Companies in China which aspire to be leaders in corporate
social responsibility (CSR) are challenged by a country with rising
public expectations, increasing innovation, improving quality,
supply chain concerns, and heightened social and environmental
problems.
Suffice to say, they are forced to chart their CSR course within
a very complex and dynamic environment.
This situation is further complicated by NGOs (non-governmental
organizations) in China which demand even greater CSR from both
international and local companies operating here.
Yet ironically, what I will suggest is that NGOs themselves need
to look inward and establish a better functioning system for their
own social responsibility practices that is, good governance, more
transparent activities and better accountability. While NGOs have
achieved some successes in servicing the needs of the Chinese
community, for many, their organizational foundations and practices
can be questionable.
While growing activism has led to the increased growth of NGOs
in China, interviews suggest that the motivation behind this
increase is often related to personal gains and interests, not
community welfare.
Therefore, issues of good governance, transparency and/or
accountability are often not well considered in the NGOs'
organizational foundations.
In fact, many local NGOs equate these terms with that of trust
and honesty. Interestingly, there seems to be consensus among NGOs
in China that social responsibility practices should not be an
issue, because honesty and trust are the basis of the NGOs' work to
begin with.
While trust and honesty are crucial factors for a better
relationship with their constituents, it would seem naive on the
part of NGOs to believe that social responsibility practices rest
on these two characteristics, let alone, are immediately granted
because they are NGOs.
This can be a troublesome situation, especially considering the
often unequal relationship between the NGO as a service deliverer
and the recipients of the service.
Take for example many Chinese NGOs operating in the social
welfare sector.
Numerous studies in China suggest that many NGOs in this sector
do not provide the best available care for their patients. Many
NGOs do not even perceive their patients as having the right to the
best available service.
Further, despite the poor quality of care given to patients,
such as in homes for the mentally disabled, many patients and their
guardians are afraid to complain to NGOs, fearing this may affect
their treatment. Seemingly in these cases, the relationship between
NGOs and patients may be seen as one that is hierarchical, where
NGOs in China wield considerable power and patients are forced to
restrain their concerns.
At core, I suggest that this situation may have developed due to
the shaky individualistic foundations of many NGOs operating in the
country. The founding of many Chinese NGOs is often the result of
one individual's work. Social responsibility practices are often
not at the forefront of concerns, leading to questions of
collective benefit.
So how can local NGOs change this situation? It may be best that
NGOs in China establish their own mechanisms, similar to guidelines
for corporate social responsibility, to gain credibility in many of
their initiatives.
This is ironic of course: The concepts of accountability,
transparency and good governance that NGOs suggest international
and local companies improve upon, are the very concepts that they
themselves must now work on to gain better credibility.
Reza Hasmath is a Commonwealth Scholar in the Faculty of Social
and Political Sciences at Cambridge University.
(China Daily January 4, 2007)