2015
The implementation of social
responsible practices within the
public sector - The case of Dutch
ministries
Student: Ahlam El Mhamdi (6165222) Supervisor: Dr. A.E. Kourula
When it comes to corporate social responsibility, the public sector has a mandating, facilitating, partnering and endorsing role (Fox et al, 2002, p. 3). However, how are public sector organizations dealing with corporate social responsibility within the organization? This study tries to find out how public organizations implement social responsible practices, what kind of tools are used for this and how is the successfulness of it measured. Therefore the motives, conditions, practices and outcomes are assessed by performing a multiple – casetudy among 7 Dutch ministries. In terms of the approach, this study partially has a deductive and partially an inductive approach which starts from a gathering of data through semi-structured interviews and then explores the data to see which themes or issues will follow up ( Glacer and Strauss, 1967), (Schatzman and Strauss, 1973), (Strauss and Corbin, 2008), (Yin, 2003). For the deductive approach the framework of Sangle (2009) will be used as a basis to help finding out how to measure the conditions of a successful implementation of social responsible practices. The study finds that there is a framework available for the Dutch ministries in which the sustainability agenda (Green Growth Letter, 2013) is outlined. However, looking inside the ministries and comparing their approach of how social responsible practices are implemented, and what kind of tools they use, the study shows that some ministries have a rather systematic approach following the Plan (Outline the policy related to social responsible practices) Do (Distribute and implement the policy throughout the organization) Check (assess whether the policy has been implemented and if there are possible improvements) Act (implement the improvements) – cycle. Some ministries are choosing for a more integrated approach within their primary process, which means that social responsible practices are more embedded within the primary process. Others are still in a development phase where they are trying to search for support either from the top or the bottom of the organization. As the study also have shown that motives and conditions are part of the determination to a
Abstract
successful implementation of the social responsible practices towards the outcomes within the public sector. Ĵ
1. INTRODUCTION ... 5
1.1BACKGROUND... 5
1.2RESEARCH PROBLEM AND QUESTION ... 6
1.3KEY DEFINITIONS ... 8
1.5STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY ...10
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 11
2.1CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ...11
2.2IMPLEMENTATION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ...13
2.3PUBLIC SECTOR AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBLE PRACTICES ...15
2.4CONDITIONS ...16 2.5THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...17 3. METHODOLOGY ... 20 3.1RESEARCH DESIGN ...20 3.2SAMPLING ...22 3.3DATA GATHERING ...22 3.4DATA ANALYSIS ...24
3.5EVALUATION OF RESEARCH QUALITY ...25
4. RESULTS ... 26
4.1THE CASE OF THE DUTCH MINISTRIES. ...26
4.2MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ...29
4.2MINISTRY OF DEFENSE ...31
4.3MINISTRY OF FINANCIAL AFFAIRS ...33
4.4MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENT ...35
4.5COURT OF AUDIT -THE COUNCIL OF STATE. ...37
4.6MINISTRY OF EDUCATION,CULTURE AND SCIENCE. ...38
4.7MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS. ...41
4.8CROSS – CASE ANALYSIS ...42
5. DISCUSSION ... 50
6. CONCLUSION ... 54
REFERENCES ... 59
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
n the Netherlands the approach for corporate social responsibility tends to be a more personalized approach and the government rejects general regulation as a tool for supporting CSR (Moon, 2004, p. 20 - 21) The Social Economic Council (2001) therefore states that the reason for the personalized approach is that stakeholders can form a clear opinion of corporate social responsibility when bringing parties together, developing and disseminating know-how and above all, promoting transparency. In general, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has defined corporate social responsibility as “the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life”. In addition Fox et al. (2002) state that corporate social responsibility is at heart a process of managing the costs and benefits of business activity to both internal (for example, workers, shareholders, investors) and external (institutions of public governance, community members, civil society groups, other enterprises) stakeholders. They further address that setting the boundaries for how those costs and benefits are managed is partly a question of business policy and strategy and partly a question of public governance. According to Moon (2004) the term governance in this case denotes the system which ‘provides direction to society’ (Peters. 1996, p. 51-52) and is thus wider than government alone. He states that it can be formal authoritative institutions and organizations and processes of the public sector. Besides that the public sector has this important role, nowadays the trend of corporate social responsibility is growing to a more active role. For example advertisements around us that try to convince us to be green and how to live green. Especially for companies. According to Nasrullah and Rahim (2014) companies around the world are giving more importance to CSR and are using it as a business strategy into their policies and business practices. They point out three reasons why there is a growing importance for companies to apply CSR. The first one is from a I
hering
business perspective and that is that companies are trying to protect their brand image and reputation of business act (Nasrullah and Rahim, 2014, p.41). The second one is from an international perspective and that is that for the sake of promoting CSR voluntary codes of conduct and other partnership and networking activities are adopted by various Non-governmental organizations, multi-stakeholders forms and intergovernmental CSR initiatives (Nasrullah and Rahim, 2014, p. 41). The third one is from a national perspective and that is that corporations are adopting CSR as a policy matter of the business in response to the rising demands of different interests of stakeholders, competition for access into global markets and satisfying social needs (Nasrullah and Rahim, 2014, p. 41). As also mentioned in the beginning of this section the public sector definitely is a key player towards both society and the industries. This brings out the credibility – question that probably society and the corporate world might also have towards the public sector and their internal policy on social responsibility. Do they practice what they preach? Therefore this study tries to focus on the way of implementation of social responsible practices within the public sector organizations.
