Stakeholders and Technical Communications - Orica - Case Study Example

Discussion statement “The responsibilities of Engineers managing sensitive environmental projects in providing accurate, timely and understandable information to stakeholders who could be impacted by the project and whose background is not necessarily a technical one”. Background Information Orica is a chemical company operating in Australia specifically at a place called Botany Industrial Park where it processes four chemical brands. It operates a HCB Repackaging plant at the park with its four brands being mining, chemicals, and minova and dulux group. Its products are a force to reckon in the market. However, the company has been facing issues with the stakeholders mainly as a result of the company operations at the park resulting into contamination of underground water and soils hence drawing the company into legal issues with the external stakeholders. The company resulted into holding a meeting with the stakeholders to try and find a solution by outlining the issues at hand and how they could be handled. This paper will therefore seek to explore the responsibilities of engineers in running and managing environmental sensitive rejects like that one of Orica stockpile of HCB (A Deadly Legacy, 2005) Responsibilities of engineers Engineers managing sensitive environmental projects are the actual project managers of such projects. The y there fore should exhibits good project management skills as they are ultimately responsible for the overall success or failure of the projects they manage (Heerkens, 2002). They should aspire to ensure that all the details pertaining to a project are handled in a proper manner (Lewis, 1998) As a project engineer one needs to prepare a comprehensive Environmental Management Plan (EMP). It’s imperative to first understand what we mean by an Environment Management plan This is defined as an environmental management tool used to ensure that undue or reasonably avoidable adverse impacts of the construction, operation and decommissioning of a project are prevented; and that the positive benefits of the projects are enhanced(Lochner, 2005). The aim of an Environment Management Plan is to ensure that the management actions which arise from the Environment Impact Assessment processes are clearly outlined and fully implemented to avert a legal battle or a crisis between a firm and stakeholders. An EMP is a key component in the formulation of an Environment Impact Assessment test. When formulating the Environment Management Plan, the said engineer should put into consideration the following key factors such as the environmental policies concerning the project to be undertaken, the local monitoring programs, secondary information on monitoring and liaison forums that can assist in the formulation of the Environment Management Plan and local legislations. The document should be provided to the stakeholders for perusal and review where necessary. This is aimed at developing a comprehensive Environment Management Plan that will ensure the company maintains a good social corporate responsibility and avoids legal battles with the stakeholders (CPRC, 2010). The responsibilities of Engineers managing sensitive environmental projects in providing accurate, timely and understandable information to stakeholders who could be impacted by the project and whose background is not necessarily a technical one will be guided by an elaborate Environment Management Plan which must be implemented to the dot. As part of their responsibilities of managing sensitive environmental projects, engineers need to put more emphasis on the aspect of social responsibility, which entails provision of accurate, timely and understandable information to the project stakeholders. These stakeholders may be either internal or external, and this factor withstanding, the project engineers have a social responsibility to play. They should strive to meet the interests of the stakeholders so that the objectives of the company can be aligned with the social values of the communion. Maignan and Ferrell, (2005) asserts that it’s the responsibility of the engineer and the project managers to strike a perfect balance between the principle objectives of the organization and meeting the social corporate responsibility. Failure to do this may result t into a diverse challenge s from both the external and internal stakeholders. A case in point is the one that faced Orica. The company y operating in Botany Park had the challenge of environment pollution which put the community surrounding the project at risk. This if not checked would have a negative effect on the company. We find the company embarking on a crisis intervention process by holding a consultative meeting with the stakeholders. It also embarked on a process of trying to correct the situation through cleaning the contaminated areas and getting rid of its 60000 stockpile of HCB. This is reflection of that the company is struggling to address the thorny issue of its 60000 stockpile of HCB (A Deadly Legacy, 2005). In order to avoid facing the challenge like the one that faced Orica, project engineers should put in place an effective communication system to relay vital information to and fro the stakeholders. Passing the correct information is in itself a tool of preventing the occurrence of a crisis. This is because once the stakeholders have access to the correct information regarding the project or an issue with the project; they will be operating at the same informed level like that one of the project proponents. Communication is defined as a two way process of relaying information to and fro the sender and the receiver(s).In any project there are multiple stakeholders which calls for different directions of communications. The project engineers who are the project managers are the core of the communications process hence are tasked with the important task of establishing and maintaining an effective link of communication between the company and the stakeholders. The said engineers need to bear in mind that the stakeholders who are the recipients of the information may seem passive but are likely to be influenced by the perception and belief of the sender and the content of the message conveyed. The success of a project is tied to the effectiveness of its systems of communication (Dwivedula, 2007). The engineer should put in place elaborate monitoring and evaluation programs to determine the effectiveness of the management actions and the actual impacts of the undertaken project to the environment. These should designed by the engineer or outsource the services of a specialist to work in liaison with the project proponent and key stakeholders. The Monitoring and Evaluation should entail the baseline surveying, impact monitoring, compliance monitoring and performance specifications. This will act as a control mechanism and aid in averting a possible war with the relevant stakeholders in the project. This