<p><p><strong>Level:                           </strong>Master thesis in Business administration with concentration towards Ecological economics</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Title:             </strong>Combating climate change – a case study of Statoil’s climate strategy<strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Problem:       </strong>The world is facing an environmental situation where we no longer can ignore problems like climate change, losses of species and an overall environmental degradation. Many actors have to take their responsibility and do as much as they can for a sustainable development. One crucial actor is the business world. Often, they both have the knowledge and financial power to make a difference. Higher environmental regulations and pressure from stakeholders, such as the Swedish government or the EU, forces companies to consider the environment while doing business. This requires a strategy.<strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Purpose:       </strong>The purpose with the essay is to identify and study Statoil’s climate strategy.  We also want to identify the most important internal and external factors that are affecting the strategy.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Method:       </strong>The thesis is based on a qualitative method made up by two parts, interviews and literature studies. We made one informant interview and two respondent interviews with two environmental executives from Statoil AB.<strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Results:        </strong>Statoil has a mainly pro-active strategy and are very ambiguous in the climate question, although their strategy is highly affected by the surrounding. Developing new technologies, cooperation and profiling are the main parts of their strategy. They are affected by the dominating discourse ecological modernization, as well as by the organizational field. They are in turn affecting the field by their offensive strategy. The customers and the legal framework are the most important external factors of impact. Whereas the corporate group StatoilHydro and financial resources are the most important internal factors. <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Keywords:    </strong>Climate strategy, environmental strategy, responsible company, greening, ecological modernization</p><p> </p></p><p> </p>

The increasing amount of power and potentially negative impacts that corporations exert within society has become a growing concern for many people. In response to this and due to the changing role of business in society, more and more members of social groups, who are affected by corporate activities, are claiming their rights to be better informed of and more involved in corporate decision-making. Consequently, the need for companies worldwide to be more accountable for the ways in which they conduct their business has grown at a tremendous rate. Especially during the last decade, companies have globally been placed under increasing pressure from different stakeholder groups to demonstrate and prove their commitments to the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In order to facilitate and guide these CSR-commitments, society has for many years already begun to implement various standards of behaviour/performance, which corporations need to achieve in order to be accepted as being part of the citizenry. However, despite an abundance of such standards in terms of CSR-related guidelines and codes, a clear need has been identified for the development of better measuring tools of CSR, in order to efficiently assess and monitor companies’ performance. The Bench Marks is one of the most comprehensive sets of social and environmental criteria and business performance indicators available. It offers an ethical standard on which to base decisions about global corporate social responsibility. Consequently, the need arose from the Bench Marks Foundation - in collaboration with the Bench Marks Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at the North-West University – to develop the current Bench Marks CSR Framework into a practical measuring instrument. This need has successfully been fulfilled through this research by means of two methods, namely a literature review and an empirical study. During the literature study, the concepts CSR and Corporate Personality were contextualised - particularly with the investigation of related concepts; as well as critically examined - specifically in terms of their theoretical measurement properties. During the empirical research, quantitative research techniques have been utilised which involved: the application of certain ‘theoretically recognised phases’ of measuring instrument development; as well as a survey in the form of a ‘preliminary measuring instrument’ (in questionnaire format) that was administered on a random sample respondents (n = 350), including the statistical analysis of the results. 189 Questionnaires were completed, which gave a response rate of 54%. The statistical analysis mainly served as an effective guideline for determining the best CSR items (in terms of reliability and validity) to be included in the final version of the instrument. Apart from measuring CSR performance in line with the Bench Marks, the instrument that has been developed by this study, can also be used as a measuring mechanism for Corporate Personality. This is achieved by assessing company behaviour in terms of the theoretical dimensions of CSR (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) and Sustainable Development (economic, social and environmental). In doing so, this instrument provides companies with a unique way of identifying their status of being true Corporate Citizens. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Sociology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

