When Suits Meet Roots: Best Practices in Community Engagement

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When Suits Meet Roots Best Practices in
Community Engagement

• Dr. Frances Bowen
• International Institute for Resource Industries
  and Sustainability Studies (IRIS)
• Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary

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A note to Web Viewers

• This presentation is designed to accompany the
  other outputs of the Engaging with Community
  Knowledge Project commissioned by the Research
  Network for Business Sustainability (RNBS). It is
  intended to be useful both for university
  teachers and managers thinking about community
  engagement.
• Some of these slides contain Notes Pages which
  explain the slide content in more detail. You may
  wish to print off the notes pages first, and then
  view the slides in slideshow view to see the
  most sensible sequence of material.
• Further details can be found in the accompanying
  academic literature review and in the executive
  briefing on the RNBS website www.sustainabilityr
  esearch.org

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Presentation Outline

• What is Community Engagement?
• Engagement and Community
• How have some firms gained from engagement?
• The Continuum of Community Engagement
• Identifying Best Practice in Community Engagement
• From Academia ABC Analysis
• From Practice 9 Best Practice Principle Steps
• Best Practices in Benchmarking and Measurement
• Useful Resources

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What Does your Community Look Like?
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What is Community?

• Community is a body of individuals
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Individuals can be linked by one or more of
• Geography people residing in the same geographic
  location
• Interaction people who regularly interact with
  each other
• Identity people who share a set of beliefs,
  values or experiences
• Community can consist of individuals or of groups
  organized to represent the interests of a set of
  individuals

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What is Engagement?

• Engagement / n. 1. the act or state of promising
  to marry.

• Engagement / n. 4. an encounter between hostile
  forces.

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The Gains from Engagement
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Our Knowledge Synthesis

• Aim map and assess existing intellectual
  territory on community engagement
• Explanatory synthesis of the literature
• Based on over 200 knowledge sources
• Included academic and practitioner sources
  (cases, websites, best practice handbooks etc.)
• Thorough process of finding, evaluating, coding
  and compiling the sources

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Filtering Knowledge Sources
Practitioner literature citation search2 n65
Academic literature citation search1 n586
Content coding5
Strategic perspective n97
HR perspective n40
Public policy perspective n54
Performance perspective n35
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Where to Find Best Practice?
GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES
FACILITATOR TRAINING
THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATE TOOL-KITS
CORPORATE-NGO ALLIANCES
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The Continuum of Community Engagement
GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES
FACILITATOR TRAINING
THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATE TOOL-KITS
CORPORATE-NGO ALLIANCES
Increasing community engagement
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The Continuum of Community Engagement
GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES
FACILITATOR TRAINING
TRANSACTIONAL ENGAGEMENT
TRANSITIONAL ENGAGEMENT
TRANSFORMATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATE TOOL-KITS
CORPORATE-NGO ALLIANCES
Increasing community engagement
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Three Types of Community Engagement
Dimension Transactional Engagement Transitional Engagement Transformational Engagement
Corporate stance Giving Back Community Investment Building Bridges Community Involvement Changing Society Community Integration
Communication One-way Two-way Two-way
Number of community partners Many Many Few
Frequency of interaction Occasional Repeated Frequent
Nature of trust Limited Evolutionary Relational
Learning Transferred from firm Transferred to firm Jointly generated
Control over process Firm Firm Shared
Benefits and outcomes Distinct Distinct Joint
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What the Academic Knowledge SaysThe ABCs of
Community Engagement
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Key Findings from the Academic Review

• While there are a very large number of
  suggestions as to what organizations should do,
  there is very little empirical evidence of what
  works and when
• Most studied form of engagement is transactional,
  followed by transitional and then
  transformational
• Payoff from engagement is usually long term, from
  improved legitimacy
• Firms that breed trust-based co-operative ties
  with communities may gain a competitive advantage
  over those that do not because they are more
  difficult to copy
• Best practice in community engagement involves
  fit between the engagement context and processes

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What the Practitioner Knowledge SaysBest
Practice Principles

• Government Guidelines
• Leading Practice Principles of Community
  Engagement, New South Wales Government,
  Australia
• National Standards for Community Engagement,
  Minister for Communities, The Scottish Executive,
  UK
• Industry Associations
• Principles for Stakeholder Engagement, Business
  for Social Responsibility, San Francisco, Ca, USA
• Community Impact Core Principles, Business in
  the Community, London, UK
• Quasi-Non-Governmental Organization
• Good Practice Principles for Stakeholder
  Engagement, International Finance Corporation,
  Washington, DC, USA

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9 Best Practice Principles
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Best Practice in Benchmarking and Measurement
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An Example KMPG and LBGs Method
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Our Top Picks

• Top Pick for on Best Practice Principles for
  Community Engagement
• Leading Practice Principles in Community
  Engagement in the NSW Planning System, New South
  Wales Government, Australia, http//203.147.162.10
  0/pia/engagement/index.htm
• Top Pick for Tips for Successful Engagement
  Technique Implementation
• Public Participation Toolbox, International
  Associate for Public Participation (IAP2),
  www.iap2.org
• Top Pick for Measuring Community Engagement
• The London Benchmarking Group Input/Output
  Matrix,
• www.lbg-online.net
• Top Pick for Benchmarking Philanthropic Donations
  in Canada
• Business Contributions to Canadian Communities,
  Imagine Canada, www.imaginecanada.ca

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Conclusions

• Identifying communities is a vital but tricky
  first step
• Managers face key choices on how involved their
  firms approach will be (the community engagement
  continuum)
• Transactional aka giving back
• Transitional aka building bridges
• Transformational aka changing society
• The Best Practice tools and ideas
• From academia ABC Analysis
• From practice 9 Best Practice Principles
• Measurement and Benchmarking
• Our Top Picks for Best Practice resources

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Thank You!

• Leadership Council of the Research Network for
  Business Sustainability
• Dr. Aloyisus Newenham-Kahindi
• Dr. Irene Herremans
• Calgary Chamber of Commerce
• Check for updates on our Knowledge Project and
  resources at
• www.sustainabilityresearch.org