1.2 Research problem and question
From research it turns out that managers in the public sector consider corporate social responsibility as strategically important for their organizations (Sangle, 2009, p.206). According to Sangle (2009) the reason for this is that they continuously encounter demands from multiple stakeholder groups to devote resources to CSR. Besides government itself, pressure also emerges from customers, industry associations, competitors, the local community, suppliers, media, non-governmental organizations, institutional investors and lenders. To deal with all this, the public sector engages in different roles. As identified by Fox et al. (2002) the public sector can have a mandating, facilitating, partnering and / or endorsing role. They state that the contemporary CSR agenda is still relatively immature, and the term ‘CSR’ has not yet taken hold within many public sector agencies, in both industrial and developing countries. According to Moon (2004) corporate social responsibility needs to be understood as part and parcel of a
wider system of national societal governance incorporating government, institutions, business organizations and non-governmental organizations. Although literature has evolved in the field of CSR and many reviews are available, Aguinis and Glavas (2012) for example state that the CSR literature remains highly fragmented and CSR is usually studied from one level of analysis at a time. They also state that fields of study focusing on macro-level issues have developed without giving a prominent role to their micro foundations, which are the foundations of a field that are based on individual action and interactions (Foss, 2011). Although CSR is a field that originally focused on the institutional level, in the past few decades it has heavily focused on the organizational level of analysis (Lee, 2008). It is further argued by Moon (2004), Jeucken (2001), McIntosh (2003), McWilliams, Siegel (2002) and Zadek (2002) that recent literature on the growth of corporate social responsibility has tended to focus only on the drivers of new business imperatives and new social demands. They therefore state that little attention is drawn to an important driver and that is the public sector. Therefore Moon (2004) pointed out with his research that the increasing and increasingly institutionalized CSR in the UK has been in large part a function of government which, in turn, has sought to respond to governance deficits (which as he discusses reflect state and market shortfalls as well as continuing and new societal demands with which traditional institutions have struggled to meet). However, still little is known about the long-term place of CSR in national societal governance systems, the imperatives acting on governments to choose to encourage and further institutionalize CSR, the policy instruments that they use to this end, the changing balance of government / business / societal relations which government initiatives for new CSR precipitate, the relationships between government and other drivers of CSR, the quality of the contributions of business to governance through CSR, and the comparative significance of the findings. Next to this all research shows that the organizational resources act as the most important determinants for successful CSR, while the factors relating to internal and external support are less significant (Sangle, 2009, p. 211). According to Sangle (2009) there are six factors which are critical for successful CSR implementation in Public Sector Units. He found that the ability of a firm to manage stakeholder groups is critical for successful implementation of CSR.
Managers must focus on corporate strategies for responding to those stakeholder groups who control critical resources, or are able to exert influence and control information access by virtue of their position in a network (Frooman, 1999), (Rowley, 1997). Berman et al. (1999), Heilman and Keim, (2001) further argue that firms can gain competitive advantages in the form of customer loyalty, supplier relationships, lower employee turnover and improved reputation On the other hand Sangle (2009) points out that top management support is another critical factor in the successful implementation of CSR in firms. Here also little is known however about the adoption of CSR within the public sector and what conditions are involved. Therefore the intention of this study is to answer the following research question on how public sector organization implement social responsible practices within the Netherlands. Thereby intending to look at what motives, conditions, practices and outcomes public sector organizations deal with to implement socially responsible practices and how they measure the successful implementation of it.
1.3 Key definitions
Key definition definition source
Corporate social responsibility “the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life.”
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
public governance
the system which ‘provides direction to society’
(Peters. 1996, p. 51-52)
critical success The functions or areas (Sangle, 2009, p. 206)
factors where things must go right to ensure successful competitive performance for an organization.
public
organization
are clearly a part of the government and deliver public programs, goods, or services, but that exist as separate organizations in their own right —
possibly as legal entities — and operate with a partial degree of operational
independence. They often, but not
necessarily, are headed by a board of directors, commission, or other appointed body. www.globaliia.org/standards-guidance Socially responsible management practices aiming at the achievement of commercial success in ways that honour ethical values and respect
people and communities (Jenkins 2004)
(Jenkins, 2004)
internal
organizational factors
cues sent by what
management says, does, and writes regarding its
William and Wilkins, 2006, p. 261
strategic and tactical factors, staffing policies and procedures, and systems designs that should be linked to the organization’s mission of service excellence.
1.5 Structure of the study
This cross - sectional study is based on a multi- method qualitative approach (Saunders, 2009). After setting the theoretical frame, data collection is initiated through semi – structured interviews and archival data and analyzed in an inductive way. This is to discover firstly in an interpretivistic manner how public sector organizations implement socially responsible practices, what they need for the implementation and how they measure the successfulness of it. The collected data will then be assessed against the theory. In the last two sections of this paper a discussion and conclusion will be provided.
2. Literature review
2.1 Corporate social responsibility
As Votaw (1972) wrote 43 years ago; ‘Corporate social responsibility means something, but not always the same thing to everybody’. He further states that to some it conveys the idea of legal responsibility or liability and to others, it means socially responsible behavior in the ethical sense and to still others, the meaning transmitted is that of ‘responsible for’ in a causal mode. However what does it mean if you are talking about Corporate social responsibility and the difference between the private and public sector and their approach and their responsibilities towards society and environment?. According to Garriga and Mele (2004) this is an old problem and the term corporate social responsibility is used by some theories which combine different approaches and use the same terminology with different meanings. They therefore consider four main groups in which CSR theories and their related approaches could be classified; (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results, (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena, (3) integrative theories, in which the corporation is focused on the satisfaction of social demands and (4) ethical theories, based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society (Garriga and Mele, 2004, p. 52 – 53). These theories are also focused on four main aspects; (1) meeting objectives that produce long-term profits, (2) using business power in a responsible way, (3) integrating social demands and (4) contributing to a good society by doing what is ethically correct (Garriga and Mele, 2004, p. 65). In addition to this all there also seems to be a discussion between the use of the term corporate social responsibility and the term Sustainability. Banerjee (2011) argues on this that notions of sustainability for example are constructed, manipulated and represented in both the popular business press and academic literature. He further points out that corporate
hering
discourses on sustainability produce an elision that displaces the focus from global planetary sustainability to sustaining the corporation through ‘growth opportunities’ (Banerjee, 2011, p. 66). There is a very thin line between these two terms in practice. The International Institute of Sustainable development (IISD) states however that the concept of CSR is underpinned by the idea that corporations can no longer act as isolated economic entities operating in detachment from broader society. The drivers that push corporates towards CSR are according to the IISD the shrinking role of the government, demands for greater disclosure, increased customer interest, growing investor pressure, competitive labor markets and supplier relations. According to a survey where 20.000 people in 20 countries were asked about the way consumers and societies perceive the social and environmental responsibilities it was found that significant numbers of investors take a company's social performance into consideration when making investment decisions (Corporate social responsibility Monitor 2001: Global Public Opinion on the Changing Role of Companies, Environics International). Also one of the other key findings of the survey was that in wealthy countries, social responsibility makes a greater contribution to corporate reputation than brand image and activists, making up a third of the world, are engaged in pressurizing companies to assume greater social responsibility. It is further argued by Jamali and Mirshak (2006) that corporate social responsibility oscillates between two extremes about the view of the potential usefulness and applicability. Proponents who belief in the usefulness and the applicability of corporate social responsibility characterize CSR as essential for successful business operations and as an opportunity for business to look beyond narrow economic returns and take the wider social concern into consideration (Jackson and Nelson, 2004, Radolph, 2005). On the other hand skeptics think that the usefulness and applicability is antithetical to sound business practice and serves to dilute its focus on wealth creation (Clement-Jones, 2005), (Murray, 2005). Next to the different understandings of corporate social responsibility, the implementation of it also plays a significant role. This is discussed in the next section.
