Sustainability Management Assignment: Impact of COVID-19 in IT Firms In Australia

Question

Task: Prepare a research paper on sustainability management assignment discussing about the sustainable management process and issues encountered by IT firms in Australia during COVID-19 lockdown?

Answer

Executive Summary
The report on sustainability management assignment examines the condition of the IT firms in Australia during the Covid19 lockdown and its Sustainable management. By analyzing the practices of management sectors based upon their management goals, the paper seeks to examine their practices and the recent transformation of those practices. The analysis of the Australian IT industry and strategies of the IT sectors to survive comparatively, the paper aims at critically analyzing the post-pandemic scenario. The challenges posed by the Covid19 pandemic and its effect on the market is crucial in understanding the transformations, hence those are briefly discussed. It has also covered the block-chain and big data implementation to prevent the loss during Covid-19 and afterward.
The various aspects of the project are summarized in the following section of sustainability management assignment:

a. To describe the background and the transformation of Sustainable management in the Australian IT sector.
b. To describe the data and methods used for this study
c. To study and analyze the literature used for finding result in this project
d. A summary of project results

1. Introduction
The research on sustainability management assignment seeks to find out the changes in sustainability management strategies in the Australian IT industry. The research considers available literature and analyses them critically to underline the changes and methods adapted according to it. The pandemic has introduced major changes to the IT sector globally. The IT sector in Australia depended both on organizational activities and business transformational processes. It is therefore important to understand the dynamics of the IT sectors to chalk out the transformation and changes respectively. The Covid-19 has also made a significant impact on the organizational ‘fiscal’ policy that provides structure and economic guidance to the business processes [1]. The flexible operating model was heavily dependent upon the client’s preferences and smooth business ‘operational’ facility. The problems caused by the consecutive shutdowns and production disruption led to the crisis of the former management strategy. The initial phases of the lockdown were important for critically inspecting the changing patterns of the global and domestic market in the IT development of Australiaand engaging a new sustainable management policy according to that.

Overview on Interest Area
It is evident in the sustainability management assignmentthat the Covid19 pandemic has affected major sectors of the global market. It has imposed challenges in front of the major section of the IT sector worldwide. The public space shutdown has switched the employee-management interaction from physical to virtual preferences. The Australian IT sector has experienced a radical change in business structure. The online business activitieshave gone up whereas the effective interaction process is facing hard challenges. The ‘firm-specific’ impact on ‘stock’ price is controlling the current industry and economic structure [2]. The pandemic has emphasized digital efficiency and infrastructure improvements to cope with the demands. The changed pattern of business articulation is also a major factor influencing ITfirms. The earlier management strategies of infrastructural development are not shifting on the virtual interaction process to retain employee’s activities in business generation.

New sectors, especially the digital platform development is now crucial for reaching and supplying the customers. The changes in management strategy have reshaped the aims and objectives of the company. The sustainability has improved with the 'work-from-home' process and digitalized display of business models to the clients. The question of sustainability has become a matter of primary concern. Therefore, the IT firms are going virtual to serve client’s needs and the improvement in digital infrastructure. The transformation in the technology sector is now a challenging factor with the ‘social’ consequences from the Covid-19 environment [3]. Therefore, it is clearly to be understood that the overall changes in management strategy towards more sustenance transforms the company’s character throughout.

2. Problem Statement
The last year was a major increasing demand time for sustainable business models in the IT sector. The new demands effectively influenced the management strategy which needed to be reconsidered. Lockdown situation was challenging to traditional business methods and new improvisation of management needed to rearrange.The Covid-19 has shocked the ‘economic’ structure by restricting the supply and demand chain [4]. The Covid-19 pandemic imposed a state of major economic curfew on both the production and delivery sector. This unprecedented crisis invited major rethinking of market policies and business models throughout the IT sector. Though Australia remained a less affected country, it imposed severe restrictions to deal with the pandemic.

