Environmental and Social Sustainability - Coursework Example

2. Organisations are increasingly being required ‘to demonstrate their effective commitment to environmental and social sustainability’. What does this entail for organisational change managers? Environmental and Social Sustainability Name Institution Course Date Environmental and Social Sustainability Introduction The concept of social and environmental sustainable development has over the years drawn attention, proving to be controversial in discussions of its scope, meaning and means of realisation (Benoit and Comeau, 2005). A good number of literatures have discussed this topic, expressing unique knowledge of where environmental and social sustainability might lead society; if the concept is beneficial and how different entities might acquire the ability to attain it. Often, the term “sustainable development” is overused making it necessary to develop a more specific and clear definition. Environmental and social sustainability can be defined as the adoption and incorporation of environmental and social principles into decision making processes (Benoit and Comeau, 2005). This concept has the objective of preventing and mitigating undue harm facing the environment and people at any planning stage. There has been a growing need at international and national levels for effective environmental and social sustainability. Therefore, it is very necessary to take into consideration systematic ways of minimizing environmental and social negative effects when organisations fulfil their mandates. The concept of environmental sustainability is staged at replenishing all the used resources and can be achieved through activities that allow human needs to be met without compromising the natural diversity. This paper will explore the need for environmental and social sustainability and the challenges that may occur and the role of organisational change managers in advancing environmental and social sustainability in the organisation. The notion of taking environmental and social concepts into consideration in the decision making process has been around for more than forty years (Teuteberg and Gomez, 2010). Organisation leaders therefore need to accept environmental and social responsibility of the organisations and note that organisation operations would be impacted by the emphasis on resources conservation and taking care of the atmosphere and water bodies. Although the notion is not at all new, the difficulties of incorporating and integrating environmental and social sustainability into the business industry is significant. As organisations stream from the uninvolved level of environmental and social sustainability to higher levels of involvement, a significant shift in organisational culture is required (Zheng, 2009). Values are very important components of culture and should thus be changed together with the beliefs and behaviours for long-term organisational change to take place. If environmental and social sustainability is not incorporated into the values and beliefs of the organisation, it may not become ‘truly sustainable’. Sustainability is today termed as a joint social and environmental contract level of analysis. Social and environmental issues are alighted together making them demanding within the sustainability notion. Organisational change has led to companies integrating environmental and social sustainability (Teuteberg and Gomez, 2010). Environmental sustainability is all about developing decisions and taking actions that supports the protection of the natural resources by emphasizing preservation of the environment to support human life (Baromey, 2008). Environmental sustainability is aimed at making decisions that minimize the negative effects business may have on the environment. Environmental sustainability is not just about minimizing waste released in the surrounding or utilising energy source, but is highly concerned with coming up with processes that enable business organisations become entirely sustainable in future. Businesses are potential sources of entivonmental issues. They can damage rainforests through logging or agricultural cleaning, pollute the water bodies such as rivers and oceans; pollute the atmosphere by burning of fossil fuels; and damage of prime agricultural land through unsustainable farming practices. Environmental sustainability ensures businesses look beyond short-term goals and focus more on the long-term impact they have on the environment (Baromey, 2008). For instance, environmental sustainability can be achieved if the number of tree cut is less than the number of trees planted. The same way, use of solar or wind energy is a way of enhancing environmental sustainability. Social sustainability on the other hand deals with ensuring social safeguards are considered in any organisational decision making process (Baromey, 2008). On the other hand, social sustainability is all about optimizing the gross national happiness. It can exist in the context of providing aid and assistance in form of food, clothing, occasional etc. in order to impoverished regions. Social sustainability encompasses health equality, labour rights, social justice, social equality, community development to name a few. Therefore, business organisations are increasingly required to demonstrate commitment to environmental and social sustainability in order not to only increase their competitive advantage, but also to take part in reducing the social and environmental issues (Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2010). Environmental and social sustainability is not all about offering money for charity work or making sure people do not print emails in order to preserve mother earth. It is important not to forget that businesses exist with a fundamental aim of making profit and this cannot change as a goal. However, no business firm exist and operate in isolation; there is involvement of customers, employees and other stakeholders. Environmental and social sustainability is all about managing this relationship in order to positively impact the society and at the same time make profit. An example of a company that has implemented social and environmental sustainability in its operation is the Walt Disney (Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2010). Walt Disney is known to own publishing businesses, ESPN and ABC networks, etc. Due to this, the company thus have social and environment impact. Walt Disney realises that they cannot take care of the family alone and disregard the society in which they live in. Its responsible approach gives Walt Disney credibility and authenticity. They have established strict environmental targets together with disclosing their value in the Global Reporting Initiative that covers economic, environmental and social impact of an organisation’s performance. Environmental performance targets set by the company might sound oxymoron (Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2010). However, Walt Disney has been able to accomplish this by coming up with initiatives including Disneyland trains that is made up with cooking oil instead of biodiesel. The company has also developed ‘Green Standards’ to motivate its staffs in minimizing negative environmental effects when working, travelling or taking lunch. Environmental and social sustainability helps in the bottom-line (Marshall, Coleman and Reason, 2011). Organisations should implement sustainability in their operation in order to not only increase its profits but also to improve the warfare of the employees at the same time enhancing community relationships. The organisational change management is evolving with additional responsibility of focusing on the environmental and social sustainability (Marshall, Coleman and Reason, 2011). While the sustainability concept continues to be an important aspect of an organisation, the role of organisational change managers has expanded towards an integrated management strategy. Organisational change managers thus hold a multifunctional role and strive to promote sustainable initiatives that are able to be accomplished through effective processes and eco-friendly raw materials (Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2010). Organisational change managers