2.2 Implementation of corporate social responsibility
It is stated by Kotler and Lee (2005) that an obvious driver of corporate interest in corporate social responsibility is the belief that Corparate Social Responsibility can be good business. Organizations can create competitive advantage by integrating non – economic factors (Porter and Kramer, 2006). This resulting in the effect that the development and implementation of corporate social responsibility programs is acknowledged as a win – win process for the organizations and the surrounding community (Lindgreen et al, 2009, p. 251). It is further reasoned that some ambiguities though come with this acknowledgement (Lindgreen, 2009, p. 251). For example the concern about which business practices should be considered as responsible CSR behavior (Lindgreen, 2009, p. 251). The overall thought is that CSR represents the continuing commitment by an organization to behave ethically and contribute to economic development (lindgreen et al, 2009, p. 251). In addition Godfrey and Hatch (2007) argue that another ambiguity is related to the fact that organizations have obligations towards society that extend beyond mere profit – making activities. However Lindgreen et al (2009) state that despite these ambiguities, CSR is recognized as one of the core business activities in practice, the research on CSR implementation remains scarce. Cramer et al (2006) and Maon et al (2008) argue that the reason for this is that CSR implementation is considered to be a process of change that emerges via a process of sense making within each particular organization. However as indicated by Lindgreen et al (2009), organizations evolve in distinct contexts and face different constraints for which reasons they need to develop CSR policies and implement CSR activities that fit their organizational culture, business rationale and strategic goals. They state that practioners lack guidance on various CSR implementation issues including architecture, management, building and maintenance, repositioning, communication and performance measures. Therefore it is important that CSR is needs to be integrated in the dialogue between companies and their stakeholders as argued by Batacharya et al (2009). They offer a framework that describes how CSR activity is perceived by individual stakeholders, produces benefits for individual stakeholders and influences the relationship quality between the stakeholder and the company, results in
behavioral outcomes directed toward the company, the cause, and other stakeholders. Three main insights are presented; (1) it shows that stakeholders respond to CSR initiatives based on the degree to which the individual derives personal benefits as a result of the company engaging in CSR activity, (2) the model shows that the nature of the stakeholder–company relationship is determined by the type of benefits that accrue to the individual, (3) The model underscores the importance of distinguishing between third-party measures of CSR spending and the perceptions that stakeholders hold about the company’s initiatives (Batacharya, 2009, p. 260). Besides the importance of stakeholders, there is also the communication about CSR – activities. According to Vanhamme and Grobben (2008) consumer support for CSR suggests that corporate communication about social efforts could help a company build a reputation that might protect its image against negative publicity or help restore it. Cone Inc. (2004) found that 86% of American respondents said companies should tell them how they support social issues. In the UK, 74% of respondents indicated that more information on a company’s social and ethical behavior would influence their purchasing decisions, and 86% thought companies should actively communicate their CSR activities (Dawkins, 2004). Besides the importance of communication it is further argued by Lindgreen et al (2008) that CSR is multi-dimensional by nature. Initiatives labeled as "CSR" by organizations consequently vary from voluntary programs and partnerships that take into account public concern about potential environmental impact of organizations' industrial plants and production methods to development of specific sourcing and marketing initiatives associating products and brands with proactive social welfare and environmental commitments (Roberts, 2003), (Rondinelli and Berry, 2000), (Szmigin et al , 2007). It is also important that there is a suitable environment provided by the government. Fox et al (2002) argue that public sector bodies may choose to address different CSR themes through actions reflecting a variety of roles. It is quite feasible for a government to seek to increase and improve the level of corporate sustainability reporting by using any one or a combination of various mandatory (legislative), facilitating (guidelines on content), partnering (engagement with multi-stakeholder processes), and endorsing (publicity) tools (Fox et al, 2002, p. 3). This triggers the following question of how are public sector
organizations themselves implementing social responsible practices. This will be discussed in the following section.
2.3 Public sector and social responsible practices
When it comes to the public sector and their engagement in social responsible practices it is interesting to look in what way they relate to social responsible practices. Since there is a broad consensus that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a business-driven approach and that the main focus of CSR development is mainly the business sector (Albareida et al, 2008, p. 347). As a relevant stakeholder the government is an important stakeholder towards the corporate s and society. Albareida et al (2008) argues therefore that recognition of the role of public administration and public policy initiatives are a key in encouraging a greater sense of CSR. Corporate social responsibility from a governmental perspective is therefore seen as the task to make sure that the process of global economic and social change is managed properly and fairly (Habisch et al, 2005, p. 5). Theory however reveals two basic focuses in the analyses of governments and CSR (Albareda et al. 2008, p. 348). On one hand there are authors who offer a more global focus, analyzing the links between CSR public policies and some social and environmental economic context. On the other hand there are authors who directly analyze the political initiatives developed by governments, researching the different roles that governments can adopt, and the development of political frameworks and implementation of public policies. However little is known what and how social responsible practices are implemented within such a public sector organization. In order to understand the inside – story there needs to be a better understanding of the drive. As Moon (2004) pointed out that governments over the last decade have joined other stakeholders in assuming a relevant role as drivers of CSR. Next to the promoting role, another reason for adopting public sector roles is to strengthen CSR (Fox et al, 2002, p. 25). It is therefore even more important to be a social responsible public organization. According to Moon (2002) there are three reasons for governments to encourage CSR: (1) it can substitute for government effort, (2) it
can complement government effort and (3) it can legitimize government policies. However the challenge for public sector bodies is to identify priorities and incentives that are meaningful in the local and national context and to build on existing initiatives and capacities (Fox et al, 2002, p. iii). Also the contemporary CSR agenda is relatively immature, and the term “CSR” has not yet taken hold within many public sector agencies, in both industrial and developing countries (Fox et al, 2002, p. iii). There are ten key themes that are classified on the public sector CSR agenda: (1) Setting and ensuring compliance with minimum standards, (2) Public policy role of business, (3) Corporate governance, (4) Responsible investment, (5) Philanthropy and community development, (6) Stakeholder engagement and representation, (7) Pro-CSR production and consumption, (8) Pro-CSR certification, “beyond compliance “standards, and management systems, (9) Pro-CSR reporting and transparency, (10) Multilateral processes, guidelines, and conventions. Although these classifications exist, Albareida et al. (2002) argue that governments should be consistent in their policies, both in their own practice and through promoting an advanced CSR agenda. They further state that governments have an important role to play in defining clear policy frameworks of action to influence and encourage other organizations (businesses and different levels of government) and be a leading example internationally (Albareida et al, 2008, p.358). The public sector can act as brokers between sectors, working both on the supply side of CSR (companies, consultants, industrial associations) and on its demand side (citizens, consumers, investors, and stakeholder groups) (Albareida et al, 2008, p.358). In order for such engagement in CSR to succeed there are certain conditions that might have influence on the successfulness of an implementation. This will be discussed in the next section.
