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Ethics, Organisations & Society: A Case Study of Barratt Development Plc and Environmental Sustainability

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Added on 2024/07/12

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This report examines the ethical and corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues faced by Barratt Development Plc, a leading UK construction company, in relation to environmental sustainability. It explores the company's commitment to responsible management practices, analyzing the values underpinned by ethics and the impact of CSR on its operations. The report delves into the challenges posed by environmental sustainability, including pollution, energy consumption, and climate change, and provides recommendations for Barratt Development Plc to address these issues effectively. It also discusses the influence of stakeholders on the company's decision-making process and the importance of integrating ethical considerations into its business model.

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Ethics, Organisations & Society
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Table of content
Introduction:.................................................................................................................................... 3
Responsible management and CSR:................................................................................................ 4
Values Underpinned by Ethics:.......................................................................................................7
Exploring the issue........................................................................................................................ 12
Recommendation:.......................................................................................................................... 15
Conclusion:.................................................................................................................................... 16
Reference list................................................................................................................................. 17
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Introduction
In the present scenario both ethics and CSR can be considered as most important aspect of any
business organisation. Corporate social responsibility is a self-reliable business model which
helps a company to be socially accountable to its public and its stakeholders. Ethical decision-
making process helps an organisation to take appropriate decision on certain difficult situation.
Environmental Sustainability is a multi-disciplinary process which is focussed at maintaining
quality of our planet through eco-friendly methods. This report is based on the importance of
individual and organisational, ethical and social responsibility and how ethics are applied for
ethical decision making and responsible management thinking and the issues of environmental
sustainability such as bio-degradation, bioremediation, climate change and so on.
Greenleaf consultant is a leading house building company that delivers high class service and
construction with sustainable environment practice. The ethics consultant of Greenleaf
consultants has been commissioned by Barratt Development Plc to explore the ethical and
corporate social responsibility issues of Barratt Development Plc in relation with
Environmental sustainability. In this report, the ethical and CSR issues of Barratt Development
Plc will be discussed. In addition with that, the advantages and disadvantages of corporate social
responsibility of Barratt Development Plc, ethical values and responsible management of the
company will be discussed in this report.
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Responsible management and CSR:
Responsible management can be considered as the most effective approach for managing the
business organisation. Social responsibility is one of the key practices for the company over the
years. One of the major issues in construction business is environmental sustainability. It
categorizes issues such as climate changes and global warming (Lindebaum et al., 2017). As a
leading construction company Barratt Development Plc needs to cover local, national and
global issues which can be seen as commendable practice. There are many reasons why the
business should manage the responsibility. Those reasons are as follows:
Self interests:
The ethical values and social responsibilities can protect the reputation of the company. Being a
socially responsible company, Barratt Development Plc can sustain their image in the global
platform. Issues such as environmental sustainability can create significant problem for the
company by creating pollution and energy consumption in the business. Developing and
managing a positive image is not only a financially profitable step but also socially effective as
well. Apart from that, ethical awareness assists the company in decision making process. In
addition with that, ethical values and justice can also signified as motivational factors. Therefore,
employees are getting motivated during that process.
Mutual interests:
Construction business is a part of complex networks of stakeholders and it is company’s interests
to develop the responsibility together. It helps to improve the image of the company as well. By
adopting social responsibilities, Barratt Development Plc can bridge the gap between the
corporate world and socially responsible vision of the company.
Engaging customers:
The social responsibility policy can impact the decision of customers. One of the major
responsibilities of the companies is to engage its customers in the right way. As per the report,
55% of consumers are willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies
(Barrattdevelopments.co.uk, 2018). Barratt Development Plc is offering low charge in the
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market which can be viewed positively by local community and boost the percentages of share
market as well.
Competitive immunity:
Corporate social responsibility inspires innovation within the company and develop long term
immunity plan. In addition, with that, it makes the business more sustainable. It can create a
source of opportunity and competitive advantages.
Benefits of CSR:
In 2015, out of 100 economic entitles globally, 69 are businesses. The value of top 10
corporations was $285tn beating $280tn worth of the bottom 180 countries, which includes
Ireland, Greece, Indonesia and South Africa and so on (Ulutas et al., 2016). Therefore, it proves
that business have huge power. In the business world, corporate social responsibility of an
organisation creates impacts on their decision, community and environment. As a private
organisation, Barratt Development Plc are driven by public values and desire to implement
social values in the community. The benefits of corporate social responsibilities are as follows:
Business reputation:
The corporate social responsibility creates the competitive advantages for the company and
builds a reputation in the global market. Companies are choosing suppliers who have responsible
policies, since this can reflect on customer’s perception.
Cost saving:
By adapting CSR practice the company can help the environment and save money in this
process. They may able to lower their utility bills and achieve savings for their business.
