Promoting Social Responsibility with ISO 26000

The requirements for sustainable development are often discussed and debated in the public arena with the concept of sustainability becoming a model for social responsibility. Company policies are increasingly expected to promote sustainable actions, calling upon them to integrate sustainability factors in their policies and report on sustainability commitment. Published in 2010, ISO 26000 is relatively new and just gaining ground. The standard is for voluntary guidance to assist organisations contribute to sustainable development, promote common understanding for social responsibility and complement existing social responsibility instruments and initiatives. It is not a management system standard and is therefore not for certification purposes.  Organisations are given seven overarching core principles (see Figure) which give guidance on how to implement social responsibility and enhance stakeholder engagement and communication.

Energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction targets are already effective ways for businesses to reduce production and operation costs and the framework of ISO 26000 can give organisations an important reference point.

Positive outcomes such as increased performance by any organisation can be a catalyst for others and give it a competitive advantage. It endorses and is supportive for emerging trends such as consensus-based sustainability reporting. This can build attention for an organisation and in time, signals that corporate sustainability is becoming more mainstream rather than it being recognised among businesses with sustainable products or an environmental/social mission.

The scope and purpose of the standard are ambitious, claiming to be relevant to all types of activities for all types of businesses and this might be problematic for small business entrepreneurs, especially considering the complexity involved in social responsibility. Also, through its holistic approach it risks not being able to provide any real tangible values beyond what support already exists particularly against currently available CSR tools.

Ultimately, ISO 26000 is about understanding an organisation's place in a complex system and how it can be used to offer greater value to its stakeholders in return for reward. The standard will take time to have any significant impact, but it is an important incremental step in furthering social responsibility as an area for proactive and profitable business management. It will stimulate further additional change and improvement just because it exists now as an available framework and will cause thought for future standards.