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Course RESE1058: Foundations of Scholarsh & Res Course School/Level BU/PG

Coursework The Dissertation Plan Assessment Weight 70.00%
Tutor MJ Ferguson Submission Deadline 15/03/2010

Coursework is receipted on the understanding that it is the student's own work and that it has not,
in whole or part, been presented elsewhere for assessment. Where material has been used from
other sources it has been properly acknowledged in accordance with the University's Regulations
regarding Cheating and Plagiarism.

000582188 Shiv Joshi

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FOUNDATION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND RESEARCH

RESE 1058

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

BY

SHIV PRASAD JOSHI – 000582188

SUPERVISED BY

MICHAEL J FERGUSON

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

S.NO CONTENT PAGE NO

1. Introduction 4

2. Research Question 5

3. Literature Review 7

4. Research Strategy 8

5. Research Design 11

6. Data Analysis 12

7. Resource & Project Plan 16

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Introduction

“I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While
this is an important result of a company‟s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real
reasons for our being. As we investigate this, we inevitably come to the conclusion that a
group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so that they
are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately –
they make a contribution to society, a phrase which sounds trite but is fundamental.”

Dave Packard
Co-founder of Hewlett Packard Company in 1939
(Handy 2002)

Executives who want to make their organization better corporate citizen face many
obstacles: if they undertake costly initiatives that their rivals don‟t embrace, they risk eroding
their company‟s competitive position. If they invite government oversight, they may be
hampered by costly regulations. And if they adopt wage scales and working conditions that
prevail in the wealthiest democracies, they may drive jobs to countries with less stringent
standards. Such dilemmas call for clear, hard thinking. To aid in that undertaking, Roger
Martin introduces the virtue matrix – a tool to help executives analyze corporate
responsibility by viewing it as a product or service. (2002)

Corporations are using CSR tactics to win the war for talent (Bhattacharya et al., 2008).
Corporate social responsibility has become a tool to the organization, which improves the
social respect of the company and supports in financial and non financial factors. This CSR
policy basically has a triple focus for an organization: people, planet and profit. Many
corporations use CSR methodologies as a strategic tactic to gain public support for their
presence in global markets, helping them sustain a competitive advantage by using their
social contributions to provide a subconscious level of advertising (Fry et al., 1982).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means where business has some kind of responsibility
towards society and where the business:

1. Takes ethical practices in employment by improving workplaces.

2. It invests in building a strong social infrastructure.
3. It gives protection and sustainability to the organization.
4. It helps to develop a good economy.

Today every company and industry has dipped their toes into some form of corporate social
responsibility (CSR). Total quality management, ethical business practices and corporate
governance today has become more important for the organization. This is not because
government is making mandatory but companies themselves are taking initiatives and with
that consumer want to align themselves with companies. And in result of that “People, Planet
and Profit” triple line has become priority for the corporations.

"Companies with their eye on their 'triple-bottom-line' outperform their less fastidious peers
on the stock market" - The Economist

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Research Question

“For mark! No sooner was I fairly found

Pledged to the plain, after a pace or two,

Than, pausing to throw backward a last view

O‟er the safe road, „twas gone; grey plain all around:

Nothing but plain to the horizon‟s bound.

I might go on; nought else remained to do.”

---Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

Either it is thesis or dissertation or deciding about the research question, it‟s always
problematic, in general writing a proposal create anxiety; for many students path of writing a
proposal is very difficult, fading into a “gray plain” as one proceeds.

For me it was like the same, because still our supervisor is not decided, with whom we can
discuss about that what we had thought about our research. How should we proceed to
that? What should be our research question? But as we have to decide the field of research
by our interest, I decided to go for Corporate social responsibility. What I understood,
Corporate social responsibility is a part of Human Resource strategy, because strategically
HR people have to decide that which best practice they have to use so that they can make
their organization competitive in this global competition. But what company say and what
they makes a big difference in reality.

