The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for September, 2010

GAO Report Slams Labor Dept. Program to Protect Whistleblowers

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration isn’t adequately protecting whistleblowers from retaliation by their employers, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office. Since Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, little more than 2 percent of worker requests for whistleblower status have been granted.

BOOKS: Speaking Up for Values in Business

When companies cross ethical lines, a common assumption is that employees don’t speak up because their moral compass has gone haywire. But it may be more complicated than that. A new book by business professor and consultant Mary C. Gentile argues that most people want to do the right thing. They just don’t know how.

Why Genetically Modified Foods Are Not Labeled in U.S.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, a majority of the processed foods available in grocery stores today are derived from genetically modified (GM) sources—whereby genes have been taken from one species and insert into another to obtain specific traits or characteristics.

Privatizing Community Water Supplies Becomes More Common

Water is such an important part of life that it has long been regarded as a public good worth entrusting only to public entities. But given the mixed track record of municipal, regional and national governments to properly manage water resources, outsourcing to private companies is becoming more common.

More Wall Street Analysts Buy Corporate Social Responsibility

Wall Street analysts who issue “buy” and “sell” recommendations on publicly-held companies are increasingly awarding more favorable ratings to firms with corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, according to a new academic study. “As time goes by,” the authors write, “CSR strategies are perceived to be more value-creating.”

VIDEO: Business Schools Need to Do a Better Job Teaching Values

Rich Lyons, Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses values and ethics with The Wall Street Journal.

Report Warns of Global Warming for “Thousands of Years”

A new paper published by the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank AG challenges the claims of climate change skeptics and argues that global warming is already happening and is a serious long term threat. “There is a very high probability that we are already heading towards a future where warming will persist for thousands of years,” the paper warns. “Failing to insure against that high probability does not seem a gamble worth taking.”

Opinion: The Case Against the Case Against CSR

Tim Mohin, Director of Corporate Responsibility for technology company AMD, responds strongly to a Wall Street Journal Op Ed article which argued “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility.”

The Ethics of Emotional Intelligence

Recent leadership failures in high profile companies draw attention to the reality that achieving goals – performance – is only part of the formula for success. Another critical piece is the way leaders do it which impacts others – relationships. Columnist Gael O’Brien says leaders who are low in self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills lack something called “emotional intelligence.”