For at least five decades, scholars of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
have attempted to find and develop a constructive relationship between business and
society. Corporate ethics implies a critical assessment of discourses and practices in
organizations. This contribution reports about the importance of CSR, total quality
management (TQM) and total responsibility management (TRM), as well as corporate
citizenship. TRM principles and standards reflect rising public expectations about CSR.
Many companies develop TRM requisitely holistically, and hence successfully manage
their responsibilities toward their stakeholders and their natural environment. The
evolution and implementation of TRM in business practice include vision, integration
innovation and sustainable indicators according the ISO 26000. TRM indicators focus
on stakeholders, together with the triple-bottom-lines of economic, social and
environment issues measured in terms of cost-benefit. The concept of corporate
citizenship is closely linked with CSR in terms of social and environmental issues. The
top ten corporate values (integrity, honesty, justice, equality, objectivity, loyalty,
devotion, respect, prudence, tolerance) are what one may generally observe expressed in
most corporate codes of ethics. Ethical leadership is a kind of leadership by which one
can create the social, political, economic, cultural conditions required for living
together. Morally proactive leadership is critical for successful responsible management
and corporate citizenship. The proactive companies focus on the importance of CSR and
its management, inside and outside the global company. The Gorenje Group has
included the proactive and innovative TRM as well as corporate citizenship into
corporate strategy. These activities are transparent and represent the holistic and
systemic responsible stakeholder management at the corporate level. Introduction of
requisitely holistic TRM may hence be a management innovation toward CSR and
success.
Keywords: Case study, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility (CSR),
corporate values, ecology, environmental management, ethical business behavior,
Gorenje Group, holism, leadership commitment, organizational and personal
learning, plan-do-check-act, responsible corporate strategy, responsible
competitiveness, sustainable innovation, stakeholder management, sustainable
indicators, total responsibility management (TRM), total quality management
(TQM), well-being.