[Global View] CSR은 말이 아닌 행동으로

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20여년 전 엔론 스캔들 이후 경영 윤리 훼손 방지를 위한 많은 전략이 개발됐지만 아직 그에 대한 우려는 누그러들지 않고 있다. 오히려 최근 들어 더 나빠지는 모습도 보인다.

2013년 1100명이 넘는 사망자를 낸 방글라데시 라나 플라자 붕괴사고, 애플의 유럽 내 탈세 논란 등은 정부가 적절한 규제를 할 것이란 믿음을 흔들리게 한다. 영국에서는 올초 종업원 1만1000명을 둔 백화점 체인 BHS가 파산했다. 최고경영자(CEO)였던 필립 그린은 종업원들의 퇴직연금에 5억7100만파운드 손실을 입히고도 배당 등으로 거액을 받아 지탄을 받았다. 기업의 사회적책임(CSR)이 강조되지만 이런 스캔들을 보면 실제로 기업 운영 문화가 바뀌고 있는 것인지 의문이 든다.

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지속가능한 인적자원관리에 대한 교훈을 역사에서 찾아야 한다. 1950년대부터 1980년대 초까지 기업과 공공기관에선 관료주의가 각광받았다. 관리의 효율성을 추구했기 때문이다. 기업 활동은 정부의 규제 틀 안에서 이뤄졌다. 노동자와 하도급업체, 소비자, 지역사회 등 다양한 이해관계자가 우호적인 관계를 맺었다. 하지만 1980년대 중반부터 달라졌다. 더 많은 이익을 추구하는 과정에서, 다양한 이해관계자가 참여하는 걸 꺼리는 경향이 생겼다. 이런 흐름은 2008년 금융위기로 파국을 맞았다.

기업 생존 달린 지속가능경영

이젠 세계 시장에서 지속가능한 새로운 기업 경영 방식이 필요하다. 예를 들어 다국적기업은 모든 납품업체가 근로자에게 생활임금을 지급하고 ‘제로 아워 계약(최소 노동시간에 대한 규정 없이 고용주가 원하는 시간에만 근무하는 고용 형태)’을 못하게 할 수 있다. 생활임금 지급은 기업에 부담을 줄 수도 있다. 하지만 노동자의 건강과 생활 수준 향상 등 여러 장점을 고려하면 이 같은 부담은 그만한 가치가 있을 것이다. 이는 기업의 장기적 지속가능성을 높여주고, 사회 전체가 이익을 공유할 수 있다. 납품업체를 교육·감독하는 일은 해당 국가의 인권을 향상시키고, 그 사회의 지속가능성을 높이는 파급 효과도 낳을 수 있다.

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많은 기업들이 영속적인 브랜드 관리에 어려움을 겪고 있다. 점점 더 많은 소비자가 자신들이 구입하는 브랜드에 윤리적 문제가 없는지 따지기 시작했기 때문이다. 인적자원관리 분야에서 참여와 포용이 강조되는 이유다.

경영에 현장 목소리 녹여야

직원들의 참여와 권한 강화를 강조하는 새로운 시스템을 경영 현장에 적용하는 건 쉬운 일이 아니다. 직원들이 진실한 목소리를 내도록 하는 것은 단순히 직원들에게 더 많은 발언권을 주는 것만을 뜻하는 게 아니다. 피고용인에 대한 고용주의 권력 구조가 변해야 한다.

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흔히 관리자들은 직원의 참여 확대를 자신의 권한 축소로 오해한다. 그러나 직원들의 참여가 많을수록 더 활기차고 나은 의사결정을 할 수 있다. 이런 경영법은 ‘기성품’이 아니다. 미래의 협력은 기업과 학계, 정부가 연계해 이뤄져야 한다. 비록 협력 초기 단계엔 어렵지만 성취가 클수록 보상도 크다. 그 혜택은 전 세계 시민과 노동자, 소비자, 기업 모두에 돌아갈 것이다.

