Governance, Ethics and Sustainability: A GRI Standard Assessment of Timberwell Constructions

This study evaluates the sustainability of Timberwell Constructions using GRI standards. It covers disclosures related to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The study also discusses the organization's compliance with environmental laws and its hiring practices.

Running head: GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Governance, Ethics and Sustainability
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
A. Economic Sustainability.............................................................................................................2
i) Disclosure 201-2......................................................................................................................2
ii) Disclosure 205-3.....................................................................................................................3
iii) Disclosure 206-1....................................................................................................................4
B. Environmental sustainability.......................................................................................................5
i) Disclosure 302-1......................................................................................................................5
ii) Disclosure 304-2.....................................................................................................................6
iii) Disclosure 307-1....................................................................................................................7
C. Social sustainability....................................................................................................................8
i) Disclosure 401-1......................................................................................................................8
ii) Disclosure 406-1.....................................................................................................................9
iii) Disclosure 413-1..................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference List................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Corporate governance offers disciplinary approaches for controlling and managing the
operations an organization. Ethics are the moral values and disciplines incorporated in the
conducts of an organization. Corporate sustainability is a business approach, which focuses on
long term stakeholders’ value through utilizing the opportunities and minimizing the risks of
economical, social and environmental development (Quarshie, Salmi and Leuschner 2016). This
study will assess the sustainability aspect of Timberwell Constructions mentioned in the case
study as per the standards of GRI (Global Reporting Initiatives). As per the case study,
Timberwell Constructions is an organization performing residential development in Stanwell
Council district. The disclosures of GRI standard discussed in this study will evaluate the
economic, environment and social sustainability of the organization.
A. Economic Sustainability
i) Disclosure 201-2
This disclosure reports on the risks and opportunities imposed by climate change, which
have the potential for generating substantiate changes in revenues, operation and expenditure.
The risks and opportunities are mostly classified as either regulatory, physical or other. It also
focuses on the impact associated with those risks and opportunities. Furthermore, the importance
of this disclosure relies on financial implication of those risks and opportunities prior to take any
action (Alonso‐Almeida, Llach and Marimon 2014). On the other hand, the impact focus of this
disclosure is highlighting the methods of managing the risks and opportunities and estimating the
cost of managing those risks and opportunities. This disclosure is concerned with measuring the

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risk and opportunities due to climate change, which is actually caused from organizational
activities. It is also related with assessing the financial implication for preventing the impact on
climate change (Barkemeyer, Preuss and Lee 2015).
Timberwell Constructions has been alleged with making imbalance in the life of
biodiversity. Such imbalance has huge impact on climate change. The construction company has
cleared 0.45 hectares area, which actually endangered ecological community coastal grasslands.
Furthermore, the organization has also been alleged with clearing a land, which is actually
recognized under State Planning Scheme having significant flora and fauna attributes. The land
clearing activities and deforestation are the main reasons for increased bushfire, which is directly
linked with climate change. Hence, the organization has been fined with $200,000 for critically
endangering community coastal grasslands. Timberwell has also been ordered with
implementing a rehabilitation program biodiversity, which would cost almost $440,000.
Stanwell Council has proposed Local Environmental Plan (LEP) for preventing the
impact of global warming causing climate change and increased bushfire. As per this LEP, the
new development area will have to meet the bushfire safety and standards and use fire redundant
material for building. Timberwell would require $4 million for complying with the new
regulations. Apart from that, the organization has affianced with an external town planning firm
for managing the application of site development and working with Stanwell Council. Such town
planning firm has charged $50,000 to provide their service.
ii) Disclosure 205-3
In disclosure 205-3, the stakeholders of an organization have an interest in both the
happening of incidents and response of the organization to that incident. The public cases about

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corruption can include current public prosecutions, investigation and closed cases. Moreover,
this disclosure reports on the total number of confirmed corruption incidents. Furthermore, it also
highlights the total numbers of employees dismissed and disciplined for corruption. Apart from
that, focus of this disclosure also identifies the number of confirmed incidents, where an
organization has terminated the contracts with its business partners (Diouf and Boiral 2017). On
the other hand, the disclosure also explores the public cases placed against an organization or its
employees during the reporting time. As per GRI Disclosure 205-3, offering bribes to public
officers is considered under corruption case (Alonso‐Almeida, Llach and Marimon 2014).
Timberwell Constructions has been alleged with a public corruption scandal, where five
employees of Timberwell and two business partners are involved. As per the complaints, those
five employees and two business partners have been alleged with offering bribes to council
project officers for pushing the development applications of the organization through the council
approval process. Hence, the state corruption commission has charged each of those employees
and business partners for their corruption. The organization has suspended those 5 employees
without pay. The organization has also ended its partnership contracts with those two business
partners.
iii) Disclosure 206-1
This disclosure pertains to the legal actions initiated under national and international
laws, which is actually designed for regulating the anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust or
monopoly behavior (Junior, Best and Cotter 2014). Such practices can influence the consumer
choice, pricing and some other factors, which are essential for efficient marketing. The
legislation introduced by this disclosure prevents the monopoly practice with the assumption that
competition among the enterprises actually promotes economic efficiency and sustainable

