Interesting Discussion ISO to develop a Guidance Document (ISO 26000) on Social Responsibility - some object

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

Sidney Vianna said:

I am curious, then. I went to the website you listed in your public profile. And there, you have a link: Corporate Social Responsibility. Accessing the link, it brings me to a large selection of books, available for purchase, around the theme of social responsibility. Which confuses me. If you are promoting the sales of such books, I will assume you are for "social responsibility". But you are against an international guidance document on the subject.
Why any of the authors who wrote any of the books available for purchase in your website should be endorsed and an ISO document should be rejected puzzles me.

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The difference between an international standard and some books.

ISO is attempting to influence governments with ISO 26000 and that goes beyond their charter to harmonize national standards. Name two countries and their national social responsibility standards in need of harmonization.

Books on corporate social responsibility are reminding companies of the costly consequences of ignoring the needs of entities other than their employees, customers, suppliers, regulators and shareholders in the running of their businesses. They can use this information to improve their management systems to further hasten the conversion of customer needs into cash (for investing in more improvements).

Even though it represents a lot of wonderful cooperation, oodles of donated time and good intentions, ISO 26000 is a standard too far.

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

John Broomfield said:

Even though it represents a lot of wonderful cooperation, oodles of donated time and good intentions, ISO 26000 is a standard too far.

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This is scary.....John Broomfeild and I agree:mg:

Have a good New Year John

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

Randy said:

Which will make it nearly worthless.

Incredible waste of time, effort and money.

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John Broomfield said:

Even though it represents a lot of wonderful cooperation, oodles of donated time and good intentions, ISO 26000 is...

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Randy said:

This is scary.....John Broomfeild and I agree

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I am glad you are in agreement....

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

Sidney,

ISO is attempting to influence governments with ISO 26000 and that goes beyond their charter to harmonize national standards. Please name two countries and their national social responsibility standards in need of harmonization.

Many thanks,

John

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

John Broomfield said:

ISO is attempting to influence governments with ISO 26000

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Can you give me one shred of evidence that is the case? Just because you and Randy say this is ISO's motivation, it does not mean it is true. Just like any other conspiracy theory.

John Broomfield said:

and that goes beyond their charter to harmonize national standards.

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I have no idea from where you took such idea represents the ISO charter. Before ISO 14001, 14004 and all the other TC 207 developed documents, most countries in the world had no EMS standard either. Still, I don't remember any international clamor against the ISO 14000 family of standards.

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

John Broomfield said:

Sidney,

ISO is attempting to influence governments with ISO 26000 and that goes beyond their charter to harmonize national standards. Please name two countries and their national social responsibility standards in need of harmonization.

Many thanks,

John

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I don't know that ISO's charter limits them to harmonization activities. If you have a source, I'd like to see it. In the meantime, the ISO website says,

ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. On the one hand, many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations.
Therefore, ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society.

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(Emphasis in the original)

It seems to me that the bit about "the broader needs of society" indicates that ISO concerns itself with quite a bit more than harmonization of disparate local standards.

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

Thank you Sidney and Jim!

Stijloor.

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

Sidney Vianna said:

Before ISO 14001, 14004 and all the other TC 207 developed documents, most countries in the world had no EMS standard either. Still, I don't remember any international clamor against ISO 14000 family of standards.

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"Most" may be true but the need for harmonizing BS 7750 with one or two other national standards for environmental management system standards gave rise to the need for ISO/TC 207.

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

Apart from the removal of the word "Corporate" from its title, here is another shred of evidence of ISO's attempt to influence governments in this extract from the CD of ISO 26000:

"The state and social responsibility

This International Standard cannot replace, alter or in any way change the duty of the state to express and act on the public interest. Because the state has the unique power to create and enforce laws, it is different from organizations. For instance, the duty of the state to protect human rights is different from those responsibilities of organizations with respect to human rights that are addressed in this International Standard.

Social responsibility of organizations is not and cannot be a substitute for the effective expression of state duties and responsibilities. This International Standard does not provide guidance on what should be subject to legally binding regulation. Neither is it intended to address questions that can only properly be resolved through political institutions.

Governmental organizations, like any other organizations, may, however, wish to use this International Standard to inform their policies and actions related to aspects of social responsibility."

I will admit that this extract shows ISO's attempt to influence governments is fairly passive. I remain unsure of why ISO broadened the scope of our social responsibility standard beyond the "corporate" world.

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

John Broomfield said:

Apart from the removal of the word "Corporate" from its title, here is another shred of evidence of ISO's attempt to influence governments in this extract from the CD of ISO 26000:

"The state and social responsibility

This International Standard cannot replace, alter or in any way change the duty of the state to express and act on the public interest. Because the state has the unique power to create and enforce laws, it is different from organizations. For instance, the duty of the state to protect human rights is different from those responsibilities of organizations with respect to human rights that are addressed in this International Standard.

Social responsibility of organizations is not and cannot be a substitute for the effective expression of state duties and responsibilities. This International Standard does not provide guidance on what should be subject to legally binding regulation. Neither is it intended to address questions that can only properly be resolved through political institutions.

Governmental organizations, like any other organizations, may, however, wish to use this International Standard to inform their policies and actions related to aspects of social responsibility."

I will admit that this extract shows ISO's attempt to influence governments is fairly passive. I remain unsure of why ISO broadened the scope of our social responsibility standard beyond the "corporate" world.

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I think you're seeing things that aren't there. The quoted material quite clearly says,

This International Standard does not provide guidance on what should be subject to legally binding regulation. Neither is it intended to address questions that can only properly be resolved through political institutions.

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