2.4 Conditions
According to Sangle (2009) there are six critical success factors that lead to a successful implementation of CSR activities within a public sector unit; (1) integrating CSR with functional strategies of the organization, (2) top management
support, (3) organizational ability to manage stakeholder groups, (4) CSR investment evaluation/benefit realization, (5) internal support, (6) external support. Historically seen, CSR has a significant influence on business, government and society relationship. Sangle (2009) conducted his study in India where the Public Sector Units are considered an important part of the economy. However in the Netherlands, the issue of CSR has gained increasing importance since the mid-1990s and has been triggered by the changing positions between enterprises, government and citizens (Habisch et al, 2004, p. 99). Considering the aim of the study to see how successful implementation of CSR practices are measured it would be interesting to see whether the same critical success factors would also count for the public sector in the Netherlands. Sangle (2009) stated also that there has been little focus on study of public sector units adopting CSR and on the resulting level of satisfaction, research into what critical factors are involved is totally absent. So in this study the focus will be on trying to identify this critical success factors by posting the question of how CSR practices are implemented and which tools they use for it. If this is known and the way of measurement of successful implementation then it would be possible to identify what critical success factors are involved. Therefore a theoretical framework is presented in the next section.
2.5 Theoretical framework
To be able to understand how Dutch ministries implement social responsible practices it is important to take certain aspects in to consideration. The first one are the motives that drive the Dutch ministries to embrace these practices. As Godfrey and Hatch (2007) stated it could be for example an obligation towards society. In the case of Dutch Ministries it would therefore only be important to know if only the obligation towards society matters. Another motive could be the moral one. As Aguilera et al. (2007) argue that moral motives will also have the potential to influence employees' CSR initiatives, meaning they desire to be involved not only with initiatives seen as directly affecting themselves or groups they identify with but also with causes they feel are fundamentally just and
relevant to the establishment of a moral community. In the case of the Dutch ministries it would then be the social responsible initiatives and the potential that moral motives have to influence these. Even more important for Dutch ministries due to the fact that they are involved with several stakeholders and deal with certain institutional pressure to engage in social responsible activities (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012, p. 936). Another motive can be the economic conditions as the general financial condition and the health of the economy (Campbell, 2007, p. 952). If these are not well-suited, this could have an influence on the engagement in CSR. The second aspect that will be considered are the critical success factors of Sangle (2009) as discussed in section 2.4 and referred to as conditions. The reason to take these into account is to be able to find out how the successfulness of an implementation of a certain social responsible activity is determined within a Dutch ministry. The third aspect which is discussed in this study are the actual practices that can be considered when talking about social responsible activities. These are the ten themes which are mentioned by Fox et al. (2002) in section 2.3. This is to get an impression of what those social responsible activities embrace in practice. The last important aspect that will be considered when performing this study are the actual outcomes that the implementation of social responsible activities end in. These are the organization’s significant economic, environmental, and social impacts, or that would substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders (G.R.I 3.1 Reference guide). An overview of the theoretical framework has been presented in Table 2.5.1 Theoretical framework
Table 1 Theoretical framework.
MOTIVES 1) obligations towards society (Godfrey and Hatch (2007)
(2) moral motives (Aguilera, Rupp, Williams, & Ganapathi, 2007) (3) institutional pressures, particularly from stakeholders (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012, p. 936)
(4) Economic conditions (Campbell, 200
CONDITIONS (1) integrating CSR with functional strategies of the organization (Sangle, 2009, p. 207)
(2) top management support (Sangle, 2009, p. 207)
(3) organizational ability to manage stakeholder groups (Sangle, 2009, p. 207)
(4) CSR investment evaluation/benefi t realization (Sangle, 2009, p. 207) (5) internal support (Sangle, 2009, p. 207)
(6) external support. (Sangle, 2009, p. 207)
PRACTICES (1) Setting and ensuring compliance with minimum standards (Fox et al, 2002)
(2) Public policy role of business (Fox et al, 2002) (3) Corporate governance (Fox et al, 2002) (4) Responsible investment (Fox et al, 2002)
(5) Philanthropy and community development (Fox et al, 2002) (6) Stakeholder engagement and representation (Fox et al, 2002) (7) Pro-CSR production and consumption (Fox et al, 2002) (8) Pro-CSR certification, “beyond compliance “standards, and management systems (Fox et al, 2002)
(9) Pro-CSR reporting and transparency, (Fox et al, 2002)
(10) Multilateral processes, guidelines, and conventions. (Fox et al, 2002) OUTCOMES (1) Economic performance (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability
Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1)
(2 Environmental impacts (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1)
(3) Labor practices and decent work (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1)
(4) Human rights (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1)
(5) Society satisfaction (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1)
(6) Product responsibility (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1)
3. Methodology
3.1 Research design
This study is designed in an interpretivistic way (Saunders et al, 2009, p.123) to be able to understand and explore what role motives, conditions, practices and outcomes play during the implementation of social responsible practices. The strategy that is followed is that of a case study (Saunders et al, 2009, p.) The case study is a research strategy which focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings (Eisenhardt, 1989, p. 534). The steps that are followed are based on the process of a case study research as offered by Eisenhardt (1989). She distinguishes the following seven steps; (1) getting started, (2) selection of cases, (3) crafting of instruments and protocols, (4) entering the field, (5) Analyzing the data, (6) enfolding the literature and (7) reaching closure. For this study the research question has been determined by firstly looking to corporate social responsibility as a subject and after this the interest was triggered on how CSR is implemented within the public sector. This brought the study to the second step where within the public sector the eleven Dutch ministries are selected as single cases. After this selection took place the third step is the designing of the interview protocol and gathering of the relevant literature and documents. Then the fourth step is contacting potential interviewees within the Dutch ministries and conducting the semi – structured interviews and recording them. The fifth step is transcribing the interviews and codifying them (1st and 2nd cycle coding) and matching the patterns. This is done