When I was thinking and doing some research on this topic, there were some questions in
my mind, which forced me to do some kind of research in this field. The questions were:

What is the need of CSR?

What exactly company thinks in terms of CSR?

Who takes the hold of CSR in a particular Company/Firm?

Do companies have any plan?

Do they follow everything as they describe or there is a difference?

Does everything go ethically or there is a manipulation?

How companies do their CSR activity?

What are the different parameters while deciding the CSR activity?

Is CSR an activity of profit generation or serving the society?

How companies implement their CSR activities?

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What are the different steps to integrate CSR?

Does Corporate Social Responsibility fails?

What are different consequences?

What kind of response do they get from the society?

Well Corporate Social Responsibility is a very wide and vast area, where conclusion can‟t be
made on the behalf of some set of question, but questions which were coming to mind
intended me to frame a research question which is to be followed in my dissertation, that,
“Does Theory and Practice matches in the prospect of Corporate Social
Responsibility?”

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Literature Review

Literature review is basically a brief description of the literature relevant to the particular topic
of research. Literature review gives an overview that what has been said on the topic, what
are the different views, opinions. Who are the key writers, what are the prevailing theories
which contributes some rational ideas to the research.

"... a literature review uses as its database reports of primary or original scholarship, and
does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary reports used in the literature may
be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases reports are written documents. The types of
scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in nature.
Second a literature review seeks to describe, summarise, evaluate, clarify and/or integrate
the content of primary reports." (Cooper 1988)

The existence of Corporate Social Responsibility is not new; it is as old as business exists.
Every time CSR remains as an elusive topic or area of interest for academicians, business
managers as well as to the stake holders. The concept of CSR has not surface for the first
time. CSR had already known considerable interest in the 1960s and 70s, spawning a broad
range of scholarly contributions (Cheit, 1964; Heald, 1970; Ackermann & Bauer, 1976;
Carroll, 1979), and a veritable industry of social auditors and consultants. However, the topic
all but vanished from most managers‟ mind in the 1980s (Dierkes & Antal, 1986; Vogel,
1986). Owing to the range of contrasting definitions, and convoluted by varying use of
terminology, the notion of CSR has lead to the emergence of a variety of practices (Freeman
1984; Crane and Matten 2004; Welford 2004; Habisch an Jonker 2005; Fairbrass et al
2005). In brief, the concept of CSR has evolved considerably since it first emerged in the
1950s (Carroll 1999; Freeman 1984; Carroll and Beiler 1977; Sturdivant 1977). As a result
there appears to be disagreement about what the term means, whether it would be
implemented, how it should be implemented, or why it should be implemented (welford
2004).

Economics Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman (1970) and other argue that CSR is
incompatible with capitalism and the very nature and purpose of the business. Only people
have responsibility; companies and organization don‟t have any responsibility towards
society, its responsibility is just to make profits for the stakeholders, but according to the law
of the country.

Moreover, there has been criticism of government plans in Australia to force directors to
meet certain levels of CSR ( McMahon, 2005).

„Mandating CSR through legislative intervention runs the risk of stifling the innovation and
creative approaches to CSR that are being adopted by Australian companies,‟ claims the
lobby group, in a submission to a Parliamentary inquiry. The submission stresses, „The
greatest social contribution made by corporations is through employment, the goods and
services they create and the wealth these produce.‟ It also highlights the existing CSR efforts
of Council members. The chair of Morgan Stanley Australia says government mandates
would result in less meaningful CSR: „People would invent a bit of jargon, for example
“societally appropriate value maximisation,” as a way of asserting that they were doing
whatever Canberra thought it was causing them to do.‟

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Research Strategy

While discussing research strategies, for a researcher it becomes important to discuss

Research Onion. Research Onion is basically a tool, where you can analyse that which way
you are going to do the research and what problem will the researcher face in the course or
his/ her research..

