Short Test 2 Revision

- Effective sustainability management

Sustainable management is the intersection of business and sustainability. It is

the practice of managing a firm’s impact on the three bottom lines—people,
planet, and profit—so that all three can prosper in the future. Sustainable
management supports a business’s long-term viability, because it’s preventative
rather than reactive. It can take many forms including investing in fair-trade
products, reducing packaging materials, and ensuring humane working
conditions at supplier factories.

A growing number of organizations from a wide range of industries (e.g. retail,

food and beverage, agriculture, tech, insurance, automotive, military, healthcare,
utility, and more) are pursuing sustainable management business goals. Because
the organizations most often noted for their sustainable efforts are top global
corporations, it’s easy to forget that smaller and more local companies are also
focused on sustainability. Wisconsin-based companies such as American Family
Insurance, Kohler, GE Healthcare, Oshkosh Corporation, Johnson Controls,
Kohl’s Corporation, and Lands’ End have staff who support and contribute to
sustainability goals that positively affect communities and the planet.

What Do Sustainable Managers Do?

Sustainable managers drive sustainable business efforts at their organizations.
These professionals are long-term thinkers, agents of change, and ambassadors
with vision. Depending on the size of the organization and their position, they
may be responsible for:

 Ensuring compliance with environmental regulations

 Researching sustainable policies and initiatives
 Setting sustainability performance goals that are strategic and ambitious
 Proposing initiatives as well as the business case for sustainability to leadership
 Building awareness of sustainability programs within the company
 Project managing initiatives and leading a team that implements them
 Measuring and reporting the effectiveness of sustainable initiatives

Sustainable business leaders use a range of knowledge and abilities to do their

jobs. First and foremost, they must be able to solve complex business problems,
such as sustainable development, by applying systems thinking—or, analyzing
whole systems by looking at how component parts of the system interact with
each other. They also must understand basic economics, marketing, accounting,
and law as well as how to assess and interpret social, scientific, and business-
 related information. Additionally, sustainable managers must be effective
communicators and leaders, because they may lead a team; engage with varied
departments, sites, and stakeholders; and present to diverse audiences.

Who Are Sustainable Managers?

Sustainable managers come from very diverse backgrounds. Since they need
knowledge and skills in many subjects, including business strategy, economics,
and environmental science, they may start out in a number of fields and
industries.

Sustainability-related positions are new to the workplace, so no standard title

exists for sustainable managers across industries. If you searched for how many
full-time “sustainability” professionals exist, you’d find a relatively small number
of high-ranking employees working at some of the largest corporations in the
world. And they usually report directly to the CEO. If a professional’s sole
responsibility is sustainable management, their title might be:

 Chief sustainability officer

 Global director of social and environmental affairs
 Head of sustainability
 VP of corporate responsibility
 Environmental program manager

Most professionals tasked with leading sustainable business initiatives take it on

in addition to another role and may not have “sustainability” in their title at all.
They might start with smaller projects, such as managing raw materials through a
supply chain or helping their department go paperless, and grow their
sustainability role from there. Some companies approach sustainability through
risk management departments that have professionals dedicated to safety and
environmental issues.

Why companies engage in sustainability

One potential reason so many companies don’t actively address

sustainability despite the attention paid to it by the media and some
consumers and investors is that many have no clear definition of it.
Overall, 20 percent of executives say their companies don’t. Among those
that do, the definition varies: 55 percent define sustainability as the
management of issues related to the environment (for example,
greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, waste management, green-
product development, and water conservation). In addition, 48 percent say
it includes the management of governance issues (such as complying with
regulations, maintaining ethical practices, and meeting accepted industry
standards), and 41 percent say it includes the management of social issues
(for instance, working conditions and labor standards). Fifty-six percent of
all the respondents define sustainability in two or more ways.