for each single case. Followed up on the pattern matching, a cross – case analysis is performed across the ministries. This led to an overall thick description. In the sixth step the theoretical framework was assessed against the findings which together reached to the conclusion of the whole. Figure 2 Case study research design illustrates the process that is followed;
hering
Figure 1 Case study Research Design Getting Started:
•how do public sector organizations
implement socially responsible practices within the Netherlands
Selecting Cases: • Dutch ministeries Crafting Instruments and Protocols: •Literature review, • semi structured interviews •Interviewprotocol
Entering the Field: •plan appointments with
interviewee's within the different Dutch ministries Analyzing Data: •recording, transcripting, codifying (1st and 2nd), patternmatching •Cross - case analysis:
all patterns are compared •Thick description Enfolding Literature: •The motives (Godfrey
and Hatch (2007), (Aguilera, Rupp, Williams, & Ganapathi, 2007), (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012, p. 936), (Campbell, 2007) •THe conditions
(Sangle, 2009) •The practices (Fox et
al, 2002)
•The outcomes (Global Reporting Initiative— Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Version 3.1) Reaching Closure Thick description + comparison with theoretical framework
3.2 Sampling
In this study the sampling is done a theoretical base (Eisenhardt, 1989, p. 537). This means that cases are chosen for theoretical, not statistical, reasons (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Further on, cases are chosen to extend emergent theory which is framed in section 2.5 of the previous chapter. The selection of cases will take place within the Dutch government and the aim is to interview at least 1 participant within a ministry who is involved in the implementation of socially responsible practices. As Eisenhardt (1989) stated it is not preferable within case studies to choose cases randomly. Also Pettigrew (1988) noted in this matter that given the limited number of cases which can usually be studied, it makes sense to choose cases such as extreme situations and polar types in which the process of interest is "transparently observable”. To be able to perform a comparative analysis the cases are chosen in that way that they are representative of the subject matter and that is the implementations of socially responsible practices within Dutch ministries.
3.3 Data gathering
The data is gathered firstly through a four parted interview of an hour. The first part of the interview focuses on socially responsible motives on both the organizational and individual level. In this part it is also tried to gather a general view of what socially responsible practices mean in the eye of the participant. The second part of the interview focuses on which conditions must be covered in order for a socially responsible initiative to be successful (Sangle, 2009). In the third part of the interview the focus is on the practices of social responsibility. In the last part of the interview the discussion will be about outcomes of the social responsible practices. All interviewing occurred in Dutch. In the following table an overview is given of the interviewees’ title, ministry, date of interview, interview length;
Table 2 Respondentslist.
Besides the nine interviews it was also necessary to gather information through other sources like reports and websites in order to complement the data that was gathered through interviewing. In the following table are the reports and websites listed that were needed in order to perform further analysis.
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs jobrole: CSR Programme manager contactinformation: Bslob@cbi.eu meetingdate:14 August 2014 Duration: 0:48 minutes
Ministry of
Defence jobrole:Head of procurement contactinformation: l.Voogd. de - el.mhamdi@mindef.nl meetingdate: 22 August 2014
Duration: 0:21 minutes.
Ministry of
Finance jobrole: Senior auditor contact information: J.Gelderblom meetingdate: 10 october 2014 Duration: 1 hour
Ministry of
Defense jobrole: Senior Advisor contact information: w.c.h.van.alphen@mindef.nl meetingdate: 20 october 2014
duration: 50 minutes
Ministry of
Defense jobrole:Strategic Advisor Energy & Environment contactinformation:M.G.Gijsbers@mindef.nl meetingdate:21 october 2014
duration: 44 minutes
Court of Audit jobrole: Head of International affairs and CSR contactinformation: a.connell@rekenkamer.nl meetingdate: 23 october 2014 duration: 0:47 minutes Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment
jobrole: Coordinator of Sustainability contactinformation: Martien.Verdonk@rws.nl meetingdate: 4 november 2014 duration: 1:03 Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
jobrole: Senior advisor Operations contactinformation: j.e.horlings@minocw.nl meetingdate: 5 november 2014 duration: 0:50 minutes Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation
jobrole: senior advisor operations
contactinformation: g.l.j.m.van.luxemburg@minez.nl meetingdate: 5 november 2014
duration: 1:21
Table 3. List of Complementary data
3.4 Data analysis
After the gathering of data through semi-structured interviews, an exploration of the data takes place to find out which themes or issues will follow up ( Glacer and Strauss, 1967), (Schatzman and Strauss, 1973), (Strauss and Corbin 2008), (Yin, 2003). The aim of this qualitative study is to understand how social responsible practices are implemented within a public organization. It is therefore important to conduct the study in an interpretivistic way (Saunders et al, 2009, p.123) to be able to understand and explore what role the motives, conditions, practices and outcomes play during the implementation of social responsible practices. In terms of the analytical strategy that is used, this is a combination of ‘Relying on theoretical propositions´ and ‘Developing a case description” (Yin, 2009, p. 131). Also an inductive and partially a deductive approach is present. For the inductive approach a conceptual framework is used where the four aspects are the central point of attention. On the basis of these outlined aspects a
Reports
• Rijksoverheid (2013). Green Growth, for a strong and sustainable economy. Kamerbrief. The Hague: Staatsuitgeverij.
• Auditdiensrijk (2014). Auditdienstrijk…over Duurzaamheid. Rapport 1. The Hague: Staatsuitgeverij.
