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Corporate responsibility is heightened amid protests and police brutality, says two professors

As protests continue throughout the country, many corporations are considering how they can make an impact to alleviate systemic racism. Some methods are more meaningful than others, according to Cedric Dawkins, chair of Quinlan鈥檚 Management Department and associate professor.

Dawkins joined Assistant Professor Abe Singer on the Q Talks Podcast to discuss corporate social responsibility in a moment where corporations and unions are being heavily scrutinized for their lack of effort pursuing racial justice or their contributions to racial injustice.

Below are five key insights from the discussion, which is part of a Q Talks Podcast miniseries on race and business. You can also listen to the full podcast on or .

1. Corporate statements on Black Lives Matter can be superficial or productive

Dawkins and Singer began their conversation by discussing 鈥淏lack Lives Matter鈥� statements from corporations. Singer noted that often corporations release statements on racial disparities, but lack the action to back up those statements.

鈥淭hree months ago, I found out that every single club, every single business I鈥檝e ever been affiliated with really doesn鈥檛 want me to get COVID, they鈥檙e really concerned for me,鈥� says Singer, jokingly. 鈥淣ow they鈥檙e sending me emails that they don鈥檛 like racism. They think racism is bad. I tend to have a cynical view about statements like these. I tend to [think] this just protecting your bottom line, protecting your image.鈥� 

According to Dawkins, unless corporations back these words up, they are useless.

鈥淪ome companies are going to make statements that are legitimate, heartfelt, backed up by policy,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e superficial in my view if there aren鈥檛 any actions to follow. If there isn鈥檛 a paragraph in that statement that says, 鈥楢nd because we feel so strongly about this, here鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going to do,鈥� then they鈥檙e not particularly helpful.鈥�

One example of a superficial statement, according to Dawkins, is .

鈥淗e鈥檚 making a statement about racism when the league that he leads has blacklisted a player for peacefully protesting that very racism,鈥� says Dawkins in reference to NFL player Colin Kaepernick鈥檚 kneeling during the national anthem. 鈥淭he players aren鈥檛 dumb. This comes across as disingenuous.鈥� 

Dawkins compares the commissioner鈥檚 statement to of $100 million over 10 years to organizations that pursue social equity .

鈥淵ou look at Michael Jordan conversely, who鈥檚 been criticized in the past for avoiding issues that he thought might potentially damage his brand, but his response to this particular circumstance is an example for his corporate peers in my view,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f the statements are part of their attempt to do something, then I think they鈥檙e useful.鈥�

2. D&I initiatives might make an impact

One debated method of advancing the positions of minorities in corporations is diversity and inclusion initiatives. Singer is skeptical.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always about, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to make sure our board is going to look like America,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淚t never actually ends up looking like America. A lot of people have been critical of this approach to thinking about race from corporations, that it鈥檚 a superficial way of dealing with the problem.鈥�

However, Dawkins believes that corporations can make strides toward racial equity through diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as employee trainings on implicit bias and corporate commitments to increasing female representation on their boards and in C-suites to 30%. As female representation has risen in C-Suites, Dawkins believes this successful initiative should be extended to alleviate racial disparities as well. 

But class discussions of this 鈥�30% club鈥� can be divisive.

鈥淚n my class, I ask the students what they think about the 30% club, and invariably, a portion of them will say it鈥檚 unfair to white males,鈥� says Dawkins. 鈥淚 leave them with the question of if I accept your premise it鈥檚 unfair to white males, which system of unfairness do you prefer? The old one or the new one? And how and why do you make that choice?鈥�

Singer鈥檚 worry is not that such D&I efforts are unfair to white people and more that they don鈥檛 address the structures that tend to disadvantage and oppress Black people. 鈥淚f you diversify your board of directors, so now you have a diverse group of Wharton graduates,鈥� he notes skeptically, 鈥渨ho then can run their business in such a way that gentrifies neighborhoods and underpays workers who are largely people of color.鈥� Does that actually address the root problem of structural racism?

3. Corporations should not be involved in public policy

Dawkins does not believe corporations should to get involved in public policy, first because of his worries about corporate voices overshadowing the perspectives of the community.

鈥淚 would argue they鈥檙e going to dwarf other voices, because that鈥檚 what corporations tend to do,鈥� says Dawkins. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e big, they鈥檙e powerful, they have money.鈥�

He鈥檚 also skeptical around corporations鈥� ability to care for social good. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see capitalism providing any incentives to do anything other than what corporations are already doing. If corporations step outside of purely monetary interest, I think they can have some impact. But it does worry me a little bit鈥� to rely on corporations to define racial justice work.

4. Labor unions鈥攊ncluding the police鈥攎ust consider social responsibility

In the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 murder by a police officer, Singer and Dawkins argue that unions need to take social responsibility into account.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a huge focus on police unions,鈥� says Singer. 鈥淎nd this has come from the finding that once police have the ability to collectively bargain, you tend to see rises in police violence in the communities they鈥檙e supposed to protect.鈥�

Discussions of police brutality often include the defense that there are 鈥渂ad apples鈥� but the majority of the police are 鈥済ood apples.鈥� Dawkins finds this unhelpful. 

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 help to make this bad apple excuse because bad apples do ruin the whole bunch, because when they rot they emit gasses and that hastens the decay of apples in the barrel so bad apples do ruin the whole barrel,鈥� he says. 鈥淧olice labor unions have gone whole hog in supporting their bad apples.鈥�

Dawkins continues, 鈥淚 would like to see labor unions consider the idea of moral suasion [that is, an appeal to morality in order to influence or change behavior] they were founded on.鈥�

Singer agrees. 鈥淯nions began not just as economic organizations but as political and social organizations, and they鈥檝e become organizations which just think about their members, which obviously unions should do, but they鈥檝e done that at the cost of imposing harms onto others. When you have a union like a police union, those effects are exaggerated.鈥�

5. We shouldn't necessarily abolish police unions, but the option should be on the table

Some protesters have called for abolishing police unions. Dawkins fears that this will have dire consequences, such as the abolishment of all unions.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to get arguments about schoolteachers, nurses, public transit workers. It鈥檚 not going to stop with police unions,鈥� says Dawkins.

He also fears more government oversight for unions. For example, in Canada, unions can be voted back to work by legislature. 鈥淗ow hard are you going to bargain if you know that in the end you can simply force the striking workers back? I鈥檓 afraid of this kind of thing confronting public labor union workers in the U.S. because it wouldn鈥檛 stand strongly enough on this issue of police labor unions.鈥� 

Despite not wanting police unions abolished, he does feel this option of abolition should be available.

鈥淚鈥檓 glad that there are people within the labor movement calling for the abolition of police unions but I don鈥檛 want them to be successful. I just want them to make this case,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he criticism is necessary. The internal debate and internal strife are necessary. It鈥檚 a cleansing of sorts. I think the public needs to see that the labor movement is having an honest discussion about this and will make every effort to discipline its own. If the public has to do it, I think its detrimental to the labor movement writ large.鈥�

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