Social Resposibility

QUALITY AND ETHICS

Corporate Social Responsibility by Denis Leonard and Rodney McAdam

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usiness scandals involving high profile organizations such as Enron and WorldCom have rocked the corporate world and be-come front-page news. This has shaken consumer confidence in both business leaders and the economy, creating concern about

In 50 Words Or Less
• Recent scandals may be awakening corporate America to its social responsibilities. • Quality has a foundation in ethics through the teachings of Crosby, Deming, Juran and Ishikawa. • Corporate social responsibility can be advanced more rapidly if it is incorporated into established quality management models and methodologies.

business ethics and governance. As a result, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important. CSR, which includes such elements as environmental protection, social equity and economic growth, has a strong affinity with the founding principles of quality management. With CSR being adopted by many as the means of assuring values based corporate governance, the quality community now has the opportunity and responsibility to take leadership in promoting ethical business practices and driving CSR to regain consumer confidence.

What Is CSR?
The International Organization for Standardization, known as ISO, strategic advisory group on CSR describes it as “a balanced approach for organizations to address economic, social and environmental issues in a way that aims to benefit people, communities and society.”1 CSR includes consideration of such issues as: • Human rights. • Workplace and employee issues, including occupational health and safety. • Unfair business practices. • Organizational governance. • Environmental aspects.

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QUALITY AND ETHICS

• Marketplace and consumer issues. • Community involvement. • Social development. Ethics and values are essentials on which businesses are founded and through which success

References: 1. International Organization for Standardization strategic advisory group on corporate social responsibility, preliminary working definition of organizational social responsibility, ISO/TMB AGCSR N4, 2002. 2. Amy Borrus, Mike McNamee, William Symonds, Nanette Byrnes and Andrew Park, “Reform: Business Gets Religion,” BusinessWeek, Feb. 3, 2003, pp. 40-41. 3. National Institute of Standards and Technology news release, remarks by the President related to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Ceremony, Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC, March 7, 2002. 4. News release, Business for Social Responsibility, www. bsr.org, June 10, 2002. 5. Philip Crosby, Quality Without Tears: The Art of Hassle Free Management, McGraw-Hill International, 1986. 6. W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis, MIT Press, 1986. 7. J.M. Juran and Frank M. Gryna, Quality Planning and Analysis, third edition, McGraw-Hill, 1993. 8. Kaoru Ishikawa, What Is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way, translated by David J. Lu, Prentice Hall, 1985. 9. March Laree Jacques, “The Call of Quality: Doing Right Things Right,” Quality Progress, September 1999, pp. 48-54. 10. Larry Reynolds, Beyond Total Quality Management, Sheldon Business Books, 1994. 11. Liz Keim, “Corporate Wrongdoing: A Betrayal of Quality Principles,” public statement by ASQ president, ASQ website, www.asq.org, 2002. 12. Denis Leonard and Rodney McAdam, “Grounded Theory Methodology and Practitioner Reflexivity in TQM Research,” International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 18, Nos. 2 and 3, 2001, pp. 180-194. 13. Denis Leonard and Rodney McAdam, “The Strategic Dynamics of Total Quality Management: A Grounded Theory Research Study,” Quality Management Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 1, 2002, pp. 50-62. 14. John DallaCosta, The Ethical Imperative: Why Moral Leadership Is Good Business, Perseus Books, 1998. 15. Bohdan W. Oppenheim and Zbigniew H. Przasnyski, “Total Quality Requires Serious Training,” Quality Progress, October 1999, pp. 63-73. 16. Business for Social Responsibility, www.bsr.org. 17. Lois Lavelle, “The Best and Worst Boards: How the 32 Corporate Scandals Are Sparking a Revolution in Governance,” BusinessWeek, Oct. 7, 2002, pp. 104-114. 18. International Organization for Standardization press release, Ref 8000, Sept. 10, 2001. 19. International Standard, SA8000, Social Accountability International, 1997. 20. Baldrige National Quality Program, Criteria for Performance Excellence, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2003. 21. Rick L. Edgeman, Su Mi Park Dahlgaard, Jens J. Dahlgaard and Franz Scherer, “On Leaders and Leadership,” Quality Progress, October 1999, pp. 49-54. 22. W.W. George, “Mission Driven, Values Centered, Executive Excellence,” Magazine of Leadership Development, Managerial Effectiveness and Organizational Productivity, Vol. 16, No. 8, 1999, p. 6. 23. Deming, Out of the Crisis, see reference 6. 24. Aaron Bernstein, “Low Skilled Jobs, Do They Have To Move?” BusinessWeek, Feb. 26, 2001, pp. 94-95. 25. Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, Random House Business Books, 2001. 26. David Grayson, “The CSR Brand,” Quality World, 2003, pp. 10-12. DENIS LEONARD is quality manager for Veridian Homes, Madison, WI. He earned a doctorate in quality management from the University of Ulster in Jordanstown, Northern Ireland. Leonard is a Senior Member of ASQ and an ASQ certified quality manager and auditor. RODNEY MCADAM is a senior lecturer and director of the MBA programs at the School of Management, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. He formerly worked in the aerospace industry and is an author, speaker and supervisor of four doctoral students in the area of strategic organizational change management. Please comment If you would like to comment on this article, please post your remarks on the Quality Progress Discussion Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail them to [e-mail]. I OCTOBER 2003 I www.asq.org