Managers are increasingly confronted with issues of sustainability, responsibility and ethics. Managing responsibly is an integrative approach to sustainability, responsibility and ethics, which allows you as a manager to deal competently with such challenges. This course will facilitate your learning process to engage in changing practices to make them more sustainable, responsible, and ethically informed. We will first introduce the context of the trend towards responsible management practices (week 1). We then explore the basics of each set of issues, sustainability (week 2), responsibility (week 3), and ethics (week 4). In week 5 you will work on your own responsible management issue/task and explore responsible management practices in an area of professional interest (e.g. strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, organization, operations, supply chain, human resources, marketing and communication, international management, accounting and finance). In week 6 we will try to understand and experience what managing responsibly means in practice, including opportunities and challenges, and with a focus on transformative change. During these last two weeks you will work in a problem-oriented way, based on a challenging topic you have come across in your own management practice. In the course we will form multicultural teams to learn about problems you bring forward. The course also facilitates the formation of peer networks that allow you to continue this learning experience after finishing the MOOC. The MOOC is an initiative in collaboration with the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative. Overall Learning Outcomes 1) To provide an introduction to the three constituting fields of managing responsibly: sustainability, responsibility and ethics. 2) To help apply the knowledge and insights gained from these three fields to real life problems in your own setting. 3) To identify, understand and facilitate individual action that can lead to change at the organisational and system level ...to ‘act is to move’ 4) To learn to appreciate and bring together different points of view, and negotiate collective solutions to pressing problems. Who is this MOOC for? (Recommended Background) While this course is primarily designed for executives who want to work on particular responsible management issues and create responsible management practices, also advanced business students will find it helpful. Suggested Readings There are no specific required texts. However, the contents and assignments of this course have been based on the following book which might be helpful as complementary materials: Laasch, Oliver, and R. Conway (2014). Principles of responsible management: Global sustainability, responsibility and ethics, Cengage Learning: Mason.
Week 5 Practitioner Interview: Madeleine Cobb
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En provenance du cours de University of Manchester
Managing Responsibly: Practicing Sustainability, Responsibility and Ethics
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University of Manchester
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Professions and Occupations
In this week you will self-select groups of people with similar responsible management issues and tasks to discuss coping approaches. You will also pick an area of professional interest (e.g. strategy, entrepreneurship, organization, operations, supply chain, human resources, marketing and communication, international management, accounting, finance) to further explore and to innovate responsible management practices in the professional context.
Rencontrer les enseignants
Oliver LaaschMarie Curie Research Fellow
Manchester Institute of Innovation Research
Dr Sally RandlesSenior Research Fellow
Alliance Manchester Business SChool
Prof Frank BoonsProfessor of Innovation and Sustainability
Alliance Manchester Business School
We're here with Madeleine Kopp from ITV and she is head of sustainability.
Madeleine, could you tell us a little bit more about what you're actually doing and
how that relates to sustainability and responsibility topics.
>> Thank you, nice to be here.
I think first of all, ITV recognizes it has an enormous privilege to be
able to reach 40 million people every week.
And with that,
we see that as a real opportunity to harness that power of our programmings,
our most loved, most watched programs to create long-term change for good.
Essentially, that's our social purpose.
The way our sustainability structure works is that we've then narrowed that down into
three parties, people, planet and partnerships.
Essentially, what that means is people means we want to reflect
modern society both onscreen and behind the scenes.
We want to have an inclusive culture and we want to have access to services.
So, that means the subtitling, signing,
audio description of our services so all can access them.
On planet, then we want to give environmental messagings for our programs.
Again, always looking at what is asked of key selling point as a broadcaster.
So, using the power of our programs whilst minimizing
the environmental impact of our operations.
Finally, on partnerships, it's again using our power and
reach to create change for good and for communities and causes and
also help our people make a positive difference as well.
Drilling a bit further down on those three pillars, we've got commitments.
We've got four commitments under each of those three Ps as we now call them and
each of the four commitments has a structure around it.
The first one is always about leveraging up on our reach, doing what we do best.
