Definition of Public Relation
The deliberate
planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding
between an organization and its publics.
(British
Institute of Public relations (BIPR))
Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR as an action
that perform to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and
social that which is required by law.
McWilliams and
Siegel (2001)
Introduction
(CSR) is the
practice through which firm’s try to improve all its actions concerned with the
five organizational dimensions: stakeholders, social, economic, voluntariness
and environmental.
CSR as actions
of firms carried out to meet the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary
responsibilities that are imposed on them by their stakeholders. Economic
responsibility refers to producing profits and meeting consumption needs, and
legal responsibility of firms’ is to fulfill their economic operations and
mission within a legal framework. With respect to the ethical responsibilities,
firms have an obligation to obey moral rules defining appropriate behaviors in
society. Finally, discretionary responsibilities are those business deeds that
are not mandatory but are anticipated by stakeholders as an evidence of good
citizenship (Galbreath, 2010).
Differentiate between Public Relation and Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social
responsibility and public relations are nowadays reference points in the
communicational and image activity of companies within the context of communities
where they operate. Both concepts refer, each in its own representative way, to
the way in which organizations choose to communicate with the categories of
public involved in their activity. While Public Relations propose to
build and maintain a long term positive image, reputation and popularity of the
company, so that all categories of public have a most transparent and clear
vision of the company and its activity, Corporate Social Responsibility
intends to meet various social problems facing the communities where the
company operates in order to help improve their quality of life. Corporate
social responsibility was a phenomenon that easily spread in developed
countries because its necessity was understood both by the companies initiating
such programs and by the beneficiary communities, considering that a company
has the duty to support the community, to be its “good citizen” and neighbor.
How it work…
CSR is a process with
the aim to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive
impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees,
communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may
also be considered as stakeholders. Public Relation Officers designed Strategy
of CSR and go in market to launch the campaign and take benefits for
organization.
Corporate Social
Responsibility in Pakistan
Different
organizations have derived different meanings for the term corporate social
responsibility, however there continues to be much in common between all the
strategies adopted by companies for CSR programs. While it is commonly argued
that Pakistan is a country that is still lacking in CSR practices among
companies there have been certain organizations that have taken the lead and
must be lauded for their efforts in contributing to the society and people of
Pakistan.
Corporate Social
Responsibility Example in Pakistan
Siemens is a
German multinational industrial conglomerate company headquartered in Munich,
Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering
company and Siemens (Pakistan) Engineering Company Limited was founded in 1953.
Siemens launch
many CSR programs in Pakistan like University Liaison program under which the
company not only awards educational scholarships for studies in medical,
engineering and business studies but its officials also volunteer to teach,
give lectures, share experiences and discuss their methodologies with students
and academia.
The Managing
Director and CEO of Siemens Pakistan devotes his time to a number of such
activities and is a member of several boards of various educational
institutions of high repute where he contributes positively towards enhancement
of educational standards in the country.
Major institutes
benefiting from the countless hours devoted to teaching, lecturing and guest
speaker appearances by Siemens Pakistan management are:
Lahore University
of Management Sciences
Institute of
Business Management
NED University
Dawood College
of Engineering
NUST, Islamabad
NIPA (National
Institute for Public Administration)
Pakistan
Advertising Association Institute
Technical
Institutes
Award of gold medals to engineering students
Siemens has instituted “Siemens Gold Medals”
for top performers in the field of Electric and Electronics from Engineering
Universities of the country. This impetus has provided unsurpassed motivation
for outstanding performance and academic excellence.
Each year top
students from the four provinces are invited for a special ceremony where their
achievements are highlighted and they are awarded the (coveted) gold medal. All
expenses for the trip are fully paid by Siemens.
The ceremony is
attended by top academia, high ranking government officials, diplomats and
representatives of business and industry thus motivating the young achievers
and instilling a spirit of competition in the youth.
Publishing of book to help students select a career
Mr. Taha Rizvi
of our business unit switchboards and his team (which includes engineers from
NED) has published a book first of its kind to guide students of intermediate
in selecting their career. This book covers:
1. How to choose
a career
2. Different
educational field
3. Different bachelor’s
degree program
4. Complete
information about information requirement of HEC recognized universities in
Pakistan
5. Definition of
prominent discipline
The book has
been published with the support of “National welfare & educational trust”
purely on noncommercial basis.
Earthquake relief efforts by Siemens Pakistan
Light for life project
After the
disastrous earthquake in Northern Areas, we received donations from Siemens
companies, their employees and from Siemens Germany to help the earthquake
victims. A committee was formed to propose a project that would best benefit
the people of this devastated area. Many suggestions were considered including
providing generating sets or kiosk sub stations but in the end it was decided
that for this program to be meaningful and long term and for it not to become a
burden on the local people we should install Solar Energy for the villages.
A typical
village was selected and the basis of that selection was that the village will
not have any electrical energy so far and in the near future there is no
possibility that it can get electrical energy from Utility. The model village
selected was Sharda Maidan. It is a very remote village the travel time to
village Sharda Maidan from Muzaffarabad (Capital of Azad Kashmir) is 8 hours’
drive on Jeep-able road and 1 hour hiking. The nearest telephone facility is in
Tehsil Athmaquam, which is at a distance of 4 hours’ drive from Tehsil Sharda.
The village has 40 families residing in it who have never enjoyed the facility
of electricity that most of the world takes for granted. In addition to the
village the rural health centre and the mother and child centre have also been
hooked up to solar power by Siemens.
