Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: lessons from the land of OZ |
| |
Authors: | Sharon Kemp |
| |
Institution: | (1) Swinburne University of Technology, Lilydale Campus, Locked Bag 218, Lilydale, VIC, 3140, Australia |
| |
Abstract: | Australia corporate boards and senior management have been spirited from the Land of Milk and Honey (profit) to the Land of
OZ. They are to embark on a journey, following the “yellow-brick road”, a proverbial path to a promised land of one’s hopes
and dreams, in order to find brains, a heart and courage. The effect of new regulations introduced in Australia to curtail
corporate misbehaviour is detailed by storytelling. The Wizard of OZ is the title of a story written by L. Frank Baum and published in 1899. In 1939, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios made a movie
of the story. I have used The Wizard of Oz to argue that corporate boards and senior management need to make decisions using a balance of intellect (brains), emotionality
(heart), and a sense of purpose (courage). The inspiration for using Baum’s story, as an analogy for the transformation needed
in corporate boards and senior management, comes from Biberman and Whitty (Journal of Organisational Change Management 10(2):130–188,
1997). This research is based on interviews with Board members and non-executive directors from five companies listed in the Business
Review Weekly (BRW) Top Twenty-five Companies in Australia (2007) and a range of secondary data sources. The financial and reputational success of the organisation and its members is out
of balance with the human and social costs and benefits. Respondents confirmed that board members and senior management should
willingly provide information about the corporation and its activities to its stakeholders, that information and data should
be transparent, the true extent of director remuneration should be revealed and that financial reporting should be true and
accurate. Board members and senior management can be assisted to operate in a way that observes socially responsible values
and balances the obligation for profit maximisation with corporate social responsibilities (CSR). This study provides steps
that organisations can take to achieve a balance of intellect, emotionality and sense of purpose and therefore realise their
corporate social responsibility. The results of this empirical and secondary research suggest a method that may be used to
make board members and senior managers more aware of their corporate social responsibilities and curtail corporate misbehaviour
where the introduction of a range of new regulations has had little effect. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|