PHL 736 Week 5 Community Involvement Example

From Sponsor to Partner: Planning Community Involvement for a Growing Food Plant

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

PHL/736: Political Acumen and Ethics

Week 5 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The learner, the company, the community groups and all figures are composites written for a model paper.

Week 4 found that Platte Valley Foods' corporate social responsibility is generous in philanthropy but thin where its operations affect people. Much of that effect falls on Grand Island itself. The composite vice president of corporate affairs now plans how the company should be involved in its community as the expansion adds 380 jobs to a town of about 50,000.

The Community

Grand Island's growth over two decades has been driven partly by meat and poultry processing, which has drawn workers from Latin America, East Africa and elsewhere. About a third of the company's hourly employees use a language besides English at home. Schools have added language programs; the hospital has added interpreters; rents have risen quickly. Neighbors near the plant have raised concerns about truck traffic and odor, and both will grow with the expansion.

Stakeholders and Their Claims

Freeman (1984) described a stakeholder as anyone, person or group, whose actions shape a company's ability to reach its goals or whose life those goals touch, and urged managers to treat them as part of strategy. The vice president listed the community stakeholders and their interests:

City government: jobs, tax base, infrastructure capacity.

Residents near the plant: traffic, odor, property values.

Immigrant and refugee community organizations: fair treatment of workers, language access, housing, family services.

Schools: enrollment growth, language support, partnerships.

Community college: training programs, enrollment.

Hospital and clinics: occupational injuries, uninsured care, interpreters.

Faith groups: support for newcomer families and their children.

Regional environmental group: river health.

Salience

Mitchell et al. (1997) proposed that the attention managers pay to a stakeholder rises with three features: the power it holds over the firm, how legitimate its relationship or claim is and how urgently it needs a response.

The city and the neighborhood association have power and urgency through the council vote and permit hearings. The environmental group has some power through the permit process. Immigrant community organizations have strong legitimacy, since they represent many of the company's own workers and their families, and growing urgency as housing tightens, but little power over company decisions. That combination explains why the company has paid them little attention. It is also a reason to engage them more: salience based only on power leaves out the people most affected.

The groups with the least power over the company represent many of the people who work the line.

The Company's Current Engagement

Bowen et al. (2010) reviewed research on community engagement and described a continuum of strategies: transactional engagement, such as giving and one-way communication; transitional engagement, such as consultation and collaboration on community projects; and transformational engagement, involving joint learning, shared decision making and shared benefits. They found that transformational engagement was less common but associated with greater benefits for communities and firms in some settings.

The company sits at the transactional end: sponsorships, donations and press releases. It has consulted residents only when permits required it, and it has never asked immigrant community organizations for advice on anything.

The Plan

Community advisory council. Twelve members, including residents near the plant, leaders of immigrant community organizations, a school representative, the community college, the hospital and two hourly employees, meeting quarterly. The council will have defined input on three decisions: the truck route, the allocation of the community investment budget and the design of the housing partnership. Meetings will be interpreted into Spanish and other languages as needed.

Housing partnership. Working with the city and an Omaha-based builder, the company will contribute land near the plant and a share of financing for workforce rental housing, with rents set below market for a defined period and units open to all local workers, not only the company's.

Language and services. The company will fund English classes at the community college on company time and partner with community organizations on a family resource center.

Health access. The company will expand its on-site clinic hours and share anonymized injury data with the hospital to coordinate care.

Listening Before Planning

Before finalizing the plan, the vice president held six listening sessions: two with neighbors near the plant, two with immigrant community organizations, one with school and college leaders and one with hourly employees outside work hours. Interpreters attended each. Three messages recurred. Neighbors wanted a single contact they could call about trucks or odor and a reply within days. Community organizations described families living four or five to an apartment and workers afraid to report injuries. Employees asked for English classes that fit their shifts. The plan's housing, language and health elements respond directly to those sessions, and the complaint response measure came from the neighbors.

Why Partnership Is Worth the Effort

Partnership takes more time than writing checks, and it gives others a say in decisions the company once made alone. The vice president's case to the executive team rests on three points. The expansion depends on community goodwill at public hearings. The company's hourly workforce lives in this community, and retention depends partly on whether families can find housing, schools and services. And the company's reputation with customers increasingly depends on how it treats workers and neighbors, as Week 4 showed. Transformational engagement is a business strategy as well as an ethical commitment.

Roles and Resources

The vice president will chair the advisory council, with a community co-chair elected by members. A community relations coordinator, a new position funded from the redirected philanthropy budget, will staff the council, run the complaint line and coordinate partnerships.

Handling Conflict

Conflicts will arise. Residents may want trucks routed past other neighborhoods; immigrant organizations may raise complaints about supervisors. The council's charter will state that it advises rather than decides, that the company will respond in writing to every recommendation and that worker complaints raised there will be referred to a confidential process, not discussed publicly by name.

Timeline

The council will form within three months, with members nominated by their own organizations rather than chosen by the company. The housing partnership agreement should be signed before the expansion's first phase opens, and English classes will begin with the next college term. The first annual community report, covering every commitment and its status, will go to the council and be posted publicly a year after the council's first meeting.

Measures

The company will track trust and results: an annual survey of council members and a random sample of residents on whether the company listens and keeps commitments; housing units built and occupied; English class enrollment and completion; employee retention; and response times to community complaints.

Conclusion

Stakeholder salience analysis showed that the groups most affected by the company had the least voice. Moving from transactional toward transformational engagement, through an advisory council with real input, housing and language partnerships and health access, can make the company a partner in Grand Island's growth. Week 6 compares ethical standards across the countries where the company trades.

References

Bowen, F., Newenham-Kahindi, A., & Herremans, I. (2010). When suits meet roots: The antecedents and consequences of community engagement strategy. Journal of Business Ethics, 95(2), 297-318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0360-1

Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Pitman.

Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853-886. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9711022105