‘Corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) and ‘socially responsible investment’ (SRI) have become predominant frameworks connecting business to society that have spread across the globe. They comprise a shared set of ideas and practices, such as those promoted in global reporting standards and by international organisations such as the UN Global Compact. Nonetheless, both are constructed and reproduced by companies in relation to context-specific social institutions, including norms and conventions shaping company engagement in social issues. Using a neo-institutionalist theoretical framework, the thesis examines constructions of social responsibility in discourse and within institutional contexts, across regions that are not often compared in the research terrain: two West European welfare states (Sweden and the UK) and two emerging African economies (South Africa and Mauritius). The purpose of the thesis is to add to the literature on CSR and SRI with a sociologically informed perspective that is comparative and connects institutional theory with social constructionism and a Foucauldian perspective on power. The thesis analyses how perceptions of CSR and SRI are constructed in relation to the social institutions that encase companies’ engagement with social issues, such as national level welfare configurations and the institution of financial investments. The main argument in this thesis is that CSR and SRI need to be seen as contextually constructed, in discourse and practice, in ways that draw the boundaries and set the conditions for company engagement with social issues. The thesis comprises three articles. Article 1 is a content analysis of company self-reporting on CSR and the article examines how the content given to CSR relates to broader welfare configurations and as such differs in four national settings across the divide between emerging African economies and Western welfare states. Article 2 is a discourse analysis that examines interpretative repertoires occurring in company self-reporting across the same set of four countries. The interpretative repertoires are analysed as discursive practices where power intersects with the production of knowledge on CSR. Article 3 focuses on SRI and examines responsible investing as a form of institutional work that institutional investors engage in. Based on an interview study with institutional investors in Sweden, the article analyses institutional work as a process that has the effect of both institutional creation and maintenance and it connects these institutional processes to the construction of meaning on SRI. In its entirety the thesis contributes a sociological perspective on how prevailing understandings of corporate social responsibility come into being and are reproduced. / Uppfattningar om företags samhällsansvar har begreppsliggjorts i huvudsak genom idéer om ’corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) och ’ansvarsfulla investeringar’. Under de senaste decennierna har dessa begrepp utvecklats till att bli vanligt förkommande och har spridits över världen. Som globala koncept medför de en gemensam uppsättning av idéer och metoder, såsom de som förs fram i internationella standarder för företags CSR rapportering, och utav internationella organisationer såsom FN:s Global Compact. Ändå skiljer de sig åt mellan olika kontexter och är konstruerade och återges av företag i förhållande till sociala sammanhang. Begreppen ges mening i relation till sociala institutioner i form av normer och konventioner som redan omger företag och sociala frågor. Baserat på nyinstitutionell teori undersöker avhandlingen konstruktioner av samhällsansvar och ansvarstagande, i diskurs och i institutionella sammanhang, över regioner som inte ofta jämförs i forskningen kring skillnader i företags samhällsansvar: två Västeuropeiska välfärdsstater (Sverige och Storbritannien) och två tillväxtekonomier i södra Afrika (Sydafrika och Mauritius). Syftet med avhandlingen är att bidra till litteraturen kring CSR och ansvarsfulla investeringar med ett sociologiskt perspektiv som är jämförande och för samman institutionell teori med social konstruktionism och Foucaults perspektiv på makt. Avhandlingen analyserar hur föreställningar om CSR och ansvarsfulla investeringar konstrueras i förhållande till de sociala institutioner som omger företags engagemang i samhällsfrågor, och belyser speciellt vikten av samhällets välfärdssystem och konventioner kring finansiella investeringar som betydelsefulla för dessa begrepp. Huvudargumentet i denna avhandling är att CSR och ansvarsfulla investeringar måste ses som kontextuellt skapade, i diskurs och praxis, på ett sätt som drar gränserna och skapar förutsättningarna för företags engagemang i samhällsfrågor. Avhandlingen omfattar tre artiklar. Artikel 1 är en innehållsanalys av företags självrapportering om CSR och artikeln undersöker hur innehållet som ges till CSR i självrapporteringen relaterar till hur samhället i övrigt hanterar välfärd