National Exhibition Centre - Essay Example

Introduction National Exhibition Centre, widely known as NEC Birmingham, located in Birmingham, UK, is one of the premier event management venues ofEurope. Established in 1976, the NEC Birmingham has evolved into the state of the art venues, comprising of LG Arena and NIA, to hold world-class events of myriad types. It is recognized for its leadership initiatives in the arena of event management that provides quality customer service and optimal operational performance outcome for various events that are held in the two venues. Since its inception, more than 2,500 events have been held, generating ore than $20 billion of revenues and entertaining over 90 millions visitors (necbirmingham.com). In the fast changing environment of business paradigm and global compulsions, the scope of accountability has widened to include the emerging new paradigms of changing social values and issues which have significant impact on the overall socio-economic development of the society. NEC Birmingham has acknowledged the changing values and has made CSR an integral part of its business strategy. The changing environment of values and work ethics has necessitated that the organizations must be responsive to the impact that their decisions, actions and behavior have on the people at large. Through a well planned corporate social responsibility strategy, NEC meets the challenges of the time. Vision Statement The organization vision is to be recognized as the most preferred venue to hold all types of events where people ‘come to discover the future’. Mission Statement The mission statements of the company are designed to meet the needs and requirements of the customers through well planned strategy which would help fulfil the long term vision of the organization. The organization believes in evolving with the changing preferences and expectations of the people and ensures the same through creative inputs to improve and improvise the existing modalities of delivery of its aims and objectives. Therefore, the organization’s mission statements are important and sincere declaration of its objectives and aims. The organization’s mission can be broadly outlined as follow: 1. Provide quality customer service that facilitates customer satisfaction at all levels of interaction, meeting their requirements and demands. 2. Anticipate customer’s changing needs and provide multiple services from single window. 3. Become the best service provider in the field of event management services by providing wide range of environmental friendly facilities and other services that would address the multiple demands of the customers. 4. Provide innovative approach to the events so as to have a competitive edge over their rivals. 5. Promote leadership initiatives and transparency within the corporate culture so as to develop strong teamwork that works towards organizational goals with sincerity and strong sense of achievement. 6. Promote CSR within its work culture. Existing practices of CSR A community has various needs, part of which, are met by the government and others may require proactive participation of the people for a healthy and peaceful co-existence within the community. ‘Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), defined in terms of the responsiveness of businesses to stakeholders’ legal, ethical, social and environmental expectations, is one outcome of these developments’ (UNIDO, 2002). Hence it is important that all efforts that extend towards the development of the society are not only sincere in their intention but their approach must be accompanied by a deep sense of responsibility and accountability that ensure transparency. According to World Bank report ‘social accountability is defined as an approach toward building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e., in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations that participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability’ (2005). NEC meets its corporate responsibilities through well planned strategy that includes; Environment policy Sustainable development practices by following well defined environment policy of conserving and preserving environment through effective energy usage and waste management. NEC has taken the issue of climate change seriously and contributed towards the issue through various positive measures. It has made significant efforts to reduce its energy consumption through reduced consumption and helps preserve environment by having an effective waste management policy. The company promotes carbon footprints. It hosts millions of visitors every year and therefore, takes appropriate measures to reduce the adverse impact on the environment through its activities. By adhering to the rules and regulations with especial emphasis on environment, it ensures continuous monitoring of the impact of its activities on the environment and makes efforts to upgrade its facilities to meet the environmental compulsions. Community development It believes in proactive participation in the community development work by forging alliances with bodies and voluntary agencies and contributes towards the development process through employees support, expertise, skill, cash and kind. It links brands in promoting the causes thus providing huge facilitating platform for the community development. Ethical consideration in HRD and work culture The technological advancements and modernization process has brought in a new set of values which are global in essence but culturally unique in content. The world is thus moving towards a multicultural society that is an amalgamation of people from different countries, races and religion. The social changes brought about by rapid globalization, have changed the socio- cultural values of a country, forcing them to formulate new strategies and policies to meet the challenges of the emerging pluralistic societies. NEC follows diversity in its HRD policy to embrace multi-cultural values. Sustainable business practices NEC consciously follows sustainable business practices that incorporate global values. It observes human rights and intrinsically follows ethical procurement practices in its dealings with all its stakeholders. Today the equation seems to have changed and ‘we approach managerial leadership as a relational, ongoing social construction process rather than as a single clear cut phenomenon’ (Sjostrand and Tyrstrup). The managerial leadership style within the NEC is more labor friendly and believes in developing joint goals and objectives that are mutually beneficial, thus fostering mutual beliefs and better understanding of each others value system. Recommendations The company is constantly working in the people-centric environment that caters to the demands of thousands of people on a daily basis. Hence, despite having a good CSR policy, it nevertheless, needs to strengthen certain areas of operation. They are: Encourage holistic approach to solving all the problems and try to take into account mutual interests rather than individual ones and help foster new ideas and energies which would bring forth fresh perspectives to the old problems or socio-political barriers. There is huge risk of carbon emission in its operational areas and therefore, it needs to enforce more stringent measures to reduce the environmental risks while interacting with large number of people and high tech-gadgets. It should introduce carbon emission calculators that can be used by people and thereafter support projects that absorb or reduce greenhouses gases. The company needs to test new approaches in the delivery of its aims and objectives so that it effectively meets the challenges of the evolving times with more responsibilities and exhibits accountability and transparency in its work methodology. Conclusion Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a relatively new concept that is becoming increasing more popular among the multinationals and big corporate houses which have significant interaction with people coming from diverse background. The corporate governance has made CSR an intrinsic part of business strategy and the governments’ guidelines for effective CSR policies across the globe, further provide essential inputs. The concept of accountability has wide ranging implications and therefore can be defined in ways to suit the organizational aims and objectives while taking due account of the circumstances within which it is practiced. According to Ackerman ‘principles of accountability should ideally be applied before, during and after the exercise of public authority’ (Ackerman, 2004). Some argue that accountability must be assessed with the responsiveness of the implementation practices that are adopted according to the changing situations. According to Fox, ‘civil society demands for state accountability matter most when they empower the state’s own checks and balances’ (Fox, 2000, p. 1). It is seen that when the mechanisms of social accountability are institutionalized, it promotes transparency in the work place which is open to civic engagement. The exemplary leadership of the NEC has encouraged creativity and innovative practices that given a unique perspective to participatory approach of management and employees. Indeed, while the wide ranging implications of the corporate governance need to be evaluated for development of strategies to meet the challenges of the general public, NEC has been able to maintain a competitive edge over its rivals through effective CSR policy. Reference Ackerman, John. (2004). Social Accountability for the Public Sector: A Conceptual Discussion. Draft paper prepared for the World Bank. Fox, Jonathon (2000). Civil Society and Political Accountability: Propositions for Discussion, presented at the conference Institutions, Accountability and Democratic Governance in Latin America, The Helen Kellog Institute for International Studies, Notre Dame University, May 8, 2000. NEC Birmingham. Available from: [10 July 2009]. Sjostrand, S and Tyrstrup, M. 2001. ‘Recognized and unrecognized managerial leadership’, in invisible management – The social construction of leadership. S Sjostrand, J Sandberg and M Tyrstrup (eds.). Thomson. pp 1-27. UNIDO Report. (June 2002). Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications for Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries. Available from: < http://www.unido.org/doc/5162> [10 July 2009]. World Bank. (2005). World Bank operations and evaluation department report, ‘The Effectiveness of World Bank Support for Community-Based and -Driven Development’ Available: [10 July 2009]. Read More