Submission to Local Network - Essay Example

to Local Network September 20, The review of the firm’s policies in the areas of labour and environment led to the conclusion that additional measures should be taken in order to improve the organizational performance on this field. Through this letter, a series of initiatives are suggested to the Local Network aiming to help towards the alignment of the firm’s strategies with the principles of UN Global Compact in regard to the above areas. In accordance with the 3rd Principle of UN Global Compact: ‘Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining’ (UN Global Compact, labour); the above principle is based on the ‘ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work’ (UN Global Compact, labour). The other principle addressed in this letter is the 9th Principle: ‘businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies’ (UN Global Compact, environment); this principle is based on the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (UN Global Compact, environment). Both these principles should be enhanced across the organization. The firm’s existing practices in regard to labour and environment could be summarized as follows: ‘a) continuous improvement of the training programs provided to its employees, b) promotion of integrity across the organization, c) emphasis on the personal development of employees, d) promotion of innovation – encouraging employees to work on innovative projects’ (General Electric, Careers, 2010). Our suggestions in regard to the alignment of the firm’s practices with the UN Global Compact focus on the following issues: a) implications of these policies for the business, b) the positive and negative of the business as also of other organizations on similar practices, c) the risks of these policies for the firm’s stakeholders. Under these terms, we suggest that the following measures should be taken in order for the principles of UN Global Compact – as described above – to be successfully implemented in the Local Network: i. Current form of collective bargaining used across the organization should be restructured; emphasis should be given to the development of HR management policies that would focus on the needs of each employee – referring to a individualized HRM-based approach (Edwards 2004, 7338); moreover, ‘gaining a bargaining advantage over unions’ (Klasa et al. 2009, 421) should become a priority among the firm’s HR policies; the firm’s existing HR policies (General Electrics, careers, 2010) should continue to be used but they would be reviewed focusing on the increase of the performance of collective bargaining across the organization. ii. A framework should be developed for the elimination of inequality in wages across the organization; the above framework should be based on the following principles: employees working in the same field will be equally compensated, no discrimination exists in regard to the employees’ characteristics – referring to marital status, gender or education. Their performance in the organization would be rather the basis of their salary. iii. Current initiatives of the firm in the area of sustainability can be characterized as satisfactory; the performance of the firm in the specific sector is periodically reviewed – quarterly – ensuring the application of the firm’s policies in regard to sustainability (GE, Citizenship, Environment); the use of the Gensuite (web tool) for managing the organization’s data on health and safety has been proved a key strategic plan; however, in the context of the Local Network, no evaluation can be made regarding the performance of this web tool and the control of the firm’s policies on sustainability. Existing cooperation and communication across the organization – referring to the firm and the Local Network – should be improved. Monthly reports should be introduced for the evaluation of the effectiveness of firm’s plans on sustainability; these reports should be developed in Local Network and would be evaluated by the firm’s head managers – appropriate plans would be suggested in case that failures or weaknesses are identified. Effects on organization - employees The development of these measures is expected to increase employee satisfaction; thus to lead to the increase of employee performance. Wage inequality – even at its current level – across the organization could lead to organizational turbulences; moreover, the specific problem indicates the lack of effective and fair collective bargaining processes (Antonczyk et al.. 2010, 835). In the long term, the avoidance of introducing measures for wage inequality could lead to the need for changing existing collective bargaining processes – the involvement of the organization in the relevant efforts cannot be avoided. On the other hand, it would be preferable that such problems are resolved within the organization, i.e. a company level bargaining to be developed (Hartog et al. 2002, 317); in different case, these conflicts could harm the organizational performance but also its credibility as a key competitor in its industry. Through the improvement of the firm’s collective bargaining techniques and the limitation