Evaluating CSR Performance: Goldcorp's Marlin Mine - ADMS 3660

This case study critically evaluates Goldcorp/Montana's corporate social performance at the Marlin Mine, focusing on environment and labor issues as detailed in the 'Human Rights Assessment of Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine' report. It assesses whether the company successfully implemented broad and narrow CSR strategies. The analysis covers environmental impacts, including effects on human health and mine closure strategies, and labor conditions, such as worker safety and rights. Recommendations from the report are evaluated, determining whether they adequately address stakeholder needs. The study concludes by summarizing findings on Goldcorp's responsible behavior in both environmental and labor practices, considering both narrow and broad CSR perspectives. Desklib provides a platform to access similar solved assignments and past papers.

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1COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
Executive Summary
This paper has chosen two broader areas (environment and labour) from the case study
‘Human Rights Assessment of Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine’. In this resent period, pollution and
global warming have become a severe challenge for all the people in the world. As a result, the
environment has been chosen by the study as a contemporary as well as the relevant issue.
Alternatively, the growth and productivity of the business organizations depend on the capability
and skills of the labourers. Hence, this issue also has been selected from the case study. The
latter section of the study has chosen two problems for both the areas (environment and labour)
and also discussed their recommendations. The primary objective of this paper is to find out
whether the mining companies have been successfully implemented both the broad and narrow
CSR. In order to fulfill the aim, the study has evaluated whether the stakeholders have been
benefitted by the policies or not.

2COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Critical Evaluation of Social Performances of the Mining Companies...........................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference List..................................................................................................................................8

3COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
Introduction
This study provides a critical evaluation of the executive summary of the paper ‘Human
Rights Assessment of Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine’. This paper is based on seven crucial issues
among which this study has chosen two areas which are environment and labour (Ground 11).
Moreover, the primary objective of this study is to assess the corporate social performance of
Goldcorp / Montana which is related to the Marlin mine. As discussed by Dobson et al. (14), it is
the responsibility of every business organisations to follow the Corporate Social Responsibilities
(CSR). Apart from gaining the revenues, the managers of the industries have to ensure that
nobody is adversely affected by their activities. On the basis of the OCG report, this paper would
evaluate whether the assessments and recommendations are justified or not. More precisely, the
study would find out whether the mining companies have been successfully implemented both
the broad and narrow CSR.
Critical Evaluation of Social Performances of the Mining Companies
In a narrow sense, the stakeholders are those individuals or a group of people on which
the company depends for its survival. Al Omoush et al. (115) have mentioned the fact in a paper
that sometimes those stakeholders are also called primary stakeholders. In other words, the
employees, customers, governmental agencies, suppliers and owners are known as stakeholders.
On the other hand, the broader stakeholder theory incorporates all those people who are directly
or indirectly associated with the organisation. For example, the public interest groups, local
communities, trade associations, unions, media, the protest group and competitors all belong to
the organisational stakeholders.

4COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
One of the assessments of the environment has been ‘Has the mine affected human health
and well-being through its environmental impacts?’. It has been identified from the case study
that sufficient food, health as well as adequate housing are the basic human rights. Apart from
that, the technical issues of this industry cause the dust, air as well as noise pollution. Ground
(15) have mentioned in the paper that Montana had been unsuccessful in maintaining the right to
own property as well as sufficient housing because of the risks occurred from heavy traffic and
blasting. The study has provided some recommendations for the above mentioned problem of the
mining industry which is renovating those houses which have been cracked. Besides that, a plan
has to be planned in order to repair, restructure or provide compensations to the owners of those
damaged houses. In order to fulfil this plan, the mining industry has to consult with the affected
family members and should try to understand their requirements. As stated by Arnold (275), this
fact is clear that there would be a provision of sufficient financial assurance for those closures
which are unanticipated. Evaluating the social performances of the mining companies, it can be
identified that they have behaved responsibly according to both broad as well as narrow CSR.
Another environmental assessment which has been identified from the case study is ‘Has
Montana ensured that closure of the mine would not result in long term negative environmental
impacts to communities and individuals?’. Shutting down of a mine causes various negative
impacts on the human rights as it can affect the rights to food, water, health as well as housing. If
appropriate environmental management strategies are not implemented, then it may damage the
health of the human beings. Following the discussions of Jafari (130), the post closure
monitoring system of the mine is not very effective. Apart from that, the long term maintenance
costs of the mines are not included in their current plan. As the recommendation, the study has

5COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
suggested that an internal review must be conducted about the post closure management plans.
By this process, the technical, long term funding, as well as administrative support, would be
provided. As mentioned by Bello et al. (180), the mining industry officers should have to consult
with the representatives of the local communities. It would be beneficial for them in order to
identify their capabilities, interests, long run commitments and so on. Apart from that, the mining
industry requires an adequate budget in order to fulfil this pan in an appropriate way. Evaluating
the recommendation, it can be mentioned in the context that it does not incorporate all the
stakeholders in their plan. Apart from that, the firm also needs some resources in order to
manage their post closure difficulties. Though the plan has incorporated the stakeholders in a
narrow sense but it did not consider the stakeholders in a broader sense (Jahn et al. 45). As a
result, it can be mentioned in the context that the mining company has behaved responsibly
according to narrow but not broad CSR.
The second issue which has been chosen from the case study is the labourers because
they are the backbone of any business organisation. The study of Mansell (312) has revealed the
fact that the growth and productivity of the firm depend on the capabilities of their skilled labour
force to a certain extent. One of the assessments of labours has been ‘Has Montana ensured that
working conditions are healthy and safe?’. It has been identified from the case study that
Montana has been unsuccessful in order to respect the right to the health of the employees.
Moreover, the working environment in which the labourers work in the mining industry is not
very safe. As a recommendation, the paper has suggested that a mandatory blood test must be
done for the workers in order to identify whether there are heavy metals in their body or not.
Apart from that, there must be a second opinion taken from a health specialist in the mining
company. Following the discussion of Jafari (130), this fact is clear that if the workers remain in

6COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
an unsafe area, then they would not provide their maximum productivity. This would mitigate
the health conditions of the workers and the profitability of the company as well. Assessing the
suggestion, it is found that the policy has neither fulfilled the requirements of the stakeholders in
a narrow sense nor in a broader sense. As an alternative recommendation, the mining company
could recruit a doctor who would be present in the working hours and look after the health
conditions of the workers. Apart from that, there must be adequate health check up service for
them along with other health facilities.
The second assessment which has been found from the report is ‘Are there adequate
mechanisms to protect workers interests and rights?’. Ground (15) has discussed the fact in this
paper that Montana has violated the right to freedom of association as well as collective
bargaining. There has been no mechanism in that place which can protect the rights of the
labourers. More precisely, the workers of Montana do not have any union because they would
lose their job if they would do so. It is the inefficiency of the mine that they have been
unsuccessful in protecting the human right of the labourers. Some recommendations have been
found from the case study which is discussed in this section of the paper. From the literature of
Ground (19), this fact is clear that all the workforce issues should be addressed. For example, the
access to basic necessities of the workers, workplace logistics and the other problems must be
solved. Apart from that, there must be a formal structure for the purpose of collective bargaining
of the labours also. There must be a review of wages in which the existing wage structure would
be evaluated along with the payroll of jobs. Moreover, there would be a new wage structure
which will make sure that all the workers get proper wage as per their efforts and experience.
Evaluating the problem and the recommendation, it has been identified that it would mitigate all
the problems of all the stakeholders. If all these strategies can be applied in an appropriate way,

7COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
then the labour rights of the mining company would be protected. Hence, it can be mentioned in
the context that the mining company has behaved responsively according to both broad as well
as narrow CSR.
Conclusion
This section of the study summarises all the findings and the discussion which have been
already presented in the paper. From a case study, this study has chosen two broader areas which
are environment and labour. In this present era, pollution, as well as global warming, has become
a severe problem all over the world. As a result, the environment has been chosen by the study as
a contemporary as well as the relevant issue. On the other hand, the capability and skills of the
labourers are very significant for the growth and productivity of the business organizations.
Hence, this issue also has been selected from the case study. The next section of the study has
chosen two problems of each of these areas (environment and labour) and also discussed the
recommendations made by the company. Finally, the recommendations have also been evaluated
in this study in terms of fulfilling the criteria of broad as well as narrow CSR.

8COMMON GROUND CONSULTANT
Reference List
Al Omoush, Khaled Saleh, Saad Ghaleb Yaseen, and Dima Mousa Dajani. "Toward a Universal
Framework for Ethical Web-based Collective Intelligence." (2014).
Arnold, Denis Gordon. Ethical theory and business. Eds. Tom L. Beauchamp, and Norman E.
Bowie. Pearson, 2014.
Bello, Fatai, Sulu Babaita Isiaka, and Ismaila Bolarinwa Kadiri. "Business Ethics and Employees
Satisfaction in Selected Micro and Small Enterprises in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State,
Nigeria." KIU Journal of Social Sciences 4.3 (2018): 177-187.
Dobson, John, Nicolette Gorospe, and Seung-yeon Sunny Jeong. "Third wave feminism, ethics
of care, and corporate governance: The case of gender quotas on corporate boards." Handbook of
Virtue Ethics in Business and Management(2015): 1-14.
Ground, On Common. "Human rights assessment of Goldcorp’s Marlin mine." Vancouver: On
Common Ground(2010).
Jafari, Amin. "Theory of values transformation in criminal banking law: Example of
confrontation/convergence of Islamic and conventional finance." Journal of Financial
Crime 24.1 (2017): 129-142.
Jahn, Johannes, and Rolf Brühl. "How friedman’s view on individual freedom relates to
stakeholder theory and social contract theory." Journal of Business Ethics 153.1 (2018): 41-52.

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Mansell, Samuel. Book review: rejoinder to Veldman’s review of capitalism, corporations and
the social contract: A critique of stakeholder theory. Vol. 22. No. 2. Sage UK: London, England:
Sage Publications, 2015.