cmarionthewilkid-blog

[cmarionthewilkid-blog]

Waiting on the World to Change

I pick up Part 2 of the reflective journal exactly where I left off. When thinking about this assignment, I couldn’t help, but think continuously about this song. In particular the first verse:

Me and all my friends We're all misunderstood They say we stand for nothing and There's no way we ever could Now we see everything that's going wrong With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don't have the means To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change We keep on waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change

(John Mayer, Waiting on the World to Change)

In some ways, despite the ability to make significant changes to become more environmentally conscious and sustainable, for some reason,  it is like I am waiting on the world to change first. 

This process has forced me to think more consciously about the decisions I am making, namely with respect to my consumption of single use plastics. In particular, my beloved ice cap from Tim Horton’s. A creature of habit and a desire for convenience, this was potentially one of the biggest changes I was able to make in this short time. Albeit, it took over a week for it to click, but I think the change is a small, yet formidable one.

CHANGE 1: Trade in my ice caps for home brewed ice coffee. I own a Keurig (I know!), but use only compostable pods.

I did a small calculation the evening before I started making my own coffee. 1 ice per day. 365 days in a year. Consider a 5 year period. 1825 ice cap containers and straws to the landfill. Just me! It was a bit shocking when you put it on paper. I also realized that it equated to $5201.25 spent on ice caps in a five year period. 

CHANGE 2: Concerted effort to use reusable bags.

Despite using grocery bags for other purposes in our household, I knew that we could do better. I forgot my reusable bags twice in the 14 day period, which I thought was a progressive change. I also did a little research on the use of plastic bags versus reusable bags and the break-even point (I am a business grad after all!). Different pages and blogs has different numbers, but I thought the factors considered in this one seemed rather complete. 14 times was the break-even on polypropylene bags. I think my return on investment is worth it. 

CHANGE 3: Reduce the use of ziploc baggies.

Ziploc baggies may just be my Achilles heal when it comes to environmental consciousness. I just love them so much! Convenient, cheap, easy to use, and always there when you need them. I recently purchased some eco products from Universite de Sherbrooke students as part of a class project. In the package was silicon bags, and fabric sandwich bags. I have been using the silicon bags by default first. My fabric sandwich bags for snacks and of course, sandwiches for the family. Finally, I am opting to use reusable plastic containers to store food instead of the bags. Despite it not being the best option, the lifespan of these containers have been 5-10 years in my household. 

CHANGE 4: Reduce food waste (work in progress). 

This is the one that I struggle with the most. As you saw in Part 1, I still have a hard time with food prep management. Despite the fact that we are serial composters in our household, I cannot offset the carbon footprint of my Mexican avocados that I just threw away just by composting alone. I have a long way to go; however, I am now consciously thinking about how I can use the food in my fridge in a timely and efficient manner. 

CHANGE 5: Buy less, buy smarter.

This last change is forward-looking as the holiday season creeps upon us. Here are the small steps I am challenging myself to take this holiday season:

1. Give an experience instead of a gift.

2. Make homemade treats (cookies, pies, squares) as gifts to friends and co-workers.

3. Buy locally sourced products (honey, maple, spices, etc...).

4. Cut a real tree (which we always do anyway).

5. Use newspaper and sales to wrap gifts.

6. Eat all the leftovers (freeze the rest and eat later). Repurpose what I can into another dish. 

7. Make our own holiday cards.

In all honestly, I would not say that this experience has been life-changing for me. I truly wish it had been. I feel like I am at a point in my life where I genuinely want to have a more positive carbon footprint, I have the knowledge and economic means to do so, so why not? Time. Time is the one resource that I am currently desperate need of. Convenience and saving time unfortunately seems to trump all good judgement. As you may have noticed in Part 1, when I am time-rich, I make good decisions. When I am time-poor, all eco-thinking goes out the door.

