Quality and Social Responsability: “Doing well by doing good.”

In his blog "A view from the Q", Paul Borawski, ASQ CEO gives us access to relevant information about the link and the intersection of Quality an Social Responsibility.

The first document is The Pathways to Social Responsibility, where we are able to review examples of the efforts made by many companies to implement  SR processes, and also discover that this tendency is the strategy of many organizations, in  different ways and in all parts of the world.

In the second paper mentioned,  ASQ’s 2011 Future of Quality Study, we can clearly see that the first force  has been called Global Responsibility, which represents the mixture of a greater awareness of the need to be socially responsible and the  global impact  of our local decisions.

The third document that Paul mentioned is a study of the ASQ  in partnership with IBM, "Quality and Social Responsibility, a key business strategy to improve thecompetitive position", where one of the phrases I have emphasized more is the following:

“There’s one additional evolution of quality that is evident

and powerful. If quality started in the hands of skilled trades

and artisans, it moved into factories when mass production

became the norm. Then it moved out of factories into every

imaginable kind of organization— small and large. Today

quality is being called out of the organization into the space

between organizations through global supply chains, and

through networks of companies that understand their greatest

challenges lie outside their organizational walls. From there,

quality moves even further up the feeding chain to be used

as concepts, techniques, and tools in the solution of social

problems. While the number of examples is small, they are

nonetheless evidence that quality is exerting itself in new

ways—in hopeful ways.”

Companies now realize that Social Responsibility is a new frontier for producing innovation,. The  new paradigm is to produce more with fewer resources and less impact on the planet.

From Jimena Calfa blogger, part of Influential Voices of Quality, I take the concept of  ISR (Individual Social Responsibility), which would be an ideal state in which everybody is living under SR ideas, the results will be RSC organizations.  

The ASQ has also developed a movement for social responsibility and explain the role of quality to achieve results: The SRO.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has recognized the importance of the issue of global social responsibility, ISO has developed an international standard on the subject: ISO 26000, which includes the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which sets out principles for companies to achieve comprehensive protection levels (consumers, workers, community including human rights) regardless of where it operates. This rule takes into account the social, environmental, legal, economic and organizational and is not planned or intended for certification purposes. The final version was approved in October 2010.

Paul Borawski asked us about  the efforts we are doing to promote and / or support to implement Quality linked to Social Responsibility. I believe  quality professionals can:

• Support to reduce costs by improving productivity and use of materials, generating less waste, along the production chain.
• Support companies  to provide goods and services of quality and defining strategies to demand the same throughout the production chain.
• Train in the use of tools and metrics that allow for better control of processes to find opportunities for improvement.
• Train and support to use risk management  at all levels.

In Ecuador the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  is in a transition from philanthropic activities towards the establishment of CSR plans that can be nurtured.

Much of the companies that apply CSR plans are multinationals that already have several years of experience, but highlighting local efforts such as PRONACA, an Ecuadorian company in the food sector, with presence in Latin America.

PRONACA has simplified its corporate philosophy in three values:

 Integrity, Solidarity, Responsibility

As promoters of CSR initiatives in Ecuador we can mention:

Ecuadorian Institute of Social Responsibility, IRSE

CERES, Ecuadorian Consortium for Social Responsibility(CERES),

 As a final thought to remember that if everyone is committed to serving others with the best of us, caring for our planet and environment, we will reach the ideal state of CSR.

César Díaz