 |
 |
Dear colleagues, Please find below the details of the online conference "Discourse and Discord in CSR initiatives" which aims to contribute to the general conversation that has been launched around corporate social responsibility and sustainability discourses. Email contact to enrol to attend the conference can be found at the bottom. Best regards, *Elvis Buckwalter* Associate Professor of Business/English 200 av. de la République - 92001 Nanterre Cedex *Discourse and Discord in CSR initiatives Online Conference Université Paris-Nanterre, Friday 26 November 2021* *Keynote speakers* *Ruth Breeze*, Professor in Communication, Language and Linguistics, Universidad de Navarra, Spain *Cristof Miska*, Associate Professor in International business, Wirtschaftsuniversität, Vienna, Austria Languages of the conference: English and French *Presentation*: Striking the right balance between the moral(istic) discourse of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the one hand, and how this same discourse translates into concrete CSR initiatives on the other, remains a conundrum that many organizations grapple with. Informed by specific discursive practices (mission statements, websites, press releases, etc.), “CSR discourse” has recently become a discursive category in its own right, which reflects the development of contemporary society and how companies adapt and are perceived by it. How a company acts within and interacts with society has evolved from one generation to the next. Often cited as the father of CSR, Howard Bowen highlights the debate between “social responsibilities and laissez-faire” stating: “social institutions and organisations which are desirable in one environment or in one stage of man’s development may be utterly inappropriate in another”. Indeed, societal discord has brought forth a number of innovative features in corporate social responsibility programs. And yet, despite the body of discourse produced by companies to promote their ethics and values, there is a tension/discord with respect to the reality of these programs. Organizational media and communication outlets (company mission statements, websites, press releases, corporate reports…) tout CSR initiatives, which appear to quell a rising insurgency of social discord, bridging the gap between generating profit and social stewardship. However, one is forced to wonder about the efficacy of these initiatives. This one-day conference focuses on the status of CSR as a discursive construct, which begs a multidisciplinary analysis bringing together a number of fields (linguistics, discourse analysis, economics, corporate strategy...). The conference aims to rouse a discussion about ways in which corporate discourse pertaining to CSR has blurred the lines of demarcation between what traditional for-profit activities of corporations actually are and what society deems they should be. Such discursive constructs are informed by various fields: Some themes to be explored: - CSR as a discursive construct; - The role of English (as the lingua franca of the business world) in the construal of the dominant international discourse of CSR; - Comparisons of discourse of CSR across languages and across cultures / cross-cultural ethics; - Linguistic and discursive analyses of specific discourse practices which inform “the discourse of CSR”; - Critical analyses of corporate citizenship, social entrepreneurship, and corporate discourse more generally; - The discursive subcategories: e.g. the discourse of sustainable development, of diversity/equal opportunity... Conference program: https://crea.parisnanterre.fr/colloques-et-journees-detude/journee-detu… <https://crea.parisnanterre.fr/colloques-et-journees-detude/journee-detude-discours-et-discorde-dans-les-initiatives-rse> Contact to enrol (free enrolment) for conference and receive Zoom link : Elvis Buckwalter [log in to unmask] ____ AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business. For information: http://aib.msu.edu/community/aib-l.asp To post message: [log in to unmask] For assistance: [log in to unmask] AIB-L is a moderated list.