will be achieved when such monitoring and evaluation reports are made available to the stakeholder through various forms and other communication media (CPRC, 2010). In order to ensure that the above strategies are fully implemented and are effective, there is need to put in place an elaborate corporate governance structure of the project. The main responsibility of this is to pass on the hierarchy of responsibilities within the company on matters relating to health, safety and environment. These range from service delivery, environmental conservation/protection and corporate social responsibility. This corporate governance structure should have a mechanism of reaching out to the stakeholders. The best way to achieve this is through an elaborate public relations department that will be tasked with disseminating information from the company to the stakeholders and vice versa (Coombs and Holladay 2007). It is the responsibilities of the engineers who are implementing the projects to ensure that there is an effective channel of communication with the stakeholders. This is best done through the use of committees on environment management. These committees should have an advisory, monitoring and watch dog role with a time span as that one of the project. The composition is drawn from the project proponents, key stakeholders and government authorities. The terms of reference in the management plans have agreeable to the stakeholders to ensure that the committee runs smoothly without any resistance from the stakeholders as they feel part and parcel of the committee (Cleveland and Ireland, 2002). As we have learnt from the Orica case, most of the environmental sensitive projects employ complex jargons which many stakeholders are conversant with. This may be an underlying cause of a crisis. It’s therefore the prerogative of the project engineers to ensure that these terms are put in a language that is easily understood by the stakeholders. Once these stakeholders have the knowledge of these technical terms, they become aware of the specifications of the project and probable consequences. There are the relevant stakeholders both internal and external who the engineers should consider when managing environmentally sensitive projects like that one of Orica ltd. These include; Contractors- Some projects might require outsourcing of some services of one or many contractors. All the contractors affected by the Environment Management program and the EIA should appoint their own representative to the site for the implementation of the EMP. This person should be an expert of a kind to handle environmental issues effectively and be in apposition to interact freely with other personnel at the site. The engineer should ensure that the contractor is answerable to him on all environmental issues related with the project. He should furnish the contractor with the relevant environmental management obligations and ensure that there is compliance from the side of the contractor (CPRC, 2010). Interested and Affected Parties-The engineers need to ensure that there is a mechanism of receiving contributions from the interested and affected parties, otherwise known as stakeholders, in designing the mitigation measures on environmental degradation by the project. This could even go a step further in designing the management actions. The engineers should also ensure that this group is well served with regular updates on the progress of the project and the effectives of environmental management plans (Lochner, 2005). The stakeholders should be involved in the input of corrective actions and the revision of EMP both in the operational and construction cycles of the project in question. Suppliers: They form as part of the external stakeholders and who are in the line of being affected if we have a project that is sensitive to the environment. The project engineers should take the responsibility of ensuring that this clout of people is well furnished with all the information that they might require. Just like the consumers, there should be in place form of perfect balance between the company objectives and meeting the expectations of the suppliers. This builds trust through creation of business trust and a trustworthy relation Engineers should maintain contact with the suppliers to ensure a proper flow of required material During the life cycle of the project, interests, norms and values of the suppliers should be well articulated in the communication by the engineers to suppliers to ensure socially responsible behavior (Maignan et al. 2005). B y developing proper risk managements strategies is possible for the engineers, it’s possible to effectively manage and run environmentally sensitive projects like that one of Orica (Kendrick, 2003). Financiers- A project can not operate without capital injection. This is meant to cater for the asset input and expenditure incurred (Hearkens, 2001). In most cases, firms that carry out projects that are sensitive to the environment and which require a huge capital input. Due to inability to fully finance the projects budgets, companies are compelled to seek funding from financial institutions and donors. Most of the environment sensitive projects need the approval of financial institutions/donors on environment compliance. This is because the financiers are not willing to finance a project that does not comply with the existing environmental legislations. It’s therefore the responsibility of the project engineers to ensure that the legal issues are adhered to and that they furnish the donors with the Environment Management Plans and Environment Impact Assessment reports. The reason why the donors are serious with environmental issues is to ensure that the plans are practical and cost effective and that they adhere to the now globally accepted concept of sustainable development. Here, the world is being encouraged to utilize the available resources in a manner that’s not harmful to the environment in order to ensure that future generations have access to the same resources that are in existence currently (CPRC, 2010). Environmental Consultant-It’s the prerogative of the engineers implementing environmentally sensitive projects to ensure that they comply with legal issues. This may involve outsourcing the expertise of an independent environmental consultant whose main work would be the monitoring of the project and furnishing the project proponent with the relevant feedback. Orica did this by hiring the services of Sherpa Consulting Pty. This way, the engineer will be in a position to asses whether the project implementation is in compliance with the Environmental Management Plan and other related legal issues (Orica, 2010). Clients/customers-The consumers of the end product of any company are the key determinant on the success or eventual failure of any organization. They are the ones who buy the end product and hence provide capital for running the organization and even in expansion of the project. If