ISO 26000 Guidance on

Social Responsibility
Development Status, June 2009
An Indus try V iew

A To ol to
Che ck for
Effec ti ven es s
David Fel in ski, Vice-President IFAN (International Federation
of Standards Users) and IFAN Expert to ISO/TMB WG SR, and
Gu ido Guert le r, ICC Observer to ISO/TMB WG SR
 Available Slide Series

• The Project
• ISO 26000 Contents and Players
• Applicability Aspects
• ISO 26000 CD Vote by March 2009
• Success Criteria
• Risk of Failure
• Tool: C he ck for Eff ecti vene ss

The pre sen t subs et is the on e marke d in bold

 Outline
 Recognition (awareness), “but”…
 What is the “Effectiveness Matrix”?

 The “Effectiveness Matrix” Logic

 The “Effectiveness Matrix” Example

 Downloadable Documents

 Encouragement
 Recognition, but… (1/3)
A most frequent notion about SR is:

Can Whe re
YES, I? should I
I really start…
want to do
something!
…and wha t could I
effectively influence?
 Recognition, but… (2/3)
 Recognizing what 400+ experts from all
over the world consider important for the
enhancement of organizations’ social
responsibilities, …
 Recognizing the overall ISO 26000 goal to
globally promote social responsibility to all
kinds of organizations, …
 …there is a small “but”
 Recognition, but… (3/3)
 Suppose an organization is willing to do more
on social responsibility, the “but” relates to
its rea l huma n and financ ial
resources/a bili ties to
- transpose the offered guidance into
practice and to
- what degree of effectiveness it can
reasonably expect to attain.
The Eff ective ne ss Ma tr ix
helps identifying possibilities
The Effectiveness Matrix…(1/2)
 …is an easy to understand and easy to
use to ol to gauge how effective an
organization can reasonably expect to be
in applying SR core subjects and issues

 …can be used by „all types of

organizations, regardless of their size and
location“ (to quote the ISO 26000 Scope)
Die Wirksamkeitsmatrix … (2/2)

 …does not need any advisors or

consultants external to the organization

 …is a good instrument for initiating a

dialogue with stakeholders or any other
parties.
 Effectivenss Matrix; Terms (1/2)
Claus e 6 of ISO 26000 mentions these core
subject:
Organizational Governance

Human Rights

Labor Practices

The Environment

Fair Operating Practices

Consumer Issues, and

Community Involvement and Development

Effectivenss Matrix; Terms (2/2)
A “co re su bject “ is structured by several
„issu es“:
Core subjects issues
Organisational Governance 1
Human Rights 8
Labor Practices 5
The Environment 4
Fair Operating Practices 5
Consumer Issues 7
Community Involvement and
Development
7
    37
 
The Effectiveness Matrix; Basic Logic (1/5)

The left-most column reproduces the

ISO 26000 core subjects and issues

Remaining columns ask five

questions in each row

Re lev anc e ? Eff ectiveness? Act ivit ies? Imp act ? Sta ke
Core holder s?
Subjects
and
Issues
The Effectiveness Matrix; Basic Logic (2/5)
The act ual colu mn hea di ngs read as
follows:
1 SR 2 Is the 3 What 4 What 5 What 6 Which
Core core degree of kind of effect/impa stakehold
subject subject or effectivene activities
ct would ers to
s issue seen ss could could the
the involve
and as the organizat
activities are seen
issues relevant to organizatio ion have on the as useful?
the n have on undertakorganizatio
organizati this issue? e? n’s social
on? responsibili
Use is from lef t to righ t: If an ty?in a box is
answer
posi ti ve (YES on the next slide) continue with this line, if
it is ne ga tiv e (NO on the next slide) this line is done
The Effectiveness Matrix; Basic Logic (3/5)
Activ Stake-
Rele- Effectivenes i- holder
  vance? s? ties? Impact? s?
continue with
Core
issues of
Subject YES
Core Subject
A      
A
Go to
yes yes no
Issue A1 Go to issue issue A2  
Issue A2 no A3      
Issue A3 yes yes yes yes yes
A... yes yes yes yes no
Core continue with
Subject no Core
B
Issue      
Subject C
B...          
Effectiveness Matrix; Basic Logic (4/5)

Relevanc e of a core subj ect

 Que stio n : is the core subject relevant

to my organization?
 If NO , go to next core subj ect

 If YE S , continue with checking whether

the is sue s of this core subject can

effectively be dealt with
Effectiveness Matrix; Basic Logic (5/5)
Relevanc e o f an iss ue
 Que stio n : is the issue relevant to my

organization?
 If N O , go to ne xt is sue of this core

subject
 If YE S , continue with checking the

next of the five questions on this

“issue”;
if one check is negative, the line is
done; go to next issue
Effectiveness Matrix; Example (1/6)

 The following represents the practical

application of the „Effectiveness Matrix“ by
a 30-person software developing company
in Germany.
 The complete matrix (Word document) is
downloadable from
http://www.26k-estimation.com/html/english.h
 Effectiveness Matrix; Example (2/6)
“Anticorruption”
1 SR Core 2 Is the core 3 What degree 4 What kind of 5 What 6 Which
subjects subject or of activities could effect/impact stakeholders
and issues issue seen as effectiveness the would the to involve are
relevant to the could the organization activities have seen as
organization? organization undertake? on the useful?
have on this organization’s
issue? social
responsibility?
 Effectiveness Matrix; Example (3/6)
“Climate Change”
1 SR Core 2 Is the core 3 What degree 4 What kind of 5 What 6 Which
subjects subject or of activities could effect/impact stakeholders
and issues issue seen as effectiveness the would the to involve are
relevant to the could the organization activities have seen as
organization? organization undertake? on the useful?
have on this organization’s
issue? social
responsibility?
Climate Very Sponsor Enhance none
change
YES actions that our good
mitigati
little increase image
on and public
adaptat awareness;
ion include
measures
into
communicat
ion material
 Effectiveness Matrix; Example (4/6)
“Health and Safety at Work”
1 SR Core 2 Is the core 3 What degree 4 What kind of 5 What 6 Which
subjects subject or of activities could effect/impact stakeholders
and issues issue seen as effectiveness the would the to involve are
relevant to the could the organization activities have seen as
organization? organization undertake? on the useful?
have on this organization’s
issue? social
responsibility?
Health Not Not Not Not Not
and Applicable Applicable Applicable Applicabl
safety
relevan e
at t; all
work covered by
regulation,
we run very
normal
office
workplac
 Effectiveness Matrix; Example (5/6)
Spezific Result
 ISO 26000 offers guidance for 37 i ss ues

 5 is sues can be effectively dealt with:

- Sustainable resource use
- Anti-corruption
- Promotion in the own sphere of influence
- Education and culture
- Employment creation and skills development
 32 i ss ues can not be effectively dealt with
 Effectiveness Matrix; Example (6/6)
Summary
 To work through the matrix is a relatively
easy and efficient process to
select tho se core subjects and issues,
where “my” organization can try to
enhance its social responsibility
- substantially;
- effectively;
- reasonably; and
- in a sustainable manner.
 Encouragement
 Feel free to try the „Effectiveness Matrix“
with your own organization!
It can be downloaded from
http://www.26k-estimation.com/html/english.html
 Any proposals on further development of
this tool, or on creating additional ones for
an effective use of ISO 26000 are more
than welcome!

 Please send your ideas to guido.guertler@t-online.de