Thinking Critically about Social Responsibility

via The Business Ethics Blog~ A blog about Business Ethics by Chris MacDonald

I recently participated in a conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), where I gave a short presentation on the role of critical thinking in leading a company toward better social performance. Basically, I argued that in order to motivate employees to embrace some version of CSR – whatever you take that to mean – you need need to think critically about the way your CSR activities dovetail with the goals of your organization, and with the values and commitments that are already motivating your employees.

Interestingly, I received some push-back, in the form of a question from the audience, from someone who suggested that what CSR efforts really need is passion and a sense of purpose. What’s really needed, this person said, is not critical thinking at all. Indeed, for purposes of pushing the CSR agenda forward, critical thinking is actually a bad idea.

As someone who teaches critical thinking for a living, I was naturally somewhat taken aback.

This person had a point, of course: getting something done – whether it’s opening a new division or launching a new product or strengthening your CSR profile – takes passion. It takes commitment. And sometimes critical thinking, which involves asking questions, could seem like a stumbling block. Now isn’t always the right moment for asking annoying questions and expressing doubt.

But I thought I would take the time to lay out, here, the role that critical thinking can play – indeed, must play – in launching CSR activities and bringing them to fruition.

Continue reading and pick up some interesting links along the way

---