of wage inequality, it is expected that employee satisfaction in all organizational departments will be increased; for Local Network, this would result to a further expansion. Effects on community The firm’s operations affect the local community; by supporting the increase of employee satisfaction in the Local Network the following benefits could result: a) the firm’s customer services across the Local Network would be improved, b) the firm’s competitiveness towards its rivals should be also increased – with the support also of the customers/ members of the communities, c) the firm’s existing Local Network should be further expanded. In the field of sustainability, the measures suggested above could also lead to the increase of the firm’s sustainable practices – a fact that would also be recognized and rewarded by the local community. Hopefully, the above recommendations will be critically evaluated and promoted in the Local Network. Yours sincerely, David Foster Head of Corporate Communications References Antonczyk, Dirk, Fitzenberger, Bernd and Katrin Sommerfeld. 2010. Rising wage inequality, the decline of collective bargaining, and the gender wage gap. Labour Economics. 17(5): 835-847 Brechignac, Francois. 2003. Protection of the environment: how to position radioprotection in an ecological risk assessment perspective. The Science of The Total Environment. 307(1-3): 35-54 Capra, Fritjof, Pauli, Gunter. 1995. Steering business toward sustainability. Boston: United Nations University Press Crane, Andrew, Matten, Dirk. 2007. Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press Edwards, P. 2004. Industrial Relations and Collective Bargaining. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. 7338-7344 Hartog, Joop, Leuven, Edwin and Teulings, Coen. 2002. Wages and the bargaining regime in a corporatist setting: the Netherlands. European Journal of Political Economy. 18(2): 317-331 Kao, Raymond. 2009. Sustainable Economy: Corporate Social Responsibility. London: World Scientific Klasa, Sandy, Maxwell, William and Ortiz-Molina, Hernan. 2009. The strategic use of corporate cash holdings in collective bargaining with labor unions. Journal of Financial Economics. 92(3): 421-442 Werbach, Adam. 2009. Strategy for sustainability: a business manifesto. Boston: Harvard Business Press Online Sources General Electric, http://www.ge.com/ - (last accessed on 30 September 2010) United Nations Global Compact, http://www.unglobalcompact.org/ - (last accessed on 30 September 2010) United Nations Global Compact, Labour, http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/Labour/ - (last accessed on 30 September 2010) United Nations Global Compact, Environment http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/principle9.html (last accessed on 30 September 2010) To: Local Network L’Oreal - Head for Corporate Communications Subject: Submission regarding measures required on key organizational fields Dear Sirs, In the context of the firm’s continuous controls on its key organizational plans the following issue emerged: it is necessary that specific measures are taken for the alignment of the firm’s policies with the Principles 6 and 9 of the United Nations Global Compact – this need has been found to be critical for the Local Network. The UN Global Compact principles – 6 and 9 – focus on the following issues: ‘a) The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation (Principle 6) and b) the support of the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies (Principle 9)’ (UN, Global Compact, 2010). At this point it should be important to refer to the firm’s existing policies in the sectors highlighted above – i.e. discrimination and environment. The firm’s recruitment policies aim to promote integration across the organization. For this reason, diversity is strongly promoted in all organizational departments while the training schemes provided to employees are continuously reviewed as of their effectiveness. The support of diversity in the organization is primarily proved by the fact that the firm’s workforce is consisted from ‘people from all continents and cultures’ (L’Oreal, corporate website, Careers, Diversity, 2010). As for the other principle of UN Global Compact, the following points need to be highlighted: a) The eco-design approach adopted by the firm a few years ago has been proved to be quite effective in terms of sustainability – emphasis is paid not only on the processes but also on the ingredients, b) extensive ecotoxicology testing has been set in place ensuring the limitation of the products’ toxic effects, c) the raw materials used in the production of the firm’s products are also continuously tested as of their impact, d) biodiversity protection has been also set as one of the firm’s strategic priorities (L’Oreal, corporate website, Sustainable Development Report, 2010). In regard to the above, the following recommendations are made for the promotion of the principles 6 and 9 across the Local Network: a. The firm’s existing discrimination policies should become more applicable; despite the fact that the key points of the firm’s discrimination practices are described in the corporate