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Corporate Social Responsibility as a Messy Problem: Linking Systems and Sensemaking Perspectives

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Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential topic with regard to the relationship between business and the wider society. It is a complex and controversial phenomenon that can best be addressed via systems theory and the sensemaking perspective. This paper proposes a way to link a dialectical systems perspective with communications that includes the sensemaking and dialogic collective approaches, which help to build systems of organised activities that aim to find solutions to complex problems from a holistic perspective. Companies are increasingly aware that if they wish to be successful actors in their business and societal relationships, the traditional sole focus on maximising profit is counterproductive, especially in terms of sustaining their value chains. A holistic approach to CSR and the value chain involves companies integrating their stakeholders along their value chains, especially at the downstream and upstream extremes (their customers and suppliers). This paper illustrates its theoretical perspectives with a case study of JYSK, a multinational company based in Denmark, which demonstrates how the company based its actual management of CSR on its willingness to learn from its own actions and from the actions of others.

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Notes

  1. http://jysk.com/frontpage/about_jysk/quickfactsjysk.htm, accessed on 15 February 2013.

  2. http://jysk.com/frontpage/about_jysk.htm. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.

  3. http://jysk.com/frontpage/mission_and_values.htm. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.

  4. The documentary ‘A killer bargain’ can be accessed on http://www.dr.dk/Salg/DRsales/Programmes/Documentary/Society_and_Social/Society_and_Social_A-L/20100223122458.htm

  5. Politicians took part in the debate with statements such as “Når tilbud dræber, skal der handles” [When bargains kill, we need to act] published on the website of the left-wing party ‘Enhedslisten’, 19 June 2006 (http://www.enhedslisten.dk/naar-tilbud-draeber---skal-der-handles).

  6. Examples of the public debate can be found at discussion forums such as 24.dk (http://www.24.dk/group/eksistens/forum/thread/40100).

  7. Interview with Communications & CSR Manager at Jysk, conducted in May 2011 (cf. Johansen and Nielsen 2012).

  8. cf. http://jysk.com/frontpage/responsibility/work2learn.htm. Accessed 15 Feb 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marketing Communication and Public Relations Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva pl. 5, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Urša Golob & Klement Podnar

  2. Department of Business Communication, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark

    Trine Susanne Johansen & Anne Ellerup Nielsen

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  1. Urša Golob
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  2. Trine Susanne Johansen
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  3. Anne Ellerup Nielsen
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  4. Klement Podnar
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Correspondence to Urša Golob or Klement Podnar.

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Golob, U., Johansen, T.S., Nielsen, A.E. et al. Corporate Social Responsibility as a Messy Problem: Linking Systems and Sensemaking Perspectives. Syst Pract Action Res 27, 363–376 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-013-9287-7

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