och sociala frågor. Artikeln visar på hur CSR på så sätt skiljer sig åt mellan fyra olika länder där två är tillväxtekonomier i södra Afrika och två är Västeuropeiska välfärdsstater. Artikel 2 är en diskursanalys som undersöker språkliga repertoarer (interpretative repertoires) som förekommer i företags självrapportering om CSR, i samma uppsättning av fyra länder. Repertoarerna analyseras som tillämpandet av diskurs och de synliggör hur makt är av betydelse i skapandet av diskurser kring CSR. Artikel 3 fokuserar på ansvarfulla investeringar och undersöker detta som en form av aktivt skapande och återskapande av samhällsinstitutioner. Baserat på en intervjustudie med institutionella investerare i Sverige analyseras ansvarfullt investerande som en process som på samma gång innebär både skapande av en ny social institution, ansvarsfulla investeringar, och återskapande av en existerande institution, finansiella investeringar. Skapandet av nya idéer inom ramarna för en existerande institution påverkar innebörden i ansvarsfulla investeringar. I sin helhet bidrar avhandlingen med ett sociologiskt perspektiv på hur uppfattningar om företags samhällsansvar skapas och återskapas. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Les organisations qui s’engagent dans une démarche de responsabilité sociale sont appelées à mieux prendre en considération les impacts environnementaux, sociaux et économiques de leurs activités et à communiquer publiquement les engagements qu’il prennent. Ces engagements sont véhiculés à travers différents médias réalisés par un designer graphique. Comme les notions de responsabilité sociale sont complexes et les engagements uniques à chaque organisation, le designer doit s’assurer de bien comprendre le message à transmettre pour rendre les médias cohérents autant dans leur forme que dans leur contenu. Pour aider le designer à répondre à ce défi, une démarche participative, qui vise la collaboration entre les parties prenantes en amont du processus, a été testée dans le cadre de cette recherche. Elle consistait à observer et à documenter, en contexte de pratique réel, comment une démarche participative pouvait soutenir la communication graphique de la responsabilité sociale d’une organisation. La création de l’identité visuelle et des médias de l’Institut de l’environnement, du développement durable et de l’économie circulaire a été choisi comme cas d’étude. Suivant une méthodologie inspirée de la recherche-action, nous avons pu identifier et valider les freins et les leviers de la démarche avec les participants. Les résultats obtenus soulignent l’apport positif de la démarche au processus de conception. Elle a permis aux parties prenantes de visualiser collectivement les valeurs de RS à communiquer grâce à un partage de connaissances. De plus, le processus itératif et participatif a facilité l’appropriation du projet par l’organisation. Le manque de temps, de ressources humaines et de ressources économiques constituent les principaux freins au maintien de la démarche au-delà de l’étape d’idéation et de rétroaction. L’analyse des données recueillies a permis de formuler des recommandations en vue d’améliorer la démarche pour en favoriser l’usage auprès de la communauté de pratique du design graphique et des organisations qui recourent à ses services pour communiquer leur responsabilité sociale. / Organizations are increasingly choosing to implement corporate social responsibility in their activities. To do so, they are invited to consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of their activities and decisions and, consequently, share it with their stakeholders. These commitments are conveyed to the audience through different medias created by a graphic designer. Since corporate social responsibility knowledge is complex and unique to each organization, the designer has to carefully understand the organization’s message in order to create medias that are consistent in their form and content. To help the graphic designer respond to this challenge, a participative approach was tested through this research. The objective was to observe and document, while collaborating with a group of stakeholders, on a graphic design project and understand how a participative approach can support the graphic communication of an organization’s corporate social responsibility. The graphic design of the corporate identity and the medias of EDDEC Institute of environment, sustainable development and circular economy was selected to conduct this research. A methodology, inspired by action-research, was chosen to identify, with the project’s stakeholders, the brakes and levers of the approach. The results are confirming the general benefits of the participative approach to the creative process. Stakeholders were able to share and visualize their understanding of the organization’s corporate social responsibility. The iterative process, which is part of the approach, also helped the appropriation of the corporate identity by the organization’s stakeholders. Despite these positive aspects, limitations due to short delays and insufficient human and financial resources were major constraints in supporting the participative approach during the entire process. Recommendations towards the improvement of this participative approach were then formulated for its eventual usage by the graphic design community and its clients, in order to communicate their corporate social responsibility.

