Sustainability and Its Impact on the Four Managerial Functions
Nowadays people all over Australia use their own environmentally friendly shopping bags when they go to the Supermarket. Why have so many people changed their every day habit and stopped using the convenient plastic bags? The transition from plastic bags to recycled ones is only one aspect of a global attitude change towards environmental topics. During the last few decades, businesses have been focusing on lowering their production costs, with no considerations on the consequences for the upcoming years. Today, organizations all over the globe are starting to change the way they operate in order to prevent an environmental crisis.
"Sustainability" is the new approach that has led to a change in many organization's Agendas. In other words, Sustainable development concentrates on existence for the long term without compromising the ability of future generations to fulfill their needs. There is no doubt that every organization is now facing the "Sustainable development" challenge, and has to embrace new management ways that will help saving the world's environment. This kind of change cannot occur in one day, and considers a major reform in the whole organization. Top managers, will have to make some crucial management choices that will affect manager's behavior in every level, and throughout the organization.
Businesses will have undergo a comprehensive process in order to become Sustainable. First, managers will have to embrace the concept of running a profitable organisation (or achieve the goals of a non profitable organizations) with consideration of environmental issues. Regardless of the manufactured product type, companies will have to operate in a way tha...
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With forward movement in society, it is important to consider not just what will propel most toward success, but also what will help to sustain the environment along the way. What may have been considered appropriate decades ago, may no longer be socially acceptable due to the changes observed in both the business world and the environment (Fiske, 2010). Therefore, it is important for organizations thriving in today?s economy to consider how they may capitalize most effectively from their product or service of choice while minimizing or eliminating any damages along the way (Knoke, 2012).
A business should make sure its methods of production are not negatively affecting its employees and that all the people in the business are happy and willing to work. Also, a business should make sure that its methods of production are not producing any waste on land or water or air pollution, for these negatively affect society. A business that cares about it’s influence on the environment, and its consumers is bound to make a difference. For example: General Mills wants to reduce the amount of energy it uses. In order to do this, they had energy monitors installed into some of their equipment in one of their manufacturing plants. The result: General Mills saved around six hundred thousand dollars (James). Profit can be obtained faster by a business that is looked upon as a positive influence on the environment and its employees. Overall, a business should be careful about how it produces its products and think about society’s health before it makes a decision, for if it doesn’t, the liability for damage is a much greater price to
(SNBC) was founded by Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi in 1979, but became operational in 1980. In addition, the company has been operational for 34 years now. The paper will discuss the integration of environmental sustainability and business operations of SNBC. According to studies and research, SNBC is committed to corporate social responsibility, especially the environment and community via environmentally friendly manufacturing processes leading to a good reputation, employee retention and attraction and profitability. The management is careful with the decisions and business operations they make regarding the environment since they affect their reputation and public
An organization must always look within and outside of themselves to assess their internal strengths and weaknesses and realize which external factors pose a threat or an opportunity for them. These factors have direct impact on how the organization operates, allowing them to mitigate their threats and maximize their opening to create new and diverse products as the demands of the people grow and technology advances (Rothaermel, 2013). The desire to have greener options in the products people use has forced The Home Depot and Ford Motor Company to respond. However, these two companies not only enforce the environmental concerns of the people with the products they offer to the public, but also in how their plants and stores are ran under sustainable energy. This will
Another approach is bottom-up and it makes the employees the central cog in the innovation process. Such a concept, when applied to sustainability, shifts the focus from the happenings at the management level to what decisions the mid and front-line level employees make. The lower level employees are the ones who take daily actions that could make or break a company’s sustainability potential. A bottom-up approach has a multiplier effect since it is easily visible to others and becomes quite difficult to thwart. Furthermore, the daily decisions made by mid-level employees incorporate the views of the
Stuart Hart, in a business article, discusses the tough task for companies to make a sustainable global ec...
When it comes to defining the meaning of “sustainability”, there are many different perspectives from different people. One may say “sustainability” relates to “going green”, and another may conclude that it refers to reducing negative effects to the environment. These thoughts are not wrong at all, but I personally think “sustainability” in a broader concept since it can relate to many things such as business sustainability, social sustainability, or even human sustainability. For me, “sustainability” is simply about developing and sustaining something in an efficient and harmless way. For instance, I think of “sustainable business” as the way a specific business maximizes its profits and revenues through an efficient operation without causing any negative externalities. This essay will focus on the major ideas of sustainability and sustainable business, the relationship between profitability goals and sustainable business, and how marketing can be involved in this topic.
