? Is responsibility management a
new business imperative?
Exercise: What is your company’s worst nightmare with respect to stakeholders,
environment, and practice?
Exercise: Little local nightmares.
Saturday Morning:
Inspiration
 Collins & Porras: Building Your Company’s Vision, Harvard Business Review,
September-October 1996, 65-77.
 Charles Handy: What’s a Business For? Harvard Business Review, December 2002,
49-53.
Foundation Values
 Thomas Donaldson. Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home. Harvard
Business Review, September-October 1996, Reprint # 96402, 1-12.
Please look at the standards/codes and principles on the following Websites
 OECD, OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises,
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2000doc.nsf/LinkTo/daffe-ime(2000)20

ILO, ILO's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work,
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/decl/declaration/text/index.htm

UNO, UN Global Compact,
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/un/gc/unweb.nsf/content/thenine.htm

UNHCHR, Universal Declaration on Human Rights,
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm

Agenda 21,
http://www.unep.org/documents/default.asp?documentid=52&articleid=75

Rio Declaration,
http://www.unep.org/documents/default.asp?DocumentID=78&ArticleID=1163

The Global Sullivan Principles, http://globalsullivanprinciples.org/principles.htm
Activity: Finding vision
Project identification
Exercise: Values in tension. Are there hypernorms? Universal standards and principles?
In-class exercise/cases.
Saturday Afternoon
The Change Process: What does it take to make responsible change? Become a leader?
 Prepare: Effecting changing for your project. Questions for Consideration: What
Does It Take to Make Change? Who needs to be involved? What is the role of allies
and other stakeholder?
Readings:
 Schein, E.H. (1993): How Can Organizations Learn Faster? The Challenge of
Entering the Green Room, Sloan Management Review, 34 (2): 85-92.
 Kotter, J. P. (1995). Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review,
March-April, pp. 59-67.
Activity: Making change… .
Stakeholder Engagement and Dialogue:
 William N. Isaacs, Taking Flight: Dialogue, Organizational Learning, and Collective
Thinking, Organizational Dynamics, Autumn 1993, 22 (2): 24-40.
Activity: Engagement and dialogue exercise. Listening and hearing from a centered
place.
Session 2: Integration, Indicators, and Improvements
Friday Afternoon:
Integrating Responsibility into Management Systems: What are the Underlying Values?
 Waddock & Bodwell: From TQM to TRM: Total Responsibility Management
Approaches, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Autumn 2002, 113-126.
 Liedtka (1998). Constructing an Ethic for Business Practice: Competing Effectively
and Doing Good. Business and Society, 37 (3), September, 254-280.
Discussion: The TRM-TQM link: is it for real?
Activity: What ethics?
Activity: What systems? Exercise: Living systems diagnosis.
Saturday Morning:
Specific Issues and Underlying Values toward Responsibility Management
The Sustainability Imperative:
 Lovins, Amory B., L. Hunter Lovins, and Paul Hawken (1999). “A Road Map for
Natural Capitalism,” Harvard Business Review, May-June, 145-158.
 Maxwell, Rothenberg, Briscoe, Marcus: Green Schemes: Corporate Environmental
Strategies and their Implementation , California Management Review, Spring 1997,
39 (1): 116-134.
Employee Link
 Pfeffer, Jeffrey and John F. Veiga (1999). Putting People First for Organizational
Success. Academy of Management Executive, 1999, 12 (2): 37-48.
 Jeffrey Polzer, Leading Teams, Harvard Business School, 9-403-094
Lecture and Discussion: emergence of global standards, principles, and reporting
schemes.
Activity: Identifying core values, developing standards for your project.
Activity: Creating shared vision (Fifth Discipline Fieldbook)
Saturday Afternoon:
Organizational Transformation and Leadership
 Prepare: Thinking about your project: What makes transformation successful? What
do leaders at all levels of the organization need to do and know?

D.A. Nadler, M.L. Tushman, Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and
Organization, California Management Review, Winter 1990, 77-97.
Activity/Discussion: On leadership, your leadership. Gathering a guiding coalition.
Finding allies for change. Leadership from the middle.
Activity: action learning project development.
Activity: Force field analysis—obstacles and opportunities for project development.
What’s needed?
Video (if accessible)
Session 3: Innovation, Improvement and Indicators , Transformation and Change
Friday Afternoon
Innovation, Improvement, and Indicators for Institutionalizing Change
 P. Drucker, The Discipline of Innovation, Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec. 1998,
149-157.
 C. Markides, Strategic Innovation, Sloan Management Review, Spring 1997, 9-23.
 Waddock and Smith, Corporate Responsibility Audits: Doing Well by Doing Good,
Sloan Management Review, Winter 2000, 75-83.
Please review the following websites to help you develop your own indicators:
 FLA, FLA Monitoring Guidance and Compliance Benchmark, Fair Labour
Association, http://oracle02.ilo.org:6060/vpidocuments/NGO_FLA_eng.pdf




Weiss, Preparing for Human and Labour Rights Reporting: Suggested Benchmarks
for Multinational Corporations, Price Waterhouse Coopers, 2000
http://www.globalreporting.org/Archives/March1999Feedback/Commissioned/PWC
HumanAndLaborRights.pdf
Weiss, Developing Social Indicators for Use in GRI Sustainability Reporting, Price
Waterhouse Coopers, Sep 1999,
http://www.globalreporting.org/Events/September1999/BackgroundDocuments/Socia
l-Weiss.pdf

AccountAbility, Accountability 1000 (AA1000), Nov 1999,
http://oracle02.ilo.org:6060/vpidocuments/CO_Accountability_1.pdf

Weiss, Developing Social Indicators for Use in GRI Sustainability Reporting,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sep 1999,
http://www.globalreporting.org/Events/September1999/BackgroundDocuments/Socia
l-Weiss.pdf

Activity: Developing multiple bottom-line indictors that measure success.
Activity: Deciding where transformation can happen.
Saturday Morning
Transformation: The Soulful Learning Organization
 D. A. Garvin, Building a Learning Organization, Harvard Business Review,
July/August 1993, 78-93.
Activity: Creating your own learning enterprise.
Case: Transformation in reality
Soulful vs. Soulless organizations: Meaning and organizational transformation.
Building in responsibility.
Project measurements, innovations, improvements.
Saturday Afternoon
Sustaining Transformation:
 Robert H. Miles: Accelerating Corporate Transformations by Rapidly Engaging All
Employees. Organizational Dynamics, 2001, 29 (4): 313-321.
 Jane Fiona Cumming: Engaging Stakeholder in Corporate Accountability
Programmes: A Cross-Sectoral Analysis of UK and Transnational Experience.
Business Ethics: A European Review, 2001.
Project planning and implementation.
How do you sustain the project over time?
Project Write-Ups Due (Paper, my office): March 26
Session 4:
Project Presentations
Wrap-Up and Review
Where have we been, what have we learned? What do you take away?