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Managerial applications of corporate social responsibility and systems thinking for achieving sustainability outcomes
Author(s) -
Porter Terry B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.902
Subject(s) - corporate social responsibility , sustainability , typology , variety (cybernetics) , process (computing) , corporate sustainability , business , ideology , process management , systems thinking , knowledge management , management science , computer science , public relations , sociology , economics , political science , ecology , artificial intelligence , politics , anthropology , law , biology , operating system
There is a gap between organizations' intentions to adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and their provision of a clear strategy and management tools for practically realizing such intentions. In particular, the literature to date has not yet developed a pragmatic, descriptive summary of firms' designs for CSR adoption, along with a practical menu of ways to implement their designs in organizational systems. To address these gaps, this paper aims to make three principle contributions. First, it defines CSR, sustainability and their relationship in practical terms. Second, it develops a typology of CSR standpoints that incorporates a number of other classifications. Third, it offers a menu of practical methods and measurement metrics based on interpretive and complex adaptive systems perspectives. The result is a hands‐on guide to the process of achieving sustainability goals and objectives from a variety of ideological positions and systems designs, thereby contributing to both managerial practice and sustainability theory. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.