BHP Billiton's Strategy: Decision Application for Sustainability

This report delves into BHP Billiton's efforts to enhance environmental sustainability through strategic decision-making. It identifies the company's challenges as one of the world's largest mining corporations facing increasing environmental awareness and scrutiny. The report outlines a series of actions, including assessments of internal and external environmental factors, analysis of the current situation, and the creation of key performance indicators to monitor progress. It also discusses the importance of brainstorming techniques in the decision-making process, highlighting the benefits of collecting diverse viewpoints, critical thinking, teamwork, and effective decision-making. The report emphasizes that by evaluating and analyzing the action plan, BHP Billiton can effectively manage its environmental impact, remove operational barriers, and achieve its sustainability goals, contributing to a pollution-free environment.

ASSIGNMENT 2: DECISION APPLICATION

Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Problem Brief.............................................................................................................................2
Actions for the problem.............................................................................................................2
Decision making.........................................................................................................................5
Comparison of group and individuals........................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Decision making process is one of the most important procedures that an entrepreneur must
have in order to stay stable in the current volatile market environment. It has been seen that
decision making procedure undertaken by teams are more efficient in comparison to
individual decision making process as there are different thoughts and ideas which are
included in the decision made for solving a particular situation or problem. It can be said
decision-making process is the bedrock based on which teams or companies can build up
their future and mitigate the existing problems to achieve sustainable development. In this
assignment there will Discussion about increasing the environment sustainability of the
organization named BHP Billiton headquartered in Melbourne, Australia this the organization
in which the team is working in order to make sure that effective decision are taken that the
comes out of its currency problem.
Problem Brief
BHP Billiton is one of the most successful mining company all around the world and is also
known as world’s largest mining company. The following is situated in Australia and
operates worldwide. It can be said that the company has been successful in operating in
different parts of the world and uses high technologies in the mining procedures. Now it can
be said that the firm is operating in the mining industry that is the second most polluting
industries in the world. It is not different that the mining activity of BHP Billiton produces
pollutants harmful for the environment of the place where it is operating in. Environmental
awareness has been increasing in the modern day people are giving stress to maintain the
ecological balance in order to survive in the future years. It is correct to preserve the
environment as it's the most important element which human on earth will need for their
ranking. Recently BHP Billiton was ranked 20th in most polluting companies in the world
which is concerning factor for the company (Azadnia et al. 2015). The company has been
facing problems in terms of maintaining environmental sustainability in there operational
procedure. Thus it has affect the image and brand of the organization and causes problem to
company. Hence, the company has decided to make the organization more environmentally
sustainable.
Actions for the problem
The above stated problem shows that BHP Billiton has been facing problems regarding
controlling and managing environmental hazards created through there operational process
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which has failed the company to be environmentally sustainable. It can be said that
controlling pollution and hazards created through them is a complex process but in order
achieve sustainability in the procedure it is very important that the company implements
proper controls and takes effective decision which helps the organization on making effective
interventions for controlling the following phenomenon. The company will address the
concerned problem by complying with measures mentioned under environmental
sustainability model internationally as this will help the organization to get success. Now in
order to get success effective decision-making process is needed which will help the firm to
decide whether which models will be the most suitable for the company (Betsch, 2014). The
concerned company will take decision based on critical evaluation of issues prevailing the
operational procedure of the company after which the decision making process will formulate
action plans on the concerned issues in widespread systematic manner which will help the
firm to achieve success of sustaining environmental development of the company. The major
action plan that addresses the following issue will include the following:
Assessment of Internal environment and factors
Assessment of internal environment is one of the core elements which is included in the
decision making process. It can be said that decision making team will first assess the internal
operational environment of the company and technologies used by the company to decide on
how to optimize pollution created through the operational activities of the company (Block et
al. 2016). Internal checkups of the machinery used by the company and the process used by
the company will be done to collect necessary information in order to get a proper result. As
it can be said, old machinery in the company is liable to produce more pollution compared to
new and high -tech machinery. It can be said that the use of old machineries will checked to
ensure on how much the pollutant are produced through the aspect of the production in the
company. Other pollution checkups for internal operational activities of the firm will be done
to ensure that the waste production of the company is adequate and under the pollution
norms. Evaluation of the internal factors will help the management of the firm to collect
essential information helping the organization to make effective decision in benefit of the
company’s goal (Davis, 2014).
Assessment of external environment and factors
After the assessment of the internal factors, there will be a critical discussion over the
external factors affecting the pollution rates of the company and what are external operations
the company has undertaken for the benefit of the environment. Assessment of key process
undertaken by the company for the environment will be assessed as it will help the
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organization to know the effectiveness of the this procedure in terms of maintaining
company’s environmental sustainability. Evaluation of environmental procedure undertaken
by the company in various like planting trees and maintenance of waste management will be
analyzed to verify company’s efficiency in terms of creating a pollution free environment.