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growth. The disclosure highly focuses on the legal action, which indicates the situation, where
the market status or actions of an organization have reached an adequate scale of merit concern
by the third party. The legal actions raised from such situations can carry the risks of important
disruption of market activities in regards to an organization and punitive measures. This centre
focus of this disclosure is on the number of legal actions completed or pending against an
organization during the reporting period in regards to the anti-competitive behavior and
violations of monopoly and anti-trust legislation associated with an organization (Quarshie,
Salmi and Leuschner 2016). Apart from that, it also discloses the outcome of the legal actions
including the judgment and decision.
In case of Timberwell Constructions, the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) has made an allegation in Federation Court against the organization for its
alleged anti-competitive. In such anti-competitive behavior, the organization misused the market
power and exclusive dealing. As per the allegation, Timberwell Constructions told the suppliers
and contractors that it would reduce or withdraw its contracts with them, if were involved with
the new competitive development company and local builders. The organization engaged with
this conduct preventing new entrants in the development market, which was actually intended for
fostering monopoly practice and anti-competitive behavior. The case has been listed in Federal
Court and the hearing of the case will be within 4 months in the Federal Court.
B. Environmental sustainability
i) Disclosure 302-1
This disclosure pertains to the fuel or energy consumption within an organization. Such
energy consumption can both be from renewable sources or non-renewable fuel consumption

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(Sierra‐García, Zorio‐Grima and García‐Benau 2015). An organization can source its energy
from different energy sources like electricity, renewable or non-renewable energy sources. The
energy sources like water and steam provided from district heating plant can be extremely
significant for an organization (Diouf and Boiral 2017). On the other hand, the non-renewable
energy sources like boilers, turbines, heaters, generators, flares are also extremely significant for
an organization towards sourcing required energy. This disclosure calculates the energy
consumption of an organization in joules.
The second media released explains that Timberwell Constructions is highly efficient in
energy consumption. It signifies that the organization makes a balance between the renewable
and non-renewable energy sources in terms of energy consumption. The Australian Department
of Industry and Science has reported on the energy consumption of Timberwell Constructions.
As per this report, the total non-renewable fuel consumption of the organization is 1.0 Gigajoule
(109 joules). On the other hand, the total renewable fuel consumption of the organization is 0.5
Gigajoule. Furthermore, the organization consumes 2.0 Gigajoule from Electricity consumption.
The media has also explained that the organization will raise its energy consumption from non-
renewable sources, which will be 50% of its total energy consumption within next three years. It
indicates that the organization is highly concerned about saving the energy sources of the
environment for sustainable energy consumption.
ii) Disclosure 304-2
As per this disclosure, the areas of impact are not limited to formally protected areas. It
may also consider the impact on buffer zones as well as formally designated areas of sensitivity
(Tschopp and Nastanski 2014). Furthermore, this disclosure reports on the strategy of an
organization toward minimizing significant direct or indirect impact on biodiversity. The

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disclosure indentifies the activities occurring in both protected areas and other areas having high
level of biodiversity value even outside the protected area. Such monitoring activities actually
make possible for the organization to reduce the risks associated with the impacts. Furthermore,
the monitoring activities of the disclosure also facilitate an organization towards reducing and
managing impacts on biodiversity and avoiding mismanagement (Grushina 2017).
In case of Timberwell Constructions, the development program of the organization has
hampered the biodiversity life of flora and fauna. The organization has also hampered the
biodiversity life through endangering the ecological community coastal grassland. It has actually
hampered the normal lifecycle of the biodiversity life. Moreover, the site development activities
of the organization is actually influencing on the life of biodiversity. The organization has been
ordered by Department of the Environment and Energy to implement rehabilitation program for
managing biodiversity. 60% of the organization’s Otford Park development site is inhabited by
rare wallum sedge frog. The residential development having medium density would irrevocably
alter the habitat and it would be incoherent frogs’ with survival on the site. In this way, the
organizational activities of this organization have huge impact of biodiversity life that is actually
hampering the environment. However, Timberwell Constructions is working with Stanwell
Council and environmental groups for devising strategy to manage proposed development of
sites towards conserving wallum sedge frog.
iii) Disclosure 307-1
This disclosure highlights the non-compliance of an organization to ensure its ability
towards certain performance parameters. Non-compliance leads to cleaning up obligations and
other costly environmental liabilities (Camilleri 2015). This disclosure assesses the operations of
an organization for their compliance with strict environmental standards. The strength of an