As per the research on sustainability management assignment, the initiation of the end to end business operations on the internet influenced the work structure of the employees. It has prioritized essential activities and projects while putting certain other kinds of changes in a lag. The financial drops have been particularly faced by larger establishments that were busier before the ‘pandemic’ [5]. The questions which, therefore, which becomes most important are strategies of retaining employees, rearranging operations to make them convenient, new delivery management, and an overall management strategy to cope in the pandemic scenario.

3. What is the aim and objectives of sustainability management assignment?
The sustainability management assignmentaims at understanding the changes in management strategies in the IT sector in Australia with the integration of block-chain and ‘big data’ analysis. The objectives of sustainability management assignmentare,

• To specify the impactful areas in the IT firms of Australia from the on-going Covid-19 situation
• To measure the impact of integrated blockchain technology and 'big data' analysis at the IT firm of Australia for sustainability
• To achieve the changed management structure for continuing the business operation at the IT firm of Australia
• To realize the ‘long-term’ impact of the Covid-19 on the management of IT firm in Australia
• To restrict the duration of the research process for eight weeks to collect and analyze the data conveniently

4. Explanation of Applied 'Research' Method
The research methods applied are qualitative, secondary, and deductive.
4.1 Research Methods
The quantitative research method with the qualitative approach has some limitations in formulating accurate results [6]. A study of the data makes the current condition and possibilities useful to study the IT sector. The available data of business statistics of the IT sector shows that there has been a quantitative lack in the data analysis and in-time delivery generation from the first wave of the pandemic hit market. The qualitative method depends more on the comparison, employee’s experience, and opinion[7]. The question of employee experience and remote operation is therefore important in determining the qualitative aspect of the management strategy. The data gathering is secondary literature and customer reviews which reflect the qualitative aspect of the IT sector.

The secondary analysis process considered in the sustainability management assignment will be summarizing available data; the IT sector transformation can be clearly understood. The statistical data, available reports, and analysis it is important to critically analyze the position of the IT industry and its current crisis as well as possibilities[8].

The deductive approach will be imposed by narrowing down the available data of observations; the methods confirm what began as a general hypothesis[9]. Therefore, the subjective open-ended data available on the management condition of the IT sector is singled out to confirmed analysis which can be used to understand necessary changes in the management strategy.

4.2 Research Design
The study will be both review design and descriptive design in which the qualitative approach going to be used. The study will try to exam available documents for clarity and verification of facts on the IT industry. The qualitative approach will help in analyzing the publicly existing quantitative data related to the IT industry with various alternatives [10]. The review design will focus on the systematic secondary data processing by which the available literature on the Australian ITbusiness can be analyzed.

New sectors, especially the digital platform developments are now crucial for reaching and supplying the requirements. The changes in management strategy have reshaped the aims and objectives of the company. The sustainability has improved with online activities and digitalized display of operations [11]. The question of sustainability has become a matter of primary concern. Therefore, with the IT sector going online to serve the client's needs, the improvement in digital infrastructure, and other technical issues. The hassle-free management of the employees and improved ‘big data’ analysis and block-chain support need an all-over improvement of many sectors.

4.3 Data Collection and Sampling Process
By implementing stratified and clustered sampling techniques, the study aims at analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data for understanding the condition of the IT sector. The implemented process selects a stratum of the population and available data on their choice and opinion regarding the IT sector service. The secondary data is analyzed to understand the transition to understand the changes in management strategies. The current 'technology' era contains a vast number of data available in the public to conduct secondary analysis [12]. The pandemic scenario has introduced certain behavioral changes in the business operation practices that the data can be easily analyzed to reach a certain logical conclusion.

5. Literature Review on Interest Area Scopes
The sustainability management assignment utilized the words of Korpela, K, 2017 that a well-designed store of integrating blockchain in the mode of blocks are connected to one another utilizing a technique of cryptography making a distributed and digital ledger. The ledger may be verified and shared by anyone who is accessible in eliminating the requirement for costly verifications of third party. For the functioning of finance, the technological inferences are occupied with potential for cutting costs and increasing speed in various areas [13]. Perhaps it is the most significant elimination of the requirement of reconciling intercompany transaction and data records. It is because all the parties to the integration of block chainpossess accessibility to the similar ledger of digital inferences.