act as facilitators, enabling all sustainability efforts within the firm and serving as environmental and social stewards of the society, enhancing the relationship between the people and environment and the organisation. Internal and external communication is very important in implementing environmental and social sustainability and it is the work of the organisational change manager to raise awareness between key stakeholders (Marshall, Coleman and Reason, 2011). They can act as the tool for passing important information to stakeholders. Organisational change managers are expected to take up a crucial role in promoting environmental and social sustainability in the organisations (Marshall, Coleman and Reason, 2011). Sustainability should take place in every aspect of business and should be implemented in an organisation at all levels, presenting an on-going change process. Since the main responsibility of organisational change managers include change management and controlling the organisational process, they are required to lead, develop and implement environmental and social sustainability strategy. Sustainability is not just meeting the needs of the society; it can enhance competitive advantage. For this, many organisations regard environmental and social sustainability as a business operational strategy that advance shared value of the business and the society- by offering enhanced shareholder value and performance and productivity overtime (Aras and Crowther, 2012). A good number of research shows that social and environmental sustainability pays off in various tangible ways. Through sustainability, organisation gain elevated reputation, talent acquisition, and cost effectiveness, rate of employee retention, risk mitigation and market expansion. However, the relationship between a company’s performance and sustainability is very complex since other factors including market structure highly affect the extent of the relationship. In order to effectively unleash the potential of growth and innovation, organisations are supposed to redefine capitalism by taking care of the environmental and social issues in the society (Aras and Crowther, 2012). Evidently speaking, social and environmental sustainability impacts the structure, operation and model of any business. To start with, corporations consider a good number of stakeholders when developing strategy. Sustainable strategy needs receptiveness to stakeholders who influence organisation activities. Stakeholders may include employees, external community, natural environment, customers, and regulators. Stakeholders take part in implementation of sustainability (Aras and Crowther, 2012). In addition to affecting the stakeholders, sustainability affects the corporate practices as it requires additional involvement and commitment of the boards.as organisations have adapted sustainability strategies; there is a vocabulary that has developed as a result- the function of organisational change managers in implementing environmental and social sustainability in organisations (Aras and Crowther, 2012). Organisational change managers are expected to deal with sustainability issues facing organisations. Their skills in operational activities, and change management enables the organisational change managers to take a leading role in implementing environmental and social sustainability. Organisation face challenges to being environmental and social sustainable, thus the Organisational change managers are required to assist in solving the issues that result from this (Pompper, 2015). Generally, implementation of any positive change is always challenging. A good number of organisations were established when sustainability was not a priority thus they have to re-evaluate their operations to incorporate better practices. For this reason, Business organisations face a number of changes that organisational change managers are required to help in overcoming. For an organisation to implement environmental and social sustainability in its practices, senior-level managers are required to be more supportive of the process (Pompper, 2015. Developing and implementing sustainability is a change process that organisation undergo through. Therefore, organisational change managers are required to support the initiative and invest more time and resources in achieving the same. They should add sustainability goals into objectives of the employees in order for them to be accountable for driving change. Another challenge facing the sustainability initiative is lack of positive employee engagement. This can be solved by appointing a leader who would be responsible of driving change in the organisation. The manager is able to aspire and encourage commitment of the employees. The manager should listen to what exactly motivate the staff by polling staff to establish what matter to them (Pompper, 2015. This is able to boost a positive employee engagement and encourage effective sustainability implementation. Fundamentally, organisations are established to make money. Introduction of environmental and social sustainability initiative comes with a cost and may be considered a barrier to sustainable business. However, cost barrier is often a short-term view since sustainability initiatives are able to improve efficiency and effectiveness of a business which may eventually save on costs in the long run (Pompper, 2015. Social and environmental sustainability receive positive feedback from the customers thereby enhancing competitive advantage. Organisational change managers have the duty of managing the costs required for sustainable change process (Pompper, 2015. In addition, it is very hard to establish what to be measured in absence of a regulatory body. Environmental and social sustainability programs are very challenging since it affects the community at a macro-level that is difficult to quantify. Various matrices have to be considered and thus managers have the responsibility of determining the objectives upfront. They are required to decide which changes have the capacity to make the biggest impact (Pompper, 2015. The organisational change manager is required to write a clear plan of action that highlights the goals and how they are going to be achieved. The goals and objective for sustainable change must be manageable and realistic in order to be able to deliver the sustainability objective. In conclusion, social and environmental sustainability has become a fundamental focus for organisations as societal demands, climate change and pressures for enhanced environmental and social responsibility have increased. All organisations should be accountable for environment and society needs. They should therefore take into consideration social and environmental risks in every decision they make. Sustainability is considered a change process and therefore the organisation change managers have to play a critical role of achieving success in social and environmental sustainability. References Aras, G. & Crowther, D 2012, Business strategy and sustainability, Bingley, U.K: Emerald. Baromey, N 2008, Ecotourism as a tool for sustainable rural community development and natural resources management in the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve, Kassel, Kassel Univ. Press. Benoit, G & Comeau, A 2005, A sustainable future for the Mediterranean the Blue Plan's environment and development outlook, London, Earthscan. Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H. & Setiawan, I 2010, Marketing 3.0 from products to customers to the human spirit, Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Marshall, J., Coleman, G & Reason, P 2011, Leadership for sustainability an action research approach. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing. Pompper, D 2015, Corporate social responsibility, sustainability and public relations : negotiating multiple complex challenges, London, New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Teuteberg, F & Gomez, J 2010, Corporate environmental management information systems advancements and trends. Hershey PA: Business Science Reference. Zheng, W., Qing Qu, and Baiyin, Y 2009, Toward a Theory Of Organisational Cultural Evolution, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 8, no. 2, p. 151-173. Read More