L’auteur qui appose son nom à une publication universitaire sera reconnu pour sa contribution à la recherche et devra également en assumer la responsabilité. Il existe divers types d’agencements pouvant être utilisés afin de nommer les auteurs et souligner l’ampleur de leur contribution à ladite recherche. Par exemple, les auteurs peuvent être nommés en ordre décroissant selon l’importance de leurs contributions, ce qui permet d’allouer davantage de mérite et de responsabilité aux premiers auteurs (à l’instar des sciences de la santé) ou bien les individus peuvent être nommés en ordre alphabétique, donnant une reconnaissance égale à tous (tel qu’on le note dans certains domaines des sciences sociales). On observe aussi des pratiques émergeant de certaines disciplines ou des champs de recherche (tel que la notion d’auteur correspondant, ou directeur de recherche nommé à la fin de la liste d’auteurs). En science de la santé, lorsque la recherche est de nature multidisciplinaire, il existe différentes normes et pratiques concernant la distribution et l’ordre de la signature savante, ce qui peut donner lieu à des désaccords, voire à des conflits au sein des équipes de recherche. Même si les chercheurs s’entendent pour dire que la signature savante devrait être distribué de façon ‘juste’, il n’y a pas de consensus sur ce que l’on qualifie de ‘juste’ dans le contexte des équipes de recherche multidisciplinaire. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un cadre éthique pour la distribution juste de la signature savante dans les équipes multidisciplinaires en sciences de la santé. Nous présentons une critique de la documentation sur la distribution de la signature savante en recherche. Nous analysons les enjeux qui peuvent entraver ou compliquer une distribution juste de la signature savante tels que les déséquilibres de pouvoir, les conflits d’intérêts et la diversité de cultures disciplinaires. Nous constatons que les normes internationales sont trop vagues; par conséquent, elles n’aident pas les chercheurs à gérer la complexité des enjeux concernant la distribution de la signature savante. Cette limitation devient particulièrement importante en santé mondiale lorsque les chercheurs provenant de pays développés collaborent avec des chercheurs provenant de pays en voie de développement. Afin de créer un cadre conceptuel flexible en mesure de s’adapter à la diversité des types de recherche multidisciplinaire, nous proposons une approche influencée par le Contractualisme de T.M. Scanlon. Cette approche utilise le respect mutuel et la force normative de la raison comme fondation, afin de justifier l’application de principes éthiques. Nous avons ainsi développé quatre principes pour la distribution juste de la signature savante en recherche: le mérite, la juste reconnaissance, la transparence et la collégialité. Enfin, nous proposons un processus qui intègre une taxonomie basée sur la contribution, afin de délimiter les rôles de chacun dans le projet de recherche. Les contributions peuvent alors être mieux comparées et évaluées pour déterminer l’ordre de la signature savante dans les équipes de recherche multidisciplinaire en science de la santé. / Authorship of scientific publications is a means of recognizing both a researcher’s contribution to a paper as well as their responsibility for the integrity of their work. Various approaches to author order may be used to rank individuals and convey the extent of their contribution. For example, authors may be listed by decreasing level of contribution, whereby most credit and responsibility are allocated to the first authors (common in the health sciences), or they may be named in alphabetical order, giving equal recognition to all (common in the social sciences). There are also “rules of thumb” or preferred practices that exist in the respective disciplines or research fields (e.g., corresponding author first, Principal Investigator last). In the case of multidisciplinary health research, differing norms and practices regarding authorship distribution may be held by the respective team members; and, this can give rise to disagreement and even conflict within research teams. Although researchers and scholarly organizations agree that authorship should be distributed “fairly”, a shared understanding or consensus as to what constitutes fairness, as well as its practical implementation in multidisciplinary research collaborations, remains a significant challenge. This thesis proposes a conceptual ethical framework for the fair distribution of authorship in multidisciplinary health sciences research. At the outset, the various methods recommended by journals, learned societies, as well as in the academic literature to distribute authorship are critically reviewed; issues that may impede or complicate fair authorship distribution in multidisciplinary research are highlighted; these include, for example, power differentials, conflicts of interests, and conflicting disciplinary norms and cultures. The analysis will show that current universal normative authorship guidelines are overly broad, and therefore, are insufficient to effectively resolve many of the diverse issues that are often specific to differing contexts of research. As will be discussed, the limitations of such guidelines are particularly significant in the case of global health collaborations that involve researchers from low and middle income countries and those from high income countries. A theoretical approach influenced by T.M. Scanlon’s Contractualism is proposed as a means of achieving the flexibility needed for the diversity of multidisciplinary research contexts; mutual agreement and reasonability are used to determine whether ethical principles are “fair”. Four central and interconnected principles – desert, just recognition, transparency and collegiality – are presented as the conceptual foundation to support the development of a process for the fair distribution of authorship. This authorship distribution process integrates the detailed research tasks commonly used in “contributorship” taxonomies to delineate individual duties and roles in the research project and subsequent publication. Contributions are then compared and valued more efficiently to determine authorship order while promoting fairness in multidisciplinary health sciences research.