According to Deloitte Access Economics, Australian IT is facing its worst year on record. The lack of confidence shown by the consumer care support is definitely creating a sheer unpredictability of the situation. This Covid-19 pandemic has made a shift in the businessbehavior of the IT sector making them incline more towards virtual interaction process. There has been a documented rise in online IT market. But this also leaves the online portal's web platform exposed to the internet [14]. Also, because employees are becoming technology friendly day by day and with the current situation, the organizations are advised to invest more and more money in their technology in order to maintain the business activities. In this situation, physical and online IT professionals need to work hand in hand to incorporate a seamless brand experience for the clients. A large number of major IT companies have quickly adapted to the pandemic. In some countries, where no news of community transmission has been recorded which means flow of life is in a normal track with physical and online technological ledgers making business as usual.

According to Reyna. A, 2018, in some integration of the blockchain technology, the digital tokens represent various assets like cash as bitcoins. The survey of the PwC suggested that the Australian IT industries dealing with financial services are considered a leader in implementing the blockchain technology. Although, they represent blockchain integration in terms of assets involving finished goods, raw materials, and rights of membership. The platforms of ERP are the engines of all operation processes within the business structure and they are beginning to introduce the technology of blockchain into their system along with its big data analytics. Therefore, it is important to underline the main problems that the IT industry faces [15]. The local IT sector has already faced steep challenges from transnational brand giants who have equipped themselves with better technological skills and assistance. It has penetrated local markets in every country including Australia and has successfully developed its faithful customer base.

According to current report related to the IT sector and businesses considered to prepare this sustainability management assignment, the comparatively smaller venues sustained the storm quite well. Presently the clients are more likely to experience virtual meetings and interaction process with the management of an organization and they are also looking ways to promote sustainable businesses. As people were hit by pandemic, a special delivery system has been imposed by various IT organizations on behalf of IT professionals and in a tough time they have to adapt in order to sustain in the market and with this even grow further in the future [16]. The developing direction is its approach of maintaining focus on innovative development. With more technological improvement, it can reach both large number of employees as well as large number of system deliveries. Considering the case scenario explored in the sustainability management assignment, it can be stated that through the implementation of innovative marketing tactics and efficient handling of management, the IT industry can improve its sustainable business strategy. Proper implementation of social distancing and health guidelines can serve the attempts of efficiency. The pandemic condition has introduced certain possibilities for the retail sector, like customer dependency on application delivery, demand for availability of varied choices of products to choose from etcetera. Therefore, if the resources are going to be utilized properly, the IT sector will achieve a better environment.

According to Panarello, A, 2018, abstract IOT in blockchain integration may be defined as the interconnection of smart technological devices for collecting data and making important and logical decisions. The AI and the blockchain are the most disruptive technologies and it will be changing the way through which the people interact within the corporate Australian culture of the IT department [17]. The process includes big data analytics as it is the system of organizing, collecting, and analyzing huge databases for discovering patterns and other necessary information.

From the above analysis it can be determined that they want to take any opportunity, even one that has been represented by a crisis, and functions in creative way of solving problem for identifying radical new ways for utilizing technology in response to the situation. Social distancing and the requirement for self-quarantine have made consumers much more dependent on technology for basic jobs like employee management, effective communication, and staying in touch with friends and colleagues, and in a situation like this the industries who can use the platform of digital communication and digital advertising are in the position in terms of survival, if not thrive, during the pandemic and maybe even thrust the flow to the positive side of the ledger. The questions which therefore, which becomes most important are strategies of retaining employees, rearranging products to make them easily available to the clients, new delivery management and an overall management strategy to cope in the pandemic scenario. Therefore, as per the readings developed in the sustainability management assignment, it is important to underline the main problems that the IT industry faces. The local IT sector has already faced steep challenges from transnational brand giants who have equipped themselves with better technological skills and assistance. It has penetrated domestic markets in every country including Australia and has successfully developed its faithful customer base [18]. Therefore, the ones who depended on their office for business, needs to rethink better marketing strategy. And in order to achieve that, the small, medium and even large-scale companies of IT should co-operate in adapting the change and embracing the digital side of the structure of market for further development amid this pandemic.