I will say that this experience (and course) has opened my eyes to the importance of eco-literacy for myself and my family. I hope that my small changes can turn into larger ones with a more meaningful impact. Maybe, just maybe, I won’t keep on waiting for the world to change. Maybe, I will make the world change.

Peace and love...

[cmarionthewilkid-blog]

C.O.N.S.U.M.E.D

What happens when we consume more than we need? What happens when our choices are influenced by societal pressures of how things should be? Part 1 of my reflective journal will aim to provide a glimpse at two weeks of a working mom, head of a house of five, who also coincidentally adds event planner often to her job tasks. 

Day 1: I specifically started my consumption journal on Friday, October 25. The day before a large case competition I was hosting on campus. Day 1 starts like most every other day of my life. The 20 minute drive to daycare, followed by the usual ice cap pit stop at Tim Horton’s. This day is special though, with the pressures of ensuring everything was just right for our judges and sponsors. I stroll off to Ferme Beaulieu to spend $328 on gifts. I am thinking that at least I am buying local products (honey, herbs, ketchup aux fruits) and feel pretty great about that. But why do I feel obliged to buy gifts at all? Wouldn’t a sincere thank you be enough? I guess according to Jonathan Porritt (2011), I have fallen victim to consumerism at its best. Somehow, I feel OK about it though. 

 A quick stop at Dollarama for gift bags, disposable coffee cups (cringe!), and plastic plastic trays. Finally, a $148 trip to Provigo for snacks for the case competitors and coaches. Oops, did I mention the trip to the t-shirt printer to pick up the 60 red printed competition momentos. Let’s add the 250+ pages I printed that day! As I sit here and reflect on the necessities (needs) of running a case competition versus expectations (and wants), I come to the realization that most of what I have purchased is simply there to enhance image. 

Day 2 (October 26): Tim’s ice cap (check!). 60 Donuts, 60 pre-packed lunches, 24 cans of Perrier, 60 cans of soft drinks, 40 coffees in disposable cups, 100 plastic glasses of wine. Today, I am completely influenced by materialism and keeping the “image”. Let’s keep in mind that I work for a business school and that comes with some rather large assumptions around how things are supposed to look and be. Not to mention, I am hosting five people from the company who is sponsoring the event, so I need to keep them happy and ensure the event lives up to their expectations. I am reminded of Amitai Etzioni, (2012) and his sentiments about “keeping up with the Jones’”. It is true, when one party sets a certain expectation, we all rise to meet, or better, exceed them.

Today; however, my biggest disappointment was food waste. The boxed lunches were good, but about 25% of people didn’t eat all their meal. Almost 100% of the people didn’t eat the dessert included. We don’t have access to compost, so it went to the trash. Above the clear environmental impact of my event, I am reminded of the fact that one fifth of the world’s richest people consume 45% of all the meat and fish (Shah, 2014). Despite the company providing compostable cutlery and cups, I feel guilty that I sent so many things to the landfill today. To top it all off, Sodexo served a less than stellar menu at the Gala dinner (veal sous-vide). I swear I wanted to eat it, but alas, two bites in and I am done. More to the trash. Exhausted and mentally drained, I wonder to myself where the balance between convenience and waste needs to come into play. Why can’t we have compost stations on campus?

Day 3 (October 27): But first, my ice cap! A friend’s child’s birthday party today so I scramble to get things together. I run to Provigo to grab stuff for mini pizzas to share (forgot my grocery bags, so plastic it is). My friend insisted on no gifts at the party, which I wanted to accept, but quite frankly couldn’t. I’m glad I didn’t because apparently no one else respected it either. I think about this social obligation more deeply (Goodwin, Smith, & Spiggle, 1990). I try my best to make a compromise, we opt for a movie day among friends instead of a traditional gift. I am hoping this small intrinsically motivated action may decrease future landfill waste in the future. Nonetheless, we are filled with waxed juice cups and plates. Back to the Provigo to grab something for the family for supper. I grab peppers in a plastic bag, sausages in a styrofoam package, pasta sauce in a glass bottle, cheese in plastic packaging and pasta in a cardboard box. Nothing much to compost or recycle unfortunately. 