Contexte : La petite enfance constitue une période importante dans l’acquisition de saines habitudes alimentaires. Par leurs connaissances, attitudes, croyances, pratiques et perceptions en alimentation et nutrition, plusieurs intervenants influencent les jeunes enfants : parents, responsables de l’alimentation et éducatrices en services de garde. Objectifs : Cette étude décrit et analyse les perceptions du « bien manger » de 113 responsables de l’alimentation, de 302 éducatrices et de 709 parents d’enfants âgés de 2 à 5 ans en services de garde au Québec. Méthodologie : Ce mémoire porte sur une question ouverte, répétée dans trois questionnaires autoadministrés de la recherche Offres et pratiques alimentaires revues dans les services de garde au Québec. Les réponses ont été recueillies de 2009 à 2010 et analysées au moyen d’une grille de codification construite de manières déductive et inductive. Résultats : L’analyse des données recueillies montre la récurrence des thèmes de la variété, l’équilibre, la modération, des légumes et fruits, mais aussi l’émergence du plaisir, de la santé, du GAC, des qualités organoleptiques, des pratiques coercitives et de la commensalité. Cette recherche dévoile que la variété, la santé et l’équilibre sont communs aux trois catégories d’intervenants, alors que le GAC, le plaisir, la saine alimentation et les qualités organoleptiques figurent plutôt dans les perceptions d’intervenants spécifiques. Conclusion : Ce portrait illustre la compréhension du « bien manger » qu’ont des intervenants jouant un rôle important dans le développement d’enfants âgés de 2 à 5 ans. En outre, il permet d’éclairer les acteurs développant messages, interventions et politiques de santé publique faisant la promotion de la saine alimentation et favorisant la mise en place d’environnements appuyant l’adoption de saines habitudes alimentaires dans les services de garde du Québec ainsi que dans les ménages. / Context: Preschool age represents an important period for the acquisition of healthy eating habits. With their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, practices and perceptions with regard to eating and nutrition, several stakeholders influence children: parents, but also foodservice managers and educators in childcare centres. Objectives: This study describes and analyzes the perceptions of “eating well” of 113 foodservice managers, 302 educators and 709 parents of 2 to 5-year-old children in childcare centres of Quebec. Methodology: This study focuses on an open-ended question, repeated in three self-administered questionnaires taken from the research Offres et pratiques alimentaires revues dans les services de garde au Québec. Data collected between 2009 and 2010 was analyzed using a coding grid crafted by induction and deduction. Results: Qualitative data analysis revealed the recurrence of several themes such as variety, balance, moderation, vegetables and fruits, as well as the emergence of pleasure, health, Canadian Food Guide, organoleptic qualities, coercive practices and commensality. Findings indicate that variety, health and balance are perceptions common to all three categories of stakeholders, while the Canadian Food Guide, pleasure, healthy eating and organoleptic qualities are specific to certain stakeholders. Conclusion: This portrait sheds some light on how “eating well” is understood by stakeholders who play an important role in the development of 2 to 5-year-old children. It also informs actors developing public health messages, interventions and policies promoting healthy eating and encouraging the set up of environments supporting the adoption of healthy eating habits in childcare centres of Quebec, as well as in households.

This diploma thesis focuses on the application of system thinking and its methods to the issues of decision making within destination management and its organizations. The main aim of the thesis was to create a model to support decision making of destination management organization and to plan sustainable and responsible tourism development in the destination. A partial aim was to create a simplified model in which a simulation of the given system was performed. This aim has been applied to the destination of Cesky Krumlov. The contribution of the work is to find optimal decisions, policies and individual processes in order to assess the subsequent impacts and manage the development of tourism destination towards sustainability.

Abstract Background Occupational Burnout is one of the greatest challenges affecting the labour markets today. It is mainly caused by prolonged stress exposure due to the psychosocial work environment and is nowadays the fastest growing cause of long-term sick leave in Sweden. It therefor affects both the society, organisation and individual. It is thus a managerial concern to manage and structure the organisations in a sustainable way that maximises the use of human resources, rather than burning them out.    Purpose The aim of the thesis is to investigate the high level of sick-leave or burnout due to organisational and managerial factors in the Swedish educational sector, by focusing on the role leadership, organisational and psychosocial work environment plays in preventing/causing employees’ burnout. The authors attempt to contribute knowledge on why theory may not match reality in this case, as statistics of sickleave due to stressrelated illness remains high. Methods In this qualitative study principals, administrators, and teachers of four public compulsory schools in Jönköping and Öckerö are interviewed. Using semi-structured interviews, data is gathered, coded and analysed in relation to modern research literature on the topic of burnout as well as Swedish Work Environment Authority guidelines, to spot key elements of positive and negative factors which have affected the stress situations of the schools’ employees. Several factors from organizational and leadership perspective are examined to assist organizations to avoid or prevent burnout.   Results Prevalence of high burnout rates in schools in the cases studied, was associated with recent large reorganization of employees and administration; weak and inefficient leadership which did not strive to build relationships and open communication with teachers; low integration between sectors and working groups; lack of support and monitoring of stressed employees; low ability of employees to contribute to their workplace environments; the shortage of budgets issued by municipality.   Conclusions 1.The reason sick leave related to stress and burnout is high in the cases studied, is that implementation of research and policy guidelines is lacking behind in schools which suffer from employee stress related issues. As well as the current management model of the public sector may not benefit to prevent employee burnout.   2. It is possible to avoid employee burnout through adjusting the management and organizational structure, as adaptations toward dealing with employees’ stress are showing a positive sign on preventing the development of burnout.

O princípio da dignidade humana necessita, como em nenhum outro momento, sair do plano etéreo. Direitos meramente de papel em nada contribuem para o verdadeiro avanço civilizacional por todos ambicionado. Para que a humanidade caminhe celeremente para a realização dos valores sedimentados ao longo de um lento processo de consciência política e jurídica que resultou na construção dos catálogos de direitos fundamentais, impreterível se mostra a efetivação plena dos direitos humanos. A convicção da imprescindibilidade da proteção da dignidade humana necessita ser materializada. A questão da efetividade dos direitos fundamentais afeta, com notável magnitude, a proteção jurídica dos trabalhadores. A Declaração de Princípios e Direitos Fundamentais no Trabalho da OIT e os postulados do trabalho decente, saudável e seguro, os quais configuram a definição dos padrões mínimos de direitos trabalhistas no âmbito internacional, não têm sido cumpridos nos diferentes países, comprometendo gravemente a tutela deferida à dignidade do trabalhador. É preciso assegurar a aplicabilidade e a realização dos direitos trabalhistas fundamentais, combatendo os abjetos casos de trabalho em condições análogas à de escravo, de discriminação de trabalhadores, de cerceamento às liberdades sindicais e negociais, de trabalho infantil, inseguro ou em condições indignas, entre inúmeras outras injustas e execráveis situações vivenciadas no ambiente laboral. No cenário econômico globalizado, em que sobressai o capitalismo financeiro, os governos necessitam assumir, como em nenhum outro momento, seu necessário papel na proteção efetiva dos direitos humanos no trabalho. Neste sentido, diante da vinculação à supremacia e à indisponibilidade dos direitos fundamentais como preceptivos essenciais da atividade administrativa no Estado Democrático de Direito, o Poder Público deve exercer sua função de induzir e modelar as condutas sociais. O trabalho acadêmico presente preconiza e defende que os governos devem exercer um papel verdadeiramente ativo, a fomentar e a exigir o efetivo cumprimento dos direitos fundamentais no trabalho, notadamente pela aplicação de instrumentos jurídicos como a cláusula trabalhista nos contratos públicos. A cláusula trabalhista expressa e proclama a emanação da força cogente, vinculante, dos contratos públicos, das disposições contratuais, e revela a capacidade de subtrair os direitos subjetivos do plano abstrato, formando uma conexão real e obrigatória, alicerçada em obrigações particularizadas, diretamente imponíveis, destinadas à realização dos direitos fundamentais no trabalho e da proteção da dignidade do trabalhador, incorrendo o infrator de seus comandos, na imediata aplicação de sanções. Por conseguinte, produz implicações jurídicas materiais para a proteção do trabalho. Os contornos da concepção contemporânea do contrato público socialmente responsável demandam a adoção da cláusula laboral para a afirmação dos direitos fundamentais no trabalho. As características e particularidades do novo regime jurídico em que se inserem os contratos administrativos exprimem e legitimam a plena pertinência e juridicidade da adoção da cláusula social trabalhista em seu núcleo. Neste contexto, a realização dos padrões internacionais de proteção ao trabalhador é condição mandatória para o desenvolvimento sustentável. A contratação pública socialmente responsável que valoriza e concretiza a proteção da dignidade do trabalhador pode, verdadeiramente, influenciar as atividades econômicas, promovendo a justiça social nas relações de trabalho que encerram ao exigir, com ênfase, a formatação de padrões de emprego e ocupação laboral que respeitam os direitos humanos no trabalho. / The principle of human dignity, as never before, has to be pulled out of its ethereal plane. Empty rights do not contribute to the true civilization progress coveted by all. So that mankind walks faster towards the achievement of the values settled along the slow process of political and legal awareness that resulted in the construction of catalogs of fundamental rights, the full effectiveness of legal rights shall not be avoided. The indispensable protection to human dignity must be enforced with conviction. The issue of the effectiveness of fundamental principles significantly affects workers legal protection. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the guidelines on decent, healthy and safe work, which define minimum international labour standards, have not been complied with in different countries, severely compromising the protection to workers dignity. The applicability and enforcement of fundamental labour rights must be guaranteed to fight contemptible cases of slavery-like work conditions, workers discrimination, retrenchment to free labour union and collective bargaining, child labour, unsafe work or under degrading conditions, among several other unfair and infamous situations experienced in the work environment. In a globalized economic scenario, where financial capitalism is emphasized, governments have to assume, as never before, their role in the effective protection of human rights at work. Accordingly, in view of the supremacy and inalienability of fundamental rights as essential principles of administrative activities of the Rule of Law, the role of the Government is to induce and shape social conducts. The present academic paper argues and claims that governments should have a decisively active role, fomenting and enforcing the effective compliance with fundamental rights at work, notably by applying legal instruments as the labour clause in public contracts. The labour clause expresses and affirms the cogent and binding force that arises out of public contracts and contractual provisions, and pulls subjective rights out of their abstract plane, establishing an actual and mandatory connection grounded on specific obligations immediately enforceable and aimed to realize fundamental rights at work and protect the dignity of workers, and applying immediate sanctions on the offender of such legal provisions. Therefore, it produces real and concrete legal developments to labour protection. The outlines of the contemporary conception of socially responsible public contracts require the adoption of the labour clause for the enforcement of fundamental labour rights at work. The characteristics and specificities of the new legal regime, which comprises administrative contracts, express and legitimize the full pertinence and legality of including the labour clause among their provisions. In this context, the compliance with international workers protection standards is mandatory to a sustainable development. Socially responsible public contracts that value and enforce the protection to workers dignity may effectively influence economic activities, promoting social justice in labour relations that emphatically claim for the structuring of employment and labour standards that respect human rights at work.