Source: Saunders, M, et al (2007) “Research Methods for Business Students”, 4th

edition FT Prentice Hall

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In the above research onion there are six different parts:

Research Philosophy

As there are different philosophies from which I have to select that which research
philosophy should I opt in order to do my research. I have selected Positivism philosophy
for my research. In Positivism one has to be observer of reality and then can produce the
law of social world, like Law of supply and demand in the positive economics. In this my role
would be as an objective analyst, where I would be collecting data and would be free in
terms of interpretation. But sometimes people working under such kind of philosophy may
face challenges‟ in „finding the reality working behind the reality.

Research Approach

There are two different kind of Research approaches Deductive and Inductive, but for my
research I have selected Inductive approach. In Inductive method qualitative methods are
acceptable. In this I have ort out that which approaches are NOT appropriate and say WHY.
The drawback of this approach is that I would have limited access to the data and this would
constrain my options.

Research Strategies

Strategies play a vital role in research, it is basically a plan that how you are going to answer
your research question which you have selected for you research. While selecting research
strategies one should be very careful because here we have to analyse other factors like
access, time, location, money and ethical issues. This stage is very important because we
have to give valid reason that why we have selected such research strategy for our
research. From different research strategies I have selected Case Study method for my
research. But further this can be changed because still our supervisor is not allotted, and I
need to take advise of super visor regarding this topic. Might be possible we have to opt
case study and survey method.

Choices

In respect of different choices in the research onion, I think that Multi method would be the
appropriate one, where I can do both qualitative as well as quantitative research and can
use primary as well as secondary data. As I have selected Case study method for my
research but I think some where I have to do Interviews or surveys too, which would be the
part of exploratory work.

Time Horizon

As per the research question and the strategy which I have selected for my research, I think
that longitudinal time horizon would be better, because there would be number of times
where I have to gather information for my research.

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Techniques and Procedures

Techniques and procedures basically depends, that what kind of research you are doing.
Because according to that only we have to select data for the research. In my research
some data will be collected through interviews and different sources.

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Research Design

For every project there is a need of design or we can say that there is a need of format in the
completion of a project. Research Design works as glue which holds the research project.
Research design can be thought of as a structure of the research which gives direction and
systematizes the research. There are different research designs which are used in the
research. For my research I have selected Case Study method.

Case study research design have recently evolved as a useful tool for investigating specific
situation, in different scientific discipline especially psychology, ecology and social sciences.
This method of study is especially useful for trying to test theoretical models by using them in
real world situations. For example, if an anthropologist were to live amongst a remote tribe,
whilst their observations might produce no quantitative data, they are still useful to science.

Basically, a case study is an in depth study of a particular situation rather than a sweeping
statistical survey. The case study research design is also useful for testing whether scientific
theories and models actually work in the real world. Some argue that because a case study
is such a narrow field that its results cannot be extrapolated to fit an entire question and that
they show only one narrow example. On the other hand, it is argued that a case study
provides more realistic responses than a purely statistical survey. The other main thing to
remember during case studies is their flexibility. Whilst a pure scientist is trying to prove or
disprove a hypothesis, a case study might introduce new and unexpected results during its
course, and lead to research taking new directions. In the design of a case study, it is
important to plan and design how you are going to address the study and make sure that all
collected data is relevant. Unlike a scientific report, there is no strict set of rules so the most
important part is making sure that the study is focused and concise; otherwise you will end
up having to wade through a lot of irrelevant information. With a case study, even more than
a questionnaire or survey, it is important to be passive in your research. You are much more
of an observer than an experimenter and you must remember that, even in a multi-subject
case, each case must be treated individually and then cross case conclusions can be drawn.
(Martyn, 2008)

I have an option of different industries, where I can approach and can do my research. The
companies where I can do my research are:

Shree Cement Limited..

Aravali Institute of Management.

J.K. Tyres and Industries Limited.

Above all the three companies are different in nature. The purpose of my research is to know
that how different organization behave in respect of CSR.