Day 4 (October 28): Monday and back to work. Ice cap, yup! I am starting to get quite the collection in my office recycling bin. My boss just commented on it. I guess it is a bit of an eye sore..haha! 

Two trips to Provigo today. One at lunch to grab George’s bread, deli ham, Coaticook cheese, carrots and dip. Next stop on the way home from work for supper, chicken, baby potatoes and stuffing. 

Day 5 (October 29): If you haven’t guessed by now, ice cap time! Today, my brother (who lives with us) did a fridge clean up. Sigh! I can’t believe how much stuff we threw away. Past date, wilted vegetables, moldy fruits. Why don’t I just throw money directly into the garbage can? Is it normal that the first thing I think about is wasted money? According to a study  by Graham-Rowe, Jessop, and Sparks (2014),  wasting money is indeed a major motivator to minimize food waste. Inspired by this revelation, I am determined to have leftovers for lunch and transform the chicken salad sandwiches tonight for supper. I don’t even have to stop at Provigo today! WOW!

Day 6 (October 30): IC (that’s all I will say). Wednesdays are always tricky because I am running around and teach a class at night. It is one of those days. I grab lunch at Subway (steak sub, chips and a drink) -> garbage.

Run to Provigo after work and grab steak, carrots, potatoes and gravy from Provigo and throw it in pot to cook. I also realize that I haven’t really bought any candy for Halloween for my students in case class. $65.30 later and we have meat and candies! I’ve also been putting out chocolates outside my office door for students. 

Day 7 (October 31): Another ice cap to go please. I don’t even eat lunch today. Now I realize we have no candy for the kids. Drive to Walmart and $68.03, we’ve got goodies. No lunch again, and we go to a friend’s for supper. Off with the 4 year old trick or treating in the rain. She gets a pail of treats, we have 2 boxes of stuff leftover.

Day 8 (November 1): Day of the dead? I think so! Actually order breakfast with my ice cap at Timmy’s this morning. No lunch today. We decide to go shopping after work today as my brother has a 40% discount at L’Equipeur. $218.58 later, my husband enjoys new shoes, jeans, sport jacket, t-shirts, and a pair of sneakers for my mom for Christmas. Oh wait! Marlee needs new winter boots, so $86.22 later, we have new winter boots for her. I also see the cutest dress boots at Marshall’s (fake baby Uggs). I suppose these is what the marketers are hoping for. Top it all off with super for the family at Guido’s. (Wow! I have really been eating like crap!) Day 8 hurt the bank account!  Day 9 (November 2): Maybe I should actually buy some groceries for my empty fridge. I sludge off to Provigo early Saturday morning to spent near $200. At least I have meat, veggies, fruits, and some of the other basics for my family to actually live on. Stop at Tim’s on the way home for the usual. 

Day 10 (November 3): Beautiful breakfast with family (and an ice cap). Spent the day making food (soup, roasted chicken, pasta sauce, etc....). Trying to cut down on the restaurant stops this week. End up at the library with some dear colleagues from GSE503, so I think another ice cap is in order to stay awake (and leftover Halloween Candy). 

Day 11 (November 4): Check that thought. Day went to hell, running late, dead tired, no breakfast, grabbed Rima for supper. Fridge full, but I don’t even care at this point. 

Day 12 (November 5): Today is a new day! I started making iced coffee at home! No Tim’s! I actually did not spend $1 today! Why do I feel so great? Apparently it is something referred to as perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE). When is comes to sustainable buying practices, this PCE is influenced directly by guilt and pride. This becomes important because it means that as a consumer,  my behaviours could be modified by using emotions (Antonetti, & Maklan, 2014).

Day 13 (November 6): Another no spending kind of day! Feeling all pride and no guilt! Maybe Atonetti and Maklan are on to something!

