Becoming responsible: Understanding the organizational power dynamics of CSR and corporate ethics

This chapter focuses on the internal, organizational dynamics of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and corporate ethics. Instead of approaching the-becoming-responsible-of- business as a linear process that involves different stages of development, we argue that responsibilization needs to be seen as a contested political process that involves complex power dynamics and conflicts between different interests and rationalities in the organization. The main contribution of the paper is conceptual. We apply Foucault’s notion of governmentality (along with his concept of power) and show how it can provide important insights into the internal workings of CSR and challenge taken for granted notions of how businesses are supposed to become responsible. The analytical themes that sustain our analysis are governmentality, power, subjectivity and translation. The main contribution of the paper is to show how these four themes, viewed individually and in conjunction through a Foucauldian lens, allow for a more nuanced theoretical understanding of what makes or breaks responsibility in modern business. We use the case of BP and the Deepwater Horizon incident to illustrate our theoretical points.