CSR management, Employees
June 01 1999
by Mike TuffreyThe McPherson Report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence called on all institutions in society to examine their procedures to ensure that both intentional and unintentional racism is eliminated. Construction may be the worst example but it certainly is not the only industry with serious and urgent work to do.
This is a mainstream issue for all departments of the company. But what are the implications specifically for community affairs programmes and their managers? First, have you even posed the question - does our programme offer equal access to black and minority ethnic community groups? Do you track the types of organisation applying for help and their success rate, because if not, how can you tell?
Second, who actually benefits from your programme? Your policy probably targets socially excluded people, issues like underperformance at school and long term unemployment. If so, black and minority ethnic communities should be getting a bigger share of resources than their 5% of the national population would indicate, because of concentrations of discrimination and disadvantage.
Third, help the business to respond, as Mark Blake and David Grayson argue in an article later in this issue. For example, a volunteering opportunity with a voluntary group in an inner city area might help a white sales executive to understand the whole market better. A short-term development assignment might give a black junior manager experience denied at work, and so demonstrate ability. The bottom-line is that neither good intentions nor awareness is enough. Positive action and monitoring of outcomes are essential.