608 Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Unit Overview

608 Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability is an important unit within the CMI Level 7 module that aligns the activities within the organisation to the need to improve the well-being of its immediate stakeholders. The activities of the organisation may affect different individuals within the surroundings. Activities also impact the sustainability of the environment and social environment of the Company. These impacts are associated with the organisation, therefore, create a rise to the issue of corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

This is a principle that requires the organisation to ensure that it improves the well-being or position of its immediate stakeholders. It involves being able to fulfill the obligations of the organisation to the stakeholders and ensuring that it adds value to its immediate community. Leaders need to ensure that they understand the principles of corporate social responsibility and sustainability hence ensuring that the organisations operate both legally and ethically. Understanding the principles guides leaders to establish effective measures that facilitate strategic corporate social responsibility and sustainability within their areas of responsibility.

608 Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability is a unit that aims to ensure that leaders understand the active role that they can play in providing CSR and sustainability. This unit provides the learners with an understanding of the different obligations that the organisation should play towards its stakeholders to ensure it facilitates the improvement of the social responsibility of the organisation. Additionally, the learners are guided to understand the ethical and legal frameworks that are associated with corporate social responsibility currently and in the future to ensure that they develop strategic decisions on the issue. This unit is taught in 20 hours of guided learning and contributes 6 credit values towards the completion of the module.

Suitability of the Unit

This is a unit that is applicable in different areas of the organisation. The unit helps to build understudying of the role that organisational practices should play in encouraging environmental sustainability. Therefore, tithe information and skills provided through the content of the unit can be used by different leader sot improve performance in their specific areas of responsibility. The unit is designed to meet the learning needs of the first-line managers within the organisations. These are leaders overseeing the operational level of organisational activities, and it helps them to understand their role in influencing the development of practices and procedures that are based on environmental sustainability. It also helps to ensure that the practices of their teams are guided by environmentally friendly approaches by minimising waste and reducing pollution.

However, this unit is suitable for senior and strategic managers who make tactical decisions and should ensure that the tactics and approaches used are conservative to the environment as well as executive managers within the organisation who make top-level decisions. These decisions are important in ensuring that the policies and procedures adopted within the organisation meet the set standards of being sustainable and environmentally friendly. It could include adopting renewable energy or putting up effective waste management approaches, which are duties of top managers making this unit suitable for them. The unit can also boost the skills of general employees on their contribution in establishing sustainable practices as well as external consultants who help to develop structures within the organisation by providing relevant support in decision making.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Identify and discuss the approaches that have been established within their organisations to promote corporate social responsibility and sustainability

• Identify the driving and inhibiting factors for corporate social responsibility within the organisations

• Justify the organisational commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability

• Justify the approaches to leading and implementing corporate social responsibility in an organisational context

• Recommend a strategy that can be used to influence stakeholder commitment of corporate social responsibility and sustainability

Key Learning Areas

This unit focuses on ensuring that the learners understand the principle of corporate social responsibility within their organisations and in their areas of responsibility. It is taught using both theoretical approaches and interactive programs to boost efficiency. Some of the main areas of learning covered include

Understanding Organisational Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility

This area of learning lays the principle foundations for understanding the concept of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The learners are guided to understand the patterns and trends that are exhibited within the business environment in handling the issue of CSR and sustainability. They are also guided to understand the legal and ethical principles that dictate the levels of CSR that should be implemented within the workplace and the issue of sustainability.

Lastly, the learners are introduced to the approaches that organisations can use to implement corporate social responsibility and sustainability within their companies. They are guided to understand the interpreted approach, stakeholder engagement, environment management systems, corporate philanthropy, and reporting and transparency, which are all critical tenets of implementing a corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategy. Learners are also guided to understand factors that promote and that inhibit the implementation of an effective CSR and sustainability policy within the workplace

Application of CSR and Sustainability

This area of learning helps the learners understand the actual process so creating and implementing CSR and sustainability policies within the workplace learners are guided to understand the alignment f the organisation's purpose, values, and visions to the need for CSR and sustainability, ensuring that the approaches contribute towards meeting the goals and objectives of the organisation.

Additionally, this area of learning introduces the need for data to ensure that the approaches that have been developed for implementation are aligned with the evidence available to the organisation. By understanding this principle, the leaders are able to engage in communication with stakeholders to improve commitment towards the policies.

Evaluation

On completing the unit, the learners are required to complete an evaluation process that determines the accomplishment of learning goals and objectives. The assessment includes a written assessment where the learners are provided with a template that they are required to complete. The template evaluates both the practical and theoretical capabilities hence increasing understanding of the process of learning.