6. Current Practices in Management Sector
6.1 Sustainable Management Process in ‘IT’ Industry
The IT sector needs to redraw its strategic plans to meet the patterns of demands arising in the present market. The strong connections with the client network would lead to the supply of a diversified variety of products which made the management pursue innovation. The developing direction is its approach to maintaining focus on innovative development. With more technological improvement, it can reach both a large number of projects as well as a large number of profits. The production industry has faced a 13.5% loss right after the 'pandemic' hit the world [19]. The implementation of innovative marketing tactics and efficient handling of management can improve its sustainable business strategy. Proper implementation of social distancing and health guidelines can serve the attempts of efficiency.

The pandemic condition has introduced certain possibilities for the IT sector, like employee enhancement on internet-led activities, andimportance in the availability of varied choices of applications to choose from. Therefore, if utilized properly, it can serve as profitable for the IT industry. Around the world, ITcompanieshave been exploring new ways to attract clients by repurposing operation generation and experiences. The uncertain impact of Covid-19 can lead the industry to face ‘economic’ depression [20].Australia is also on the road to a rapidly changing industrial landscape. And the experts had also said that with a given environment, this was bound to happen and the even worse situation could take place if IT companies do not adapt to the market. Thus, the sustainable management process in the IT industry can be achieved through the online establishment of the virtual business process.

6.2 ‘Long-term’ Management Goals
Long term management goals include various analyses based upon the ‘work-from-home’ establishment of the IT industry in terms of sustainability. It must include factors affecting the process must reduce the risk issues along with their mitigating factors. Other long-term sustainable goals include recycling of the operations and maintaining of the established goals by the company. It also includes economic loss in different industries [21]. Experts tend to believe that the post-pandemic environment will continue to use production technology solutions, giving manufacturers the chance to build their business channels and portals where they can directly connect with the investors to better the overall experience. The majority of employees under analysis have said that they tend to use effective internet connection to generate efficient works.

7. Research Gaps and Viewpoint Comparison
The sources consulted herein sustainability management assignment have discussed the conditions of the IT sector in Australia in length. But as the covid19 pandemic is an unprecedented historical event that we are still experiencing, less data is available regarding it. The worldwide IT operation has experienced a major shock with the corona pandemic with the decreasing ‘stock’ market [22]. From the production sector to the delivery section, major changes have taken place which needs to be analyzed and studied further. The pre covid19 environmental crisis that affected the IT sector also needs to be properly discussed and systematically analyzed. The research also found ample data on the functioning of the IT companies and its infrastructural developments but less on their technological initiatives and up-gradation efforts.

8. Real-World Implementation of Discussed Works
The attempts of sustainable business strategy in the IT sector mainly focused on efficient customer services. Therefore, the question of innovation and application creation with technological initiatives is now more relevant. The long-term management goals during the current Covid-19 situation will provide long-term economic, social, and behavioral changes [23]. The factor of recognizing the importance of e-commerce development and digital innovation was cognized after the big transnational corporate started penetrating the changes business structure. Therefore, it is essential to implement necessary technical up-gradation such as block-chain and 'big data' analysis to survive.