This help the management in formulating effective information which will tend to help the
management in taking appropriate decision in the future of the organization. Identification of
key external barriers that are affecting the procedures will help the management to develop
effective mitigation plan helping the firm to overcome these barriers (Giebels et al. 2015).
Analysis of the current situation of the firm
Before making any essential decision, it is very important that management of the company
overlook the current situation of the company. It should look the current policies and
procedures implemented by the company as this will help the firm to have general overlook
on what the weakness and requirement will be needed by the company in order to better the
situation. It can be said that current situation of the company is poor in terms of environment
developments so the team will evaluate the weakness in the current policies and procedures
undertaken by the company to better them. The team will also determine the amount of
financial resources required by the company to better there situations.
Creating key performance indicators
Key performance indicators are milestones that are created by organization to indicate the
performance of the company in the recent time. This will be a quantifiable measure through
which performance of the company based on the implemented plan can measured. it can also
be said that setting up KPI will help the management of the firm to analyze key barriers in the
action plan. The key performance indicators that will be set by the company are as follows:
1. Decrease in emissions to air: Decrease in emission of green houses gases, carbon and
other harmful pollutants in air will mark the successful performance of the company.
2. Decrease emission to water: Decrease in emission of pesticides fertilizers, metal
emissions and organic pollutants will market success of the firm.
3. Decrease in emission to land: Decrease emission of radioactive waste, acids and
organic pollutant will embark the success of the company in terms of controlling land
pollution.
4. Decrease in usage of scarce resources: Optimization of the use of scarce resources
like coal, water and oil will embark the success of the company in terms of managing
use of scarce resources.
Evaluation of the procedure undertaken by the company
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Evaluation and analyzation of everything in the action plan will help the organization to
effectively manage the procedure of the company and remove risk and barrier in the
operational procedure of the company. This will help the firm to to determine there current
performance and to employ future requirement in the process making a balance within the
process of the company. In this way the firm will be able to increase their efficiency in
controlling pollution through the operational activities of the company and achieve
environmental sustainability (Govindan et al. 2015).
Decision making
The decision-making management or the high-level management who are responsible for
making decision in BHP Billiton organized a meeting for undertaking the action plan
explained for controlling the environmental hazards dine by the company by the prescribed
measures. The decision making process included the hierarchy of the company which
included managerial and executive post of people as this decision was an important one for
the benefit of the company future. There were a extended discussion and debate made on the
current action plan for evaluating the viability of the action plan in terms of practicality and
other paradigms. The viewpoint of each member was taken into consideration in order to
define a proper structure through which the action plan developed will be implemented. Each
of the members expressed their views on the current problem and exclaimed there corners on
the following subject. There were some alternatives also which were showed in replace of the
current action plan but the current action plan was one of the most efficient one which can
help the firm to mitigate the problem in an efficient way (Heyler et al. 2016).
In this context there are various techniques which are taken by the management in order to
get an proper decision. The following techniques help the management of the firm in their
decision making process and helps the management of the company to come up within more
precise decision which help the company in developing on there goals effectively.
Brainstorming techniques is one of the most effective techniques that can be used in terms of
making efficient decisions. In this process new ideas are proposed and created, these ideas are
nothing but solution to the current problems in the company. It helps the management of the
firm to effectively chalk out solutions for the existing problems that helps the company to
solve their problem and develop their operational efficiency. There are two form of
brainstorming method one is the traditional method and other one is the advanced method. In
case of any problems which come up in the firm’s operational activities the organization
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efficiently implement brainstorming technique of decision making which will help the
company to gather an idea for the problem’s solution. The advantages of using the following
technique of decision-making are as follows:
1. Collection number of viewpoints: In this process of decision, making viewpoint of
all the members can be collected to formulate an collective idea beneficial for the
solution of the current problem in the company.
2. Critical thinking on each idea: As there will be idea collected from different members
critical thinking in each decision can be done to determine the best available option
that the company can implement for the betterment of the situation.
3. Teamwork in execution: As there is collective, decision made by the management of
the company the execution and implementation of this idea is done with the use of
effective teamwork that is beneficial for the firm.
4. Effective decision: Effective and efficient decision are made through the help of the
brainstorming method as the idea is collective effort of the everyone the decision
made through the idea are best for the benefit of the company and for the solution of
the current problem within the company (Kaner, 2014).
