A crucial area of scrutiny in the survey remains taking stock of social responsibility (SR) policy and practice especially vis-à-vis the stakeholders in Management Institutions. The section looks into this aspect and assesses from where the practice of SR in Management Institutions emanates. It examines if SR is embedded in the mission or vision statements of institutions while also evaluating the engagement of institutions in advocacy for SR and their awareness of and adherence to SR standards.
6.2 Mission and Vision Containing Reference to SR Issues
Less than 15 percent of the companies had policies in place on the issues concerning environment before 1975 as except for the issue of ‘climate change strategy’ the other environmental issues were not taken seriously. It was also seen that most of the companies had put policies in place in the decade of 1990-1999. Thus it seems that companies started taking social responsibility seriously in the decade of 1990-1999. On an average around 35 percent of the respondents were not aware of the year in which these policies were put in place.
To ascertain the level of SR in Management Institutions, institutions were asked if they had SR built into their mission or vision statements. In response, a sizeable 75 percent affirmed the presence of an SR component in their mission or vision statements that revealed their SR practice.
Details of SR in the Mission statement
The study having ascertained the level of enmeshment of SR in mission or vision statements of institutions also sought to capture the details of SR in the mission statements. Indicatively, some of the SR components found were ‘generating excellence in professional and business ethos to promote socially responsive business and industrial growth’; ‘raising the bar to meet the requirement of society, specific industries and other stakeholders’; being ‘among the leading international institutions in the area of environment’; becoming ‘a centre par excellence of learning, unique in experience, value-based in approach and pioneering in efforts for enriching and fulfilling life’; facilitating ‘comprehensive and integrated development of individuals to effectively function as social beings imbibed with rightness and conviction’; and ‘shaping a better mankind by developing effective and socially responsible individuals and organisation’.
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