- Writing sustainability policies and procedures (refer: week 12)

The procedures should clearly relate to the policy and indicate who is
responsible for carrying them out. Procedures should also clearly indicate
any areas where legal compliance is mandatory. Employees will be more
likely to co-operate with new methods/procedures if they are consulted.
When your procedures have been drafted, consult with workgroup
managers and supervisors to identify any issues and gain approval, or
input for change or improvement. Once this is done, the next step is to
communicate the procedure to the workgroup/s. This can be achieved
through training sessions and manuals, information sheets,
memos/emails, meetings, and checklists and posters prominently
displayed in the work area. It may also be necessary to consider whether
information needs to be presented in multiple languages. Workgroup
meetings should be held to inform the staff of the proposed introduction
of the new procedures and to address any questions or concerns staff
may have about the implementation. Discussion with employees may
assist you to identify potential problems and possible solutions.
Stakeholders may require access to these procedures, so they must be
clearly documented and filed both physically and electronically

- Business respond to climate change

A number of companies, ranging from clothing to food and everything in between, are doing
their part to tackle climate change. One of those companies is Gap Inc. which announced a
goal to reduce its absolute GHG emissions globally across its facilities by 50 percent by
2020. Gap began to reduce its carbon footprint back in 2003, with the goal of decreasing
GHG emissions by 11 percent per square foot from 2003 to 2008 in its U.S. operations. It
exceeded that goal by achieving a 20 percent reduction per square foot, so it set a goal of
reducing GHG emissions by 20 percent by 2015. The clothing retailer also exceeded that
goal by achieving a 33 percent reduction.

Gap has worked with Ceres since 2007 and is a member of Ceres’ Business for Innovative
Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), a group of over 20 companies committed to passing
climate change and energy legislation. In 2014, Gap signed the BICEP Climate Declaration,
which states that “tackling climate change is one of America’s greatest economic
opportunities of the 21st century.”

Kellogg Company is another company that is committed to reducing its emissions. It has a
goal of reducing its emissions intensity, or a ton of carbon dioxide emissions per ton of food
produced, by 2020. It is also committed to reducing absolute value chain emissions by 20
percent from 2015 to 2030. Kellogg has long-term goals of an absolute reduction in
emissions by 65 percent by 2050, and to reduce absolute value chain emissions by 50
percent from 2015 to 2050. The company has already reduced its scope 1 and 2 emissions
from manufacturing by 12 percent. It is also a signatory of the BICEP Climate Declaration.

As companies like Gap and Kellogg meet their emissions reduction targets, the world will be
closer to keeping global temperature rise to the two degree threshold. And that is good for
the planet and its inhabitants.
- Australian Privacy Principles (week. 9)

The Privacy Act 1988 contains 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs),

these relate to organization and government.
The Australian Privacy Principles cover the following topics:

> APP 1 --- open and transparent management of personal information

> APP 2 --- anonymity and pseudonymity

> APP 3 --- collection of solicited personal information

> APP 4 --- dealing with unsolicited personal information

> APP 5 --- notification of the collection of personal information

> APP 6 --- use or disclosure of personal information

> APP 7 --- direct marketing

> APP 8 --- cross-border disclosure of personal information

> APP 9 --- adoption, use or disclosure of government related identifiers

> APP 10 --- quality of personal information

> APP 11 - security of personal information

> APP 12 - access to personal information

> APP 13 - correction of personal information

APP section 11 of the Australian Privacy Principles requires all organisations who
follow or subscribe to them, should take and make the necessary steps in their
privacy policy to protect their clients’ information from being misused; lost, access
not given, giving out details to those who are not permitted or modifying the given
data without consent. The APP11 also states that all personal information that is no
 longer required to be destroyed according to standards and procedures.
Consequently, IT Contractors Privacy Policy covers 2 aspects of the APP section 11:

“unauthorized access” (11.18, 11.7) – security of personal information and how do

we protect the information we store?

“destroying or de-identifying of personal information” (11.28) where an

organisation holds copies of personal information that needs to be destroyed
including archived or backup – when do we destroy the data we collect?

- Promoting workplace sustainability policy to stakeholders

(week. 12)
Senior management will always have primary responsibility for environmental
issues. This includes liability if environmental breaches occur. In any company
responsibility for environmental policy should be given to someone in a position
of sufficient authority to create and change policy as required. Consider the
organisational structure of your organisation. Who has responsibility for
management of environmental issues? What are the specific environmental
management responsibilities of this person? Are they informal, or
documented? Do other staff members know who the responsible person is,
and what they are responsible for? Are there already any documented
environmental procedures? Consider what kind of communication already
occurs about environmental issues in your organisation. Relevant issues to be
communicated could concern: Ensuring legal compliance Co-ordinating
measures to improve environmental performance Provision of training
Developing and monitoring documentation and activities.