One is about leveraging our workforce because we recognize that our workforce is
our biggest asset, and we want them to really get involved.
One is about how we do business day to day, so
that's our policies, our procedures, our resources,
our culture, so the people can be their best, at ITV.
And the final one is, how we work with others.
So that's looking at our value chain, what suppliers we work with,
what productions we work with, down to how we transmit our programs and
essentially, the viewers who watch our programs.
So that's the structure and
it's important to have structure otherwise, you need to focus.
Otherwise, you can do lots of lots of activities and may not have that impact.
So the structure's important.
And I said,
we've got four commitments on those themes under each of the partnerships.
>> How is the sustainability and
responsibility area at ITV actually structured?
Who's working there and how are people working together and
what different areas are there?
>> We're an essential team of about 15 in total.
We've got a director of corporate responsibility who I report into to.
And then we have a head of sustainability and then a head of campaigns and
appeals who purely focuses on all the on air campaigns and appeals that we do.
It's quite a healthy team but of course, we rely on everyone around the business to
actually embed and act out our sustainability commitments.
We've got someone in social partnership within the studios and commissioning,
focusing on that.
But we've got many allies and champions in a network across the business,
too, to help us make this happen.
>> If you think of these four commitments on an organization, a company level,
how do these commitments then relate to individual people working in the company?
We've just seen a number of people in the beginning of this week of the MOOC
working in ITV and doing social,
environmental, ethical things on responsibility and sustainability.
How would these people connect to these different areas that you mentioned?
>> There's different ways.
I think the important thing for us forward, for my role, for example,
is not to set a strategy and devise it and put it out there to the business.
First off, it's important that we as a team, go out
with all the different business areas, talk to them about our social purpose,
what we're here to do, and really understand from them where they can make
the biggest change within their area of influence, if you like.
And really get their buy in into it so that they come up with ideas and
ways that they're excited about and how they can contribute to our aims.
That's more a departmental level.
On an individual level, we do a lot of awareness raising,
we've got really high employee engagement scores,
which shows people buy into ITV's brand and like working here.
When we talk about what we're doing, people naturally want to get involved.
Whether it's environment and recycling around the office or
in one of our charity appeals or we've got volunteering policy and they
want to spend some of their time giving back on a cause that matters to them.
It's a little bit of structure there and they think about how they can contribute
and also individuals wanting to see how they can make a difference.
>> Interesting.
You mentioned structure twice there.
I wonder about, what kind of structures can you put in place so
that you would actually be able to combine those typical commercial topics that
a company always has with the social and environmental topics.
What kind of structures can you create to make that happen?
>> Yeah, for example, in accountability, we've got the corporate responsibility
team, but we've got a corporate responsibility strategy board.
That's quite important because it's chaired by our group legal director,
who reports directly to our CEO, and it has ten directors,
influential, management board directors on it.
We've got for example, the director of investor relations and
then we've got the director of HR.
We’ve got quite a wide, touching all the main departments, so it’s
essential that we have that leadership and that high level management buy in.
They make sure that what we do and
what we advise the business aligns with our business objectives.
Because we're here to make great, entertaining programs and to increase our
audience share and, as every business wants to do, increase their profits.
But we make sure that our corporate responsibility
objectives align with those, so that we're all going in the right direction.
There is a structure and a framework there that equally,
we have to move with the latest trends.
We're a TV broadcaster, so if a big social topic comes up, we have to respond to
that, so we want that framework there to give us some focus and
to give us great impact.
But we've got to be pretty fluid to work with everyone.
>> You were mentioning that the people sitting in that
group are actually people who come from different departments of the company.
>> Mm-hm. >> From HR, from marketing,
maybe accounting.
Could you talk a little bit more about how these different company functions
actually contribute to the sustainability and responsibility agendas.
What do they do?
What is their bit that they can do?
>> It very much depends on which area.
Obviously, we have the production side of the business, which is our bread and
butter, if you like, the making of programs.
For example, we've set up a framework called the Social Partnership Framework.
Essentially, it's repackaged up our responsibility priorities and
put them in a set of guidelines for them to follow.
