Corporate Social Responsibility – Should CSR Programs be a Part of your HR Strategy?

Any company’s success is dependent on one factor more than any others: its people. People are guided and united not merely by common goals but more so by values. But what drives people? As it turns out, a substantial part of people’s decisions and actions are based on their personal beliefs. Beyond the obvious motivational factors such as salary, prestige and other perks, people’s energy and enthusiasm in the workplace are directly dependent upon their perception of their employer’s core values and how these values match their own belief system. Thus the importance of formulating values in a proactive way becomes paramount for all who want to be successful in business. And this is what corporate social responsibility or CSR is all about, it is the way in which this success is sought and these values are acted upon in business.

These days, corporations are not perceived as faceless entities that remain outside the social order, but as corporate citizens, whose worth is both measured by their economic success and by their social behaviour. The Harvard Strategist Michael Porter even establishes the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility.

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