Websites
• www.globaliia.org/standards-guidance (Accessed: 22 December 2014)
• https://www.globalreporting.org/information/about-gri/what-isGRI/Pages/default.aspx (Accessed: 22 December 2014)
• http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/kamerstukken/2013/03/28/kamerbrief-groene-groei-voor-een-sterke-duurzame-economie.html (Accessed: 22 December 2014) •
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/rapporten/2009/01/01/duurzaamheid-bij-het-ministerie-van-buitenlandse-zaken.html (Accessed 23 December 2014) • http://www.pianoo.nl/inkoopproces (Accessed 23 December 2014
• http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/kamerstukken/2008/11/24/defensie-duurzaamheidsnota-2009-2012.html (Accessed 23 December 2014)
• http://portal.rp.rijksweb.nl/irj/portal/?NavigationTarget=HLPFS://cisrijksportaal/cisorganisatie/c isfi_2/cissecretarisgeneraalsg_1/cisauditdienst_rijk__adr_/cisdienstverlening_2/cisvraaggestuurd e_opdrachten_1/cisthemagericht_1/cisduurzaamheid_18 (Accessed 24 December 2014)
• http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/ministeries/ienm/wat-doet-ienm (Accessed: 24 December 2014) • http://www.government.nl/issues/climate-change (Accessed :24 December 2014)
• http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/deltaprogramma/vijf-deltabeslissingen (Accessed: 24 December 2014)
• http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/ministeries/ienm/wat-doet-ienm/bereikbaarheid (Accessed: 25 December 2014)
• http://www.courtofaudit.nl/english/Organisation (Accessed: 24 December 2014)
• http://www.rijksovereid.nl/ministeries/ocw/organisatie/duurzaamheidsbeleid (Accessed: 24 December 2014)
• https://www.iisd.org/business/issues/sr.aspx (Accessed: 24 December 2014)
short codification list has been set up. After the transcription of the nine interviews, the data is scanned for these four above mentioned aspects in the form of codes. After this first cycle coding, the second cycle coding takes place where all matching codes are categorized. After this the technique of pattern matching is used (Yin, 2009, p. 136). This means as Trochim (1989) describes it as comparing an empirically based pattern with a predicted one (or with several alternative predictions). If the patterns coincide, the results can help a case study to strengthen its internal validity.
3.5 Evaluation of Research quality
When it comes to reliability, validity, and generalizability Hamel (1993) states that, ‘the case study has basically been faulted for its lack of representativeness...and its lack of rigor in the collection, construction, and analysis of the empirical materials that give rise to a study’. As for the reliability of this study the casestudy protocol as mentioned by (Eisenhardt, 1989) has been followed. Also during the data collection process a casestudy database has been set – up in order to demonstrate the operations that were involved within this study (Yin, 2003, p. 33). As for the construct validity, of this casestudy, multiple sources of evidences have been used such as the interviews, reports and the governmental website where all public pieces, reports and important developments are published. When considering the internal validity, it can be said that pattern matching has been the way of analyzing the data and comparing it to the conceptual framework as presented in section 2.5. Concerning the generalizability, it can be said that 7 out of 11 ministries were interviewed eventually, which are most of the ministries. However for the sake of the representativeness of the data it would have strengthen the data if per ministry one implementation process could be followed over time. This would shape a better understanding and a more objective presentation of the implementation of social responsible practices.
4. Results
4.1 The case of the Dutch Ministries.
On the 28th of March 2013 a green growth
letter (Rijksoverheid, 2013) was
presented by the minister of foreign trade and development and cooperation and by the minister of occupation and government services to outline the governmental initiative about sustainability. In this letter the ambition was mentioned that ‘green’ and ‘growth’ should go hand in hand and that the Netherlands will make a significant effort to have a more sustainable economy (Box 1. Ambition Green Growth Letter,
2013). The Dutch government therefore identified four pillars that represent the green policy on green growth; 1) they intend to use market incentives, where a smart combination of pricing (e.g in taxation or the emissions trading schemes), innovation and government procurement promotes sustainable production and create sustainable markets. 2) they enable a framework where dynamic regulatory is stimulated, 3) Innovation, via business- and top sector policy the innovative power of business, education and government is used to work on a strong economy. Within this approach a lot of engagement in green growth is already there in the leading sectors of water, energy and bio-based economy, 4) Government as a network partner in the transition to a more sustainable economy, the government always occurs as facilitating and stimulating networking partner with companies, research institutions, civil society organizations and citizens' initiatives. The government monitors the public interest, the court holds open, weigh conflicting interests and
hering
“Netherlands is a prosperous country that is among the top five knowledge economies in the world. That prosperity for future generations to preserve, we must constantly look forward to opportunities to grow, innovate and compete, but also to the increasing need to do so in a sustainable way. This transition requires a significant effort, but also creates opportunities in areas such as drinking water, clean air, scarce raw materials and food. We can only permanently strengthen our economy and the innovative power of business, knowledge institutions and the government is optimized to make our economy more sustainable. So "green" and "growth" go hand in hand”
Box 1. Ambition Green Growth Letter (2013)
forges links with the international agendas. In order to understand the sustainability agenda as a whole the following table tries to give an overview of the sustainability agenda of the Dutch Government (Rijksoverheid, 3 October 2011);
Domain Goals actions Energy a sustainable,
affordable and reliable energy
Sustainable Energy: Cost-effective deployment and accelerate the development of renewable energy technologies. The Chamber will receive a vision of local energy and decentralized renewable energy generation. - SER (Social Economic Council) and network approach: the conclusion of a national energy agreement in mid-2013 with a focus on energy conservation and renewable energy. - Innovation and International: Innovation is crucial to further reduce the cost of the energy technologies of the future. The Dutch manufacturing industry has opportunities to gain exposure to these growth markets. The approach of the top sector Energy is pursued with vigor and cooperation with other key sectors (such as Agro). - Energy savings: For the summer the government will present an approach to energy efficiency in different sectors, taking into account the results of the national energy agreement. This approach also concerns the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive. - Vision for effective European policy on energy and climate after 2020 Climate Towards an ambitious (inter) national climate Financial incentive
To provide a long-term policy framework (climate roadmap 2030) for mitigation and adaptation. This included the results of the SER (Social economic Council) on the national energy agreement. - Developing a vision for an effective and ambitious energy and climate package for 2030 and commitment to make this happen in a European context. - Internationally bet on achieving agreements on future climate resistant. Waste from waste to
resource Starting a pilot project introducing circular economy in a promising sector that experience gained in this transition process. In addition, specific promising chains with high pressures are preserved for the next 4 years. - The
government will in mid-2013 with an inventory of the opportunities and obstacles of circular economy in the Netherlands. - Formulating an approach to bring consumers in motion for a contribution to efficient use of resources. - By 2014, a program based on the golden triangle approach (government, industry and research institutions) stimulates innovation under the theme 'waste as a resource. "It should result in agreements made that same year to develop and implement research programs for technological, process and system innovation and training agendas. - The implementation of the waste policy to focus on the goals of green growth, specifically to reduce raw material consumption.