Day 14 (November 7): Last day of recording! No ice caps and going strong.  My husband and I are feeling like we need a little extra family time, so we go out for supper at Mike’s with Marlee. We follow it up by a little Chocolat Favoris. I asked myself why we went to Mike’s again? What a waste!   A quick stop by Provigo to grab snacks for my basketball girls. I make an orzo salad plus pull together fruits, yogurt, cheese and granola bars.

Stay tuned for Part 2 to see if I actually made some changes and what this whole process has meant for me. Until then, I leave you on this note: Waiting on the World to Change

REFERENCES

Antonetti, P., & Maklan, S. (2014). Feelings that make a difference: How guilt and pride convince consumers of the effectiveness of sustainable consumption choices. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(1), 117-134. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/24033218

Etzioni, A. (2012). You Don’t need to Buy This. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/FN3z8gtDUFE

Goodwin, C., Smith, K.L., & Spiggle, S. (1990). Gift giving: Consumer motivation and the gift purchase process. In NA - Advances in Consumer Research. 17, eds. Marvin E. Goldberg, Gerald Gorn, and Richard W. Pollay, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, 690-698. Retrieved from http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/7086/volumes/v17/NA-17

Graham-Rowe, E., Jessop, D.C., & Sparks, P. (2014). Identifying motivations and barriers to minimising household food wasteby. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 84, 15-23. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.12.005

Porritt, J. (2011). The trap of materialism. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/DtwXryPNciM

Shah, A. (2014). Consumption and Consumerism: Global Issues. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

[cmarionthewilkid-blog]

How We Need to Teach Corporate Social Responsibility to our Students

Today’s undergraduate business programs play a critical role in developing the socially responsible leaders of tomorrow. While being an ethically responsible individual should seem intuitive, I feel that as educators will need to make ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability explicitly intertwined in the fabric of undergraduate business curricula. 

Sometimes a university’s goals can become murky, we cannot sit back and let our universities become a skill and knowledge factory (Pinar, 2004).  Rather, allow educators the freedom to determine the ideals and competencies society admires to train socially responsible human beings. 

Now, what might Scrooge McDuck have to do with business education you ask? He embodies the traditional image of corporate greed (maybe a bit of neoliberalism?). 

While profit-generating business models remain an important part of any business school curriculum, we are now encouraging students to imagine a different perspective. Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can serve as an integral part of business undergrad teaching.  Could it be a response to creating the better business leaders of tomorrow? I think we can all agree that CSR is important enough that it needs to become both an explicit and implicit part of the business school curricula.  But how? 

Corporate Social Responsibility

First, the challenge is determining an acceptable definition of CSR. With over 37 definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility (Dahlsrud, 2018), how do we know which is best? In our context, I will consider the Canadian Centre Business in the Community’s definition. To them, CSR “is the overall relationship of the corporation with all of its stakeholders. These include customers, employees, communities, owners/investors, government, suppliers and competitors. Elements of social responsibility include investment in community outreach, employee relations, creation and maintenance of employment, environmental responsibility, human rights and financial performance.” (as cited in  Khoury, Rostami, & Turnbull, 1999, p.2). 

Breaking it down in an even simpler way, according to Carroll (2015), there are two main aspects that individuals must consider in CSR-related teaching, protecting and improving society. 

So we have covered the “what”. What about the “how”? 

Active vs. Passive Learning

With a definition in our minds, we need to figure out how to best integrate it in our curricula. To answer this how question in more detail, I will implore the concepts of active and passive learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpB89OPDtvU

Passive learning 

There is nothing wrong with a few lectures on the topic. Simply put, before deep diving into a topic, professors can help frame students’ understanding about CSR through definitions and concrete examples. Let’s go back to the idea of protecting and improving society. 

1. Protecting society is where companies should aim to minimize the negative impact of their products or services. (Example: avoid toxic paints in children’s toys).  Lego is another prime example of a company who walks the walk when it comes to CSR. From using plant-based polyethelene, recycling 93% of operational waste, and investing in renewal energy (Valet, 2019).

