Foundation of Business Communication Individual Report

This report discusses the sustainable approach to management and business strategy, evaluates the different approaches to CSR of Global Plant Genetics Ltd, Siemens AG and Fed Ex company, and measures the success of CSR strategies through benchmarking, KPI indicators and recognised industry standard measurements.

Foundation Of Business
Communication

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Explain about the sustainable approach to management and business strategy which is
evidenced through examples of strategies that business organisation use to operate in an
ethical and sustainable manner...............................................................................................3
Evaluate the different approaches to CSR of all the three companies or organisation? What are
these differences and in which manner success can be measured into strategies of CSR?....5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................10
Reflective report on skills development ..............................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Business communication basically refers to the process of sharing information between
people outside and within a company. Effective business communication is in such a manner that
how management and employees interact to reach towards the goals of an organisation. In the
present report three companies are taken into consideration which includes Global Plant
Genetics Ltd, Siemens AG and Fed Ex company as well(Bannier and et.al., 2019). Global plant
genetics is basically a world leading intellectual property business with the special focus on
berry, asparagus, nut crops and grapes as well. Siemens AG is a German multinational
conglomerate corporation and also the largest manufacturing company in Europe which is
headquartered in Munich with branch office in abroad. Fed Ex is an American multinational
conglomerate holding company which is focused on e-commerce, transportation and services
which are based in Memphis. The present report will cover discussion about sustainable
approach to management and business strategy. In addition to this, the report will cover analysis
about different approaches to CSR of the three companies or organisations.
MAIN BODY
Explain about the sustainable approach to management and business strategy which is evidenced
through examples of strategies that business organisation use to operate in an ethical and
sustainable manner
Sustainable approach to management: It refers to the application of sustainable
practices into the categories of agriculture, businesses, environment, society and personal life
through managing them in such a manner that will benefit future and current generations.
Sustainable approach to management is important because it basically provides plans which can
improve multiple parts of lives of people, future generations and environment as well. When a
community sets goals then people are likely to reduce water, energy, and waste but communities
do not set goals unless they have management in place in order to set goals(Bolten., 2020).
Approaches which are sustainable in terms of nature can add brand value, increases efficiency,
meet the demands of consumer, create new opportunities and attract valuable talent as well.
There are four main approaches of sustainable management which includes social, human,
economic and environment. These are explained into the following manner:

 Human Sustainability: It basically aims for improving and maintaining the human
capital in society. There are certain parameters which comes under the human
sustainability which includes investment in education and health systems, skills and
nutrition knowledge, access to services(Coffelt and et.al., 2016). There is requirement to
balance the continuous growth with improvements to health and achieving well being of
economic for everyone. With reference to the business, an organisation will view itself as
the society member and promote values of business which respect human capital.
Sustainability of human basically focuses on the significance of anyone directly or into
indirect manner which is involved in the making of provision of services, products or
broader stakeholders as well.
 Social Sustainability: It basically aims for preserving the social capital through
investing and creating services which constitute the frame work of the society. It
basically means to preserve generations of future and to acknowledge that what have an
impact on others and on the world as well. Sustainability at social level basically focuses
on improving and maintaining social quality with concepts such as honesty, reciprocity,
cohesion, laws and shared ideas of rights and equality. The principle of development of
sustainable basically addresses the economic and social improvement which protects the
environment and supports equality as well.
 Economic Sustainability: Sustainability at economic level basically aims to intact the
capital(Constantinescu and et.al., 2019). With reference to business, it is basically about
the efficient use of assets in order to maintain profitability of company over a period of
time.
 Environmental Sustainability: Sustainability at environment level basically aims for
improving welfare of human by the protection of natural capital. Environmental
sustainability gives major emphasis on how business can achieve outcomes without doing
any harm in the short term and long term as well.
Business Strategy: There are different kinds of businesses into this business world which have
different goals and also take different routes in order to fulfil these goals. These routes basically
constitute of business strategies of these businesses. The strategy of business is basically the
combination of all the decisions which have been taken and actions performed through the
business in order to accomplish goals of business and also to secure competitive position in the

