Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation, and Success (The Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics Series in Ethics and Lead) Review

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Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation, and Success (The Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics Series in Ethics and Lead) ReviewGenerally, I am suspicious of any book touting a stakeholder model over one grounded on shareowners. The problem is one of identification. Without a clear party in control, the CEO and board can rationalize just about any position based on balancing "stakeholder" interests.
I'm also concerned with a book on ethics sponsored by the Business Roundtable, since that organization has a long history of ill-founded opposition to shareowner interests, such as expensing stock options and proxy access. Despite these reservations, I can honestly recommend Freeman's book. The corporate form exists for more than simply maximizing shareowner wealth. A stakeholder approach is appropriate in most day-to-day decisions, and this small volume offers good advice.
Any executive or board can benefit by more thoroughly examining their corporation's community of interest. As the authors posit, companies which "find a way to create value for conflicting stakeholder interests will be the winners." Engagement often leads to value-creation. Even when it does not, a few simple cooperative steps can often diffuse what might otherwise be a damaging situation. "Unilateral action increases the risk of conflict escalation."
The book lacks ex ante rules for deriving a hierarchy of stakeholders but, instead, takes a more organic approach. More discussion of the fundamental tension between the expectation for substantive debate over disagreements with stakeholders and the reality of our common preference for social cohesion and conflict avoidance would have added value. In Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative versus Participatory Democracy, for example, Diana C. Mutz, reports finding that the degree of cross-cutting discussion decreases as levels of income and education increase. This helps explains why so few corporations make an adequate effort to communicate with stakeholders. Rather than limiting active engagement to the like-minded or withdrawing, Mutz argues for "weak ties" that foster loose engagement and build tolerance.
I would have also liked more of a conceptual framework. For example, readers might have benefited from a discussion of the "rights" of stakeholders using Wesley Hohfeld's fundamental legal concepts of a claim against, a liberty or privilege, an authority or power, and an immunity. Such a discussion would be helpful in framing expectations around stakeholder engagement.
While readers are warned the book is "written for executives, not for academics," and "we are in the process of creating a separate book that will contain all the academic support," this reader would have benefited from more science and a more rigorous conceptual framework. Instead, the authors appear to argue that management is still more art than science.
Still, I liked the discussions on the principles of ethical leadership and on leadership by choice, which emphasizes that people must have adequate knowledge of alternatives and at least some options before they truly engage in a genuine choice to follow. Pack the book for your next flight and you'll probably find a reasonable amount of grist for meaningful reflection.
Another useful tool for identifying at least some of your company's stakeholders is touchgraph.com. Try it out by entering the name of your company or its URL to visually portray your firm's 6 degrees of separation in cyberspace.Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation, and Success (The Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics Series in Ethics and Lead) Overview

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