Sustainability Assessment Report: Timberwell Constructions

Question

Assessment Description: You are required to watch the following YouTube clips from the GRI Secretariat

1. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards: The Future of Reporting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGqE4OO0_7g&t=3s
2. Introducing the GRI Standards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDe8Kkh1BrU&t=2s

You must also read the case study below based on fictional company Timberwell Constructions

You must then prepare a sustainability assessment report for Timberwell Constructions referring to the Consolidated Set of GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 2016 that specifically addresses:

A. Economic sustainability

1. Disclosure 201-2 Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to climate change
2. Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken
3. Disclosure 206-1 Legal actions for anti-competitive behaviour, anti-trust, and monopoly practices

B. Environmental sustainability

1. Disclosure 302-1 Energy consumption within the organisation
2. Disclosure 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity
3. Disclosure 307-1 Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations

C. Social sustainability

1. Disclosure 401-1 New employee hires and employee turnover
2. Disclosure 406-1 Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken
3. Disclosure 413-1 Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments, and development programs

You will be required to include a minimum of 15 references in your Sustainability Assessment Report at least 5 of which must come from academic journals or textbooks

Answer

Introduction
Sustainability Assessment is one of the most crucial and appraised method that is required to be undertaken by an organisation for the purpose of efficient decision making in all aspects which includes environmental, economic and that of social (Almahmoud and Doloi., 2015 ). With the assistance of the method of sustainability assessment the accomplishment of the future objectives and the necessary decisions to be integrated to achieve the same becomes clear. As has been mentioned by Hacking that sustainability assessment is that particular tool the application of which renders new opportunities to be explored and thereby planning in a way that would render that reaches the outcome of overall sustainable development. Making the desired level of contribution and planning to achieve the goals and standards it is very necessary for an enterprise to look on to its negative impact in the overall economy as well. In this assignment the preparation of sustainability assessment report of the chosen organisation that is Timberwell Constructions would be carried out in conformity to the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards of 2016 and thereby develop an effective strategy to cover its operational and administrative loopholes (Arroyo, 2017).

Background/ organisational overview
The Timberwell construction operates within the building industry of Stanwell council district and is mainly engaged with the purpose of constructing complexes and apartments. The working population within the organisation depicts that it employs approximately 58 male staffs that are already associated with different forms of construction related works and professions. This makes sure that the organisation is having the necessary and desired amount of knowledgeable and efficient workforce (Kibert, 2016). Although the industry in which the workers or the staffs are employed is highly competitive in nature and the need of good workers is too high. Since recently Timberwell constructions have lost almost 17 of its employees to other rivalries while some were of the opinion of starting their own business so the organisation had recruit 12 more apprentices. The sustainability assessment reports of Timberwell would be conducted based on three perspectives that is Economic, Environmental and that of social (Cho et al., 2015. ).

For the purpose of preparing the sustainability Assessment report the foremost task of an organisation is to identify the stakeholders or the groups that are required to be targeted and analysed. After conducting the desired analysis of the groups interested or benefitted from the organisational work are required to be instilled with a common understanding of accomplishing the goal of sustainable performance. In accordance to the case study that has been provided it can be stated that Timberwell Construction has been facing large number of issues and problems within its internal structure that requires being managed first in order assess its sustainability reports (Di Fabio, 2017 ). The stakeholders that involved in the business operation of Timberwell Construction includes the first and the most important being the customers, secondly the subcontractors, suppliers, workers and that of the government. Raising the standard of awareness amongst the stakeholders is the first component towards the procurement of sustainability report. One off the important aspect of achieving success within any particular industry is to raise the level of satisfaction of the stakeholders involved within the business (Y?lmaz and Bak??, 2015). In this regard it can be stated that Timberwell has hiked the rates of payment of the employees and workers and has also attached other basic facilities with the objective of retaining the workers from getting drifted. In addition to this the newly rendered facilities has also acted in a way of lifting the level of motivation of the workers and become more engaged with the objectives of the organisation.

Assessment of Social Sustainability
In accordance to the GRI Sustainability reporting standard of 2016 within Disclosure 401-1 explanation in relation to the hiring of new employees and that of the turnovers have been included (Pintér et al., 2018 ). While reporting of the sustainability assessment would be carried out by an organisation then the total number of employees that have been hired along with the hiring rate should be mentioned. In addition to this the rate of employee turnover within the organisation shall also be presented that would include the age, gender and region of the employees as well.