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Data Analysis

Data analysis is method of putting facts and figures together to solve research problem. It is
a systematic process of utilizing data to address research question. An analysis must have
four elements:

Data / Information (what)

Arguments (what? Who?, Where?, How?, What happens?)

Findings (What results)

Conclusion (So What? So How? Therefore...)

Data analysis is an important part of the research because, till we don‟t analyse the data
which we have collected, there is no use of collecting it. It is basically a practice or process
we can say from which useful data is extracted and from that extracted data a researcher is
able to put conclusions and findings. Analysis of data always depends on what kind of
research you are doing and how you are doing it, because for qualitative and quantitative
data there are different methods to analyse them. My research is a kind of qualitative
research, where I would be using case study method and survey method to collect the data.
Yet I don‟t know too much that how I am going to analyse my research data, because there
might be different software or tools available to analyse Corporate social Responsibility.
During the course of my preliminary literature review I came across a model which might be
helpful in analysing the data of corporate social responsibility. But before using I have to
discuss with my supervisor about this model.

Kanji – Chopra Corporate social Responsibility Model (KCCSRM)

Throughout the literature, it is generally agreed that corporate social responsibility is vital for
business survival and success (Trapp, 2009). It is very difficult to know that how much a
corporation or an organization is socially responsible, therefore to assess the phenomenon
of CSR there is a need of framework. The KCCSR model provides a mechanism through
which Corporate Social Responsibility can be communicated. Corporate social
Responsibility is a highly complex phenomenon and is one of key challanges faced by global
organization. But Kanji and chopra introduces a new Corporate Social Responsibility
measure based on holistic and system modelling approaches (kanji & Chopra, 2007,09). It
constructs a latent variable structural equation model using systems components to measure
corporate social responsibility within certain boundaries of the organisational strategic
planning systems.

The model divides the corporate social responsibility index into social accountability and
investment index, environment protection and sustainability index, corporate governance
and economic responsibility index and ethics and human resources index.

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 Social
Accountability
and
investment

Ethics and

Human
Organisational Resource Corporate
strategic Social
Planning System Responsibility
Corporate Index
Governance
and economic
responsibility

Environment
Protection and
Sustainability

Kanji – Chopra Corporate Social Responsibility Model (KCCSRM)

If we apply Kanji – Chopra Corporate Social Responsibility Model to analyse the data which
we have collected in regards to evaluate Corporate social Responsibility, we have to take
consideration of the following:

Identifying the key contributors from whom feedback is going to be collected.

Using suitable questionnaire which covering each area of KCCSR model, so that
assessment can be conducted.

Implementing the data to the KCCSRM software collected from the questionnaire.

Running the correspondent program files to obtain the systemic system‟s parameters and
scores.

Analysing the score for each criterion, the overall CSR index and the relationships among
the CSR measurement criteria.

Designing and implementing improvement strategies and monitoring their results.

(Kanji & Chopra, 2010)

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KCCSR model suggest that while implementation of this model there are some areas which
should be given consideration, so that this model can produce the actual CSR of the
organization.

(a) Organisational strategic planning systems (OSPS)

The extent to which the organisation has policies and procedures to . . .

1 Identify, measure, monitor and control the company‟s ethical and human resources
strategy
2 Evaluate socio-economic trends and social aspects of the company
3 Provide the required level of governance and economic responsibility
4 Implement a proper internal reporting system to monitor and control social accountability
and social investment
5 Provide environment protection and sustainability
6 Respect the human rights of its employees and general public at large

(b) Social accountability and social investment (SASI)

The extent to which the organisation has provided . . .

1 Transparency and openness regarding its business activities

2 A system for preventing corruption, financial irresponsibility and underhand dealings
3 Arrangements to produce an overall positive impact for a better society
4 Facilities for socially responsible investment for education, healthcare, etc.
5 Social accountability to meet public expectations that society has of business
6 Social awareness and education of holding businesses responsible for their actions
and products

(c) Ethics and human resources (HER)

The extent to which the company has managed to implement . . .