When they're commissioning a program, when they're making a program,
fave they thought about the diversity of the people that they're casting,
both on and in their production teams?
Have they thought about, is it the most environmentally friendly way of doing it?
We work with a carbon calculator tool called Albert.
We give them the training and tools to do so, but it's very much
they then have to lead on that and be part of those decisions,
and make those, and feel comfortable with those decisions.
We give them the tools and then they run with it.
Production is ultimately a large part of our business, and
then it touches every part in a different way.
Talking about something maybe a bit more dry, if you like, so our procurement team,
again, we're looking all the different policies we have.
The business ethics, the environmental standards, the labor standards, and
all sort of things.
Over the years, what happens is a bit of a patchwork of
when new legislation comes in, for example, and we stitch it together.
Again, as our role is to come in and go,
we have to work with them to say is there a better way of repackaging this?
Can we do, say a responsibility policy and then can we help you build on annexes so
that you feel equipped to ask the right questions at the right time?
It's very different for every department really but
what I would say the most important thing is
that as a sustainability professional, you can't impart what you
want them to do because they just see it as another thing on their very long list.
They've got certain objectives they have to hit.
You have to very much place yourself as someone who is trying
to help them do their job better.
>> An enabler is a certain way?
>> Exactly, so when we frame it as that, as trying to be more efficient and
all those things, they get on board much quicker and
you can work in partnership much easier.
>> I'm wondering about, if you think about the students,
trying to learn things that help them doing those kind of jobs and contributing
to sustainability and responsibility and ethics topics once they are in the job.
What are things that these people might want to learn,
what are the skills, the competence, the capabilities,
that someone needs working around sustainability and responsibility?
>> Actually, the most important thing is your passion.
That will get you a long way in this profession.
If you're passionate about what you're doing, sustainability, and
you really believe in it, then that goes a long way.
I'd say also with that, you need a lot of perseverance,
you need to be pretty tenacious because you've got to remember that
a lot of people here are there to do what's in their job descriptions 9 to 5,
get on with it and then go home and forget about it.
You are the thorn in their side sometimes,
trying to remind them to do things a different way or add on
something slightly new and so you've just gotta persevere, persevere, persevere.
There's a lot to be said about having passion and drive.
The other thing that you've really got to be is a people person,
because it's the people you work with who implement these new programs and
initiatives and practices.
You're not the one that can do these things physically.
You're an advisor in a consultancy.
You really need to get people onside and get their buy in and get them on board.
You're literally building relationships internally,
externally, just you literally have to nurture that relationship and
get them to understand where you're coming from.
Also, you need to have that empathy to understand what they're doing.
Relationship building is really key as well.
Going slightly back to the technical side,
you have to be aware of future trends, future issues that are coming up,
always kind of horizon seeking as that best practice.
But we're always looking at risks and opportunities, a risk and
opportunities game, sustainability, in many ways.
In terms of risks, people prick their ears up when you talk about that,
whether it's legislation or regulation or reputational risks.
And you need to be very clear with the business, if you don't do x, y and z,
then this could be the impact.
That often gets people talking but also on the opp-
>> A lot of persuasion skills as well,
like trying to explain people why this is important and
bring them onboard in a certain way, motivate them, yeah.
>> Exactly, and when you start talking to people and building that relationship,
you start to understand what presses their buttons, if you like.
Whether it's the hard legislation or whether they actually care about this, or
whether it's the social side.
You start playing your game in your head as to what will get them onboard.
Also, aside from the risk side of it, there's the opportunity of it.
We're constantly looking at sustainability is a big positive.
What does a great future look like?
Whether it's implementing environmental measures and
we can make great cost savings and
reputational benefits to raising loads of money for charities and causes.
It's always looking at the opportunities, as well.
It's a risk and positive element there.
>> Great.
Wow, so I think we will have many people on the MOOC who are actually in
a normal management job who are not sustainability, or responsibility,
or ethics professionals.
But people who work in accounting or marketing, or
lawyers like some people we've seen today.
I wonder, what would you recommend to someone in that kind of job?
