The Stakeholder Engagement Manual Volume 2 - AccountAbility

Annex
JARGON BUSTER
JARGON BUSTER
Accountability
An organisation can be considered as accountable when it accounts to its
stakeholders regarding material issues (transparency), responds to stakeholders
regarding these issues (responsiveness) on an ongoing basis, and complies with
standards to which it is voluntarily committed, and with rules and regulations
that it must comply with for statutory reasons (compliance).
Communication
Any manner of information-sharing with stakeholders, generally through oneway,
non-iterative processes.
Consultation
Th e process of gathering information or advice from stakeholders and taking
those views into consideration to amend plans, make decisions or set directions.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in
their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders. Other
terms used to refer to the same concept include CESR (corporate environmental
and social responsibility), corporate citizenship and corporate responsibility.
Dialogue
An exchange of views and opinion to explore diff erent perspectives, needs and
alternatives, with a view to fostering mutual understanding, trust and cooperation
on a strategy or initiative.
Engagement
An organisation’s eff orts to understand and involve stakeholders and their
concerns in its activities and decision-making processes.
Margins of Movement
The boundaries which defi ne what an organisation can and cannot do in
order to address an issue and the related stakeholders’ expectations. Margins of
movement are determined by the resources an organisation has for addressing an
issue, and by organisational objectives which are not changeable but in confl ict
with potential ways of addressing an issue that stakeholders might expect.
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