Sustainable Business Practices Assignment: Construction Sector of Australia

Question

Task:In order to successfully complete Assessment 2, you are required to carry out the investigation you have proposed in Assessment 1 and produce a professional research report that shows that you have followed through from finding a research question to answering that question and developing recommendations that arise from your findings. The report will follow the typical structure of a research report and will need to include the following:

• Project title
• Introduction (which must include some justification of your topic and your project's aim and research question(s))
• Critical literature review
• A detailed presentation of how you carried out your project (commensurate with a 'Methods' chapter)
• Findings from your secondary data analysis
• Discussion of findings in light of your previously reviewed literature
• Conclusion, including recommendations and limitations

Answer

Chapter 1: Introduction
In the first chapter of the sustainable business practices assignment, a brief study of the topic has been given. The sustainable practices that are presently used in the construction sector of Australia have been highlighted in this file. In addition to this, the objectives, aims and the research questions have also been drafted.

1.1 Background of the Study: The use of sustainable practices in business has been a topic of interest for the last few years in the decade. More companies are being aware about the positive aspects of using sustainable practices in their business. The construction sectors as well as the companies are adapting sustainable measures so that environment friendly approaches can be inculcated in the business.

1.2 Rationale of the Study: The issue that has been focused in this sustainable business practices assignment is the use of sustainable practices in the construction sector of Australia. Including sustainable practices in business is very important in the current scenario as the non-renewable energy is being depleted. The pollution caused due to the various activities of the construction sector is harming the environment and thus implementation of sustainable practices is very important. Involving sustainable practices in the construction sector is important in the present scenario because most of the fossil fuels are being over-utilised.

1.3 Research Aim: The aim of this research sustainable business practices assignment is to study the causes and the impact of the sustainable practices on the construction sector of Australia.

1.4 Research Objectives: The objectives of this research project are as follows:

• To understand the process of sustainable development within the construction sector of Australia
• To comprehend the impact of the sustainable practices in the construction companies of Australia
• To evaluate the sustainable practices those are taking shape in Australia’s construction sector.

1.5 Research Questions: The research questions required for this project are as follows:

• What are the processes that are involved in the construction sector in Australia?
• What are the impacts of the sustainable practices in the construction companies?
• What is the nature of the sustainable practices that prevails in the construction sector of Australia?

1.5 Structure of the Project:

Figure 1: Structure of the Dissertation
(Source: Created by the learner)

Chapter 2: Literature Review2.0 Introduction: An evaluation and research on the available literature for the provided topic that is the sustainable practices within Australian construction companies and their causes and impacts for this sustainable business practices assignment fall under the term literature review. The documentation of the state of the art with respect to the topic of the sustainable business practices assignment is written. The literature review has objectives that include literature survey of the topic, information synthesizes of the researched literature into a summary, critical analyses regarding the identification of the gaps in the gathered information, and an organized presentation of the literature.

2.1 Sustainable development within a construction company: According to Mottaeva, (2016), the ability of earth for the sustaining of life is gradually eroding since the revolution of the industry is resulting in the planet’s irreversible degradation along with the resources, ecosystems and the life qualities of the inhabitants in the near future. The definition of sustainable development is the development, which satisfies the needs of the current situation of the environment without harming the future generation abilities to complete their own needs. In the words of Cainelli et al., (2015) development requires various activities in the different industry sectors. The influence of the construction industry is considered the highest amongst the various industries on the rates of the environment. A careful examination of the industry of construction is essential to minimize its influence on the environment. In order to minimize the influence of sustainable construction affected the industry. As stated by Kibert (2016) sustainable construction falls under the term sustainable development. In order to understand the needs of sustainable construction, it is vital to understand the term construction. The process of planning the operations of an on-site building which leads to the real activity along with the activities after site-building like asset management and commissioning together define the term construction. The description that indicates the responsibilities of the industry of construction towards sustainability defines sustainable construction.

The term sustainability circles around four factors to simplify the sustainable construction concept. These factors include economic, biophysical, social, and technical. Sustainable construction must contribute to a healthy environment that is efficient in resources and its principles are based on the ecological factors. As stated by Ching (2014) sustainable construction must maintain the service of a building throughout its possible lifetime along with the gradual deconstruction and resources recycling to minimize the stream of waste that occurs during demolition. Therefore, sustainable construction is the responsibility and creation of a built environment that is healthy and is efficient in resources along with ecological principles.

