The Baldrige Excellence Framework has this to say about Societal Responsibility:

 

Core Values - Baldrige is based on a set of beliefs and behaviors. These core values and concepts are the foundation for integrating key performance and operational requirements within a results-oriented framework that creates a basis for action, feedback, and ongoing success. One of these core values is Societal Responsibility.

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Societal Responsibility requirements are described as follows:

 

Your organization’s leaders should stress responsibilities to the public, and the consideration of societal well-being and benefit.

Leaders should be role models for your organization and its workforce in the protection of public health, safety, and the environment. This protection applies to any impact of your organization’s operations. Also, your organization should emphasize resource conservation and waste reduction at the source.

 

Planning should anticipate adverse impacts that might arise in facilities management, in laboratory operations, and transportation. Effective planning should reduce or prevent problems, provide for a forthright response if problems occur, and make available the information and support needed to maintain public awareness, safety, and confidence.

 

Your organization should meet all local, state, and federal laws and regulatory requirements and should also treat these and related requirements as opportunities to excel beyond minimal compliance. Considering societal wellbeing and benefit means leading and supporting—within the limits of your resources—the environmental, social, and economic systems in your organization’s sphere of influence.

 

Such leadership and support might include improving education, health care, and other services in your community; pursuing environmental excellence; being a role model for socially important issues; practicing resource conservation; reducing your carbon footprint; performing community service and charity; improving education-sector and organizational practices; and sharing nonproprietary information.

 

For a role-model organization, leadership also entails influencing other organizations, private and public, to partner for these purposes. Managing societal responsibilities requires your organization to use appropriate measures and your leaders to assume responsibility for those measures.