It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Greenleaf author Sandra Waddock whose book The Difference Makers: How Social and Institutional Entrepreneurs Created the Corporate Responsibility Movement has won the 2011 Social Issues in Management Book Prize.
The award, made at an evening reception on August 15 at the Academy of Management Conference in San Antonio, Texas, recognised Waddock’s scholarship and ambition for her deep yet accessible reappraisal of the birth and evolution of Corporate Responsibility.
Sandra was editor of Greenleaf’s Journal of Corporate Citzenship from 2002-2004 and is author of several Greenleaf titles including:
Since the 1970s, public and civil society dissatisfaction with the global power of corporations has generated a growing wave of new institutional mechanisms that attempt, in different ways, to create more accountable, responsible, and transparent businesses.
These new institutions would not have emerged without the work of a number of pioneering individuals. Thanks to these “Difference Makers”, there has been remarkable progress in advancing an alternative agenda and in creating a corporate responsibility infrastructure, particularly since the late 1980s and ’90s.
It is not often that we have the opportunity to hear from the early pioneers of a social movement about how it grew and evolved.
The book tells the stories of 23 of the key players who have been instrumental in developing the corporate responsibility movement in North America and the UK. They include John Ruggie and the Global Compact, Allen White and the Global Reporting Initiative, John Elkington and SustainAbility, Simon Zadek and AccountAbility, Alice Tepper Marlin and Social Accountability International, Bob Dunn and Business for Social Responsibility, and Joan Bavaria and Ceres — along with many others.
The Difference Makers is a history and detailed analysis of how corporate responsibility has emerged as a key political, social, and business issue, why it has evolved so quickly, and what the visions of its thought leaders are for the future, in their own words.
Terrific … Their stories inform and inspire … Reading the [last] chapter, I felt like I was sitting in Sandra’s living room listening to these people reflect on their current dreams … I wanted to jump in and offer my own ideas. This is the ultimate power of the book. By sharing what others have done in such an accessible and even intimate way, she leaves us motivated to follow their lead.
James P. Walsh, University of Michigan.
Waddock skillfully weaves selected passages from their accounts in chain-like fashion to reveal the early emergence of social investing, its subsequent full-blown development, the expansion into employee, consumer, and environmental issues, the creation of global standards and human rights principles to guide corporate policy, and the literal invention of networking agencies to spread the word directly to firms, governments, educators, and the public citizenry worldwide.
William C. Frederick, Policyinnovations.org.
Click here to read an excerpt from Waddock’s prizewinning title.
SEE Change
The return to business-as-usual after the economic earthquake that rocked financial markets, wrecked banks and brought to light the grotesque distortions of casino capitalism on people and planet must be resisted. A new form of capitalism is both necessary and possible as some forward-thinking political, business and civil society leaders have now recognised.
This book is about the myriad problems that we face and the systemic changes that are necessary for all enterprises in whatever sector and however constituted to operate within sustainable limits, to lower their ecological footprint, to enhance social equity, and to develop a sense of futurity.
Strategic thinkers have the gift of looking at the world and being able to frame, focus and define the most complex problems in comprehensible, action-oriented terms. Sandra Waddock and Malcolm McIntosh have written a book that frames the issues, focuses the mind on what matters most, and defines where we need to go as a human beings with conscience, intelligence and courage. Their strategic view rests on an impressive body of scientific knowledge and practical wisdom.
James E. Post.
Total Responsibility Management
Almost every manager today knows that satisfying customers by meeting their quality demands is a critical component of business success. Quality management is a given in modern companies – a competitive imperative. Yet it was not always so. Back when the quality movement was getting started, few managers really understood either the importance of quality to customers or how to manage for quality. Much the same could be said today about managing responsibility.
Why and how should responsibility be managed? What is responsibility management? Total Responsibility Management answers these questions while at the same time providing a systemic framework for managing a company’s responsibilities to stakeholders and the natural environment that can be applied in a wide range of contexts.
Its original case studies add value to a range of tools and exercises that will make it required reading for all managers in need of a practical guide to managing responsibility and to students and researchers looking for an overarching framework to contextualise the changing responsibilities of global business.
This compact book … contains all one needs to know about getting a company up to speed on being a socially responsible operation … It’s all there in this one small package — enough practical wisdom to guide business practice in needed and desirable directions.
William C. Frederick, Policyinnovations.org.
The UN Global Compact complements other corporate citizenship initiatives by promoting dialogue on the relationship between business and society. At the same time it is the only truly global corporate citizenship initiative.
It is not an auditable standard; indeed, it is not a standard or a code in the way that these are normally viewed. It is a set of principles through which business and the United Nations can work in partnership for global social development. For some businesses it is a simplified codification of their existing policies and management practices, but for many engagement represents a challenge and an opportunity to raise their game by aligning profitability with the common good.
About Sandra
Sandra Waddock is Galligan Chair of Strategy and Professor of Management at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, and also co-founder of BC’s Leadership for Change Program, the Initiative for Responsible Investing.
Dr. Waddock received her BA from Northeastern University, an MA degree from Boston College, and the MBA (1979) and DBA (1985) from Boston University.
Her current teaching includes the Social Issues in Management (graduate business in society) course, and a senior Capstone course called Leadership and Mindfulness. She has also taught Strategic Management and was the module coordinator for the Leadership for Change Program’s Organisational Module for 14 years. She teaches annually in Rome in the ‘Master of Corporate Citizenship’ program offered by Fondaca, and speaks at conferences and workshops around the world.
Sandra continues to look to the future and to work towards producing even more great titles which truly make a difference:
I am … interested in transforming management education and what it would take to develop a new cadre of leaders who really are prepared for the future. Toward that end I have just started interviewing a few leading academics who have managed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, or disciplines, or teaching and research—to see if I can uncover what allowed them to build such bridges. At this early stage, it is impossible for me to determine where this work will take me, but it is certainly interesting and fun!
Chloe Parker
Greenleaf Publishing
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SPECIAL OFFER: To celebrate Sandra’s award Greenleaf are offering 40% discount on all the above titles when you order direct from our website. Just use discount code prize7398 at the checkout. Offer ends 31 August 2011.
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