Governance Ethics and Sustainability

This report discusses the importance of ethics and sustainability in business organizations, focusing on Timberwell Constructions. It explores the economic, environmental, and social sustainability aspects and the management approaches to achieve them. The report follows the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards and highlights the implications of sustainable and ethical measures for strategic advantage.

Running Head: GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
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1GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Body.................................................................................................................................................3
Economic sustainability...............................................................................................................3
i. Disclosure 201-2. Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to
climate change.........................................................................................................................3
ii. Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken...........................3
iii. Disclosure 206-1 Legal actions for anti-competitive behaviour, anti-trust, and monopoly
practices...................................................................................................................................4
Management approach.............................................................................................................4
Environmental Sustainability.......................................................................................................5
i. Disclosure 302-1 Energy consumption within the organisation.......................................5
ii. Disclosure 304-2. Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on
biodiversity..............................................................................................................................6
iii. Disclosure 307-1 Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations
Management approach.............................................................................................................6
Management approach.............................................................................................................7
Social sustainability.....................................................................................................................8
i. Disclosure 401-1 New employee hires and employee turnover.......................................8
ii. Disclosure 406-1 Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken.....................8

2GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
iii. Disclosure 413-1 Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments
and development programs......................................................................................................9
Management approach.............................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

3GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Introduction
Ethics and sustainability are considered to be the most important aspect for present
business situation. Most of the organisations put emphasis on these two factors and try to
develop such a framework for retaining the ethical and sustainable attitude of the organisation. It
is highly related to the business practise of the organisation so that the future sustainability of the
organisation will be secured. In this context, it can be stated that the role of the top management
and the implication of the sustainable and ethical measures will facilitate strategic advantage for
the organisation significantly.
In this regard, this report aims to discuss the ethics and sustainability issues in
Timberwell Constructions which is a popular organisation in the Stanwell Council district,
Australia. Moreover, the report also follows the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards that
segregated the discussion into three stages such as the economic, environmental and social
sustainability. As a matter of fact, the report also cares to highlight the management approach in
order to understand and deliver a better step towards maintaining the sustainability standards.
The purpose of using the GRI standard is to help the organisation to perceive the importance of
sustainability in one hand and implementing the elements and measure of sustainability on the
other.

4GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Body
Economic sustainability
i. Disclosure 201-2. Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to
climate change
It is essential for the business organisation to follow the legislative frameworks and the legal
practices in order to ensure the practice of sustainability within the organisation. As a matter of
fact, Daunorienė et al. (2015) stated that it is essential for the organisation to pursue the business
activities based on sustainable development. In this regard, Schneider
(2015) advocated that the role of the corporate organisations has to be resembled with the
practice of maintaining effective and ethical activities so that it could be possible to avert any
kind of financial crunches. Breach in ethical or sustainable framework will lead towards financial
threats in terms of the fine and reparation (Benn, Edwards and Williams 2014). Therefore, it is
obvious for the organisations to deal with thee sustainable practices sternly and efficiently.
ii. Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken
In case of the Timberwell Constructions, the organisation is facing sever threat to its
financial establishment. For an instance, Timberwell Constructions had to pay reparation for
the breaching the ecological balances of the local community. As a result of that an amount
of $200,000 was fined. It is considered to be that basic foundation of the government to
safeguard the sustainable practices effectively. Any kind of breach in the process of
sustainability can e3ndengered the financial stability as the organisation has to pay reparation
for its misconduct. In addition to this, Timberwell Constructions also faced sever financial
crunches due to violating the fair work regulation. One of the former employee alleged that

5GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
the company did not follow the legal frameworks and the further legal proceedings found out
that the allegation was serious and authentic, therefore, the court ordered to pay a
compensation of $4,400 to the former employee. It seemed that both in those two cases
Timberwell Constructions blatantly violated the regulation and as a result of that it created
severe damage for the establishment of the organisation in terms of the financial
compensation.
iii. Disclosure 206-1 Legal actions for anti-competitive behaviour, anti-trust, and
monopoly practices
In this regard, there are series of government proceedings and legal constraints that monitor
and control the business establishment of each and every business organisations operated in
Australia. In response to this, there are the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
(ACCC) intends to develop a healthy business environment with the purpose to implement
transparency into the process of business activities (aasb.gov.au 2019). It is not only
safeguarding the rights of the customers or the community but also guides the corporate
organisation to maintain sustainability in business. Based on this understanding, it can be stated
that there are suppliers, customers and the business o4rganisations are incorporated into the legal
framework of ACCC (aph.gov.au 2019). It is essential for the organisations to maintain a unified
standards of financial reporting proposed by the Australian Accounting Standards Board
(AASB).
Management approach
Material Topic Description Management Approach
Disclosure 201-2

6GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Financial implications and
other risks and opportunities
due to climate change
Financial loss of Timberwell
Constructions has become a
serious threat due to lack of
respecting and maintaining the
legal framework.
The management should take
into consideration the legal
framework and adequate
preparations for further
financial expenses in terms of
compensation.
Environmental Sustainability
i. Disclosure 302-1 Energy consumption within the organisation
Environmental sustainability is considered to be one of the major factors in the global
sustainability reporting mechanism. As the environmental issues become a serious concern for
the organisations so that most of the business houses are trying to follow the government
mechanism related to establishment of environmental sustainability. According to Swaim et al.
(2014) the increasing rate of globalisation and the global warming accused the private business
firms being solely responsible. As a result of that it damages the customer base of the
organisations extensively and the future business orientation has become a dead end concept
(Longoni and Cagliano 2015). Moreover, Papagiannakis, Voudouris and Lioukas (2014) opined
that it is important for the organisation to deal with the environmental sustainability in terms of
establishing a strategic measure for future business orientation.

7GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
ii. Disclosure 304-2. Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on
biodiversity
In the context of Timberwell Constructions the organisation deliberately breached the
government regulation and the standards related to ecological balances. One of the former
employee of the company sued against Timberwell Constructions with the allegation of clearing
0.45 hectares coastal grasslands for its own business development. The region was highly rich
with diverse flora and fauna and was essential to set a sustainable environmental equilibrium.
However, the intervention and damaging the local community environment by Timberwell
Constructions was not being appreciated by both the government and the local community as
well. Therefore, as per the legal action the Department of the Environment and Energy charged a
fine on the company estimated $200,000. It was huge and damaged heavily the image of
sustainable business orientation by Timberwell Constructions.
Besides this, it can be stated that there are huge environmental violation in terms of
energy consumption by Timberwell Constructions. Despite of trying a great of implementation
of the energy consumption mechanism the neat result of the entire process was not satisfactory.
There was a proposed target of the organisation but it was not satisfactory enough to maintain a
better energy consumption planning. In response to this, it can be stated that there are huge gap
between the vision of the organisation and the implementation of the process effectively. It
perturbs the organisation to get more strategic advantage in the long run.
iii. Disclosure 307-1 Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations
Management approach
The direct intervention of the Australian government is implemented on the question of
safeguarding the environmental stability. As a result of that putting emphasis on the private

8GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
business organisation is also an essential part of the government in order to ensure the trade and
business practice will concern about the important of green business infrastructure
(environment.gov.au 2019). As a matter of fact, the government directly encourages the business
organisations to initiate the green business practices as it is pragmatic and the benevolent in
order to prevent crucial damage to the environmental degradation. Both the state and territory
governments are responsible to set effective planning of safeguarding the ecological balances
and facilitate a nation-wide concern regarding the significance of environmental protection
(uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com 2019). In this context, a series of legal steps and
proceedings are enacted with the purpose of meeting the requirements and expectations of the
Australian government.
Management approach
Material Topic Description Management Approach
Disclosure 302-1
Energy consumption within the
organisation
The Australian government
wants to establish a sustainable
environment for the future
development of the country
and the global. In this regard,
putting emphasis on the
environmental concern of the
business organisation will
facilitate a better approach and
strategic advantage in order to
Timberwell Constructions is
trying to set a number of
planning in order to reshape its
environmental sustainability
framework. In this regard,
setting a target of using the
renewable energies by 50%
within the next 3 years is
considered to be one of the
major aspect of improvement.

9GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
implement business
successfully.
Moreover, the company also
takes initiative like developing
the Otford Park site
ecologically sound.
Social sustainability
i. Disclosure 401-1 New employee hires and employee turnover
As per the research of Klettner, Clarke and Boersma (2014) it can be asserted that the
role of the recruitment and employment should be based on a fair and transparent mechanism. As
in the present case scenario the interests of the employees are equally important as the priority of
profitability by the organisation (Marshall et al. 2015). As a matter of fact, this responsibility is
purely vested in the hand of the organisation. Moreover, Doh and Tashman (2014) advocated
that the role of the transparent employment is highly appreciated keeping an eye on the
effectiveness of the organisation and its brand value. As a result of that it becomes a strategic
advantage for the organisation to not only maintains an ethical recruitment process but also
enriches its productivity by appointing skilled employees.
ii. Disclosure 406-1 Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken
In response to the understanding, Timberwell Constructions was alleged to violate the
responsibility to conduct a fair recruitment process. There were some discriminatory practices
like judging the ability of the employee by his or her age and bullying aged employees. A former
employee of that organisation charged against that nefarious practice and claimed to be
compensate due to the breach of ethical consideration. Moreover, it can also be stated that

10GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Timberwell Constructions used unethical orientation and monopolistic attitude for the new
entrants into the market. It was complained that the organisation threatened its suppliers to end
the agreement if they aided the new local companies. On the other hand, another major crime
done by the Timberwell Constructions was to use bribery as a mode of business technique.
Making illegal and personal agreements with the state council and approved project illegally
were identified as clear case of corruption.
iii. Disclosure 413-1 Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments
and development programs
Based on the issues, it can be stated that there are two specific acts existed in the Australian
legislation that can identify the business activities of Timberwell Constructions is unethical and
unconstitutional. For an instance, the Fair Work Act of 2009 encapsulates the preventive
measures against the workplace practice of discrimination (fwc.gov.au 2019). Based on this,
there are some guidelines and workplace rights are enacted that strictly prohibit any kind of
discriminatory practice in business. The Fair Work Ombudsman plays a pivotal role in
safeguarding the anti-discriminatory actions of the organisations. Along with this, the Australian
legal framework for positive business approaches also shares a vision of eradicating any kind of
bribery practices in both private and public organisations. Division 70 of the Criminal Code Act
1995 and the Section 70.2(1) make it official to set some regulations for the business
organisations in order to eradicate any kind of bribery and corruption activities
(globallegalinsights.com 2019).
Management approach
Material Topic Description Management Approach

11GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Disclosure 401-1
New employee hires and
employee turnover
Timberwell Constructions
violated the ethical regulation
of the Australian government
in recruiting and hiring
procedure. Moreover, the
workplace environment was
not effective enough to follow
the government regulations.
The management approach
should be transparent and abide
by the regulatory framework in
order to manage and create a
better company image. In this
regard, Timberwell
Constructions has already
started to communicate with
the local communities through
various measures but at the
same time it is also essential
for the company to transform
the recruitment process and
workplace environment.
Conclusion
The above discussion clearly identify the role and importance of the ethics and
sustainability in the business spectrum. As a matter of fact, it is relevant in the present business
scenario. Therefore, this report identifies the sustainability issues of Timberwell Constructions
based on the GRI sustainability standards and reflects the management approach in order to
highlight the responsibility of the management to resolve the sustainability issues. Henceforth, it
can be concluded that the report firmly follows the theme and purpose of the report.

12GOVERNANCE ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
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