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organization in terms of its compliance record with environmental records can affect its
capability of expanding its operations and gaining permits. In some jurisdictions, voluntary
environmental conformity with statutory authorities is referred as ‘covenants’. Such disclosure
also highlights the cases against an organization through the use of international or national
dispute mechanism governed by statutory authorities. In case of Timberwell Constructions, the
development program of the organization cleared and cleaned 0.45 hectares land, which
endangered coastal grasslands of ecological community. It indicates that the organization is not
complying with the environmental standards by hampering the ecological balance through its
operations. Hence, the organization has been fined with $200,000 Department of the
Environment and Energy for this non-compliance with environmental laws. Apart from that, the
organization has also been ordered with external review of vegetation management plan, which
can cost $440,000. The medium density development program has been proposed for the sites for
the non-compliance of the organization with environmental laws and conservation.
C. Social sustainability
i) Disclosure 401-1
As per this disclosure, the age, number and region of new hires in an organization
indicate the capability and strategy of that organization towards attracting qualified and diverse
employees. This information can also indicate the effort level of an organization towards
implementing inclusive recruitment process based on gender and age. This disclosure also
indicates the optimal use of existing labors and talents in different regions. As per this disclosure,
increasing rate of employee turnover signifies the insecurity and frustration among the
employees (Grushina 2017). It signals the fundamental changes required in the structure of the

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core operations of an organization. Uneven pattern of employee turnover base on gender or age
signifies the incompatibility and inequity in the workplace (Barkemeyer, Preuss and Lee 2015).
Increasing turnover can results in reduced human and intellectual capital of an organization,
which can hamper its ultimate productivity. In case of Timberwell Constructions, the
organization mostly hires the employees, who are aged between 30 to 50 years. Recently, the
organization has to employ 12 new apprentices in the reporting period, as 17 employees left the
job. It indicates that the employees of this organization are paid low pay rates and they are not
even provided with roistered day off. Hence, the reason behind the high turnover of the
organization is employee dissatisfaction.
ii) Disclosure 406-1
This disclosure highlights on the existence of employee discrimination in an organization.
As per the instruction of ILO (International Labor Organization), discrimination in an
organization can be based on the ground of sex, race, color, religion, national extraction and even
social origin (Quarshie, Salmi and Leuschner 2016). Apart from that, employee discrimination
can also occur based on age, gender, migrant status, lifestyle, genetic predisposition and others.
However, the discrimination among the employees based on such factors ultimately becomes the
reason of employee dissatisfaction. Moreover, the existence and successful execution of policies
towards avoiding employee discrimination are the fundamental expectation of socially
accountable conduct (Diouf and Boiral 2017). In case of Timberwell Constructions, the
organization has been alleged with discrimination among the employees based on the age of the
employees. Moreover, one employee named Dennis McCabe resigned from this organization and
filed a report on workplace harassment to the Fair Work Commission. The organization has been
alleged with employee discrimination, where this particular employee was the target of

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humiliating age related jokes from other employees. Moreover, the employee discrimination of
the organization was actually based on the age of the employees. Such discrimination was
actually like harassment for that particular employee, who ultimately resigned from the
organization for such harassment. Later on, Fair Work Commission ordered the organization to
pay the employee $4,400 in compensation. Furthermore, the organization has also complied with
the order of commission for updating its anti-discrimination policy and providing training on
anti-discrimination to all employees.
iii) Disclosure 413-1
This disclosure highlights on the engagement of an organization with its local community
towards overall local community development. Local community is mostly ranged from the
persons adjacent to the organization and those persons influenced by the organizational operation
(Tschopp and Nastanski 2014). In case of Timberwell Constructions, the third media release of
the organization indicates its huge expense for engaging with community, performing impact
assessment and formulating social development program. The development program of the
organization is targeted towards all proposed housing developments. Moreover, the initiatives
include local residential meetings, Environmental Impact Assessments and development of local
community based on needs of local community for affordable social housing.
Conclusion
While concluding the study, it can be said that Timberwell Constructions has been
alleged with several economically unsustainable conducts. It has to adhere to the new rules of
Local Environmental Plan (LEP) for minimizing its impact on climate change. The assessment of
GRI Disclosure 205-3 has demonstrated that the organization has been alleged with offering

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bribes to the council project officers towards pushing development application. On the other
hand, the GRI Disclosure 302-1 of environment sustainability demonstrates that the organization
is environmentally sound enough through using mixed consumption of renewable and non-
renewable energy source. As per the Disclosure 406-1 of social sustainability, the organization
has been alleged with employee discrimination based on the age of the employees. However, the
organization has finally complied with the order of Fair Work Commission for updating its anti-
discrimination policies and providing training on anti-discrimination to all employees.

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