market. There are certain reasons due to which business strategies are important which basically
include planning, effectiveness, efficiency, competitive advantage and control as well.
In context to Global plant genetics, they have used plant genetic engineering method
which is used to advance the industry of agriculture. There are certain benefits of it such as
disease, building crop resistance against pests and the capability to withstand severe weather
conditions(Guffey and Loewy., 2015). The growth of industry has been supported by the
expansion in greenhouse farms, indoor farms, vertical farms in order to grow seasonal crops. In
context to Siemens AG, for performing into sustainable manner, the company has announced the
number of new sustainability goals under framework of Degree which includes ethics,
decarbonisation, governance, resource efficiency employability and equity as well. There are
specific targets which are not limited to decarbonisation which is net zero operations by the 2030
and net zero supply chain by the year of 2050. The company has transformed themselves into a
focused technology company and also they are providing greater transparency and clarity which
extends them their industrial businesses. For accelerating growth into positive terms, they are
focusing on their strong investment grade rating system. In this manner, the company has
performed into positive manner with the use of appropriate business strategies as well.
In context to Fed Ex company, the company has to compete and operate into collective
and collaborative manner and innovate themselves into digital manner in order to provide
competitive advantage for the company(Hartel., 2018).In order to grow themselves into positive
manner, there are certain growth strategies which has been adopted by the company which
basically includes increasing high tech and high value added goods of business, acceleration of
supply chain, globalisation and continue expansion of e-commerce and internet solutions. In this
manner, company has used different strategies in order to perform into sustainable manner and
ethical way as well. So in the overall manner, for performing into proper manner, it is very
important to adopt best strategies which can be beneficial for further growth and development of
an organisation.
Evaluate the different approaches to CSR of all the three companies or organisation? What are
these differences and in which manner success can be measured into strategies of CSR?
Corporate social responsibility basically refers to the form of self regulation which
reflects about the business commitment and accountability in order to contribute to the well-
being if communities and society by various social and environmental measures.

Corporate social responsibility plays a very significant role into the perception of
company's brand, employees, attractiveness to customers, talent retention and overall business
success as well. It has been observed that company can implement four different types of CSR
efforts which basically include charity work, environmental initiatives volunteer projects and
ethical labour practices as well (Heo and Lee., 2018). There are different kinds of approaches to
corporate social responsibility which basically include obstructive, defensive, accommodating
and proactive as well which is explained into the following manner:
 Obstructive approach: A company who takes the stance of obstructive towards social
responsibility which attempts to defend their economic priorities through blocking any
attempts in order to point out the company's lack of social responsibility. When company
has to face particular social demands then obstructive companies deny for doing things
into wrong manner and can use obstacles in order to deliberately delay or divert the
investigation of their practices.
 Defensive approach: Companies who take the stance of defensive approach towards
social responsibility basically are not majorly responsible. These are the companies who
consider themselves very neutral and their main motive is to earn profits on the higher
scale than performing actions into responsible manner. These companies also follow the
laws into proper manner in order to ensure that others can't take legal actions against
them.
 Accommodating approach: Companies who believes in taking the accommodating
stance then their social responsibility is very important and also important in terms of
making profits as well(MM., 2018). In order to meet out the ethical standards so these
companies satisfy all the requirements into ethical manner.
 Proactive approach: A proactive company is that who makes social responsibility a
priority even if doing these activities cuts the profits as well. A proactive company
attempts to stay ahead of the curve when its about the social responsibility. They may
make ethics as part of its statement and attempts to avoid any harm to the environment. It
is that type of company who go out of the way inn order to institute new recycling
programs gives all of its employees benefits and living wage as well and also donates a
certain part of profits to charity.

