Source: Image of recycling logo, checklist, report, man with hardhat, people at table, office building, circle with arrows, images by Video Scribe, License held by Jeff Carroll; Image of Gantt chart, Creative Commons, Kelly Eddington; Image of woman and man meeting, Creative Commons, Kelly Eddington; Image of org chart, Creative Commons, Kelly Eddington; Image of approved stamp, Public Domain, http://bit.ly/1i7QFCJ.
Hi, I'm Jeff, and in this lesson, we'll learn about the steps and challenges in implementing a social responsibility program for a business. So let's get started.
Let's run through the necessary steps in the development of a social responsibility program. Step 0 is need recognition. Before the decision is even made, there must have been someone in the organization or a customer who recognized the need for a social responsibility program. It would be good to have this person or persons as one of the stakeholders in the program.
In order to decide if this program is a good step for our business, we must ask what is the challenge or situation that this program will help solve. Which leads us to step 1, planning. We've now decided to start the program, so we need to outline the goals and objectives of the program. We must also determine how much it will cost by defining the scope of the work, then we must find funding for the program. All planning must start with those at the top of the company, the decision makers, in order to have the best chance at success.
Step 2, action. We must implement the program based on the plan. Step 3, results. We must measure the program's results, and these results must be clear and quantifiable. This is best done with a committee within the organization committed to the program.
Step 4, ongoing leadership. A clear organization chart that outlines responsibilities must exist for the program. And finally step 5, follow through. Audits should be routinely scheduled to check that the plan is being followed, results are being measured, and everyone in leadership is fulfilling their responsibilities. If issues are found, then the practices should be revised.
Now let's run through an actual example. Imagine that a suggestion has been made to launch a recycling program for your business. Whether you are running a large or small business, the steps are the same. Let's run through those steps.
Need recognition, what is the situation that requires this program? Perhaps your business uses a considerable amount of paper products. It's already difficult to dispose of this paper so recycling might be just as cost effective. A challenge facing the company might be that some of the paper contains confidential data, so it's important to deal with that issue before recycling.
Planning, the goal would be to launch a recycling program with less than a 5% increase in cost over the previous disposal program and have all of these new processes in place within six months. The executive committee has approved the plan and the increase in budget.
Action, now implement the program, making sure to keep it within schedule and cost. For a large business this program might need to be rolled out in stages for different locations, so each roll out might be managed as if it is a separate project.
Results, after the program is implemented, establish a schedule to provide a report on the results every month for the first six months then every three months after. This lets the stakeholders know the program is working. Sometimes small businesses can be distracted by the day-to-day running of the business, so it's important that these reports continue to be made. And that's where leadership comes in.
Ongoing leadership, perhaps after launching the program, you must move on to new work. If so, then you must transfer ownership of the program and responsibility for the reports to someone new. Be sure to document this as well as the organizational chart for everyone involved in the program.
And follow through, finally you can create a group that will analyze the results of the reports and provide recommendations for changes. These changes should be handled through change management, which we'll discuss next.
Change management is the process used by an organization to handle changes in a process or project. We'll cover this in more detail in a later lesson, but for now, it's important to know that a program such as a social responsibility program should have a method for change management. Leadership in a business always sets the tone for an environment, And? It's important for the success of any business to show that they are both accepting of change and adaptable to new information.
Well done. In this lesson, we learned how to create a social responsibility program, and we ran through a specific example for a recycling program. We also discussed the importance of change management. Thanks for your time and have a great day.