1 Ethical training inside the corporation to help employees make appropriate ethical
decisions
2 Ethical consumerism to meet the rising environmental and ethical concerns of
consumers
3 A transparent system to examine the company‟s own labour practices such as normal
working hours, steps against labour exploitation, harsh and inhumane workforce treatment
and also of entire supply chain
4.Safe and hygienic working conditions at own workplaces and also of entire supply chain
5 No discrimination on the basis of age, sex or ethnic origin, etc.
6 The involvement of its staff in activities such as payroll giving, fundraising or community
volunteering, etc.

(d) Governance and economic responsibility (GER)

The extent to which the company has achieved . . .

1 Changes in its policies to behave responsibly due to pressure from its shareholders and
investors
2 Interactions with its stakeholders on a voluntary basis to act socially responsibly
3 That its shareholders and stakeholders understand the causes that are important to its
employees as it generates business benefits such as more loyalty, higher productivity,
increased retention, etc.

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4 Respect for quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local
community and society at large
5 Contributions to economic development of the country
6 Creation of employment opportunities for local communities

(e) Environmental protections and sustainability (EPS)

The extent to which company has sought the following . . .

1 To manage and control risk within the organisation to control incidents such as
environmental accidents
2 To publish on website or in literature to make public aware regarding the environmental
effects of its products
3 To rebrand its core products or values in the light of global environmental considerations
4 To reduce the unwanted packaging of its products in the light of global environmental
problems
5 To build in self-regulating mechanisms whereby business can monitor and ensure its
adherence to environmental protections and sustainability
6 To communicate the environmental effects of its economic actions to a particular group(s)
or to society at large

(f) Corporate social responsibility index (CSRI)

The extent to which the company has the systems to provide . . .

1 Responses to non-governmental organisations for its socially responsible behaviour

2 Use of the power of the media and Internet to increase scrutiny and collective activism
around corporate behaviour
3 Full compensation to the public for bad social or environmental effects of actions or
products
4 To its staff and management all the tools and means required to pursue broader societal
goals
5 External audited annual reports on corporate social responsibility issues (triple bottom line
reports, i.e. profit, people and planet)
6 Community-based development projects such as children‟s education, new skills
for adults, etc.
7 Complete adherence to government law and regulations preventing itself from causing
harm to the broader social good, including people and environment
8 Company policies for CSR, and information on how such policies are implemented in
practice and what results have been obtained so far including future expectations

When I discussed this topic with my research tutor, he suggested some good points and
advised me to do some empirical study on this research topic and when i was going through
this KCCSR model i found that through this model I can do a empirical study, but before the
implementation of this model I have to make sure all the possibilities.

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Resources and Project Plan

Assessment of resources and preparing a proper plan (time frame ) is considered very
important aspect when we are planning any project, because till you don‟t know what
resources you require or how much time does your each activity is going to take, it is
impossible to complete the assignment in a particular time horizon.

The resources which I require for completion of assignment are as follows:

Books on CSR (for reviewing the literature).

Laptop.

Internet connection.

Ticket to home country.

Access to local university library.

Software for data analysis.

Money (if needed) to buy software.

Organization which can provide details about CSR.

Access to the HR Department (Interviewing the People).

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Time Horizon

Preparing a plan is very important, first to meet the deadline of the project and second
important thing that by dividing the time we can work effectively and efficiently. This is
important not only in the completion of the project but in every aspect of life. As per the need
of my research I have made the time chart on the given Gantt template, but later we will
convert this word file in PDF format so, it won‟t be possible for me to put that excel sheet in a
proper format. Yet I am putting the time chart to understand the time schedule.

