Sustainability Assessment of Timberwell Constructions: MBA402 Report

This report provides a comprehensive sustainability assessment of Timberwell Constructions, a fictional company, based on the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 2016. The analysis encompasses three key areas: economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The economic sustainability section examines financial implications and risks related to climate change (Disclosure 201-2), incidents of corruption and actions taken (Disclosure 205-3), and legal actions concerning anti-competitive behavior (Disclosure 206-1). The environmental sustainability portion evaluates energy consumption (Disclosure 302-1), the impact of activities on biodiversity (Disclosure 304-2), and instances of non-compliance with environmental laws (Disclosure 307-1). Finally, the social sustainability aspect addresses employee turnover (Disclosure 401-1), issues related to anti-discrimination policies (Disclosure 406-1), and community development initiatives (Disclosure 413-1). The report highlights specific disclosures within each area, offering a detailed examination of Timberwell Constructions' practices and performance in relation to sustainability principles.

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

1GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
The significance of the ethical business practices of the modern business world is
observed to increase in a notable manner and that is pretty evident with the increasing
urgency of the managers of the organizations in the formation of appropriate code of the
business conduct. Ferrell and Fraedrich (2015) commented that it is important for the
organizations to make sure that they conduct their business activities in ethical manner for
increasing the sustainability of their business operations. The success of the companies in
conducting a profitable business for a longer period of time is seen to be dependent on the
degree of sustainability that their business activities are associated with. Piercy and Rich
(2015) stated that the sustainability of the business operations of a particular company
depends on three different aspects such as the economic, environmental and social and the
management of the topics that are related to these topics becomes crucial for the
organizations in increasing the degree of sustainability of their business activities. The paper
is focused in the description of the sustainability reports of a particular company named as
Timberwell Constructions. The paper analyses a case study of the mentioned company to
elaborate regarding the economic sustainability, environmental sustainability along with the
social sustainability.
Economic Sustainability:
Disclosure 201-2:
One of the major concern for the company with the changes in the climate is observed
to be their approach of managing the environmental or ecological stability. It is evident that
the company is able to establish a particular method for managing the diversity in the
environment and that is evident with their joint activities for the proposed local
environmental plan with Stanwell Council. With the changes in the climate, the company will be
expected to do the amendments in the local environmental plan for rezoning the bushfire prone

2GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
areas (Youtube.com 2019). Under such situation, the company will be required to make sure that
any new development in the identified area as bushfire prone will be subjected to an evaluation of
the area in meeting the higher standards of bushfire safety in addition to the larger distances
between the buildings and the land boundaries. Hence the company will be expected to face an
increment in the cost of the LEP amendment along with the town planning.
Disclosure 205-3:
The company was observed to be affected by increasing cases of the corruption and that
was a major concern for the management of the company. The company was accused to be
involved in unethical business operations along with their business partners. The importance of
the council approval process is observed to be notably high for the managers of the company as a
residential development company. The organization was accused of influencing the council
approval process for pushing their development applications in an unethical manner. Five of the
employees of the mentioned company and two external consultants of the mentioned company
were alleged of offering bribes to the project officers of the council. Under such situation, the
spread of the news of the unethical business operations from the part of the company had the
potential of affecting the business operations of the employees as the news provided a significant
amount of the reputational damage to the mentioned company. The company was able to take
strict actions against the employees and the two external consultants. The company suspended all
of its employees without any sort of payments and along with that, the company was seen to
terminate all sorts of the business contracts with the two external consultants. This speaks the
volume of the actions that the company is capable of undertaking in managing the sustainable and
ethical business operations inside the organization (Youtube.com 2019).
Disclosure 206-1:
The company was observed to try for the creation of a monopoly in the market and that
was pretty evident with the case of the local builders, planning for the establishment of the

3GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
development company. The mentioned organization was able to anticipate the fact that a group of
local builders were trying to set up a development company that have the potential to provide
tough competition. Under such situation, the managers of the company were observed to be
alleged of threatening their suppliers and the contractors. Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission claimed that the managers of the company were observed to be involved in
communicating a threat to the suppliers and the contractors that if they are planning for any sort
of association with the new development of the new construction company then their business
activities will be notably reduced in the company or even can get withdrawn (Accc.gov.au
2019). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took notable amount of initiatives in
dragging the mentioned company for the hearing of the intentional monopoly creation in the
market of the Stanwell district (Youtube.com 2019).
Environmental sustainability:
Disclosure 302-1:
The selected organization was observed to brag a lot regarding the status of an energy
efficient company in various social media releases. For the elaboration of the energy
efficiency, the company was seen to portray a table with the mentioned of the various forms
of the energy sources that the company uses and the consumption of the energy. The
company confirmed that it consumes 1.0 Gigajoule fuel from the non- renewable sources
along with 2.0 Gigajoule consumption of the electricity. Other than this, the company showed
that their consumption of the fuel from the non- renewable sources is nearly 0.5 Gigajoules.
Apart from this, the company was able to confirm the fact that it initiated a program that is
dedicated in raising the fuel consumption from the non -renewable sources. The objective of
the program was to make sure that the source of the 50% of the total fuel consumption
belongs to the renewable sources of energy in the next three years. Hence it is pretty evident

4GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
that the company is able to restructure their fuel consumption for becoming a more efficient
organization in terms of the fuel consumption.
Disclosure 304-2:
On the other hand, the company was liable for the effective management of the bio
diversity of the regions in which it is operating. The company ensured that the ecological
balance of the region is not affected by any of the business and operational activities of the
company. The press release of the company was pretty significant in stating the fact that the
company undertakes necessary actions such as the environmental impact assessment for the
management of the environmental balance. The results of the environmental impact
assessment conducted on the Otford Park development site clearly describes that considerable
number of rare wallum sedge frog occupies 60% of the site. However, the environmental
impact assessment also claimed that the medium density residential development that is a
proposed plan of the company for that site, has the potential to reduce the consistency of the
site for the survival of the rare wallum sedge frog (Youtube.com 2019). The company was
able to understand the fact that their proposed plan for that site had the possibility of affecting
the biodiversity of the site and that forced the company to form an association with the
Stanwell Council along with other environmental groups for the formulation of the appropriate
strategy that has the potential to manage the proposed development while maintaining the
conservation of the wallum sedge frog.
Disclosure 307-1:
The company was seen to be affected by several complaints to the department of
environment and energy. The company was accused of clearing 0.45 hectares of critically rare
environmental community coastal grasslands. The 0.45 hectares of area that was cleared was
acknowledged of containing significant flora and fauna attributes in the state planning scheme

5GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
(Globalreporting.org. 2019). The company was observed to face a 200000 Dollars fine and
along with that, the company was instructed to undertake a critical external review of the
vegetation management plan. Apart from this, the company was seen to face an order for
extending the audit program of the company for the contractors and along with that, the company
was seen to be ordered for implementing a rehabilitation plan of at least 440000 dollars. Hence it
is evident that the company was forced to take several decisions that have the capability to
change the reputation of the company in managing their approach of environmental and energy
management. Other than this, the company was forced to undertake the actions that are in
alignment with the environmental legislations. Any sort of discrepancy from the part of the
company in complying with the environmental legislation was subjected to monetary fines and
significant amount of reputational damage.
Social sustainability:
Disclosure 401-1:
The company was seen to experience a significantly increasing rate of turnover and that
was pretty evident with the appointment of 12 new apprentices in the company. The local labour
and employment market is seen to be significantly competitive and that was a major reason of the
scarcity of quality and experienced employees that the company was facing. 17 highly efficient
employees of the company left the company for primarily two reasons that are to work for the
rival companies where they are getting notably improved compensation and other benefits or to
begin a new business. Under such situation, the company was forced to employ the apprentices in
the reporting periods. The company was seen to face the threat of declining quality in the
performances of the employees and the absence of the 17 experienced employees of the company
had the possibility of threatening the overall performances of the company. Under such situation,
the company was seen to face the necessity of improving their rewarding plan to make sure that it
motivates the employees to remain associated with the organization. As a result, the company

6GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
was observed to take several actions that have the capability to motivate the employees to
continue in the company and that was pretty evident with the decisions that the company
undertook such as the increment in the worker pay rates along with the implementation of the
monthly rostered day off process for the employees.
Disclosure 406-1:
The company was observed to face considerable number of challenges in the retention
of the employees inside the organization. With a precise focus on the competitive labour
market, it is evident that the company is facing considerable number of issues in retaining
their employees. The resignation of 17 employees is seen to be one of the major proof of the
fact. At the same the company is seen to be affected with the lack of cohesion and
effectiveness in the anti- discrimination policies of the company. The increasing rate of
turnover of the employees had the potential of providing notable amount of impact to the
organization as the investment of the company for managing the training and developmental
activities of the employees leaving the organizations, was going in vain. The increasing cases
of the discrimination inside the workplace was considered to be one of the prime reason that
was influencing the employee turnover rates in the company. One of the senior employees of
the company was seen to be harassed by the other employees of the company for his age
through various age related humiliating jokes. The company was ordered to improve their
approaches of maintaining the fair work inside the workplaces, restructure their anti-
discrimination policies and along with that, was instructed to pay 4,400 dollars to the victim in
addition to the implementation of the anti –discrimination training for the employees of the
company.
Disclosure 413-1:

7GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
The company was determined in the development of the society and the community and
that was pretty evident with the third media releases of the company where it claimed that it faces
considerable amount of expenses for engaging the local communities, for performing the impact
assessments along with formulating the social development programmes in all of the proposed
residential development sites. These activities enabled the company to conduct the environmental
impact assessments, local community meetings along with the local community development
programmes that are designed to meet the needs of the community such as the affordable social
housing (Globalreporting.org. 2019).

8GOVERNANCE, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY
References:
Accc.gov.au 2019. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission. [online] Available at: https://www.accc.gov.au/
Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases.
Nelson Education.
Globalreporting.org. 2019. 2016. [online] Available at:
https://www.globalreporting.org/information/news-and-press-center/newsarchive/Pages/
2016.aspx
Globalreporting.org. 2019. GRI Standards. [online] Available at:
https://www.globalreporting.org/information/sustainability-reporting/pages/gri-
standards.aspx
Piercy, N. and Rich, N., 2015. The relationship between lean operations and sustainable
operations. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 35(2), pp.282-
315.
Youtube.com 2019. Introducing the GRI Standards. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDe8Kkh1BrU&t=2s
Youtube.com 2019. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards: The Future of Reporting.
[online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGqE4OO0_7g&t=3s