Positive impact to the community:
Corporate social responsibility encourages company to consider the environmental and social
impacts. Detrimental impacts on the community can be avoided by this practice (Karim et al.,
2015). Therefore positive changes in organisational values deliver benefits to the community and
sustain the market place as well.
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Professional and personal development:
By undertaking different activities outside their usual responsibilities, employees get a chance to
contribute to their work and developing their skills and knowledge in this scale. Apart from that,
this practice can enrich their perspectives. By supporting this activity, Barratt Development Plc
can encourage the growth of the company.
Relationship with clients:
A CSR framework is essential to build and maintain the relationship between company and
clients. It can foster strong ties with both new clients and existing clients by offering pro- bono
services. In this process, Barratt Development Plc can partner with a NGO to support their
ethical values, where resources are limited. It helps the company to consider public values and
work in that process.
By analysing the above-mentioned points, it can be stated that, corporate social responsibility
improves the public image, boosts employee engagement and attract investors. Apart from that, it
helps to mitigate issues such as environmental Sustainability which reflect diversity in the
workplace. In addition with that, there are some drawbacks of CSR such as corporate social
responsibility is not always cheap. For small business organisations, it is quite difficult to
perform the CSR activities in the right way. Another drawback of corporate social responsibility
is misinterpretation. It is easy for a company to misinterpret consumer’s values. The companies
must focused what kind of CSR activities they are performing in order to protect the
environment.
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Values Underpinned by Ethics:
Ethics can be referred to as the moral principles, which govern the behaviour of a person. Ethics
is the philosophy concerned with the systemization and recommendation of the things that are
morally bad and good or right and wrong. Ethical theories are a part of decision making process,
because these theories emphasize different points, different style of decision making and define
the responsibilities of an individual. In this practice, two ethical theories are discussed in order to
define the responsible management in relation to Barratt Development Plc. such asnormative
ethical theories and Kantian Theory.
Normative Ethical Theories:
Normative ethical theories, also called normative theories of ethics, are meant for helping in
figuring out which actions are right and which are wrong. There are a number of normative
theories of ethics, which include utilitarianism, the Aristotelian virtue ethics, the categorical
imperative, W. D. Ross’s intuitionism and others. The following discussion provides an
evaluation of a few normative ethical theories -
Theory of egoism: The theory of ethical egoism refers to the ethical position, of what one self is
and what he or she should be, along with the goal and the motivation of his or her own action. It
consists of two variants - normative and descriptive. This theory includes organisation action and
outcomes.
Utilitarianism: Utilitarianism is the moral theory, which one should be acting in ways that leads
to the production of most happiness and pleasure for greatest number of individuals, who are
affected by the actions of a company or individual. The benefitted analysis of the environment is
performed by this theory.
Ethics of Duties (KANT): This theory is based on three maxims such as Consistency, human
dignity and universality. Consistency acts according to the universal law of the environment. In
order to ensure environmental sustainability, the company should follow this maxim.
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Rights and Justice: This theory contributes towards the community and the environment that
refers to the motivational factors of the organisation in taking the right action to improve the
environment.
This Normative Ethical Theories helpBarratt Development Plcto adopt different approaches
of decision making and attain two main goals in this practice such as respect for the autonom
yand Justice.
Respect for autonomy:
In ethical philosophy, autonomy refers to the ability of making un-coerced and informed decision
(Lind, 2017). Autonomous institutions and organizations are self-governing and independent.
The responsible management of the Barratt Development Plccan make decision by respecting
the moral rights and values of employees. In this process, they can sustaintheir ethical values and
also implement their ethical thinking into the organisation. Respect for autonomy will be helpful
for Barratt Development Plc for increasing job satisfaction of its employees along with bringing
about peak performance.
Justice:
Justice is one of the complex principles of ethics, which comprises of meanings ranging from fair
treatment provided to individuals for equitable allocation of resources and other any factor. This
helps the employee to adopt most ethically correct decision without the violation of the
organization’s rules and policies. The responsible management of Barratt Development Plc can
adopt most ethically correct resolution as per the guidelines.
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Figure 1: Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
(Source:Lind, 2017)
Kantian Theory:
As per the Kantian theory, right and wrong action are not dependent on their consequences but
are dependent on whether employees fulfil their duty or not. Kant defines the categorical
imperative, which determines the moral duties of an employee (Brittan Jr, 2015). The categorical
imperative consists of three formulas such as the formula of universal law, the formula of the end
in itself and the formula of universal acceptability.
The first formulation of the universal law of Kant says that one has to act only in accordance to
the maxim with which he or she can at the same time will that it becomes a universal law (Aune,
2014). This practice minimises the use of material and reduce the waste generation. The
organization can be building a sustainable environment through this theory.
