It's the management systems that guarantee that social policies are in effect long after an auditor leaves and that provide documentation for auditors. The management systems also assure that there will be continuous improvement in the social conditions of the workplace.
Management systems include: training programs, communications, elected representatives, management representatives with adequate budgets, clear lines of authority, management reviews, control of suppliers, and planning, as well as policies, procedures, forms and checklists of recording compliance with law and regulation.
Devising management systems for CSR can seem like a daunting task. Once devised, however, management systems tend to pay off in a significant manner.
In order to facilitate implementation, it is useful to divide the process into four parts, using the Plan-Do-Check-Act model.
During the planning stage, carefully review the CSR standard and conduct a self-assessment of your company. The self-assessment will reveal the shape and magnitude of the task ahead; it will indicate strengths and weakness. Nearly all companies will need to make improvements and many of these will prove highly beneficial to your company's bottom line. The key to planning is prioritizing which problem areas should be addressed first. Urgency should be given to areas where worker safety is at risk. At this time, it is useful to develop a list of the interested parties with whom the company will seek partnerships to ensure successful implementation of CSR. In the planning phase, it is useful to consider strategic issues as well. Is the facility or company already certified to other standards, such as ISO 9000 or ISO 14000, or is the company planning such certification? Having management systems for other standards tends to facilitate implementation. If the facility has developed management systems for ISO9000 and ISO14000, it may make sense to integrate management systems and audits, rather than developing parallel systems.
Inform workers about CSR and allow space and time for workers to elect their own representatives. If the facility is unionized, the trade union representatives should be asked to organize the election so as not to create a parallel work organization that could cause friction later on.
Periodic self-evaluations to ensure conformity to legal and regulatory requirements, the content of the customer contractual requirements related to social and environmental responsibility.
CSR management system requires companies to conduct regular management reviews to prevent problems from occurring. During the implementation, companies are required to do the following issues:
