A New Architecture for Sustainable Development - Research Proposal Example

? Stakeholder Reflection Exercise and Essay College Presented To Part A UNIT Sustainability Concept Revkin, A. C. March 21, Scientists Propose a New Architecture for Sustainable Development . New York Times. Available at http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/scientists-propose-a-new-architecture-for-sustainable-development/?_r=0 DESCRIPTION: The author raises the pertinent issues surrounding sustainable development. Today, the Brick and other developing countries are blamed for being insensitive to environmental sustainability, and concentrating more on doubling their incomes and growth. RELEVANCE: The issue of sustainable development of is of much concern today. Developed countries have carved an image of being champions of sustainability, blaming developing countries for the environmental pollution menace. In fact, Hanaes et al (2013) noted that rapidly developing countries today are portrayed as being against sustainability and focusing more on alleviating poverty than protecting the environment. REFLECTION: Though the article is quick to blame developing countries for this problem, nothing has been mentioned of the role played by developed countries or the efforts that the developing countries may be putting in place to deal with this problem. Therefore, other than blame games, if developing countries have to embrace sustainability (which they should), developed countries have to reward them as a motivation to follow sustainable paths and to abscond from doing exactly what the developed countries did some few decades ago. UNIT Globalization and sustainability Confino, J. 12 July 2013. Should sustainability professionals fly less? The Guardian. [online] Available at http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/should-sustainability-professionals-fly-less DESCRIPTION: Thanks to globalization, the world has become a borderless global market with companies establishing their operations anywhere around the world. A good number of companies are based in westerns countries though they have their operations in Asia, Europe, and Africa or virtually in any corner of the world. This means that most executives make numerous business trips around the planet. What they do not realize is that by travelling in vehicles and taking flights, they are contributing to the same pollution that they are trying to fight in their businesses’ social corporate responsibility policies RELEVANCE: The article highlights the challenge that globalization has on the essence of sustainability. Global sustainability refers to the possibility of meeting the current needs without affecting the chances of future generations meeting theirs (Hart & Milstein, 2003) REFLECTION: By making numerous flights, we increase environmental pollution. Such pollution has the potential of preventing future generations from meeting their basic needs, which contradicts with our sustainability efforts. May be to solve this contradiction, it would be advisable to use more video conferencing and other real time communication channels to reduce our trips across the globe. Sustainable Organisations Eccles, R.G. & Serafeim, G. May 2013.The Performance Frontier: Innovating for a Sustainable Strategy. Harvard Business Review. [online] Available at http://hbr.org/2013/05/the-performance-frontier-innovating-for-a-sustainable-strategy/ar/1 DESCRIPTION: The article explains the culture of organizations in innovating strategies that would lead to sustainability in their business. Many organizations have put in place diverse measures towards achieving sustainability, some of which do not align with their business objectives. Therefore, the main question is what should an organization focus on to remain sustainable or to achieve sustainability? Today, there are numerous educational programs critical in bending the curve of the current world towards a more sustainable future ( Dey, Kurucz & Colbert, 2010). RELEVANCE: There is growing realization that a business has a direct and indirect role to play in most ecological challenges. The situation is worsened by organisations operating across borders and which in some cases have more resources than some nations, but do not adhere to sustainable development (Dunphy, Benn & Griffiths, 2007). Dey et al (2010) recognizes that a business institution being large enough, having many resources and being well managed has the power to solve these ecological challenges. Business sustainability nowadays stands as the single most advocated aspect globally. Consequently, for a business to be sustainable, such a business has to focus on the interests of the customers, employees, investors, stakeholders, governments and the society in general. REFLECTION: Most organizations are driven by the need to make profits at the expense of serving the interests and needs of the above parties, which differentiates a sustainable from a non-sustainable business. Certainly, it might not be possible to achieve all the above sustainability benchmarks. All the same, what is the solution? For an organization to meet this objective there are two main aspects. The need to focus on the issues with greatest impact to the society and which affect the operations of a company, and then innovating products that would meet the needs of the above parties. After this, an organization has to put in place processes and different business operation models that help in meeting the needs and concerns of all parties. This means that sustainability is not just laying