- S.O.P.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions

compiled by an organization to help workers carry out complex routine
operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output and uniformity of
performance, while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with
industry regulations.
Standard Operating Procedures. A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of
written instructions that describes in detail how to safely perform work involving
hazardous materials (biological, chemical, radiological), hazardous equipment or
hazardous operations.
A safe operating procedure (SOP) is a written document that provides step-by-
step instructions on how to safely perform a task or activity which involves some
 risk to health and safety. A safe operating procedure is sometimes referred to as
a safe work procedure or safe work method statement.

- Continuous improvement (refer: test 1)

Includes a mindset that engages workers in understanding their customers and

their processes and drive efforts towards sustainable change
Deming cycle: PLAN Do Check Act
identify make use data implement
opportunity changes to verify change

action - oriented – act

practical based on real life problems
evidence whether data delivers change

- Copyright (refer: week 9)

Intellectual property/use of intellect to develop ideas. Workplace needs

to have internal policies and comply with standards and legislation
It is the exclusive right of the creator of material to reproduce, adapt,
publish, perform and communicate that material. To reward incentives to
creators.
It adapts to changes in technology.
Rights: reproduce work in material form (e.g. photocopying)
Publish work (make copies)
Communicate, perform, adapt
Seek permission of copyright owner and acknowledge owner
- Ethics

Most organizations or workplaces expect a certain standard of behavior

from their employees. In small organizations these may be unwritten
rules, but larger organizations will develop an ethics code or statement to
ensure that their employees know the standard of conduct that is
expected of them. Creating ethical policies and procedures is about
ensuring that business operations reflect ethics and moral values, as well
as the legislation and standards that apply. It is important that ICT
professionals understand the ethics and values of their organization, and
their obligation to meet both employer and client expectations of ethical
conduct. While there is no one piece of legislation that outlines the
ethical requirements of business in Australia there are references to
ethical conduct in a wide variety of legislations that apply to the ICT
industry.
Codes of Ethics

Many industry bodies and associations publish codes and standards that
govern the ethical conduct of their members. These codes and standards
are aimed at promoting the reputation of the industry by ensuring
members maintain professional and ethical conduct. The standards are
not necessarily legally binding, but may be used to support legal
argument.
Australian Computer Society (ACS). To access this code online, go to
http://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/7835/Code-of
Ethics.pdf
 In the workplace, ethics are the moral guidelines that an
organization as a whole, and the individuals who comprise it,
follow to comply with state and federal laws. Ethics also are
the basis of a cohesive, supportive company culture and an
important way for a company to build a strong relationship
with its customers.

Definition:

Ethics are the moral principles that drive an individual’s behavior. People
have personal ethics in many areas of their lives, such as ethics for family
relationships or romantic relationships. Workplace ethics are, by
definition, the moral principles that guide a person's actions in the
workplace. Ethical standards can vary from industry to industry, and from
position to position within an industry. They can also vary by specific
field within a larger industry. For example, the workplace ethics that
doctors and others in the health care industry follow are different from the
ethics that govern police officers and others in law enforcement. In turn,
these ethics are different from the ones that govern telecommunications,
IT and education. Therefore, an individual’s personal workplace ethics
depend on his role in the company, the industry and the company's
relationship with the “outside world,” which includes consumers, vendors
and industry regulators.

In many cases, a company’s workplace ethics are necessarily shaped by

industry or government regulations. They may also be informed by
precedents set by other companies in the industry and market demands.
Workplace ethics are dynamic. They can, and do evolve as employee and
consumer needs change and technology evolves and alters industries
and workplaces.

Examples of Workplace Ethics

In most cases, workplace ethics are derived from secular values like:

 trustworthiness
 integrity
 fairness
 responsibility
 accountability
 loyalty
 comradery
 citizenship
 respect
 caring