In the second formula, Kant has stated that companies should act in a way such that one must
treat humanity always at the same time as an end. By this formula the company respects the
dignity of that person and maintain a healthy relationship with their employees. The performance
of the employees at Barratt Development Plc can be improved with the application of this
formula, thereby enhancing the performance of the entire organization.
The third formulation of the universal law states and makes it clear that categorical imperative
needs autonomy. Therefore the company should act on those laws which are accepted by others
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and employees are happy to follow them. By maintaining laws and practices sustainable values
are embedded within their Building Excellence Vision project
Barratt Development Plc as a leading construction company in United Kingdom establishes
their values according to consumer’s value and employee values (Aune, 2014). They sustain two
major goals by this theory such as Beneficence and least harm.
Beneficence:
It helps Barratt Development Plc to realize and work according to what is ethically right for the
organization and realize what is ethically wrong for it. This principle is related with the principle
of utility, which states that actions of a company and an individual must be promoting good.
Environmental resources can be utilised by achieving this goal. It basically defines the moral
utilities of the company in order to sustain the values in the market place.
Least harm:
The least harm theory states that one must takes steps which are benefitting for others (Düring,
and Düwell, 2015). It states that every organization must be conducting its operations in a way
such that it is of least harm to the society as well as its people. It is the responsibility of Barratt
Development Plc to analyse each and every decision in order to maintain the organisational
growth and maintain the organisational values in the market.
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Exploring the issue
This report focuses on the issue of environmental sustainability and the implications of ethical
practices and responsible management in the business process. The recent survey of UK
government says that there are various businesses and organizations that are being built
continuously over flood prone areas despite of some major risks in those areas related to climate
change and high chances of flood (Harvey, 2018). The advisory committee of UK government
states that, though recent flood in UK has caused several damages across the country but people
can build their homes and offices on the flood plains. Other companies such as Persimmon Plc,
Bellway Plc have faced this issue previously during their project. Challenges such as regulatory
requirements of environment which includes flood mitigation, ecology carbon emission and
waste to landfill are faced by these companies.
Last year, over 16000 properties hit by flood and more than 75000 lost electricity. The company
Barratt Development Plcinvolves in the construction business. Flood pains are more attractive
for developers likeBarratt Development Plc, because it is easy for them to build houses and
other amenities on flood plains (Clark, 2014). As a construction company following are the
issues which Barratt Development Plc is facing due to environmental sustainability:
Key construction milestones:
There are some key risks, which Barratt Development Plc has to undertake in order to achieve
key construction milestones. Such a risk is the factor of climate change that can be delaying
construction. The reputational risk can also be generated through poor environmental
performance.
Important of this issue:
In order to maintain the reputation, ethical values of the company and maintain the ecological
balance of the environment, this risk is regarded as one of the key risk towards the practice of
environmental sustainability. If the company failed to achieve their milestone within the given
deadline then it carries out negative brand image of the company and they fail to sustain their
ethical values.
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Pollution:
Barratt Development Plc is involved in the construction business; therefore, they are releasing
high amount of pollution in air. According to the research that has been conducted by the UK
government, constructions in flood plain are involved high amount of emission of harmful
nitrogen gas and other dangerous fine particles.
Importance of this issue:
This issue is important because as per the report of Government agencies in UK, this pollution
generates a poor air quality and causes several health issues to UK citizen. More than 30, 000
deaths in United Kingdom are caused by poor air quality (Harvey, 2018). This polluted air with
diesel creates harmful Nitrogen-dioxide and other small fine particles. The brand image of the
company carries out negative effect in the community. The responsible practice of the company
can also be affected by this practice. Therefore, it is important for Barratt Development Plc to
consider this issue for the environmental sustainability.
Energy consumption:
Energy consumption is another major issue in this context. In early days the construction
industry has been consuming energy for various purposes such as transportation of materials
through powering machines and use of fossils. As per the report of Government of UK, more
than 75000 cases of lost electricity due to flood. In Barratt Development Plc, it can be noticed
that the organization has used the method of fracking for sustaining and reducing the
consumption of energy. With the help of this method, the organization drills down into the earth
before the direction of a high-pressure water mixture has been directed at the rock for the release
of gas inside.
Importance of this issue:
Energy consumption is another major issue in this context because it increases the issue of global
warming. Another issue of energy consumption is that it leads to emission of greenhouse gases,
increases acid rains, leads to climatic changes and increases the dependency over the depleting
supply of fossil fuels. The organisational values and social responsibilities are being harmed by
these practices and the organisational positions are also getting affected by this process.
