Example of Corporate Social Responsibility

Posted on November 15th, 2009 in Social Responsibility by mag10

One example of corporate social responsibility was the problem that AMCOR had with its employees and energy consumption. AMCOR wanted to save more energy by turning off the machines at the end of a shift. The problem was that the employees weren’t participating in the program. AMCOR wanted a way to get the employees involved in the plan without seeming too overbearing or ordering. So, AMCOR PR professionals came up with a play to get the employees involved. They made up training videos that dealt with environmental issues and how these issues affected the employees. They also told the employees the importance of turning off the machines and when and how to do it. This PR plan worked and AMCOR conserved a lot more energy through this “go green” plan. (http://www.ogilvypr.com/en/case-study/amcor)

     This example is corporate social responsibility because the organization was concerned with the environment and with its employees. It wanted to take some of the pressure off the environment by turning off the machines but they also wanted to make their employees feel like they were part of the decision to do so. This impacted the lives of the employees by showing them environmental problems that affected them and making them feel like they were a part of the solution. It also showed the the organization was concerened with hows its activities affected the environment and that they took responsibility for those effects.

What is the role of the PR practitioner in corporate social responsibility?

Posted on November 15th, 2009 in Social Responsibility by mag10

Corporate social responsibility is defined by the Sustainability Blog as a concept where organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholder, communities, and the environment in their operations. (http://www.sustainabilityblog.org/2007/11/13/what-is-corporate-social-responsibility/)     From this definition, the PR practitioner has to think further in to how the organizations affects these important aspects of life. They have to concentrate on making sure the people have a better life and do not hurt the environment or community through their activities. The PR practitioner must be able to know what is at stake in every position the organization could be in, know what the society expects, and know how to show the company how to do business responsibly and ethically.