Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Corporate Social Responsability
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, Spanish,
Teaching staff
We can find a time together after class or upon request by email to malbareda@uic.es
Introduction
Course Description
CSR is a crucial strategy for organizations that impact the reputation and sales, but most importantly influence the sustainable development of society. Consumers identify meaningful brands among those that provide personal and collective wellbeing plus functional benefits. Factors such as reports of scandals from the media, citizens’ consciousness, empowerment and activism have contributed to the more and more commitment of organizations and the urgency of Governments’ policies. Real cases of companies have been reported in documentaries and movies to claim for better working conditions and good governance. Due to the relationship of bad practices with the periods of crisis, the main values for companies and non-profit organizations to grow in trust and loyalty are transparency and participation.
Pre-course requirements
There are no prerequirements to take this course
Objectives
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to understand CSR as a business management model and the relevance of communicating CSR for the management of organizations. In order to integrating CSR into organizations, communication-centered approach is needed as a duty that organizations have with society in order to build up values and commitments. The stakeholder management perspective personalizes relationships and facilitates analyzing and implementing strategies in an ethical or moral fashion.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 07 - The ability to work in a group
- 10 - The ability to develop an ethical attitude
- 11 - The ability to make judgments and well-argued critical assessments
- 14 - Ability to analyse
- 16 - The ability to detect newsworthy events
- 17 - The ability to confront difficulties and resolve problems
- 22 - The ability to generate debate and reflection
- 53 - The ability to design and critique an audiovisual or media product
- 64 - Knowledge and mastery of bibliographic repertories
- 77 - The ability and capacity to take responsibility for the communication area of an organisation
- 85 - The ability and skill to act as experts in the strategic management of corporate image
- 86 - The ability and capacity to identify, value, manage and protect the intangible assets of a company
- 87 - The ability and capacity to use technology and communicative techniques
- 88 - The ability to relate to people and the environment without losing autonomy
- 96 - The ability to objectively analysis reality and the extraction of valid considerations
- 97 - To be able to read and understand literature in the field of communication in the English language
- 99 - To be able to understand the principal ideas in a conference in the English language
Learning outcomes of the subject
Building on courses taken in their majors, students will learn that responsible companies are not only the ones that do social marketing, organize fundraising events and get better scores in reputation rankings. To the contrary, responsible organizations are mainly those whose core activity is responsible with human and natural resources. It is important to perform consistent with several responsibilities: maximizing earnings-operating in a competitive position and profitable (economic responsibilities), expectations of the government and law-federal, state and local regulations (legal responsibilities), societal and ethical norms- (ethical responsibilities) and expectations of society-voluntary and charitable activities, assistance to educational institutions and projects that enhance a community’s quality of life (philanthropic responsibilities). CSR implies action of a social role and higher performance of responsibilities. Philanthropy is expected and prized by society but less important than the other categories of CSR.
CSR is designed to make the student value the power of bidirectional communication. This course gives the student knowledge of typical forms of communication used by communication departments such as sustainable reports. Best practices have become business standards that sustainable leaders in the industry put into practice thorough tools and insights.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able:
- To understand the main ideas related to corporate social responsibility.
- To identify the essential stakeholders’ responsibilities and content of the values they are responsible for.
- To work effectively in teams on projects.
- To analyze a specific audience for organizations.
- To identify sources to communicate the CSR.
- To apply ethical principles to the main activity of an organization.
- To discuss, analyze sustainability reports.
To prepare a written report in APA style on a company’s CSR.
Syllabus
Lecture Topics and Schedule
Teaching and learning activities
In person
- Lectures- you will need to take notes to remember concepts, ask questions and prepare for in-class discussions-; mentoring; guest speakers.
- The participation is based on your participation class discussions, doing the class activities as well as listening and providing feedback to your peers and the teacher.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Assessment/Course Requirements
Information on Course Assessments
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Attendance and Participation (15%): All course participants must attend class regularly since the content of the course is built up over time and each class is a continuation of the next. Students who miss classes will find it hard to follow the module. Students must actively participate in class and come prepared with questions and discussion points. There will be a participation bonus for those who stand out during class capped at 15%.
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Assignment #1 (25%): CSR Leadership Speech
Students are required to deliver leadership speeches on various CSR topics. This could include presenting their research findings, discussing case studies, or proposing CSR strategies for a hypothetical or real company.
Type: in-class individual activity. Due week 5.
3. Assignment #2 (25%): CSR Consultant
Students need to select an existing company and do a CSR media audit. The group project involves researching and presenting on a CSR issue or developing a CSR plan for a specific organization.
Type: Groups of 3
Deliverable: 15min Presentation in class (15min + 5min Q&A) Due week 10.
4. Assignment #3 (35%): Final Research Paper/Project
Students are required to conduct in-depth research on a specific CSR-related topic and submit a research paper or project. This could involve analyzing case studies, evaluating CSR practices of a company, or proposing CSR strategies.
Type: Individual
Deliverable: 2000-word written report
Due week 15.
Bibliography and resources