Universities although primarily seen as a place for learning, education and research can be regarded as responsible for the impact they have on the surrounding environment and community. Sustainability is defined as causing a minimal impact to the environment and at the same time not affecting the needs of future generations (sd-commission, n.d.). Corporate social responsibility on the other hand is an establishment’s duty to reduce any adverse effects they have on society as a whole, whilst trying to accomplish their economic and ethical obligations and improve the community (Wright, K. 2010). Universities being the immense institutions they are, need to assess the quantity of resources they consume and consider any long-term consequences caused by the way in which they operate. As to achieve sustainability, you cannot harm individual’s livelihoods and well-being which is part of being socially responsible (Environmentalscience.org, n.d.). This essay will look at how sustainability practices are being incorporated by universities and whether CSR is needed to achieve this goal.
To begin with, many universities are trying to implement sustainability practices whether that may be by reducing carbon emissions, in construction, transportation, energy, waste and numerous other methods (Sustainability.manchester.ac.uk, n.d.). The university of Manchester for example holds the sustainability challenge for undergraduate students every year to increase their awareness of wider issues faced within the community and on a global scale (social responsibility.manchester.ac.uk,2018). By having students participate in such events it increases their interactivity when it comes to topics like sustainability and it makes them more mindful about the way in which they act as individuals. Alongside this, universities should be creating a “diverse knowledge society” (Symaco and Tee, 2018) and providing others with further insight on the importance of social responsibility in each of its aspects. By doing so, this should correct information failure and a lack of understanding between different generations within society who may not be highly educated in corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
In addition to this, by exercising CSR and interacting with the community, it indicates that the universities are able to take an active approach to developing the environment around them which can be sustained in the long term by educating the younger generation and increasing their contribution (Shek and Hollister, 2017). As without their involvement, improvements to sustainability will be limited to being more economical and this progress will not be able to be upheld for the future (Anyangwe, E. 2011). Also, according to Carroll’s pyramid of corporate social responsibility one of the vital components of CSR is philanthropy which can be achieved by students volunteering within their community or with donations from the university (Carroll, A. 2016). The students can help transfer their understanding to the public and educate them on ways they can be more sustainable and socially responsible by working collaboratively to combat issues. Hence, this can lead to reduced carbon emissions, less wastage of materials through recycling and a more stable economy. This means that there is a better quality of life and standard of living for members of society if there is an increase in CSR (Perić and Delić, 2015).
Some may argue that universities should be following corporate social responsibility for the reason that personnel, capital and other supplies are given by stakeholders. It is important for universities to satisfy their stakeholders whether they are considered as internal such as shareholders and employees or external stakeholders like the community. In relation to this universities utilise a lot of resources and can create substantial damage to the environment which is why they need to analyse the effects of this on society (Nejati, M. et al 2011). As the community is regarded as a stakeholder, universities should be more conscious of the detrimental impacts they have on society as they should be looking to enrich and develop the surrounding environment. Considering that universities have a wide variety of resources available, they should be utilised to assist the public in addition to charities and events the community runs (Caramela, 2018). Additionally, universities would want to maintain a respectable reputation and not be seen as harming people’s health and well-being through their day-to-day procedures as this would not be abiding by CSR or sustainability. In which case it can be argued that sustainability cannot be attained without being socially responsible as the notions of corporate social responsibility are incorporated within it.
On the other hand, it could be reasoned that corporate social responsibility has no direct connection with universities as their main objective is to educate. This in itself already benefits the community as students have better employment opportunities and have the necessary skills to acquire high paying jobs which subsequently improves their quality of life. In comparison businesses, which are not non-profit organisations like universities, should be following CSR as otherwise they primarily act in their own self-interest and are more focussed on their financial gains and sales maximisation. Even so, both businesses and universities improve infrastructure, provide jobs in different sectors, allocate funding to technology and training without specifying it to be part of CSR (Norén, 2004). Also, for a university alone to have a significant influence on corporate social responsibility a lot of time would have to be devoted to including it within the curriculum for every student. This could affect the university’s academic performance if it’s not managed properly which contradicts the main purpose of a university. Furthermore, if the concept of corporate social responsibility is integrated within sustainability, it may be argued that the involvement of the government, other firms and members of society are needed if sustainability is to be achieved as they all play a part in reaching this target. This can be difficult to accomplish and therefore holds back universities from a sustainable future (Málovics, G. et al, 2008).
Moreover, for businesses profit maximisation is considered to be one of the most important objectives so that they can use the profit to reinvest back into the company through research and development as well as keeping their shareholders satisfied by paying them dividends. Adopting policies to deal with corporate social responsibility would impact on an organisations profit figure which would lead to discontented shareholders. Some firms only look at the short-term effect of their actions and may see other stakeholders such as the community as less important compared to the more valued shareholders who have a direct involvement with the business (Clegg et al 2016). By disregarding these stakeholders, it may compromise the company’s reputation and status in the future (Doane, 2005). In relation to universities, although they may not have the objective to profit maximise as their stakeholders include the government, they should still be concerned with their image. This may lead to the problem of universities incorporating corporate social responsibility into their ethics for the sole purpose of enhancing their image and making the university more attractive to potential students or employees. Conversely it could be argued that such universities already have a high number of applicants due to their academic excellence and a mention of CSR would not change that. It would more so be an advantage to the students to help expand their skills if they volunteered within the community and took an actively contributed to CSR.
To conclude, I do agree with the statement and that for the most part universities cannot be sustainable without being socially responsible. This is because being sustainable involves the environmental factors of pollution and usage of resources as well as trying to promote a stable economic future for society. As those elements pertain to being socially responsible how can sustainability be achieved entirely without accomplishing them. Although some may argue that universities can never be completely sustainable, establishing a relationship and being more aware of the impacts they have on the community only advances the universities progress. Overall, corporate social responsibility has evolved into more than just a practice for businesses and its importance is only increasing as people in society are becoming more ethically aware. Further work needs to be done with integrating CSR if universities want to achieve their sustainability targets and ensure that the environment can be sustained in the long-term for future generations.