Book title: Managing 4 Good By John Fagan
Reviewer: Amanda E Heaton
This book is not lightweight in either content or volume, although the text is well written and uses plain speaking English without reliance on jargon or acronyms making it easy to read and digest.
The book opens with an explanation of what sustainable business means; business practices which meet the needs of today without compromising the needs of tomorrow.
The first section offers the business case for sustainable and responsible business pulling on viewpoints of professional associations (including CIPD) and reputable researchers. The consensus of these views presented by Fagan, is that to maintain long-term performance and competitive advantage an organisation must consider how it impacts on the local environment, community and people but should also take care in how those external factors influence the organisation. This fits comfortably with the advice to HR practitioners that they must be strategic partners within the business but must also develop a greater awareness of the external environment and how the organisation integrates with it, this perhaps newer element of HR practice is a significant element of the CIPD’s HR profession map.
The trend towards greater reporting of CSR activity across FTSE 500 companies is discussed, Fagan reports that 2/3 of these organisations are now reporting in some format to their boards. The motivators for CSR and CSR reporting fall into the following categories, compliance and risk avoidance or innovation and opportunity. It is assumed the attention given by these boards would be linked to their motivation for CSR and that this would also explain the differences within the reporting formats used.
Next Fagan offers a model of how to assess the impacts outside of the business and how these affect decision making. This model is explained as a ‘Sphere of Influence’ and enables analysis of four key influencing factors environment, community, business and workplace. The model in basic terms is a form of stakeholder mapping, which can be applied equally to an organisation or individual and examples of how the model works are given for both. The examples demonstrate the simplicity of the model in terms of ease of use and flexibility, however with all such models the outputs of any analysis using the tool will only be useful if the information put in is accurate and well considered. Unlike some other models of stakeholder mapping the sphere of influence allows for assessing the level of influence with those parties who may not be directly considered stakeholders under traditional definitions.
For example employees would be considered stakeholders and have an influence on the organisation and are influenced by the organisation, however the sphere of influence follows this line further to the influence the organisation has on friends and family of employees as well as employees.
The next sections of the book follow the model through the four key elements offering analysis, case studies, additional references and a range of carefully chosen stats. The case studies are interesting, particularly as well know companies have been used. The examples are carefully explained with real outcomes demonstrated.
The most interesting of these for any HR practitioner is section 3 – workforce. Fagan provides an analysis of the key factors of HR practice directly affected by an organisation adopting a sustainable and responsible business ethos. However these are general and will apply in slightly difference variations from organisation to organisation. The analysis and the case studies show examples of how HR and people management practices have helped organisations achieve their sustainable practice objectives. The sphere of influence analysis also demonstrates the benefits of these practices for employees and the wider communities (in particular employee’s families and the potential employment pool).
Fagan offers the following which demonstrates the scope of HR practices influenced by and influencing responsible and sustainable business operations;
R recognise and value differences
E enhanced terms and conditions of employment
S skills and talent development
P participation for all
O organisational change for good
N nice place to work
S strategies for inclusion
I integrity and trust
B business ethical practices
L leadership for the future
E employee engagement
Similar lists are offered for other areas of organisation activities.
The writer refers to a DTI report building better boards, which discussed that many organisations what their employees to have a ‘good job’ but that few organisations or employers have yet to define what a ‘good job’ really is. This is perhaps a question that remains for HR practitioners to define individually within their own organisations, for their individually employees, prospective employees and their communities.
Under the analysis for finance Fagan discusses the increased and increasing use of triple bottom line reporting (also referred to as TBL / 3BL / Three Pillars) the three elements of this being Profit, People and Planet. This new means of reporting is aimed at ensuring that businesses take a more balanced view of assessing and planning performance. Although this is not directly reported on within the book, this trend should be helpful to HR as it allows people matters to be given scrutiny at the same time and within the same format as financial matters, offering this greater strategic significant and greater business profile. Fagan explains that this reporting is developing further within companies with more advanced CSR frameworks to include a 4th P, Perspective, this elements assesses the future planning and forecasting of the organisation.
On the whole this book would be of value for any HR practitioners operating in a business where sustainable and responsible business practices where starting to become of importance or for those with an interesting in driving their organisations in this direction. For anyone within HR short of time I’d recommend starting with the first chapter for an overview and moving straight to section 3 as the areas of the text most directly relevant to HR practice are included here. For HR practitioners involved actively in ‘big society’ type projects section 5 on community also offers some analysis of volunteering and community employability projects.
The reviewer this time was Amanda E Heaton.
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