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Corporate governance, sustainability and a new HRM arrangement
Corporate practices continue, quite rightly, to be scrutinised around the globe. Strategies developed since the Enron scandal almost two decades ago have not abated concerns about corporate ‘abuse’. Indeed quite the contrary: things seem to be worse or continue unchecked. On almost a daily basis corporate leadership is questioned about ethical issues. The Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, which killed over 1100 people, has led the authorities in India to seek arrests for murder. Apple’s recent tax avoidance debacle in Ireland further illustrates the lack of faith in governments to ensure equitable regulation. In Britain, its parliament voted in October 2016 to rescind Sir Philip Green’s knighthood after he sold the retail giant, British Homes Stores (BHS), for £1. It was sold to a former bankrupt, Dominic Chappell, who had no retail experience and his consortium then went on to collect at least £17 million from BHS’s collapse. The scandal has resulted in a £571 million employee pension fund deficit, with thousands of workers now destitute and broke because of Sir Phillip’s corporate greed.

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Having a well thought-out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, often with a mission to protect things like the environment and a community, is pretty meaningless: all these scandals were in corporations that said, on paper, they do the right things.

The ‘new’ HRM agenda
The goal for sustainable HRM governance can learn a lot from history. From the 1950s until early 1980s management systems responded to the rise of large bureaucratic corporations and public entities. With that came the need for administrative efficiency. As a result, corporate conduct was more regulated, transparent and based on a value model that included various stakeholders: workers and their unions, suppliers, citizens, community groups. All that changed after 1980s in the serach for management to be ‘strategic business partner’. Stakeholder interested were shunned in pursuit of greater financial returns (the era of financialised capitalism was born).

In the process, however, communities around the globe suffered and the neo-liberal model failed abruptly with the crisis of 2008.

A new arrangement now demands better sustainable approaches, both domestically and globally. One key lever is supporting global supply networks. Outsourcing is an established global phenomenon, yet the challenge now is to ensure other suppliers conform to Codes and Agreements for ‘decent work’. For example large MNCs can obligate all supplier firms to meet basic standards such as a living wage, end zero-hours contracts, and ensure labour contracts are permanent with a set of basic HRM policy standards in place, such as employee consultation.

Importantly, any cost implications of things like living wage policies will be offset by wider societal spending, raised living standards, improved health and better social wellbeing. These are benefits shared by all, including longer-term corporate sustainability, as opposed to boosting exclusively short-term shareholder profit. The moral economic utility will also have spill-over effects: educating and mentoring a network of supplier organisations to improve their humanist systems will embed a social sustainability.

FIGURE HERE IF WANTED (but not essential, can drop)

A further cluster of arrangements in the new HRM agenda is engagement and inclusion. The challenge for many corporate brands is ‘sustainable governance’, especially as consumers are increasingly more sophisticated about the ethical issues of the brands they purchase. At its heart a new HRM arrangement supports transparency of participation, voice and empowerment. Even Teressa May, the British Prime Minister in her post-Brexit rhetoric, tried to alleviate fears that Britain leaving Europe might damage worker voice: she promised rules to allow worker representatives on company boards.

However, the new HRM engagement approach is difficult (even controversial) for many corporations. Having genuine voice is more than a soft policy that gives workers a suggestion scheme or a speak-up programme. The relationship is essentially one of power, by owners, over employees. Genuine voice means a shift in that power dynamic. For many managers employee engagement is seen as a loss of power or authority. But that is misguided. The reality is those managers who have the capability to facilitate wider inclusion end-up with better and more robust decision-making. In other words, learning how to share power through participation enhances corporate legitimacy and trust.

A future collaborative paradigm
The new HRM approach is not an easy, simple or a ready-made solution. Nor is it a single or straightforward tool-kit. Globalisation and neo-liberal forces are constant pressures that make it difficult for managers to support sustainable ethical arrangements with employees. Because of this, a future collaborative network is proposed which connects businesses, academia and government.

At The University of Manchester, for example, global sustainability is advanced not only through innovative research breakthroughs (e.g. green energy, new material compounds, business ethics, global equalities – among others), but also by shaping its students to be globally aware citizens. In September 2016 probably the world’s largest ever ‘project team’ took place in Manchester, when over 8000 first year students engaged in new innovative sustainability extra-curricular challenges.

Such activity is part of the new HRM approach outlined here. We know such collaboration is difficult, yet also extremely rewarding and fulfilling. We also know the benefits point to a better arrangement whereby citizens around the world, as workers and consumers, and corporations and the planet, may coexist and cohabit in a more sustainable future.

Tony Dundon is Professor of HRM and Employment at Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.