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Stakeholders influence mapping:
The stakeholders influencing mapping is a tool for the examination and visual display of the
relative impact that various individuals or groups have on decision-making. This technique
influences the stakeholders to take right decisions for the organisation. This mapping is
extremely important for Barratt Development Plc, as it helps in understanding its key
stakeholders, where they are coming from along with understanding what they are looking for,
Zero carbon home policy:
This policy was announced by the governor in 2006. The governor stated that UK is the first
country to adopt such policy. This policy ensures the fact that, new dwelling from the year 2016
must generate energy in the construction site through renewable resources. These renewable
resources may be solar energy and wind energy (Oldfield, 2018). This practice would increase
the energy standard and allow builders like Barratt Development Plc to save carbon of site.
This policy also helps the organisation to tackle with issues such as energy securities and poverty
challenges. This policy has been aligned with energy performance of buildings which is required
to build zero energy building in future. There are three major requirements in this practice. Those
requirements are:
 Fabric will be used as a minimum as possible to maintain the energy standard of the
environment.
 The emission of carbon can be considered for the cooling and ventilation purpose and
zero carbon homes can be established in this practice.
 Energy resources can be regulated by carbon emission to reduce it to zero.
Stakeholder map to Zero Carbon Policy:
The revenue generation and cost can be effected by this zero carbon policy. The environmental
sustainability also can be affected by this practice (Oldfield, 2018). The following map shows the
effected stakeholders of Barratt Development Plc which involves national community and
international community as well.
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Zero Carbon Home Policy
National & Local Government
Construction Services
Housing Developers
Recommendation:
In order to sustain environmental policies in the organisation and maintain the organisational
policies, social responsibilities, Barratt Development Plc must ensure continuous improvement
in their quality and organisational structure. Barratt Development Plc as one of the leading
construction company in UK, they have faced some challenges and future opportunities in this
practice. Apart from that they need to monitor business activities of other construction
companies and their organisational policies. In addition with that, other
recommendations are:
 The organisation should reduce their energy demands
by saving water while constructing buildings in the sites.
 Climate change is one of the major problems
in UK. Therefore the company
should implement risk
assessment techniques
to modify their measurement
techniques and other future
implications.
 The company should deploy CSR practice
in their organisational culture and also maintain the
cultural values of the organisation.
 The company should recruit dedicated customer care and
sales team who engage with customers review the design of their constructions.
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Conclusion:
Hence, from the findings of this report, it can be concluded that, CSR helps a company to be
socially accountable to public and its stakeholders. This report concerned about the
organisational values and practices of Barratt Development Plc and the importance of CSR
practice for future implications. It has briefly discussed about the issue of environmental
sustainability and the importance of responsible management in relating to the company CSR.
Environmental Sustainability is an important area of concern due to globalisation and increasing
activities of business organisations the pressure on the environment has increased at a
phenomenal rate. This report discusses about the consequences of Environmental sustainability
and also specifies some major risks.
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Reference list
Andriof, J., Waddock, S., Husted, B. and Rahman, S.S., 2017. Unfolding stakeholder
engagement. In Unfolding stakeholder thinking (pp. 19-42). Routledge.
Aune, B., 2014. Kant's theory of morals (Vol. 264). Princeton University Press.
Barrattdevelopments.co.uk. (2018). Home. [online] Available at:
http://www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk/ [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Brittan Jr, G.G., 2015. Kant's theory of science. Princeton University Press.
Düring, D. and Düwell, M., 2015. Towards a Kantian Theory of Judgment: the power of
judgment in its practical and aesthetic employment. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 18(5),
pp.943-956.
Greenleafconstruction.co.in. (2018). Greenleaf Constructions. [online] Available at:
https://greenleafconstruction.co.in/services.html [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Harvey, F. (2018). Build on flood plains despite the risks, say UK government advisers. [online]
the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/homes-and-
companies-should-be-built-on-flood-plains-despite-risks-says-panel [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Karim, K., Suh, S., Carter, C. and Zhang, M., 2015. Corporate social responsibility: Evidence
from the United Kingdom. Journal of International Business Research, 14(1).
Lind, G., 2017. The Theory of Moral-Cognitive Development A Socio-Psychological
Assessment. In Moral Judgments and Social Education (pp. 25-48). Routledge.
Lindebaum, D., Geddes, D. and Gabriel, Y., 2017. Moral emotions and ethics in organisations:
Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Business Ethics, 141(4), pp.645-656.
Oldfield, P. (2018). UK scraps zero carbon homes plan. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/uk-scraps-zero-carbon-home-target
[Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Peters, R.S., 2015. Moral Development and Moral Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
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Ulutaş Duman, D., Giritli, H. and McDermott, P., 2016. Corporate social responsibility in
construction industry: A comparative study between UK and Turkey. Built Environment Project
and Asset Management, 6(2), pp.218-231.
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