The increasing eco-friendly consciousness has given rise to a carbon-negative lifestyle. The essential business operationsneed the implementation of efficient technology changes and value generation. Whereas, the non-essential items needs major modifications to serve everyday life.Currently, it is uncertain in predicting the effects of the 'long-term' pandemic factor over the IT sector for Covid-19 [24]. Improvement of task distribution and direction is necessary to attract employees and improvework focus. The IT sector needs to redraw its strategic plans to meet the patterns of operations arising in the present business. The strong connections with the employees would lead to the supply of a diversified variety of applications which made the clientspursue innovation. The developing direction is its approach to maintaining focus on innovative development. With more technological improvement, it can reach both a large number of clients as well as a large number of possibilities. With the implementation of innovative business tactics and efficient handling of tasks, the IT industry can improve its sustainable business strategy. Proper implementation of social distancing and health guidelines can serve the attempts of efficiency. The Covid-19 has imposed long-term or short-term psychological impact on uncertain ‘career’ shock [25]. The pandemic condition has introduced certain possibilities for the IT sector, like employee dependency on online activities, demand for availability of ‘work-from-home’ facility, etcetera. Therefore, if utilized properly, it can serve as profitable for the IT industry.

The covid19 pandemic has proved not only to be a health crisis but also that of an economic crisis. The crisis has unfolded new patterns of demand and choices. The ‘socio-economic’ challenges increased after the Covid-19 in different areas and sectors [26]. The new working habits demand more digital efficiency and online interaction with easy management support. This altogether requires an evolved management strategy.The new strategy needs to address required innovative developments, improvement of digital infrastructure, and management supportive approach.

9. Conclusion
As the study build in this sustainability management assignment shows, the IT sector in Australia has transformed majorly to survive in the hanged situation after the pandemic scenario. The changed scenario has shifted the focus more towards sustenance and effective industry changes. Major changes that rearranged the structures of the business allover have also changed the very basic approaches of operational tactics. Due to the unprecedented economic crisis, the IT sector has faced steep challenges fromthe corporate sector, shareholders, and customers. To bridge the gap between business and operation, the IT sector still needs to further develop its strategies and implement them creatively. To retain its business activities, the potential partners need to level their standards with that of the global transnational companies.

Technological sophistication, block-chain, and 'big data' support, and application delivery service improvement is essential to survive the pandemic hit the market. As a result,big IT companies in Australia, such as 'Atlassian' have presented their business sustainable goals with their financial report to take extra precautions for facing any crucial time in the future similar to Covid-19. The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the business operations and the employees have been made to change their working pattern in this current environment making it even harder for the companies to attain a chance to retain their employees. Also, because employees are becoming technology active day by day and with the current situation, IT companies are advised to invest more and more money in their technical support team to retain business activities. To coexist in this situation, physical attendance should change into‘work-from-home’ temporarily to continue the work seamlessly without any interruption of the management and clients. Many major IT companies have quickly adapted to the pandemic.

More and more IT business analysis, data processing, and skill development is required to develop a management policy. The sustenance of business strategies, employees, and resources are the main factors concerning the restructuring of the management strategy. The slump in the IT sector in the pre covid19 scenario shows a sign of an already emerging aspect of concern. It is also stated in the sustainability management assignmentthat the aggressive business strategies of the online-based transnational companies have initiated an up-gradation for their employees to conduct the works efficiently. The IT sector has also, therefore, initiated a technological drive, such as block-chain technology implementation and ‘big data’ analysisintegration to cope up.

10. References
[1] M. Faria-e-Castro, "Fiscal policy during a pandemic," FRB St. Louis Working Paper, no. 2020-006, 2020.

[2] W. Ding, R. Levine, C. Lin and W. Xie, "Corporate immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic,sustainability management assignment" National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020.

[3] G. Andreadis and A. I. Q. Gámez, "Prospective analysis of the impact of a pandemic in Industry 4.0," in MATEC Web of Conferences, 2020.

[4] R. M. del Rio-Chanona, P. Mealy, A. Pichler, F. Lafond and D. Farmer, "Supply and demand shocks in the COVID-19 pandemic: An industry and occupation perspective," arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.06759, 2020.

