What is the dominant motivation for large corporations and semistate organisations in Ireland for creating a Chief Sustainability Officer role?
Abstract
As Irish business organisations come under increased pressure from the public, government and other stakeholders to consider their environmental and social impact, sustainability management and its implementation is receiving ever greater attention. This then creates a need to understand the drivers of successful implementation. Many Irish organisations have recently added or are planning to add a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) role to their senior management teams but are doing so in a period when an interpretation of organisational sustainability management does not appear to be clearly defined. This research attempts to address this issue by identifying the motivations for appointing a CSO through an analysis of the integration and implementation of sustainability management by business organisations.
The study involved a review of job descriptions in the public domain and contacting organisations to survey specific details about their sustainability management. In total the analysis was based on 118 responses received from 332 organisations contacted. The analysis focused on the intentions for creating the role from an analysis of the job descriptions, the organisational structure diagrams as well as survey results. A richer description of the role of a CSO, an understanding of the collaborations and organisational expectations required and greater knowledge regarding the potential future impact of the role for organisations was obtained.
A lack of transparency and reluctance to divulge responsibilities emerged among many organisations, particularly among those that were not clear of what sustainability management meant for their organisations. Those organisations that are profit-seeking in their sustainability iii management approaches tend to require their most senior person responsible for sustainability to implement policy and/or operational improvements across the organisation, whilst companies that are acceptability or legitimacy-seeking require administration, energy saving and marketing capabilities.
The research also indicated that the vast majority of organisations, particularly semi-state, appear to have significant changes to make to properly implement sustainability management and many of the international organisations with Irish subsidiaries appear to have no sustainability management in Ireland. For Irish business organisations sustainability is primarily focused on environmental issues. In total, less than 4 organisations could be found to have developed a sustainability management approach motivated by ethical or moral responsibilities and only 16 organisations to have developed an approach greater than regulatory requirements, short-term profit/cost reductions or stakeholder or industry norms.
The research showed that the dominant motivations for Irish business organisations for employing a CSO are (1) compliance with regulations, (2) adherence to stakeholders demands and industry norms, and (3) profit or cost reductions. Overall, the research would suggest that a large majority of Irish business organisations may not be fully implementing sustainability management practices into their operations.
As Irish business organisations come under increased pressure from the public, government and other stakeholders to consider their environmental and social impact, sustainability management and its implementation is receiving ever greater attention. This then creates a need to understand the drivers of successful implementation. Many Irish organisations have recently added or are planning to add a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) role to their senior management teams but are doing so in a period when an interpretation of organisational sustainability management does not appear to be clearly defined. This research attempts to address this issue by identifying the motivations for appointing a CSO through an analysis of the integration and implementation of sustainability management by business organisations.
The study involved a review of job descriptions in the public domain and contacting organisations to survey specific details about their sustainability management. In total the analysis was based on 118 responses received from 332 organisations contacted. The analysis focused on the intentions for creating the role from an analysis of the job descriptions, the organisational structure diagrams as well as survey results. A richer description of the role of a CSO, an understanding of the collaborations and organisational expectations required and greater knowledge regarding the potential future impact of the role for organisations was obtained.
A lack of transparency and reluctance to divulge responsibilities emerged among many organisations, particularly among those that were not clear of what sustainability management meant for their organisations. Those organisations that are profit-seeking in their sustainability iii management approaches tend to require their most senior person responsible for sustainability to implement policy and/or operational improvements across the organisation, whilst companies that are acceptability or legitimacy-seeking require administration, energy saving and marketing capabilities.
The research also indicated that the vast majority of organisations, particularly semi-state, appear to have significant changes to make to properly implement sustainability management and many of the international organisations with Irish subsidiaries appear to have no sustainability management in Ireland. For Irish business organisations sustainability is primarily focused on environmental issues. In total, less than 4 organisations could be found to have developed a sustainability management approach motivated by ethical or moral responsibilities and only 16 organisations to have developed an approach greater than regulatory requirements, short-term profit/cost reductions or stakeholder or industry norms.
The research showed that the dominant motivations for Irish business organisations for employing a CSO are (1) compliance with regulations, (2) adherence to stakeholders demands and industry norms, and (3) profit or cost reductions. Overall, the research would suggest that a large majority of Irish business organisations may not be fully implementing sustainability management practices into their operations.