CIPR PRide Awards- Scotland
This years gold award for Corporate Responsibility went to.......... RMJM Ltd.
RMJM Ltd. an Edinburgh based architecture practice went into partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust (SLCT) to launch Architecture for Everyone. This was a 3 year nationwide campaign, developed to bring diversity to the architecture profession.
Architecture is known to be a particularly white, middle-class, male dominated profession. RMJM’s Communication team and SLCT developed Architecture for Everyone to reach out to young people between the ages of 16- 25 from inner city backgrounds and get them involved in design and architecture.
Do you think Corporate Social Responsibility is a tool used by organisations to gain greater market exposure or do they truly believe in making a difference in society?
Regardless of the good intentions of the campaign, in the long term will it or is it even possible to introduce ethnic diversity (in both people and design) into the relatively conservative world of British Architecture?
Is this campaign going to be enough to prompt a change?
Thanks for your comments, I look forward to hearing what you have to say!
9 comments:
I think that CSR is often used by organisations as a way of promoting the fact they are either ethical or green. By promoting these things in their CSR reports they appear to the consumer as a considerate and trustworthy company.
There are definitely some companies whose CSR has come from real beliefs and values but I think a lot of the time companies CST comes from what they think they should believe or will look good, not because they truly believe in making a difference to society.
I think that changing the views and perceptions surrounding the world of British Architecture will not happen overnight and I don't think the campaign alone is enough to prompt a change but it's definitely a good start.
Laura x
I think that CSR is really important for large organisation to take seriously, and even if they are doing it to gain more market exposure I think it still a great opportunity for large companies to use there reputation and financial state to help others.
I don't know a lot about the culture of the Architecture industry but it does sound as if there is an issue there, that even though RMJM won't be able to solve alone, it's great there are acknowledging the problem and beginning to tackle it.
Awareness campaigns in other disciplines, such as engineering, work well to increase the number of school children from a range of backgrounds aiming for careers in that industry. I imagine architecture would be no different.
I believe that it depends on the nature of the company- some organisations will utilise CSR as a means to make more profit, for example oil companies like Shell or BP, in order to make themselves seem more eco-friendly.
As the Architecture industry is under-represented in some areas, I think utilising CSR can be a good thing. While it might not prompt a dramatic change, it can be a good start to get things going.
It could also encourage people who had considered the Architecture industry before (but felt they might find it difficult to fit in) to actually get into the industry, and in the long run encourage more diversity into that sector.
Lucky x
I would expect that an organisation like RMJM which has offices and project all over the world needs to attract talented Architects from all ethnic groups to provide a diversity of creativity within their design teams. CSR would help accelerate a process which I have seen developing over the last 30 years.
Jeff.
Whilst I believe that CSR is all about marketing and organisation exposure it is clear that a partnership like this (RMJM and SLCT) will be a successful one for both involved. RMJM will receive the exposure they seek from a campaign like this and SLCT will 'monitor' the progress and ensure that (as a Trust/Charity) the outcomes are beneficial to them.
With all 'white collar' professions there is a lack of diversity in the workplace. I believe this campaign will indeed raise awareness of Architecture but it is not this 'awareness' that will ultimately make any difference to the intake of Architectural students. You have to remember that these 'white collar' professions, especially Architecture, require up to 7 years studying at University. This is not necessarily an option that is available to everyone, especially from inner city backgrounds.
Guy
i think that CSR is often used by companies as a pure reputation management tool. However, in the case of this campaign I think engaging multicultural students in the field of architecture can change the perception of British architecture. So the campaign is really trying to result in attitude change.
Every individual brings in new ideas in reference to design and infrastructure within architecture. So I do believe this campaign is a good way of doing so.
On the other hand I do feel that this campaign has to use other channels or use the channels they used more effectively to get the message across to the target audience. Maybe partnerships with universities or implementing design courses at schools might extend the scope of this campaign on a national level. Architecture courses should be promoted more to attract students with an international background.
In order to change the perception of British architecture the campaign has to think BIG! And I feel that they have lacked to do so.
To conclude I think that this campaign could have been more effective if their message was more consistent within various communications channels - they should have considered an integrated comms campaign to enhance the credibility of the message.
x
I agree, however they do have a partnership with Harvard University. Architecture For Everyone held workshops in different Cities across the country to get young people involved in design and architecture. From these workshops 6 of the best performers won a place at Harvard University Architecture Summer School.
CSR is undeniably used by some organisations as an image enhancing tool or has at least been prompted by a request from a prospective client, either formally in a RFP - 'please provide a copy of your CSR policy' or informally.
Having said that it would pretty cynical to suggest that this was the overiding motivation in the majority of cases. Lets face it,there have been businesses around which have been 'supporting good causes' and have had liberal recruitment and working policies for many years and long before the term Corporate Social Responsibility was thought of.
Will it be possible to introduce ethnic diversity to Bristish Architecture in the long term?
Businesses change to reflect the society in which they operate and the people who own, run and work for them. Just as the more conservative elements of society are slower to adopt diversity so are the more conservative businesses, professional services firms rank fairly high in the conservatism stakes and architects as pretty high rankers within PSF's.
It is a matter of time and the emphasis must be on the 'long term' there is a still a long way to go - that is not a reason not to undertake initiatives such as this as they will help to accelerate any change.
Although not qualified to comment, I imagine that designs change as the people and attitudes within firms change and as the attitudes and requirements of the clients change. I imagine that firms like RMJM Ltd will seek out the more challenging and cutting edge projects and seek to influence trends in the profession in this way also.
Campaigns like this will never be enough to change things on their own, but they are to be applauded as acting as an energiser and for heightening the importance of diversity and will, hopefully, begin a new, or accelerate an existing, trend.
Al R
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