企業永續中公關的角色與權力關係的演變

Abstract

近年來，企業社會責任 (CSR)/企業永續 (CS)的議題成為國際主流，應運而生諸多國際永續準則、指標或是評比，甚至能夠撼動企業的投資績效。這股趨勢也影響到本國 各大企業主和主管機關，從被動遵循政策到主動引領市場。\nCSR/CS一直被公關視為重要的工作環節，然而隨著 CSR/CS在商業界中的蓬勃發展，出現「 CSR不只是公關」聲音，在這當中確實有許多值得探討的地方，回顧既有的公關文獻針對企業社會責任和企業永續議題的著墨 仍相當有限。因此透過與永續從業人員的深度訪談，本論文嘗試探索公共關係在企業永續中的角色與權力關係的演變，並描繪公關所面對到的挑戰。\n訪談結果發現，CSR/CS的核心意涵擴張至營運與治理面向後，公關在組織中的角色面臨變革甚至在組織中的權力也受到影響，而這源自於經營管理階層對於公關核心職能並不熟悉。公共關係與企業永續的策略需要更多的相輔相成，公關人員需加強永續知能，而永續從業人員則須善用公關在利害關係人以及風險管理的專業，方能為企業締造更大的價值。

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), or Corporate Sustainability (CS), has become a globally important topic in the industry in recent years. As it plays a more critical role, newer evaluation standards or indices of business performances have been adopted, and they can affect investment decisions in the financial markets. This trend thus casts influence on business owners and force government authorities to follow the relevant guidelines more rigorously in their operations and policies.\nAlthough CSR/CS has always been considered a major field of work in public relations, it was often addressed in the business discipline that "CSR is beyond public relations," along with its vigorous discussion on CSR/CS. This suggests a need for further investigation for both academia and industry on the role of public relations with regards to CSR/CS. Given the limited literature in public relations that have discussed CSR/CS, the current study was aimed to explore the evolution of the role and power relationship of public relations in CSR/CS, as well as to depict the relevant challenges faced by the practitioners today.\nThrough in-depth interviews with 20 senior CSR/CS practitioners in Taiwan, it was found that the definition of CSR/CS has expanded to involve more of operations and governance, and there were shifts in the roles and power relations of public relations in the organizations. One emerging issue is that top management may not be familiar with the core functions of public relations and thus limit the relevant developments. Findings also implied that public relations and corporate sustainability strategies still need to be more closely integrated for better effectiveness. The suggestions include that public relations practitioners enhance their knowledge in CSR/CS and strengthen their contributions in stakeholder management and risk management for their corporations, which also helps to exemplify their expertise and value in the organization.