From the above discussion, it can be said that brainstorming techniques of decision is best
suitable for the current situation of BHP Billiton but there are some limitation of this method
two that should be considered. The disadvantage or limitation of the following technique is as
follows:
1. Time consuming: The process is very time consuming, as there is collective idea for
different member the process takes time and increases the time taken by the company
to make a decision. Hence, it can be said that abrupt and fast decision cannot be taken
through this technique.
2. Generation of some ineffective ideas: although there collection of ideas taken
determine a proper decision which are made in the benefit of the company it can be
said that's one side ineffective ideas are generated through this process which affects
the decision made by the management of the firm.
3. Conflicts: Although the process is undertaken between the management of the firm
which acts together there can be some idea which collide with each producing conflict
and proving to BE ineffective in generation of proper decision for the benefit of the
company.
4. Requirement of facilitator: In order to conduct a brainstorming technique of decision
making there is need of facilitator which helps in formation of the decision through
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ideas generated which is complex process making the technique complicated to
execute (Klein, 2014).
From the above discussion it can be seen that brainstorming method of decision making both
beneficial for the company but has some limitation which should be considered by the
company in order to increase their efficiency. It can also be said that by looking at the
current situation of the firm it seem that achieving the goal of environmental sustainability
will require a decision-making process that is innovative and helps in the generation of
effective ideas for formation of deceive. Thus in this situation it can be said that the firm will
use the technique as it will help the firm to take effective decision for the future of the
company.
Comparison of group and individuals
There has always been debate over which one is better and which one excels on
organizational context. Hence it can be said that both of even ground when its comes to
decision-making process. They both are both effective when it comes to making decision but
in different situation some time individual is preferable and some time group decision are
preferable it mostly depends on situation and the time in which they are being made.. There
are model that have precisely compare these two models for the benefit of understanding the
main difference between this two decision-making practices. Model of comparison are as
follows:
Individual decision making for both individual and Group
John Whitmore Model is one of the most significant models which dictates and analyzes on
whether the decision making process is on the right track or not. The model prescribes the
process in which the goal for which the decision is made is evaluated. The model then states
that after analysis of the goal it is very important that the decision maker identifying on
whether the goal are significant to remove the current issue or not. After the clear idea of all
these elements, the distinction between performance goal and the financial goal are
determined through which right decision making process is prescribed. The model states that
there fourteen criteria which should be analyzed before selecting a particular decision making
process. If the decision making process satisfy all of them only then the process will be
profitable for the company (Giebels et al. 2015).
Individual decision-making model not aligning with both
The following model is based on a very simplistic ground which is that sometimes there is no
need of reviewing the information before making decision which simply profitable for the
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future. Hence the model states that the decision made should be on basis of lower amount of
information which satisfy the criteria of making the decision profitable for the future of
achieving the goal. Although it can be said that there is always a need of evaluating on
whether the decision made was in line of the goal set for the purpose of which information is
needed. This leaves the decision making process on some uncertain ground evaluation of
decision made on which becomes very uncertain.
Group decision-making model that works for both
The Drexler– Sibbet group execution demonstrate is a standout amongst the best cooperative
choice making models since it helps in forming a gathering into a group. Consequently as it
has just been perceived that the basic leadership process is both an individual issue and a
gathering issue. In setting to this a gathering of people could just turn into a group when there
is an improvement of a participatory sort among the gathering individuals. The predefined
basic leadership model would work with both the people and the gathering since it works
significantly on the idea of execution and group buildings are thought to be equally essential
for both (Martin et al. 2015).
Group decision making model that does not align with both
The result optimization model is one the basic leadership models that endeavors to concoct a
choice that is compelling in all terms and can battle the troublesome circumstance effectively
for which the choice was being taken. Under the said display, the time required for the basic
leadership process act tires are separated into three sub sectional circles. In this way, on going
through every one of this every one of the circles the nature of the choice being attempted is
evaluated adequately. Thusly, from this it could without much of a stretch confirm that
whether the choice being portrayed would swing to be profitable for the concerned issues or
not. In this the way the predefined cooperative choice making model does not lines up with
the individual or collective choice making process since it did not depend on the sort of basic
leadership process that is being led. Be that as it may, it relies on the nature of choice being
rendered amid the procedure
Conclusion
Concluding in the light of above context it can be said that through effective decision making
process and action plan with KPI, BHP Billiton will be able to increase their progress in
terms of being environmentally sustainable. It can be said that through the usage of
brainstorming technique of decision making it will be easy to convert ideas into a solution for
the problems in the company. It can also be said that Evaluation of the performance can be
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done through KPI introduced in the action as they will facilitate the performance evaluation
process of the management.
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