They're interested in sustainability, responsibility.
Should they change their job or
should they find something that they can do on the job that relates to it?
How would you recommend for these people to pursue their passion for these topics?
>> First of all, I'd see what you can do within your role because it's something
we want to setup and make people aware that there's something everyone can do in
their role to different varying limits, if you like.
But we're looking to set up a network group so
that we can just raise awareness of what we're doing on our strategy.
One thing that isn't so
helpful sometimes is when someone comes up with a grand idea.
We're open to new ideas but when someone wants to go from such a tangent to our
strategy, it can be a bit difficult to manage.
First of all, ask your organization what's your sustainability strategy,
how can I get involved, become a champion, if you like, internally?
If you're an IT person,
you can find out is there something I can influence there or help out there.
That would be the best thing, and most helpful thing to do.
And then, of course, get involved in other projects where you can, whether it's
the volunteering or the fundraising or the recycling in the office.
There's going to be lots of opportunities and from that, you're
building your awareness and passion, then take it further, by all means, yeah.
>> We've been talking a lot about other people for now, so I wonder about yourself
and how you actually entered that role and what your passion in that area is and
a little bit about your background maybe, as well.
Also to understand a little bit better about how you see yourself in
the organization, why you're here and not somewhere else and
what kind of opportunities you might see in doing your job in a company like ITV?
As opposed to different sectors maybe even, yeah.
>> I guess I've always been interested in sustainability.
More I started off the environment side,
I did an undergraduate in environmental geoscience.
It was very sort of earth sciency, very sciency, enjoyed that.
I then moved on to do a master's in environmental technology.
It's a bit of a misnomer because actually it covered economics, it was very broad.
But that started opening my mind up to it's not just about the physical
environment and there's lots of socioeconomic factors going on.
I was still fairly young and quite idealist in my thinking, so
I started working for some not-for-profits and also the public sector.
Things like climate change, and energy policy, and lobbying,
and working with governments.
I loved it, it was brilliant but
I started seeing, actually, government policy can only go so far.
It's great to have that, it sends a really important signal to the market.
But it's actually big businesses that have the power and
influence to invest the money and influence behavior change.
So that is where I saw actually that's really exciting that I can make big
change happen from within, if you like.
That's when I started looking at corporate roles and to me,
just where I am right now is I wanted to work for a big brand that had that impact,
consumer facing impact and had that ability to change behavior.
And what better place in way to do it, one of the UK's biggest
commercial broadcaster, 80% of the UK viewing public watch
our programs everyday and we're all about being at the heart of popular culture.
It's not necessarily about having these big,
niche programming about whether it's environment or whatever the topic.
It's more about getting those messages in our most loved,
most watched programs everyday, and normalizing that behavior and thinking.
So it's an exciting time.
I think there are lots of possibilities here, but I think we're also very
honest and open that we've got a long way to go.
Sustainability is not a short game.
It's a marathon, if you like.
We've just brought our CR report and we're very open and honest about this is
the progress we've made, this is where we are but this is what we've got to do.
We celebrate our successes but
we're honest about all the stuff we've still got to do.
There's lots to do, but it's exciting times.
>> Excellent.
Is there anything else that you would like to communicate
to the student sitting on that course and interested in these topics?
Anything that we haven't covered that we might have missed so far?
>> I'd say learn more, go with your intrigue and your passion and
your interest and when you go, whether it's an internal opportunity,
finding out what your employer's doing on sustainability, or going for
a new role, then ask them what they're doing in this area.
You can do your research beforehand,
but make your employer or future employer know that you're interested in this area.
They're meant to listen across stakeholders
in terms of finding out what's material to them and if more and
more people are asking especially as they're entering the new organization,
hopefully, it will all ripple out and people
realize it's actually really important to take note and take it forward.
>> Excellent.
Thank you, Ellen, for your time.
It was very,
very insightful what you had to tell us about how all of the different people and
the different departments and competences come together, finally, in order to create
sustainability responsibility on the organizational level at ITV.
Great thanks.
>> Thank you.
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