U.S. TAG on Social Responsibility FAQ

“There is no conflict between profit and social responsibility”
Peter Drucker, Wall Street Journal, 1975

What is Social Responsibility?

The American Society for Quality defines ‘social responsibility’ as people and organizations behaving and conducting business ethically and with sensitivity towards social, cultural, economic and environmental issues. Striving for social responsibility helps individuals, organizations and governments have a positive impact on development, business and society.

Why is Social Responsibility important?

Smart business decisions are not just a matter of counting short term dollars and cents. Wise decision-makers look at the future impact of today’s choices – on people, on the community and on the opinions of customers. While business results, investment, free enterprise and other traditional economic forces continue to drive U.S. industry, organizations’ reputations and their ability to compete effectively around the world depend on them integrating social responsibility efforts into business leader decision-making and enterprise performance.

What is ASQ’s role?

The American Society for Quality was selected by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) the official United States member to ISO, to create and administer the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Social Responsibility.

ASQ’s initial role is to assemble a group of experts from a variety of industries to represent a balanced, cross section of stakeholders in developing this new standard.

Development of an SR standard serves to extend ASQ’s current involvement in standards activities which can be implemented across all sectors in all organizations. ASQ currently administers four TAG’s:

• U.S. TAG 56 to ISO/TC 56 on Dependability
• U.S. TAG 69 to ISO/TC 69 on Statistics
• U.S. TAG 176 to ISO/TC 176 on Quality management
• U.S. TAG 207 to ISO/TC 207 on Environmental management

The following link provides an overview of ASQ’s role within the standards world – http://standardsgroup.asq.org/about/overview.html

What will this standard accomplish?

The scope of the International Standard includes the following:

• Assist organizations in addressing their social responsibilities while respecting cultural, societal, environmental and legal differences and economic development conditions;
• Provide practical guidance related to making social responsibility operational; identifying and engaging with stakeholders and enhancing credibility of reports and claims made about social responsibility;
• Emphasize performance results and improvement;
• Increase confidence and satisfaction in organizations among their customers and other stakeholders;
• Be consistent with existing documents, international treaties and conventions and existing ISO standards;
• Promote common terminology in the social responsibility field; and
• Broaden awareness of social responsibility.

This Standard is not intended to reduce government’s authority to address the social responsibility of organizations.

When will the standard be completed?

The target publication date of the standard is the fourth quarter of 2010.

How can your organization get involved?

You are encouraged to join the U.S. TAG which is comprised of six interest categories including

• Industry
• Government
• Non-Governmental organizations
• Consumer
• Labor
• Services, support Research and Others

The membership fee is $500.00. A member may be, for example, a company, an organization, a government agency or an even an individual representing themselves.  Membership includes access to all TAG communication and requires active participation in the standards development activities related to the initiative.  Members will be expected to attend a limited number of meetings throughout the year, review proposals and working documents, and respond to information or voting requests via e-mail.

ASQ’s need is immediate, so if you are interested in shaping the U.S. position of the standard or would like more information, please contact ASQ’s Standards Team at standards@asq.org or visit our website www.asq.org/social-responsibility.