this lot is not satisfied with the way the company is treating the environment that surrounds it, like the case with Orica, then the company is faced with a big if not serious social responsibility challenge. The project engineers who are engaged in environmentally sensitive projects need to put in place effective measures to ensure that the project is not harmful to the people and enhance the flow of such information to the target group. Once this is done, the project will receive community approval and its success is highly guaranteed. Future likelihood of the occurrence of a social crisis is avoided. Another area that the engineer should put more emphasis is the corporate social responsibility of the customers. They should aspire to respect and uphold the social and norms of the people in which area the project is being implemented. This is done through carrying out a community assessment to identify these norms and cultural values so that the company can formulate strategies on how to uphold them (CPRC, 2010). Information they say is power and lack of the correct information might be detrimental to an organization. The engineers should ensure that there is elaborate system passing information to the clients. By so doing, they should uphold the principles of sincerity, effectiveness, reliability and commitment and trust. Adams and Frost (2006), says that the message conveyed should be simple but objective so that the clients are in a position to understand and comprehend it. By putting such an elaborate system of communication, the project implementers prove to be reactive in that they will be able to avoid future conflicts not only with the customers but even with the other stakeholders. This is possible since they have a wide range of communication media to employ and it’s a matter of choice to reach ones target. Engineers also need to put in place proper project management mechanisms in order to protect their customers from any crisis arising out of a project (Coombs and Holaday, 2007). This is done by developing strategies to protect the consumers from harmful effects of the project and eventually shield the organization from a future crisis. A case in point is that one of Orica where after the contamination of underground water and soils, Orica embarked on two quick crisis response mechanisms namely the Botany Ground water Cleanup and the Former ChlorAlkali Plant Mercury contamination, Investigation and Soil Remediation. In its report, Orica points out it has embarked on two programs to counter the negative impacts of its activities in the Botany Park (Mike and Thatcher 2007) and (Orica, 2004) Stakeholders meetings-These are necessary to ensure that there is that interactive session pitting the project proponents and the key stakeholders in the project. It’s during such forms that community members participate in deliberating on issues affecting them as stakeholders to a given project. For instance, we can draw a lot from the Community Participation and Review Committee formed by Orica and its stakeholders (representatives of local community groups, relevant independent monitors and the local government agencies). The Community Participatory Review Committees provides a forum where members discuss the implementation of the project plans. (CPRC, 2010) Community participation-From the word go, the project proponents should endeavor to include the community right from the formulation to the implementation phases. This is best done through carrying out of a community assessment to find out the needs of the community that which will benefit the community and the special issues such as culture that need to be put into consideration before the project kicks off. By doing this, the project engineers will be in a position to overcome the challenge of community resistance. This is best achieved once the engineers put in place effective channels of communicating with the community. The community will be better placed to make informed contributions to the project. The project engineers need to put in place a system of project formulation and implementation that will address the short term and long tem benefits of the community. The long term benefits may include creation of employment opportunities, improved community relations, community empowerment, improved levels of economic development, improved quality of life and positive utilization of the resource available, otherwise known as sustainable development (CPRC, 2010). Conclusion It is crystal clear from the above discussion that project engineers have a far much greater role to play in ensuring that the company achieves its business objectives as well as meets its corporate social responsibility. This will be best achieved once the engineers understand the environment they are operating in. Once done, all key stakeholders will have a clear of the projects dynamics and work hand in hand for the eventual success of the project. Though the task may seem insurmountable, the project engineers can achieve this through the use of simple languages especially on environment related issues, employ the relevant mode of communication that will satisfy the target groups as well as ensuring that there’s community participation right from the initial stages of project formulation to the very last of project completion. References A Deadly Legacy (2006). Retrieved on August 22, 2011 from http://sixty minutes.ninemsn.com.aulstories/tarabrown/249409/a-deadly-legacy Adams, C.A & Frost, G.R. (2006). The Internet and Change in Corporate Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Strategies on Social and Environmental Performance. Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change 2(3), pp 281-203 Cleveland, D.I. & Ireland, L.R. (2002). Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation (9th edn).New York: McGraw Hills Professional Company Profile.(2004) Retrieved August 22 from http://www.orica.com/businesslcor/orica/CORO0254.nsf/HeadingPages Display/About+OricaCompany*Profile/OpenDocument. Community Participation and Review Committee (CPRC). Terms of Reference and Code of Conduct. Adopted at the February 2008 CPRC meeting, revised Feb 2010 Coombs, W. T. & Holladay, S.J. (2007). “The Negative Communication Dynamic”. Journal of Communication Management. I (4), 300-312 Dwivedula, V.S.R. (2007). Comparing Motivation in Collocated and Virtual Project Teams. Lille:ESC, pp 61-62 Hearkens, G.R. (2002), Project Management, New York: McGraw-Hill. Hearkens,G. R. (2001), Project Management, New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Lewis, J. P. (1998). Team-Based Project Management, Amacom Lochner, P. (2005) Guidelines for Environmental Management Plans. Cape Town, prepared for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Maignan et al. (2005). “Stakeholders model for Implementing Social Responsibility in Marketing”. European Journal of Marketing. Mike Vintil &May Thatcher (2007).Repackaging Trial Plans. New South Wales: Orica Read More