2.2 Impact of the sustainable development: According to Akadiri et al., (2012) one of the industries that contribute the most towards employment, investment, and GDP contribution in developed or developing countries is the industry of construction. The negative impact on the environment through this industry is related to loss of wild lands, forests, soil, agricultural lands, energy resources that are non-renewable, and minerals along with the factor of air pollution. The definitions provided above regarding sustainable construction have a direction towards the creation of a built environment that is healthy through efficiency in resources and stable processes that are ecological. In the words of Sorvig, (2018) sustainable construction is involved in order to minimize the negative impact of the usual construction processes on the environment. Realizing the energy relevance of the energies that are renewable regarding the sun, wind, water, tides, and the current thermal or biomass is increasing significantly in the society in order to enhance the life quality, poverty reduction rates, and sustainable development (GhaffarianHoseini et al., 2013). Through sustainable development, the construction companies in Australia are aiming to build an efficient in resources and ecological sound construction environment. This has a positive impact socially and environmentally. These approaches to sustainable development towards sustainable construction cater not only to the benefits of the business but also to its impact on the environment, the world, and its communities. The sustainable technologies aid the construction companies to minimize their operation costs regarding the building that also has an outcome of greater efficiency in energies.

2.3 Sustainable practices developed by the Australian construction companies: In the recent years, the Australian construction companies are following some international rating tools like LEED-homes and BREEAM. Along with these rating tools, they adopted rating tools that are locally developed like the Green Star and EnviroDevelopement (Lu, et al, 2016). While the rating tools like Green Star, LEED-homes, and BREEAM are used in the design, operations, and constructions, EnviroDevelopment focuses more on the development of the residential land (Wong et al., 2015). In order to understand the contribution of these rating tools towards a sustainable construction industry, it is essential to discuss each of the rating tools. However, the literature review of this report will discuss one of the tools adopted by the Australian construction companies. The UK building research establishment created a rating tool specifically for buildings for construction companies all over the world namely BREEAM. This tool evaluates the performance of the environment of a building that leads to the establishment of the building standards regarding design, operations, and constructions. It motivates the designers and the clients at the construction company to adopt low carbon designs with minimized effects on the environment (John Wiley.Holz et al., 2015). Its code for sustainable construction focuses on the sustainable elements, which are spread over nine categories that include water, minerals, waste, wellbeing and health, run-off of surface water, carbon dioxide emissions and energy. It has another three flexible requirements regarding management, pollution, and ecology. The assessment for this rating tool is done in two stages that are the design stage and the stage post construction. The design stage is evaluated using documentary evidence whereas the post-construction stage is evaluated using visual inspection and site records. An overall evaluation is conducted after considering the values of both the evaluation stages.

2.4 Research gap: From the above discussion, the definition of sustainable development in sustainable construction is illustrated but it could go through further research to improve the clarity on the subject. Further discussion on the rating tools is essential in order to select the best method for future construction activities and operations. A comparison of the rating tools could aid the Australian construction companies to follow the best method for their future projects.

2.5 Summary: The literature review carried out in this section discusses the sustainable development within construction companies in the current times along with a research on its impact on the present environmental situation. After understanding the concept of sustainable development, the literature review discusses the rating tools used by the Australian construction companies to cater to the needs of the sustainably sound environment in the construction industry.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.0 Introduction: Research methodology is conducted through data and information collection regarding the aims and objectives of the project in focus. The process of research methodology includes surveys, interviews, publication research along with various research techniques that consist of historical or current information.

3.1 Research Philosophy: The research philosophy is the method applied for analyzing, gathering, and utilizing a piece of information or data. There are two distinct approaches to research philosophy namely positivism and interpretivism. A researcher approaching the project like a positivist has a belief that the stability of the reality can be described and observed from the viewpoint of the objective. A researcher approaching the project like an interpretive believes that the stability of the reality can be interpreted through intervention and subjective interpretation in the real world. This sustainable business practices assignment follows the positivism approach for research philosophy.