In context to Global Genetics ltd company, it has been observed that they have launched
a crop programme which contains depth about genetic adaptability which means that they can
offer varieties of production in all major global growing regions. Their major focus is towards
reducing the carbon footprint and also engage into charity work(McShane and Glinow., 2017).
In context to Siemens AG, their commitment is towards improving quality of life and creates the
last value for the society. Siemens has defined three strategic focus areas for its corporate social
responsibility which basically include social, education and environment. From the perspective
of education, the foster technical and science education and also believes into the quality of
education from school to university for all. They promote the education through project based
learning, vocational education and training, industry readiness and also promote the research and
innovation as well.
From the perspective of social, they contribute into the context of enhancing living
conditions by working towards deploying and designing scalable, sustainable models and
replicable using their core competencies which delivers the social impact. They also contribute
into context of providing disaster relief as well. They also provide disaster relief activities into
three areas which includes emergency aid on safe drinking water. Temporary shelter in case of
disaster, healthcare and community based disaster preparation. From the perspective of
environment, Siemens are working towards helping communities in order to use natural
resources into efficient manner and also mitigate the impact of climate change as well.
In context to Fed Ex company, they contribute in terms of creating jobs which boosts the
standard of living in their communities. Company has also taken initiative towards the
investment in safer and sustainable transportation which improves their footprint and makes the
communities more viable and effective as well(Sanina and et.al., 2017). Fed Ex is also
committed towards the zero-tolerance policies and the company also the company prohibits the
trafficking related activities. Fed ex has taken certain initiatives such as commitment towards the
continuous improvement into the process of environment management, efficient use of resources
in order to reduce the wastage, measurement of environmental performance and integration of
environmental considerations and responsibilities.

Differences into corporate social responsibility of all the three organisation
There are certain differences into the corporate social responsibilities of all the three
companies. Global genetics company is more focused towards launching of different
programmes in order to improve the quality of crops so that they can deliver best quality to their
customers and also contribute towards healthy and safe production of their products. In context
to Siemens company, their corporate social responsibility is totally different from other two
companies(Smiljanic and Stanisavljevic., 2019). They are basically focused towards on their
three aspects which includes education, society and environment. They have taken various
initiatives in order to improve status of certain communities and also put their hard work into
context of environment safety and ethical practices as well. In context to Fed ex company, they
have focused on reducing the carbon foot print and also has taken initiative towards improving
the standards of certain communities. In the overall manner, all the three companies have their
own targets and objectives so their way of working is totally different from each other. So these
are the differences into corporate social responsibilities of all the three companies.
Success measurement into strategies of corporate social responsibility
There are majorly three ways in order to measure the strategies of corporate social
responsibility which are defined into the following manner:
 Benchmark against top performers: Benchmark basically gives the idea of how to
measure the organisation's corporate social responsibility performance. The top
benchmarks helps the company in terms of measuring CSR performance and also indicate
success for further opportunities.
 With support of KPI the performance of CSR can be measured: Organisation have to
set short term and long term goals in order to generate benchmarks for success and key
performance indicators as well(Stephens and et.al., 2017).In order to develop CSR
initiatives KPI'S there are few performance variables and indicators which can be
included into CSR performance rating. It basically include employees perspectives,
health and security, diversity supportive ratio, satisfaction ratio and respect ration.
 Employ recognised industry standard measurements: There are certain tools which
can be used in order to measure the performance into positive manner.

It basically include community mark, GRI, SASB, B Corp certification and international
labour organisation supplier frameworks(Veltsos., 2017).So in the overall manner, all the three
companies have to use KPI indicators in order to perform into sustainable manner and for
measuring the corporate social responsibility into appropriate manner. That's why key
performance indicator is the best option for measuring corporate social responsibility of all the
three companies.
CONCLUSION
The above stated report concludes that business communication is very important for the
organisational growth and development as well. It has been concluded that there are certain
approaches towards sustainable management and these approaches are very important from the
perspective of management of work as well. It has been determined that it is very necessary that
businesses should use strategies so that they can do their further development into appropriate
manner. For further improvement of the company, it is required that strategies should be used
into optimised manner. It has been observed that there are different approaches of corporate
social responsibility and these approaches are helpful in terms of further development and
growth as well. All the companies have their own corporate social responsibility and also they
have their own way of working. That's why its very important to use corporate social
responsibility into responsible manner at the organisational level. For measuring the performance
of corporate social responsibility it is very important that to use any of the methods of measuring
performance and the best option is key performance indicators.