The main objective of this disclosure is to ascertain the strength and intensity of an organisation to recruit and retain the workforces that are diverse in nature (Ma, 2017). If the rates of turnovers within an organisation are very high then it depicts the existing amount of uncertainty and dissatisfaction that presides over the working force of the same. Since bulk of staff members are leaving Timberwell Construction so the organisation has recently recruited 12 new apprentices. In addition to this the enterprise was already pursuing the principle of employing workers having varied knowledge in construction industry. But apart from this there is the need to incorporate in initiatives and practices that assists in the process of recruiting workforce from diverse backgrounds, age and region. This ensures reduction in the level of discrimination or any other form of organisational attitudes that are not inconformity of the same (Myers, 2016).

In accordance to the GRI 406 -1 disclosure thee issues relating to the incidents of discrimination and the disciplinary actions that are undertaken for the same is being inscribed. The main purpose behind the inclusion of this disclosure is to abstain an organisation to indulge in or entertain any act of discrimination within its boundary (Manetti and Bellucci, 2016). The disclosure also makes sure that any form of harassment within the organisation will also be included within the perspective of discrimination off the employees. As has been reported in the case scenario provided that Timberwell has been alleged of the commission of workplace harassment by one of its employees named Dennis McCabe. The allegation put forth states that the complainant has been subjected to discriminatory treatment by his co workers based on his age as he was of almost 50 yrs. in order to eradicate the occurrence of any such issue in future Timberwell has been instructed in updating its policy that relates to anti discriminatory practices. In addition to this the organisation has also incorporated in techniques and initiatives of raising the level of awareness amongst its workers relating to discriminatory activities and deterring them from conducting as such. Separate council and department would be further developed by the concerned organisation with the objective of taking prompt actions against the complaints and that of taking stringent actions against the offenders (Howarth and Greenwood, 2017).

As per the GRI Standards disclosure 413-1 states about the operations and the initiatives that are being taken for engaging the local community and that of undertaking different forms of developmental activities (Lozano et al., 2016 ). Understanding the needs and expectations of the current community is one of the major aspects of impacting positively the society. Avoidance and the removal of negative impacts over the local communities require to be undertaken by an organisation. In respect of Timberwell Construction it can be stated that due to the lodging of different number of allegations against the same and thereby improving its level of performance and social impact the same launched media relations campaign. Within the third media release it has been decided by the organisation that considerable amount of investment would be made in relation to the perspective of formulating Social Development programs. These programs would initiate the process of proposing necessary amount residential developments within the specified locality. In addition to this the local community development programs initiated by the organisation would also target the basic needs and requirements of the local community and thereby make the availability of affordable housing complex to the population (Pérez?López et al., 2015).

Assessment of Economic Sustainability
GRI Disclosure 201- 2 deals with the objective of understanding the financial implications and the risks or that might be generated due to any form of climatic alterations. Based on the type of risk faced by an organisation while operating, requires them to adopt newer strategies and acquire financial investments that would assist them in the process of accomplishing their objectives in a sustainable manner. Based on the case study provided it can be stated that one of the development site of Timberwell construction ion the stanwell District is based within the area that has been marked as bushfire prone based on the Local environmental plan requires to be rezoned. Due to the promulgation of the new regulation and complying with the same would cost Timberwell approx 4 million. In order to deal with the same the organisation has engaged in an external town planning firm that would be charging almost $50,000 for the services. In addition to this the firm has been agreed upon to work in conformity to the stanwell council with the objective of reducing the estimated cost of compliance (Diouf and Boiral, 2017).

The GRI Disclosure 205- 3 states about the conformation of incidents that are corruptive in nature and the necessary action undertaken to combat the same. With this form of disclosures the risk assessments for an organisation becomes clear and thereby provide the required assistance in designing and implementation of the policies and procedures that are being made. In respect of Timberwell construction it can be stated that an allegation in respect of public corruption scandal was being made involving five of its employees and that of two of the business partners within the same. Offering of bribes were being made to gain the approval of the council by the culprits. As an action against the same Timberwell has suspended two of its employees and severed the partnership contracts within the same. In addition to this implementation of the code of conduct and practices have also been done to ensure that no such further corruptive practices are being undertaken within the same (Myers, 2016).