2. Improving society takes a more proactive stance on its societal impact wherby they create positive benefits. (Ex: Support a charitable organization in the local community.) Not to be outdone, Danone has demonstrated quality CSR in it’s “One Planet. One Health.” program (Valet, 2019).

So, it is a little dry, but it does serve a purpose. 

Active Learning

On the other hand, learning through CSR can provide students with the opportunity to become actively engaged in their learning through case studies, internships, social entrepreneurship, applied research projects (consulting), role playing, simulations, etc... This is a stark contrast to Pinar’s picture of our “nightmare” curriculum.  

As educators, we can use case studies to spark discussion and reflection like Samsung’s use of virtual reality in Jordan.

What is the message of this video? How is Samsung demonstrating CSR? What is the impact on society? 

Furthermore, experiential learning opportunities like internships with non-profit organizations can go a long way in educating students in CSR more profoundly.  In line with active learning, Kolb’s 1984 Experiential Learning Cycle can complement such as experience for students. 

The concrete experience is the non-profit internship. Following the internship, students reflect upon the competencies for which they have learned from the experience. They then wrap up (abstract conceptualization) their experience and learning in a final report. Finally, an example of active experimentation would be that the student becomes a social entrepreneur using what they learned from their internship. 

While Tormo-Carbó et al. (2016) indicate that they measured no significance difference in a student’s ability to demonstrate knowledge of ethics and social responsibility, regardless of having had a been exposed to a course on the topic or not, I firmly disagree on this point! While a course in a passive learning environment could very well lead to less than optimal learning, experiences grounded in active and experiential learning have the profound opportunity to evoke real change in business students.   

Is CSR Enough?

The triple bottom line (TBL) was a concept brought to light by John Elkington in 1998. Triple bottom line theory argues that a company’s success is not just based on the profits they generate. While a focus on profits (economical) is surely important, businesses should equally consider the people (social), and planet (environmental) perspectives as well. But is teaching CSR and TBL really enough? 

Elkington, himself has recently written an article for Harvard Business Review recalling the term TBL (Elkington, 2018). From his standpoint, it was meant to transform capitalism, not just become another accounting principle or way of deriving “value” from a company. This is one way to ensure business students consider a multi-faceted approach to business learning. 

Finally, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) argues that CSR is not truly sustainability and will dry up in times of economic downturn. What we need to be considering is Total Social Impact (TSI). 

Bottom Line?

What are the salient points for educators with respect to teaching CSR? 

Don’t let your course(s) become factory training sessions! 

Find definitions that speak to the holistic approach to CSR. 

Actively engage students in their learning. 

Always present the full picture and counter arguments.

Peace & love. 

REFERENCES

Carroll, A.B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility: The centerpiece of competing and complementary frameworks. Organizational Dynamics, 44(2), 87-96. DOI: 10.1016/j.orgdyn.2015.02.002

Dahlsrud, A. (2008).  How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions.  Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15, 1–13.  DOI: 10.1002/csr.132

Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

Elkington, J. (2018).  25 years ago I coined the phrase “triple bottom line.” Here’s why it’s time to rethink it. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/06/25-years-ago-i-coined-the-phrase-triple-bottom-line-heres-why-im-giving-up-on-it

Khoury G, Rostami, J., & Turnbull, P.L. (1999).   Corporate social responsibility: turning words into action. Retrieved from https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/467bebf9-a4f1-4c32-92bb-6736da679016/255-99mb.pdf    

Kolb, D. A. 1984. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Pinar, W.F. (2014). What is curriculum theory? Mahwah (NJ): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Tormo-Carbóa, G., Oltrab, V., Seguí-Masa, E., & Klimkiewiczc, K. (2016). How effective are business ethics/CSR courses in higher education? Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 228, 567-574. DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.07.087

Valet, V. (2019).  The world’s most reputable companies for corporate responsibility 2019. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2019/09/17/the-worlds-most-reputable-companies-for-corporate-responsibility-2019/#45d96ebd679b