website still there is no specific set of rules focusing on the particular issue; therefore, it is recommended that the principles of the firm on discrimination are incorporated in a bulletin which will be distributed to the Local Network; this initiative would emphasize the importance of equality across the organization and prove the willingness of the firm to enforce the 6th principle of UN Global Compact across its Local Network. Specific HR plans would be also proposed to the Local Network – like the job analysis technique – aiming to help towards the improvement of existing HR plans (Singh 2008, 87). It should be noted that up to now no particular failures have been reported to the firm in regard to its discrimination policies – a fact that is extremely encouraging regarding the alignment of the firm’s policies with the UN’s principle on discrimination. b. A similar approach should be adopted regarding the firm’s sustainable policies; these policies have been proved – in the area of scientific research – to be particular effective; however, customers are not aware of the specific initiatives; a brochure should be also published – including details on the above policies – and distributed to the customers across the Local Network. The above recommendations would benefit the firm’s stakeholders, especially the employees but also the customers. The employees in the Local Network will feel that are given equal chances to enter the workplace; moreover, they would have equal opportunities to improve their position in the organization, a fact that would further benefit their career. At the same time, the stress of employees would be reduced – a fact that would lead to the improvement of their performance (Faulkner et al. 1997, 99) but also to the improvement of the customer services. In a survey developed by Shannon et al. (2007) among employed adults in USA it was proved that the conditions in the workplace could directly affect the services provided to the public (Shannon 2007, 1178). At the next level, the above initiatives will be welcomed by the community, customer services will be improved – employees could perform better; therefore, the firm’s workplace will become more attractive to high skilled employees. Regarding the plans of the firm on the protection of environment, the measures suggested would result to the following: increase of the customers’ trust towards the firm’s products – the quality of the firm’s products would become known to the public. This trend would lead to the increase of the firm’s profitability and the further development of its current practices – both on discrimination and sustainability. In any case it would be necessary that the effects of these measures are periodically examined (Schaltegger et al. 2003) ensuring that the specific initiatives can actual lead to the alignment of the firm’s policies with the relevant principles of UN Global Compact. In other words, the balance between the resources involved in these projects’ realization and the benefits achieved would be compared; alternative schemes of action would be developed. For this reason, the following practice would be established: all units operating in the context of the Local Network should report every 15 days the results of the schemes suggested – referring also to the responses of customers and employees to these initiatives. The relevant report should also refer to the financial benefits of the firm by incorporating these schemes – figures representing the performance of local units should be sent – on a monthly basis - to the head offices for evaluation. These reports should be re-evaluated every 6 months – to check the progress of the firm in regard to the alignment with the principles 6 and 9 of the United Nations Global Compact. The comments on this Submission should be returned within 15 days along with suggestions on the time required for these measures to be fully implemented in the Local Network. Office of Head for Corporate Communications, 20-9/2010 List of References Faulkner, Bill, Patiar, Anoop. 1997. Workplace induced stress among operational staff in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 16(1): 99-117 Jurin, Richard. Roush. Donny, Danter, Jeff. 2010. Environmental Communication: Skills and Principles for Natural Resource Managers, Scientists, and Engineers. Springer L’oreal, 2010, available at http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/index.aspx [last accessed on 28th of September, 2010] Morris, Robin. 2009. Encyclopedia of Sustainability, volume 1. ABC-CLIO Schaltegger, Stefan, Burritt, Roger, Petersen, Holger. 2003. An introduction to corporate environmental management: striving for sustainability. Greenleaf Publishing Shannon, Candice, Rospenda, Kathleen. 2007. Workplace harassment patterning, gender, and utilization of professional services: Findings from a US national study. Social Science & Medicine. 64(6): 1178-1191 Singh, Parbudyal. 2008. Job analysis for a changing workplace. Human Resource Management Review. 18(2): 87-99 United Nations Global Compact, 2010, Labour - Environment http://www.unglobalcompact.org/ [last accessed on 28th of September, 2010] Read More