3.2 Research design: The systematic approaches for researchers in order to conduct their respective studies for the project are termed as research design. There are two kinds of research design namely exploratory research and conclusive research. Exploratory research has a general insight to a situation along with data needs and sources that are vague. The form for the data collection is open-ended along with subjective samples and flexible and informal data analysis and collection followed by tentative recommendations (Marczyk et al., 2017). This project will use the exploratory research design to evaluate the current situation of the sustainable development in the Australian construction companies along with its causes and impacts.

3.3 Research approach: Various kinds of research approach include deductive, inductive, and abductive research approaches. This project will use the inductive research approach, which has an inductive inference with familiar premises that are used for the generation of untested conclusions. The information in this approach generalizes the specific information. The data collection method is utilized for process exploration, patterns and themes identification along with the creation of a conceptual framework. Lastly, it builds and generates the theory required to attain the objective of the project.

3.4 Data collection methods: Secondary data collection method and primary data collection are the two essential types of data collection methods. This project idea will apply the primary data collection method that uses various data analysis techniques to collect the information for the research for the project.

3.5 Data analysis methods: This chapter of the project research requires the data analysis techniques used to collect the various types of data for the research. The main data analysis techniques are quantitative and qualitative data analyses. The quantitative data analysis includes interpretation and a critical analysis of the numbers and figures collected for the research. The qualitative data analysis requires data from experiments and interviews that support the objective of the research for the specified project (Neuman, 2013).

3.6 Research limitations: Research limitation is required in order to identify the limitations arising in the research of the project. The research limitation is generated based on the research aims and objectives formulation, data collection methods implementations, sample size, discussion scope, and the lacks of the studies conducted previously in the area of research.

3.7 Timeline: A Gantt chart will be generated to mark the time required in order to carry out every step in the research project.

Table 1: Gantt chart for research of the project
(Source: Created by learner)

Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis
4.0 Thematic analysis: A thematic analysis will be conducted in this chapter. Three themes have been selected after thoroughly going through the literature review drafted in chapter 2 of this project. The first theme that has been chosen for the thematic analysis of this research project, is the research on the findings that have been done before on the project related to the projects of sustainable construction. The second theme of the project deals with sustainable strategies that are implemented in the construction industry. Various strategies have been discussed in theme two of the chapter 4. The third theme of the thematic analysis deals with the perception of the managers appointed in the construction sector. The perception of managers have been analysed that gives the researchers a better insight about the perception of the managers.

4.0.1 Theme 1-Findings on the research done on the Sustainable Construction Projects: After research on the sustainable construction projects in Australia, many findings came out on the forefront. In the sustainable construction industry, seven financial stakeholders are present in Australia. First is the insurance companies and banks, next the project developers, the housing companies and property companies, managers of the real estate investment companies, private and individual investors and the government (Fellows & Liu, 2015). The authors who have penned down their opinions on this topic have said that many of the financial institutes in the country have been engaged in the development of brining in sustainable practices in the construction sector of Australia. However, the knowledge of the financial institutions on the construction sector remains limited (Kivilä, Martinsuo & Vuorinen, 2017). The present financial stakeholders in the particular industry are not yet enabled with the practices that are ongoing in the construction sector of Australia. In the current scenario of Australia, it has also been noticed that the private investment companies are keener on developing sustainable practices for the construction companies. The finance made on the construction sector of Australia regarding the sustainable practices has also seen examples of over-investment. This is sheer waste of financial resources of the company. Finances that made to the development of the sustainable practices in the construction sector have also witnessed some barriers (Udawatta et al., 2015)

The barriers that have been faced are lack of consistent financing, split incentives, the data analysis done and the interpretations that re made are not accurate, and there is lack of knowledge among the financers regarding the best practices that can be adopted. The barrier regarding split incentives is a general barrier that is faced by the organization that are adapting to sustainable practices in their construction companies. The data analysis is not accurate and this comes as a very big problem that results into over-investment in the various organization of the construction sector.