Build: towards an energy efficient built environment
In the coherent approach to the problems on the woningmarkt4 is a revolving fund energy announced. - In this cabinet period carry forward the Green Deal Approach and expand the approach to a saving deal with energy
companies and housing for an acceleration in the sustainability of the built environment. - The Minister for Housing and National Office will be in the spring of 2013 with a further elaboration to get energy in the built environment. Leading this is the path for a national energy plan for
sustainable growth Food: towards
sustainable agriculture and food
Ongoing sustainability of production and
consumption in public-private partnerships in the Netherlands and globally encouraging. It will be up to the business community. - Investment in innovation and sustainability in food chains (vision safely and responsibly food) and the greening of the CAP. - Within the top sectors Agriculture & Food and Horticulture & Propagation Materials bets on
internationalization strategies and contribute to global food security with the support of public-private cooperation in the field of food security in developing countries. - Give space to farmers to undertake and reward contributions to landscape and nature.
Mobility To sustainable modes of transport and transport
Around the summer of 2013, the government comes up with a long term vision. Thereby connects to initiatives Energetic Society and along the lines of vehicles and fuels (source policy), and behavioral and logistical efficiency. The implementation of sustainable mobility is being developed in conjunction with the Roadmap Climate and energy agreement Biobased Economy: towards
substitution of fossil fuels by renewable resources (biomass)
Betting on the best use of biomass (cascading) by biorefining. This framework is used in the further development and application of bio-based materials. - Improve settling conditions for knowledge intensive bio-based manufacturing industry. - At EU level, developing criteria for sustainable production and origin of raw materials. - Stimulating research, innovation and experimentation space for demonstration projects and pilot plants. - Removal of barriers to a Biobased Economy in laws and regulations Water sustainable work
with water Betting on water system approach and the further development and implementation of the delta aanpak5 focused on structural solutions for the short and the long term (flexible and adaptive). - Betting on water efficiency in all uses, including by improving information on hydrological systems (geo-data and remote sensing). - Betting on climate adaptation: focused on resilience to climate change from experiences from the Delta Programme and concepts such as "Building with Nature" and "Room for the River
Table 4. Governmental Domains Sustainability Agenda (Source: “Groene groei brief, kamerbrief, 28 march 2013”)
Following on the above mentioned domains which are mostly directed to the outside policy of the government when it comes to sustainability, nine interviews were held with several Dutch ministries to try to find out if this was also an internal agenda. In the following sections a short case by case analysis (i.e. within case analysis) is given and then followed by a comparative cross case analysis. Each case is firstly analyzed with a focus on the implementation process of the social responsible practices, its enabling tools and the measurement of its success. The second part of the analysis involves the focus on the motives, conditions, practices, and outcomes that together might or might not influence the implementation of social responsible practices. After this the analysis of the previous mentioned four themes will be followed up separately across cases
4.2 Ministry of foreign affairs
The implementation of social responsible practices within the ministry of foreign affairs is not handled within the organization itself. During the first interview with the CSR – manager that is working for the ministry it was said that ‘you should see in the context of
the kind of work we do, we are an executive organization of the government. This really means that we ourselves do not make policy, but only perform policy and help export companies in developing countries to Europe not through grants but through training, coaching and information so do not give money but technical support..’. He further stated
that the focus lies on the external policy of sustainable development and inside implementation of social responsible practices lies not really within a particular department. However in the letter ‘Sustainability at the ministry of Foreign Affairs’ it was stated in May 2008 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they work from different areas of the established themes on sustainability. Sustainable aspects as human rights, climate, renewable energy and water management were high on the sustainability agenda. The letter also claimed that within the ministry they were working successfully on a sustainable organization in different ways. For example since 1999 the Services Department had a systematic and consistent attention to the environment. The proof of this is the ISO 14001 certification1. The Ministry was 10 years certified to the requirements
of the environment Management System. Another milestone is the use of renewable
1
The ISO 14000 family addresses various aspects of environmental management. It provides practical tools for companies and organizations looking to identify and control their environmental impact and constantly improve their environmental performance. ISO 14001:2004 and ISO
14004:2004 focus on environmental management systems. The other standards in the family focus on specific environmental aspects such as life cycle analysis, communication and auditing.
The implementation of socially responsible activities within the public sector | Master thesis 29
energy. In 2009 all energy decreased 80% sustainable (Green Growth letter, may 2008). From 2009 the department carried out a transparent power consumption. Other examples of measures taken are an incentive program for travel by public transport, energy-efficient lighting and replacing printers by multi – functional devices. Also waste was then 90% recycled and separated at the source. When purchasing materials the cradle to cradle principle (closed recycling and biodegradable materials) played an increasingly important role. Further the intention was to engage in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). When asking the question what is done about sustainability within the organization six years later, the CSR – manager stated that currently there was not a real concrete engagement in implementing Social responsible practices inside the organization. He namely gave two main reasons for this. The first reason was due to differences in emphasis on the political direction, if there is a left-wing party in power, then the intention is more to regulate CSR for converting voluntary CSR to laws and regulations. It becomes more important. Secondly, it must not cost too much money. In the current wind
of reorganizations and cuts it must fit within budget. Further on he stated that the sustainable aspects are hidden in the business processes and it should be embedded in that way as well. As for the motives, conditions, practices and outcomes within the ministry of foreign affairs, the following table represents a view of what is resulted from the pattern matching of the transcript during the interview;
Table 5. Findings of the ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The drive for the ministry of foreign affairs to engage in Social responsible practices is mostly triggered from the top of the organization. According to the respondent the
Motives • Governmental requirement • political direction • Lobbying • intrinsic motivation Conditions • Budgetairy fit • embedded process • shareholdervalue Practices • settling the connection between corporate ship and development • executing the goals
for sustainable development • Risk - analysis when
it comes to human right, employment circumstances • Internal reporting about CSR - practices Outcomes • an international status of the Netherlands • improvement of CSR within companies tt are exporting to the Netherlands • Anti - corruption • CSR mebedded in all processes
important CSR themes that should be on the sustainability agenda are settled on a yearly basis. However the intensity of the engagement was dependent on the political direction of the government. He also stated that the people who were busy with these CSR - programs were believers of helping the poor by giving them the opportunity to trade. So there needs to be an intrinsic motivation. Also in order to implement the CSR – activities it was said that it must not cost more than necessary and there needs to be a shareholder value. So most of the current social responsible practices are also headed outside the organization. As the respondent stated that ‘the materiality of the problem are the
problems especially in the work that we do to help development countries because we have that job so we have chosen to focus primarily thereon’. He thereby stated that social
responsible practices should be embedded in the business processes of the organization.
