In his Tri-Talk, delivered on day 2 of the Trialogue Business in Society Conference, academic and author Athol Williams addressed the question of whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) truly discharges a company’s ethical responsibility.
As the current Senior Fellow of Management Practice in Strategy at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, Williams has two decades of executive experience in corporate strategy and consulting. But he is also one of South Africa’s whistleblowers, among those who risked their lives to expose state-capture corruption and ultimately went into exile for their safety.
His lived understanding of power, accountability and moral courage inspired his address to delegates.
Two ethical questions
Williams’ argument began with a distinction that many companies fail to hold consistently.
The first ethical obligation – the duty to act – is relatively well understood. “We have a duty of care to others,” he said. “Where we see someone suffering, we have a duty to intervene in a way that might ease that suffering.” This is the terrain of CSI, doing good in areas of society where there is need, vulnerability and deficit.
But the second question is more difficult: What shouldn’t I do? CSI cannot answer this question, Williams said, as a business may be discharging its ethical duty to communities through social programmes while still engaging in some harmful practices.
“Are we as a business also refraining from doing things we shouldn’t do?” he asked, suggesting that companies consider issues such as not paying staff fair wages, damaging the environment, or inculcating a work environment in which harassment, fraud and corruption are features.
Beyond doing good: the duty to repair harm
Williams pushed the argument further, introducing a third layer of responsibility that extends beyond both doing good and avoiding harm.
“What happens,” he asked, “if I’m in a business and have done some harm?” The answer, he argued, is not neutral. “It creates a ‘should-do’ for the company. You now should make amends for the wrong you’ve done.” CSI does not cover this ethical obligation to remedy harms, Williams pointed out.
Ethics in an unjust society
Williams then situated these questions within broader social conditions, distinguishing ideal and real-world contexts.
“In a fully just society in which government fully discharges its responsibilities to protect human rights and care for its citizens,” he said, corporate obligations would look very different. “The requirement of companies would be significantly diminished.”
But this is not the reality in South Africa. Where government is unable to discharge its responsibilities, business frequently steps in to fill gaps – but this is merely compensation for the government’s failures. This raises a strategic as well as ethical question: “Whether we ought to continue doing what we’re doing, or challenge government to fulfil more of its responsibilities.”
A further ethical dilemma emerges when businesses witness wrongdoing by others – whether by the state or by peers in business. “What happens when you’re fulfilling your responsibilities but observe someone else doing wrong?” Williams indicated that companies should intervene to alleviate the impact of wrongdoing.
Williams noted that State Capture effectively weakened the government’s capacity to fulfil its responsibilities, thereby placing a greater burden on business. “As business, we have two possible reactions. One is to keep doing CSI as we are, which is fantastic – but the second is to build capacity within government.”
A call to boards to look beyond CSI
For Williams, the implications are particularly clear at the level of governance. CSI discharges a company’s responsibility under the duty of care, but doesn’t help avoid harm in core operations.
Instead, boards must interrogate the fundamentals: “Are we paying taxes and fair wages? Are we paying our suppliers on time? Are we intervening if those around us are destroying society through corruption or unethical behaviour?”
Williams closed by acknowledging the important role CSI continues to play in South Africa. However, a deeper reckoning is required regarding how companies operate and engage with society.
“In South Africa, CSI plays a major role in supporting communities and society – but from a board and management standpoint, there is a call to business to fulfil other responsibilities as ethical behaviour,” he concluded.