Sustainable operation management is a management approach that involves planning, implementation and control of business operations that translate available resources into the required product or service. It is the management of business practices, traditions and operations to promote the highest level of efficiency, smooth workflow, and increased productivity in an organization. This management strategy ensures that the available labour force and materials are changed into products or services in a cost effective way to increase the company’s returns (Corbett, 2009). It also involves production waste management, food waste reduction, creating new opportunities, environment protection, and improving customer health. Sustainable operation management in the retail industry around the world has gained momentum in the recent years, in the face of customer pressure and media interest. It is particularly linked to the concepts of corporate social responsibility and global warming (Morrison, 2013).
Sustainability is a concept with a diverse array of meanings and definitions – a widely used glamorous, ambiguous, ambivalent and vague concept that is used by different stakeholder groups in various ways. Presumably to avoid noodling over a terminology or to avoid the confrontation with a definition, most widely the concept is broken down a planning process (c.f. e.g. Döring & Muraca, 2010). That is why most common sustainability is understood as sustainable development.1
Using plastic bags are second nature to people in this day and age. Warner acknowledges, “Much to the dismay of the environmentally conscious citizens worldwide, the ubiquity of the free plastic carryout bag has bred nonchalant consumers who take this modern convenience for granted” (646). Although some people are conscious about the environment, people strive more for convenience and do not think about the impacts using bags have not only on the environment, but on themselves as well. If something is bad for the environment, it will alternatively be bad for humans as well. When plastic bags are exposed to the sun from being littered all around, the ultraviolet rays cause the substances of plastic bags to weaken. After the substances weaken, the substances become invisible to the naked eye. The substances that are no longer able to be seen are toxic to humans (Warner 649). As a result of plastic bags being littered around, animals consume plastic bags. This is negatively affects humans because animals are often consumed. When humans consume animals like, fish, there can be plastic in the fish’s belly, which then transfers to the humans and this poses a concern for human’s health. Humans are negatively affected by plastic bags because of the toxic chemicals in plastic bags, as well as, consuming animals with plastic in their
1.- INTRODUCTION: Without doubt, the 20th century has changed our priorities, especially when it comes to the way we do business. Popular sustainable business models, as advertised in the media, have evolved into much more than a moral obligation or an external requirement to generate money. Essentially, they are forcing companies to reinvent the systems and approaches with which they generate value and profitability for the company.
7). Their definition was as follows: “ It is in the hands of humanity to make development sustainable… to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. (SHRM, 2011, p. 7).” Sustainability is the organization’s commitment to balance financial performance with contributors to the quality of life of employees, society at large, and environmentally sensitive initiatives (SHRM, 2011, p. 2). Workplace sustainability requires observation of the following: work force diversity, environmental impact, bribery and corruption, community involvement, ethical sourcing of goods, human rights, product safety, and product usefulness (Epstein & Roy, 2001, p. 588). Creation of a stable, sustainability culture can support the company’s efforts to reach its long term goals; however, sustainable practices are more often found in medium and large staff-sized organizations, publicly and for-profit companies and multinational companies (SHRM, 2011, p.
Sustainability could be defined in many ways. It could be defined as the process to sustain a process or develop new technologies to reduce environment pollution. It also means a measurement how badly the environment is being polluted by other factors. I have to admit that sustainability is a great idea related to many fields such as healthy, economy, food, social, and etc. However, I still remember the first day of “Sustainable Business” class, Professor Laverty showed to my class an example of sustainable product with the idea of “produce more with less waste”. This example narrows me down to one idea of “Sustainable Business”, which is producing the product and services in an efficient and sustainable way without causing harms to environment. In this essay, I want to emphasize into impacts of businesses on environments, profitability of sustainable business, and responsibility of business.
This essay will discuss the various harmful effects of plastic bags, and demonstrate the risks that these bags impose on humans, animals, and the environment. It will also discuss a series of suggested solutions that could help reduce plastic bag usage. Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution at every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution.
Everyone has heard a cashier one time or another mumble, “Paper or plastic?” as he put their groceries in a bag, but do shoppers know the effects of each vessel in which they carry their comestibles? There are many issues and benefits to both paper and plastic. The making and recycling of both paper and plastic bags can harm the environment. One must also look at the costs of making each bag. The convenience of each is also something to look at. Many people jump to conclusion that paper bags are better for the environment without knowing the facts. Since plastic bags are preferred by customers and plastic bags actually do not hurt the environment as much as paper ones do, consumers should feel at ease when choosing plastic.