PART 2
Reflective report on skills development
I have learnt various skills during the time period of my learning which will help me into
the context of my further growth and development as well. I have learnt about the concept of
academic journals and how to use them into effective manner as well. I have also learnt about the
importance of referencing and importance of reflection as well. I have learnt about
communication skills, problem solving skills and information and communication technologies
as well. According to the Gibb's reflective cycle, it is one of the most famous cyclical model of
reflection which lead towards the six stages that explores about an experience which includes
description, feelings, evaluation, analysis action and conclusion as well. My learning experience
has been defined through this cycle into the following manner:
 Description of the experience: While learning skills of problem solving, communication
skills and problem solving, I have to face certain problems and challenges due to which i
take time in terms of learning these skills into effective manner. The outcome of all this
hard work is that I became a more confident and enthusiastic person towards my career
and development as well.
 Feelings: While learning these skills, I was feeling nervous and excited towards the
learning part of these different skills. Before the learning of these skills, I was not feeling
very confident that whether I was able to learn problem solving skills, communication
skills or not. After learning all these skills into positive manner, i am feeling very
confident, enthusiastic, optimistic and result oriented as well and always excited towards
the next step of my career as well. While learning these skills, I was thinking that
whether I am able to learn all these skills within a set period of time or not. Now, the
situation has totally changed, I am feeling very confident for my professional life and
also ready to take challenges into positive manner as well. According to my experience, I
think other people also feel into the similar manner about the learning of these new skills.
 Evaluation: While learning these skills, I have experienced that everybody was
supportive in terms of nature at the time of learning and also motivates me to learn these
skills into positive manner. Through this experience, I have learnt that it was difficult for

me to remain attentive all the time while learning this skills. By having this problem, I
have learnt that how to concentrate into deeper manner while learning these skills. For
making the situation more result oriented, I have decided that all the people work within a
team and ensures that every team member on the same page regarding learning of
different kinds of skills such as problem solving, information and communication
technology and communication skills as well. I have decided to make a positive
environment at the learning place so that no one feels lacking in terms of fulfilling their
own objective.
 Analysis: I was able to learn skills into effective manner because everybody was helping
in terms of nature and also give me idea that how to face challenging situation into
positive manner. While learning these skills, I was facing difficulty in terms of practical
implementation because I was not aware about the external environment into professional
manner. I have analysed from the overall situation is that I need to work on facing
challenges into confident manner so that I can further take decisions into appropriate
manner. These skills gives me understanding about how to solve problems into calm
manner and how to stay optimistic even at the time of negative situation as well.
Communication skills also gives me confidence level to interact with large number of
people and different kinds of people as well. Information and communication technology
also makes me sound in terms of my work into the context of technical parameter as well.
 Conclusion: From this situation of learning, I have learnt that how to remain open-
minded at the time of learning and how to grasp the things into fast pace manner from the
point of view of technical aspect as well. The situation can become more positive when
everybody works into collaborative manner and have a support system even at the time of
learning as well. For handling this situation into more better manner, it is very important
for me to work on my anxiety issues and I have to be more patient and calm as well while
dealing with these kind of situation as well.
 Action Plan: When I will get the opportunity to learn these skills into more better
manner or I have to face this kind of situation then I have to be more prepared with these
kind of situation. I have to made a proper mind set that i am ready to learn new things
with the positive kind of approach as well. Next time, i will make a plan that which
parameter i have to give more importance while learning and which aspects can be

avoided into positive manner. The skills which I need to develop can be developed
through setting certain goals which can be achieved within a set period of time as well.
For ensuring that I will act into different manner while facing this kind of situation then I
make changes in terms of my way of working so that automatically I will act into
different manner.
For taking actions into practical manner, I have set different types of goals according to different
period of time and it can be into the form of short term goals, medium term goals and long term
goals as well. I have categorise all these skills into different period of time framework goals
which are defined into the following manner:
 Short term goals: These are the goals which needs to be achieved into the near future
and this near future can be this week, this month and even this year as well. I have learnt
problem solving skills within a very short period of time due to which i was able to solve
any kind of problem whether it is related to personal and professional level.
 Medium term goals: These are the goals which may take longer period of time in order
to achieve than the short term objectives but they also have shorter timeline than that of a
long term goal. Medium term goals can be achieved after reaching towards the series of
short term goals. Within the short term goals I have set information and communication
technology skill so that I get enough time to learn this skill into effective manner.
 Long term goals: These are the goals which an individual wants to accomplish in the
future. Long term goals majorly requires time and planning as well. These are not the
goals which can be achieved within a week or even this year as well. Long term goals
takes several years in order to achieve the objective into positive manner. I have set
communication skills within long term goals because this is the skill which takes long
period of time in order to achieve it into perfect manner. So in this manner, I have take
actions to learn all these skills into effective manner within a set period of time.

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