4.0.2 Theme 2- Implementation of Sustainable Strategies: Some multi-disciplinary approaches need to be adapted in order to bring sustainability in the construction industry. The strategies that need to be adapted should be directed to energy conservation, the method to use the materials should be improved. The wastage of material should me minimalized. In addition to this, emissions and pollution causing activities should be controlled. The activities of the construction sector in Australia can be controlled so that it can reduce the environmental damage causing to the society in various ways (Kibert, 2016). Resource conservation is one of the basic strategies that need to be implemented in the construction sector of Australia in order to bring in sustainable practices to the organization. The construction companies in Australia should decrease the use of exhaustive resources in its operations. On the other hand, it should look into the fact that solar panels need to be installed in the construction firms so that the energy requirements can be met via the renewable sources of energy (Ruparathna & Hewage, 2015). The vital objective of energy conservation is to use the fossil fuels in the least amount possible. This also aims at maximum use of renewable energy resources. The construction method and the materials that have been chosen should reduce the energy that is being consumed. The materials that have low embodies energy should be chosen. The building envelope should be insulated. This creates a big impact on the expenditure made on the energy requirement. Heat loss and draughts can be eliminated using the strategy of air-tightness. Construction of the buildings should be done is such a way that the ceiling and the floors should be insulated (Aarseth et al., 2017).

Recycling of materials used in the construction sector will also help in energy conservation. The transportation system should be designed in such a way that the intensity of energy use is the lowest.

4.0.3 Theme 3- The perception of the construction managers on the on the various aspects sustainability in the construction sector:The perception of the leaders as well as the managers is responsible for shaping the working environment of the organization. Therefore, the perception of the managers needs to be investigated so that their perception on the sustainable practices used in the construction sector can be analysed (Walker, 2015). The study done in the literature review reveals the fact that the perception of the construction managers creates an impact on the sustainability practices used by the organization. The managers look into the fact that sustainable practices are followed in the construction organization based in Australia. When construction organization adapts sustainable practices in the organization, a good brand image is created for the organization among the potential consumers. The managers in the construction organizations in Australia look for various sustainable practices that can adapted. Using of energy efficient techniques in the construction process brings in sustainability in the sector. The managers of the organization should concentrate on bring in solar panels on the construction sites so that the energy requirements could be meant (Azhar, Khalfan, & Maqsood, 2015). It was investigated that construction managers are keen towards implementing sustainable processes in the construction practices. On the other hand, the construction companies are heavily concentrating the drivers that are related to the sustainable development of the construction sector on. It is of vital importance for the construction managers to understand the concepts of sustainability in order to have a clear perception of the sustainable practices (Charles Jr, Schmidheiny & Watts, 2017).

Chapter 5: conclusion and recommendation
5.0 Conclusion: This sustainable business practices assignment had heavily focussed in the implementation of the sustainable strategies in business. The causes and the impacts of the sustainable practices have also been highlighted. A thematic analysis done in this project has given the researcher detailed notions about the causes and the impacts of the sustainable practices. A thorough understanding of the research project will also give the researcher various insights on the sustainable practices practiced in the construction sector of Australia. Sustainable business practices assignments are being prepared by our business assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable online assignment help service.

5.1 Recommendations
After completion of the research project, some recommendations can be provided regarding the topic of the project. The recommendations that are provided in this sustainable business practices assignment are as follows:

• The construction companies in Australia should concentrate on implementing sustainable strategies in the construction procedures
• The managers of the construction companies should be keen on developing strategies for the organization that will help the company to upgrade itself for various sustainable practices
• The implementation of the sustainable strategies is helping the construction companies in Australia to decrease the impact of the practices in the construction company.

5.2 Linking with the objectives : The objectives that have been drafted in the sustainable business practices assignment have been linked with the literature review presented in the chapter 2. Many of the strategies implemented in the construction sector have been specified in the thematic analysis. The impact of the strategies have been discussed in the literature review portion.

5.3 Future scope of the study: The future scope of the sustainable business practices assignment is huge. As technology is advancing, the scope of using sustainable practices in the construction sector is also increasing. The researcher have the scope to survey various other construction companies in order to again in-depth knowledge about the various other emerging sustainable practices in the construction sector of Australia.

Reference List
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Aarseth, W., Ahola, T., Aaltonen, K., Økland, A., & Andersen, B. (2017). Project sustainability strategies: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), 1071-1083.

Azhar, S., Khalfan, M., & Maqsood, T. (2015). Building information modelling (BIM): now and beyond. Construction Economics and Building, 12(4), 15-28.

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