Research Proposal Submission: 15th March (3rd Week)

Netherlands Trip: (4th Week & 1st week of April)

Gathering relevant data: (1st week of April to 2nd Week of May)

University Exam Preparation: (1st week of April to 4th week of May)

Going Home Country: (1st or 2nd week of June)

Using Initial findings to draft the dissertation: (3rd week of June to 1st week of August)

Refining finding and start drafting Dissertation: (1st week of August to 1st week of September)

Completing Drafting: (1st week of September to 3rd week of September)

Applying Self evaluation Checklist: (3rd week of September to 1st week of October)

Submitting Dissertation: (10th October)

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References:

Ackermann, R., & Bauer, R. (1976). Corporate Social Performance: The Modern
Dilemma. Reston: Reston Publishing Co.

Bhattacharya, C.B., Sen, S., & Korschun, D. (2008). Using corporate social responsibility to
win the war for talent. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(2), 37–44.

Carroll, A. 1979. A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance.

Academy of Management Review, 4: 497-505.

Carroll, A. B. (1999) „Corporate Social Responsibility: the evolution of a definitional

construct‟ Business and Society 38(3): 268-295.

Carroll, A. and G. Beiler (1977) “Landmarks in the Evolution of the Social Audit” in Carroll, A.
(ed.). 1978. Managing Corporate Social Responsibility. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.

Cheit, E. F. (1964). Why Managers Cultivate Social Responsibility. California

Management Review, 7: 3-22.

Cooper, H. M. (1988), "The structure of knowledge synthesis",Knowledge in Society, Vol. 1,

pp. 104-126

Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2004) Business Ethics: A European Perspective. NY, USA: Oxford
University Press

Dierkes, M., & Antal, A. B. 1986. Whither Corporate Social Reporting: Is It Time to
Legislate? California Management Review, 28: 106-121.

Fairbrass, J. et al (2005) „Corporate Social Responsibility: Differing Definitions and

Practices?‟ University of Bradford Conference Paper for Leeds BSE Conference

Freeman R.E., (1984) Strategic Management: A stakeholder Approach. Massachusetts:

Pitman Publishing Inc.

Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its
profits. New York Times Magazine.

Fry, L.W., Keim, G.D., & Meiners, R.E. (1982). Corporate contributions: Altruistic or for
profit? Academy of Management Journal, 25, 94–106.

Habisch, A. and Jonker, J. (2005) Corporate Social Responsibility, Berlin, Germany:

Springer Verlag

Handy, C. (2002) „What‟s a Business For?‟ Harvard Business Review, p54

Heald, M. (1970). The Social Responsibilities of Business: Company and Community,

1900-1960. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University Press.

Kanji, G.K., & Chopra, P. (2007). Poverty as system: Human contestability approach to
poverty measurement. Journal of Applied Statistics, 34, 1135–1158.

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Kanji, G.K., & Chopra, P.K. (2009). Psychosocial system for work well-being: On measuring
work stress by causal pathway. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 20, 563–
580.

Kanji, G.K. & Chopra, P.K. (2010). Corporate social responsibility in a global economy. Total
Quality Management, Vol. 21, No. 2, 119–143.
McMahon, S. (2005, October 17). BCA fights social responsibility law. The Age.

Martin, R. (2002) The Virtue Matrix: Calculating the Return on Corporate Responsibility,
Harvard Business Review, USA.

Martyn. (2008). Case study research design. Retrieved March 13, 2010, from Experiment
resources: www.experiment-resources.com/case-study-research-design.html

Saunders, M, et al (2007) “Research Methods for Business Students”, 4th edition FT

Prentice Hall

Sturdivant, F. (1977) Business and Society. Homewood: R.D. Irwin Inc.

Trapp, R. (2009, March 10). Corporate social responsibility is vital for business survival. The
Independent

Vogel, D. 1986. The Study of Social Issues in Management: A Critical Appraisal.

California Management Review, 28: 142-151.

Welford, R. (2004) „Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe and Asia: Critical Elements
and Best Practice‟, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Issue 13.

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