In relation to the aspect of anti competitive behaviour it can be stated that the GRI Disclosure 206-1 specifies about the aspect of mentioning legal actions that are pending before the filing of sustainability report (Lozano et al., 2016). The disclosure of the same provides the measures and policies that are being taken with the objective of controlling the impacts relating to anti competitive behaviour. The case study that has been provided for Timberwell construction demonstrates that ACCC has alleged the same for anticompetitive conducts and that of misuse of market power. The future strategies that would be undertaken by the enterprise involve about conducting the external environmental analysis of the market and thereby develop strategies in consistency with the profile and objectives of the organization. Secondly investing more on achievement of long term objectives, thirdly the legislations and regulations that are being drafted in relation to the anti competitive practices would be fully complied with to ensure no arising of liability in this regard.

Assessment of environmental sustainability As per the GRI Disclosure 304-2 reports relating to the significant impacts of activities or the products and services that are being rendered on the existing biodiversity of the area. With the inclusion of this disclosure an organisation would be able to understand the motive behind the development strategies that would reduce the level of negative impact on the biodiversity. In this regard it can be stated that Timberwell was being fined with almost $200,000 due to the clearing of 0.45 hectares of grasslands that was actually an endangered community coastal lands. In order to avoid any further actions similar too this that has the potential of putting a negative impact on the environmental standards reviewing and necessary amendments of the external vegetative management plans have been made (Traxler et al., 2018. ). All the necessary environmental standards and regulations before undertaking or converting any area in to a developmental site would be carried out. In addition to this in corroboration with the stanwell council the organisation is further developing strategies that would conserve the natural habitats as well as continuance with the proposed development can also be done. Timberwell Constructions case study assignments are being prepared by our management assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help online service.

Conclusion
At the end of this report it can be construed that the construction processes and the building industry does has the potential of impacting upon the global environment one way or the other. The above mentioned discussion states about the impacts of such a construction company in regard to social, economic and environmental in conformity to the GRI standards which provides for a wholesome overview and analysis of the same.

References
1. Almahmoud, E. and Doloi, H.K., 2015. Assessment of social sustainability in construction projects using social network analysis. Facilities, 33(3/4), pp.152-176.

2. Arroyo, P., 2017. A new taxonomy for examining the multi-role of campus sustainability assessments in organizational change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, pp.1763-1774.

3. Cho, C.H., Laine, M., Roberts, R.W. and Rodrigue, M., 2015. Organized hypocrisy, organizational façades, and sustainability reporting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 40, pp.78-94.

4. Di Fabio, A., 2017. The psychology of sustainability and sustainable development for well-being in organizations. Frontiers in psychology, 8, p.1534.

5. Diouf, D. and Boiral, O., 2017. The quality of sustainability reports and impression management: A stakeholder perspective. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 30(3), pp.643-667.

6. Howarth, T. and Greenwood, D., 2017. Construction quality management: Principles and practice. Routledge.

7. Kibert, C.J., 2016. Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley & Sons.

8. Lozano, R., Nummert, B. and Ceulemans, K., 2016. Elucidating the relationship between sustainability reporting and organisational change management for sustainability. Journal of cleaner production, 125, pp.168-188.

9. Ma, U., 2017. No waste: managing sustainability in construction. Routledge.

10. Manetti, G. and Bellucci, M., 2016. The use of social media for engaging stakeholders in sustainability reporting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 29(6), pp.985-1011.

11. Myers, D., 2016. Construction economics: A new approach. Routledge.

12. Pérez?López, D., Moreno?Romero, A. and Barkemeyer, R., 2015. Exploring the relationship between sustainability reporting and sustainability management practices. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(8), pp.720-734.

13. Pintér, L., Hardi, P., Martinuzzi, A. and Hall, J., 2018. Bellagio STAMP: Principles for sustainability assessment and measurement. In Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators (pp. 51-71). Routledge.

14. Traxler, A.A., Greiling, D. and Hebesberger, H., 2018. GRI Sustainability Reporting by INGOs: A Way Forward for Improving Accountability?. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, pp.1-17.

15. Y?lmaz, M. and Bak??, A., 2015. Sustainability in construction sector. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, pp.2253-2262.