Entry # 1

      This day was the official start of discussion in CSRGOVE. Last meeting, we only had an orientation where I got to meet my professor and classmates. To be honest, I was not looking forward to the formal start of classes. After meeting Dr. Kit Bonnet and the rest of the class, I was surprised that almost all of my classmates already have so much experience as they have already taken up their OJts or internships. Meanwhile, i have only started my journey in university. But what I wasn’t looking forward to most was recitation or anything that has to do with speaking in front. Even though I am a Lasallian and taking up a business course, I am not one who likes to present to a mass audience. But because I’m always very optimistic, I just think of my anxiety as something I need to work on because I know that speaking in a group/in front of the class will really help my communication skills.

While waiting for the professor to come in, all I felt was dread. However, as the class started and the discussion went on, I could only say that I may just have been thinking too much because the day, or night as I might say, turned out better than what I have imagined it to be. 

      Class started with a prayer and it was followed by the discussion of lesson for that day, which covered the meaning and importance of CSR and Good Governance, as well as the importance of Service Learning. 

                         

First Part: Corporate Social Responsibility and Good Governance

      I will not tell every single thing that we discussed; instead, I will just share what stood out for me during this part of the discussion. I have heard of CSR before; I know multinational companies like Unilever and Shell have these in their program to somehow give back to the community. But based on Carroll’s Pyramid of CSR, I realized that CSR is the most important responsibility of any company - and also the hardest to achieve. 

Source: Pinterest

     The bottom of the pyramid is always the easiest to achieve, but it’s harder to do good the more you are exposed to things. This makes me question if sometimes, the CSR activities of companies are just something they do to look good when they themselves are facing ethical and legal issues. For example, it’s funny to find out that a certain real estate company would do a tree planting activity for their CSR when they clear lands to build houses. This is one of the situation that make me question the real intentions behind companies’ CSR activities. I also learned about the Ripple Effect. Growing up, I have always been taught that the company is more important than the stakeholders. However, as I have been more exposed to information through the internet, I realized that a company cannot progress without its stakeholders, which say something about the Ripple Effect. For every action that the company takes, it affects not only the employees, the company, the stakeholders and even the indirect stakeholders. This is where the concept of CSR comes in. Even if your activities/state of business will benefit you and your stakeholders, it may not be the same for others. We are well past the time when companies just think for their own well-being. Today, companies who follow the traditional mainstream approach in business tend to be left behind. Why? That’s because people tend to choose companies that make them feel as if they care for them. Moreover, based from what I understood, people will tend to choose companies who do CSR activities because they feel as if they are somehow helping in giving back to society by buying that said company’s products.  Stakeholders will also tend to invest in companies that researches on sustainability because they feel that their money is being put to good use. 

     This does not mean to say that CSR is just a strategy for companies to earn more money. In a way, there’s something special about giving back to the community after achieving your goal as a company. And I guess that’s what I have realized after the first discussion.

Second Part: Service Learning

     We then talked about Service Learning. It’s like a community service, but this one tends to be more student-oriented; by that I mean students have a say on what will they do during the service learning. The class will just be assigned to a community but the decisions will be made by the class. This not only gives the students an opportunity to dip their feet on the way of living of a certain community but they are also given the chance to practice their decision-making and leadership skills. To be honest, I never really found these kinds of programs to be effective on me. Yes, I learn things I haven’t watched from the news or haven’t read from the internet but it hasn’t really moved me. I do feel empathy but many times, the outreaches I’ve went to hasn’t moved me enough to make me want to volunteer on outreach programs. However, I am always open to trying them out. I know the service learning for this class will be hard as we will have to do a project plan and present our findings as we did back then in NSTP-CWTS, but I hope the experiences we will have during the SL will reciprocate all the hard work we will put into our work.

     In the end, I have a feeling CSRGOVE will be very challenging for me but I am looking forward to facing all the things it will throw at me. But more than that, I know that CSR will help me broaden my perspective about the world and how things work in the business environment.