SMS Praxis - Approach
A wide variety of concepts are being discussed within the context of the social orientation of organisations. Among them are business ethics, value management, corporate social responsibility or social accountability.
The approach represented by SMS is illustrated by these guidelines:
- Stakeholder-orientation.
- Double added value. Ways of extending the parameters of value creation for a company as well as for society are systematically researched and concisely implemented.
- Solution oriented approach. Taking a social approach often gives rise to new perspectives for old problems. Innovative solutions become possible.
- Integration into the rhythm of management. Planning – implementing - controlling - adjusting. Social performance becomes the task of management in the same way as finance, resource planning, product quality, environment and security.
- Steering through processes. If a company aims to steer the central parameters of its performance, integrating the elements of social management into the internal processes then becomes inevitable.
- Standards as a support. Instruments such as AA1000 or SA 8000 can support the internal implementation process. In the communication process relative to stakeholders, such instruments promote transparency and document compliance with certain material or methodical requirements.
- Individual approach. Instruments relative to a management system have to be individually tailored to match a company’s individual management structure and culture.
- Strategy as a core element. The most important element of every single management system is the development, implementation and periodic adjustment of its strategy. This also applies to the management of the social impacts of a company.
- Life-cycle assessment orientation. The boundaries for a social management system are based on the organisation’s particular parameters of responsibility. Besides the company’s own processes, these parameters also encompass each phase of the life cycle of a product or a service, both before and after processing within the company.
Sustainability as a vision. Fair distribution of resources, sustainable use of resources, and the integration of economic, environmental and social values are seen as indispensable requisites for the survival of our society. In the long run, the companies adopting these concepts at an early stage will find themselves among the winners.