down policies and strategies, but these strategies have to respect the needs of all the concerned parties. Part B The debate on sustainability has led to far reaching eco-political disputes regarding the effectiveness and the honesty in which sustainability is addressed to date. There are growing fears that whatever has been achieved in the sustainability advocacy is dealing with symptoms while the root causes of environmental degradation remain (Bluhdorn, 2007). Moreover, Angus-Leppan et al (2010) argues that the debate on corporate sustainability is ambiguous in that there is no agreement on which organizational and social political features have to be incorporated in this debate. In other words, it is not clear how the three main factors, which are economics, ecological and human sustainability have to be integrated in this debate. Eccles & Serafeim (2013) noted that a company “has to increase stakeholders value while simultaneously improving the firm’s performance in environmental, social and governance” to attain sustainability. However, in the 2013 UN development report on sustainability, it was stated that as the global population increases to hit the nine billion mark, sustainability has to be perceived as “an economy serving society within earth’s life support system” (Revkin, 2013). This is contrary to the sustainability based on the balance between economic, social development and efforts towards protecting the environment. The two statements above add to the ambiguity and diverse ways in which sustainability is understood and practiced, which cements the allegation that sustainability debate only addresses the symptoms but not the core cause of environmental degradation. While some view sustainability as a balance between the three pillars, others view sustainability as the ability of the economy to serve the society in supporting life on earth, which are diverse arguments on sustainability. In most cases, managers are quick to refrain from pursuing any initiative that requires taking an action that does not support profit maximization (Alexander, 2007), which is the core aim in any business. For instance corporate scandals involving companies such as Enron, Anvil Mining among others are an indication of how powerful organizations design and adhere to their own rules irrespective of the effects they have to others (Dunphy, Benn & Griffiths, 2007). Moreover, as Confino (2013) laments, the debate on whether “not to fly in promoting sustainability” adds to the current ambiguity in sustainability discussions. While, advocacy for sustainable actions that do not harm the environment have increased, there is an increase in the number of flights as those supporting sustainability travel across the globe. Such travelling is among the main factors leading to environmental pollution, as planes leave behind a trail of greenhouse gases in their paths. As Benn & Bolton (2011) explains, this amounts to application of the agency theory, which advocates for profit maximization instead of CSR theories. Moreover, the continued production of agents of pollution such as non -biodegradable elements in industries defeats the spirit of acting in a socially responsible manner. Consequently, as far as profit is the main motivating factor in business, sustainability debate will only deal with symptoms and not the root cause of the problem. References Alexander, J. 2007, 'Environmental sustainability versus profit maximization: Overcoming systematic constraints on implementing normatively preferable alternatives ', Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 76, no. 2, pp. 155-162. Angus-Leppan, T., Metcalf, L. & Benn, S. 2010, 'Leadership styles and CSR practice: An examination of sensemaking, institutional drivers and CSR leadership ', Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 93, no.2, pp.189-213. Benn, S. & Bolton, D. 2011. Key Concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sage, London and Thousand Oaks. Bluhdorn, I. 2011, 'The politics of unsustainability:COP15, Post-Ecologism, and the Ecological Paradox', Organization and Environment. vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 34-53 Confino, J. 12 July 2013. Should sustainability professionals fly less? The Guardian. [online] Available at http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/should-sustainability-professionals-fly-less [Accessed on 13th Sept. 2013] Dey, A. Kurucz, C.E. & Colbert, B.A. 2010. Integrating Sustainability into Business Education. A Workshop for Canadian Business Faculty. Ontario: University of Guelph, College of Management & Economics Dunphy. D., Griffiths, A. & Benn, S. (2007) Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability. 2nd edn, London: Routledge Eccles, R.G. & Serafeim, G. May 2013.The Performance Frontier: Innovating for a Sustainable Strategy. Harvard Business Review. [online] Available at http://hbr.org/2013/05/the-performance-frontier-innovating-for-a-sustainable-strategy/ar/1 [Accessed on 13th Sept. 2013] Haanaes, K., Michael, D., Jurgens, J. and Rangan, S. 2013, ‘Making Sustainability Profitable’. Harvard Business Review Vol 91, no. 3, pp110-115 Hart, S.L. and Milstein, M.B. 2003, ‘Creating sustainable value’, Academy of Management Executive, vol.17 Issue 2, pp. 56-67 Revkin, A. C. March 21, 2013. Scientists Propose a New Architecture for Sustainable Development . New York Times. Available at http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/scientists-propose-a-new-architecture-for-sustainable-development/?_r=0 [Accessed on 13th Sept. 2013] Read More