[5] A. Goolsbee and C. Syverson, "Fear, lockdown, and diversion: Comparing drivers of pandemic economic decline 2020," National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020.

[6] A. Queirós, D. Faria and F. Almeida, "Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods," European Journal of Education Studies, 2017.

[7] W. A. Edmonds and T. D. Kennedy, An applied guide to research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, Sage Publications, 2016.

[8] V. Sherif, "Evaluating preexisting qualitative research data for secondary analysis," in Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 2018.

[9] H. Zalaghi and M. Khazaei, "The role of deductive and inductive reasoning in accounting research and standard setting,"sustainability management assignmentAsian Journal of Finance & Accounting, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 23-37, 2016.

[10] W. Greggs, T. Burns, P. Egeghy, M. R. Embry, P. Fantke, B. Gaborek, L. Heine, O. Jolliet, C. Lee and D. Muir, "Qualitative approach to comparative exposure in alternatives assessment," Integrated environmental assessment and management, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 880-894, 2019.

[11] M. A. Khan, "THE IMPACT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT STYLES ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: A CASE STUDY OF AN IT SERVICES COMPANY," International Journal of Project Management, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-9, 2020.

[12] M. P. Johnston, "Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come," Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 619-626, 2017.

[13] K. Korpela, J. Hallikas and T. Dahlberg, "Digital supply chain transformation toward blockchain integration," in proceedings of the 50th Hawaii international conference on system sciences, 2017.

[14] T. N. Dinh and M. T. Thai, "Ai and blockchain: A disruptive integration," Computer, vol. 51, no. 9, pp. 48-53, 2018.

[15] A. Reyna, C. Martín, J. Chen, E. Soler and M. Díaz, "On blockchain and its integration with IoT. Challenges and opportunities," Future generation computer systems, vol. 88, pp. 173-190, 2018.

[16] M. U. Hassan, M. H. Rehmani and J. Chen, "Privacy preservation in blockchain based IoT systems: Integration issues, prospects, challenges, and future research directions," Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 97, pp. 512-529, 2019.

[17] A. Panarello, N. Tapas, G. Merlino, F. Longo and A. Puliafito, "Blockchain and iot integration: A systematic survey," Sensors, vol. 18, no. 8, p. 2575, 2018.

[18] M. M. Queiroz, R. Telles and S. H. Bonilla, "Blockchain and supply chain management integration: A systematic review of the literature," Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 2019.

[19] M. McKee and D. Stuckler, "If the world fails to protect the economy, COVID-19 will damage health not just now but also in the future," Nature Medicine, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 640-642, 2020.

[20] S. Barua, "Understanding Coronanomics: The economic implications of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," SSRN Electronic Journal https://doi org/10/ggq92n, 2020.

[21] M. J. Cohen, Does the COVID-19 outbreak mark the onset of a sustainable consumption transition?, Taylor & Francis, 2020.

[22] S. Ramelli and A. Wagner, "What the stock market tells us about the consequences of COVID-19," Mitigating the COVID Economic Crisis: Act Fast and Do Whatever, p. 63, 2020.

[23] C. C. Naughton, "Will the COVID-19 pandemic change waste generation and composition?: The need for more real-time waste management data and systems thinking," Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, vol. 162, p. 105050, 2020.

[24] W. Leal Filho, L. L. Brandli, A. Lange Salvia, L. Rayman-Bacchus and J. Platje, "COVID-19 and the UN sustainable development goals: threat to solidarity or an opportunity?," Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 13, p. 5343, 2020.

[25] J. Akkermans, J. Richardson and M. Kraimer,sustainability management assignmentThe Covid-19 crisis as a career shock: Implications for careers and vocational behavior, Elsevier, 2020.

[26] M. Nicola, Z. Alsafi, C. Sohrabi, A. Kerwan, A. Al-Jabir, C. Iosifidis, M. Agha and R. Agha, "The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review," International journal of surgery (London, England), vol. 78, p. 185, 2020.