4.2 Ministry of Defense
Within the ministry of Defense three respondents were interviewed. The first respondent that was spoken to was the head of the procurement department. This department is responsible for all Information supply and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) matters for the Ministry of Defense. They also have many cooperation with the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and other ministries. She stated that ‘Sustainability is included in the criteria for testing a business case when you have an
investment request’. She explained that if the supplier would not comply with for example
criteria like respecting the human rights or not engaging in child labor would not even be invited on the negotiation table. So it could be said that within this procurement process sustainability is very high on the agenda. As for the implementation it starts with
assessing the criteria according to the PIANOo – criteria
(http://www.pianoo.nl/inkoopproces) for the business case. PIANOo is a specialized
centre for all procurement matters within the government. It follows a three – phased process where the first process is the preparation of the procurement order. Which is then followed by the second phase and that is assessing the procurement procedure and the last phase which is executing the procurement order. The respondent said ‘It is always
a joint action, purchasing department Control Tower, users, unions also want to see proof if it is well stated often, I use an institute like TNO (Technical Dutch Research Centre) or a university for engaging with us in this process’. If the business case gets an approval, then
still internal audits and external audits are taking place afterwards. This contains a very big part of the process. In the Defense sustainability memorandum 2009 – 2012 it was
stated that Defense has 69,000 employees and a lot of material energy-intensive business. So purchasing in a sustainable way would definitely make a difference. It further stated in the memorandum that energy conservation and the procurement and production of renewable energy are therefore a major effort for the coming years. Besides reducing CO2 emissions is thus also reduces dependence on natural resources. That brings the case to the second interview wherein I spoke to one of the executive members of the real estate agency of the ministry of Defense. Here the implementation – process had a more systematic approach that resembled the Plan – Do – Check – Act of the DEMING – cycle. The respondent explained that the structure was that in the plan – phase the sustainability program was determined by the secretary – general, which is the highest official boss within the ministry. In the Do – phase, the program is translated to policies and manuals and is distributed through the several parts within the organization. After this phase, several parts of the organizations are audited and the anticipation on the results lies in the Act – Phase. It further stated in the memorandum of 2009 – 2012 that Defense has a large performance-oriented organization that is focused on peacekeeping operations and the support that comes with it. When carrying out these tasks a lot of costly environmental impacts are involved and need to be managed. So the ministry of Defense has called in an Environmental management support team that should help manage the costly environmental impacts. When having spoken to the third respondent however who was part of the environmental support team, he stated that due to the current cuttings now in 2014 the team does not exist anymore. His saying was as following; ‘Due to the
reorganization of 1 November of last year the board of environment and real estate was discharged. All policy was set – up by them and it was reported in the yearly reporting towards the parlement’ It was said during the third interview that former responsibilities
of the board are not well settled within the new management team and are actually a bit lost. He said ‘nowadays we get questions whether this environmental chapter should have a
place in the yearly report towards the parlement. In the following table an overview is
given of the motives, conditions, practices and outcomes that turned up during the interviews;
Table 6. Findings of the ministry of Defense.
Also within this ministry there is a top – down approach towards engaging in Social responsible practices. A formal memorandum is yearly signed by the secretary – general which states what the focus will be and this is further picked up within the organization. In order for the implementation to success, there needs to be a proven operational advantage. As the third respondent pointed out that ‘less CO2 interests nobody, it is
actually the communication that plays a role you should try to find the argument that has a military foundation’. The focus within the practice of social responsibility lies mostly on
research and risk – analysis.
4.3 Ministry of Financial Affairs
Within this ministry an interview was held with the senior – auditor of the auditing department. On one hand they are the accounting agency that goes through the financial year reports of all ministries and on the other hand they also handle the so – called demand driven studies which are sometimes requested by a management team of a particular ministry. So when the question was dropped whether there is an engagement in social responsible practices, the respondent answered that ‘It's really up to us to make a
kind of picture to make a kind of look if the organization has embedded such measures as 100% procurement for example and to see if they are able to meet those objectives’. This is
their primary process. In terms of implementing social responsible practices inside the organization, the auditing department helped building an inside network of people within the organization (Auditdienstrijk over….duurzaamheid, 2014, p. 56). These people initiated a bottom – up approach whereby a lot of goals were set concerning people
Motives • Governmental requirement • knowledge • intrinsic motivation • External stakeholder pressure • concrete goals Conditions • Environmental legislation • Acceptability • Budgetairy fit • clear contractual specifications • Operational advantage Practices • research • riskanalysis • monitoring • influence employee behavior • reporting Outcomes • Sustainable purchasement • less environmental impact during operations • energy saving
aspects, diversity, environment and energy. During the interview it was pointed out by the respondent that the approach involved the organization of workshops for several parts within the ministry. This was done in order to create both support within the organization and also gain knowledge about new sustainability ideas. Although a systematic approach is lacking, the respondent stated that they were developing a growth model. The Audit agency, along with one of her clients (Executive Management of the Ministry of Finance), developed a model for sustainable development. The model has several possible applications, including as a management tool, audit tool, benchmark tool, discussion tool, change tool and Learning tool. The respondent stated that ‘It is a
broad model what actually is focused on how an organization in sustainability can grow It is classified into five stages, you have a pioneering stage and then you grow, which ends in ultimately being the leader, you see and we had identified five critical success factors how you can set up a sustainable organization’. So in terms of implementing social responsible
practices it is in a growing phase at the ministry of Finance. During the interview the following motives, conditions, practices and outcomes could be identified
Table 7. Findings of the ministry of Financial Affairs.
Although there is a governmental requirement that the ministry of Finance should follow, it was pointed out earlier that they did not choose the top – down approach but rather the other way around. In order to be able to implement the social responsible activities there needs to be a suitable organizational environment. As the respondent stated that ‘The
organization needs to be ready for this’. To be able to embed it through the organization it
is further stated by the respondent that the line between the primary process and the business process needs to be clear in order to identify social responsible practices and get a better integration of the formal decision process. If that clarity is available about a
Motives • Governmental
requirement • green growth letter • intrinsic motivation • image • political direction • international pressure Conditions • suitable organizational environment • mission driven • 100 % sustainable purchasement Practices • Socially responsible primairy process • seeking commitment with Social responsibility • Interdepartemental collaboration • finding commitment
with the primairy process Outcomes • Assureness of social responsible practices • integrated in the formal decision process • Energy - saving building • Sustainable human recruitment practices • Organizational awareness
