Promoting employee involvement with CSR

This is an event in the Ideas in Practice series taking place in London on Wednesday 22 May 2019

Leeds University Business School brings together the following two seminars in one day to consider key ethical aspects of conducting business in a connected world. You are welcome to join us for one session or both. There is no charge to attend.

Promoting Employee Involvement with CSR

2:00pm - 4:45pm

The world is changing. No longer can an organisation just focus on its shareholders - now it needs to consider stakeholders from employees to customers to the community at large. This is why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now a strategic element of most organisations. Expectations of an organisation's responsibilities are changing and organisations need to change with them to survive.

But CSR strategy is no good if it is not put into practice; for that you need your employees to help you create actual CSR outcomes.

In this workshop we will be bringing together academics and practitioners to discuss how they get employees engaged in CSR and turn it from a strategy into a reality.

Following the Thread: Business Ethics along the Supply Chain

5:30pm - 8:30pm

The recent revelations about workers’ conditions in the factory producing the Spice Girls’ Comic Relief T-shirts have highlighted just one of the ethical challenges for businesses operating within a global supply network across countries with different institutional set-ups and value systems. Environment-damaging investments, corruption and the treatment of labour rights are other ethical concerns.

UK and international legislation and the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights and Business attempt to address these issues and protect human rights. The UK’s Modern Slavery Act, for example, requires firms to adhere to a set of rules in their global operation and to ensure that their supply network does likewise.

Join our symposium to discuss:

  • Practical challenges and approaches in addressing business ethical issues

  • Corporate engagement with international modern slavery legislation

  • How the international institutional set-up has changed in recent years and which changes have had the greatest impact on strategic decisions

Event format

  Promoting Employee Involvement with CSR
2.00pm Registration (tea and coffee available)
2.30pm Presentation by Dr. Scarlett Brown, Head of Research and Policy, Tomorrow’s Company

Presentation by Alison Ball, Associate Director, Civil Engineering, Arup

Presentation by Dr. Rebecca Pieniazek, Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, Leeds University Business School

How are different social entrepreneurs motivated to simultaneously achieve both their financial and social goals?

Presentation by Professor Kerrie Unsworth, Chair in Organisational Behaviour, Leeds University Business School

The paradox of employee CSR: Should we make it part of the job?

3.45pm Panel and audience discussion

Panel Chair: Professor Kerrie Unsworth

Panel members:

Rupa Ganguli, CEO, Inclusive Trade

Dr. Scarlett Brown,

Alison Ball

Dr. Rebecca Pieniazek

4.45pm Refreshments and networking for all
  Following the Thread: Business Ethics along the Supply Chain
5.30pm Keynote presentation – Cindy Berman, Head of Modern Slavery Strategy, Ethical Trading Initiative

Presentation: How does modern slavery show up in companies' global supply chains, and what can be done to tackle it?

6.00pm Professor Hinrich Voss, Professor of International Business and Dr. Matt Davis, Associate Professor in Organizational Psychology, Leeds University Business School

Presentation: Pulling the Thread: Unravelling the trail of modern slavery in the fashion and textile industry: key highlights from a research study

6.30pm Panel introductions followed by panel and audience discussion

Panel ChairDr. Mark Sumner, Lecturer, School of Design, University of Leeds

Panel members:

Cindy Berman

Chris McCann, Founder, Resilient World

Rupa Ganguli, CEO, Inclusive Trade

Hinrich Voss

Alisa Voznaya, Senior Manager, Risk and Regulatory Transformation, KPMG

7.30pm Canapes, wine and networking
8.30pm Event close

For further information, please contact Naomi Colhoun at research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk