Business Workplace Undesirable Workplace

Question: Describe about the Business Workplace of Undesirable Workplace. Answer: 1: Legislation Explanation Improvement of the energy efficiency in the office Unnecessary consumption of energy is absolutely undesirable in any workplace. It not only implies a huge expense to be incurred by the organization on electricity or water supply bills, but also has a disastrous impact on the environment. It is important to create awareness among the employees about the importance of switching off power, as and when their working hours are over, or to turn off the tap after use (Yun et al. 2013). Recycling the products being used Buying a new product not only implies a huge expense on part of the organization, but it also leads to the creation of dumped wastes, and land pollution. It is important to reduce the purchase of fresh papers, and to reuse the other side of the used papers. Similarly, disposable coffee cups can be substituted by coffee mugs. In a nutshell, anything and everything whose use contaminates the land and soli, has to be prohibited in the workplace. In case the use cannot be stopped, overuse of the same has to be prevented (Chapman 2013). 2: Internal Source of Information: Explanation An inquiry into the current procedures followed in the workplace for energy efficiency In order to frame a new sustainability policy, the organization will be required to have detailed knowledge about the procedures being followed at present. Information has to be collected regarding the habits and activities of each of the employees as far as the issue of energy efficiency is concerned. Gathering information from the working staffs The employees can be asked about their opinion regarding the adoption of eco-friendly policies in workplaces. Inquiry should also be made regarding the efficient use of electricity and water in the workplace (Gahan et al. 2014). Asking the HR to introduce training method or frame new policy The Human Resource Manager can be asked to introduce new policies, and to create awareness among the employees about the need to go green. External Source of Information Explanation Government reports An overview of the government reports helps in understanding the newest technology that can increase energy efficiency at workplace. Newspapers and reports An in-depth study of the newspapers articles and journals is helpful in enlightening the management about the needs, benefits and methods of doing sustainable business. Consumers Consumers should be asked via survey, as to how far they are influenced to purchase products and avail service from an organization that practices sustainability (Cummings and Worley 2014). 3: Developing the sustainability policy and procedure is in itself a challenging task, and required a well-structured approach. First of all, it is important to understand the scope of the sustainable policy, and the extent to which it is achievable. Before the implementation of the policy, it is important to create awareness among the working staffs regarding the benefits and emerging needs of a sustainable environment. Unless they are being trained, the employees cannot be expected to follow the guidelines (Carayannis et al. 2015). Asking the employees to adopt a new attitude may take time, and hence the prospect of the policy should be communicated out to the stakeholders. It is not only sufficient to execute the plan, but at the end, the policy must be reviewed and monitored to understand the extent to which it is being achieved over a given period of time. 4: Barriers Strategies Financial barriers The adoption of sustainable practices in business will be requiring a huge amount of investment. A lump sum of money is required for the adoption of the innovative, technologically advanced energy saving devices, such as 5 stars rated energy saving lights, or water-saving gadgets. The cost incurred for sustainability can be partially added to the price of the product, and partially it can be incurred by the organization. Proper promotion has to be done in order to make the consumers aware about the sustainable methods of business are adopted by the organization, as it will help in attracting greater number of consumers, even if the cost of the products is high (Carroll and Buchholtz 2014). Social barrier Lack of awareness among the employees can be a major barrier in the process of sustainable business practice, and hence sufficient training should be provided to the employees. Placards and stickers can also be used inside the workplace, to create awareness. Poor monitoring system A committee has to be set up to track the progress, and to understand the areas that require special attention in future. A policy not well-monitored implies huge investment, yielding no benefits at the end of the day. Hence, a proper monitoring and evaluation of the policies should be done by the committee (Ramirez 2012). 1: The information has been gathered from both external sources as well as internal sources. As far as the internal source of information is concerned, it was being observed that there is a sort of casual indifference common among most of the employees regarding the need of conducting sustainable business. The operators informed that most of the employees tend to keep the lights switched on, before leaving the workplace, and even dump papers, food packets, and polyethylene inside the office. Hence, the HR manager has been consulted regarding the methods and policies that can be used to prohibit these kinds of careless acts inside the workplace. Further, recent journal articles and magazines have been used to understand the variety of methods that can be adopted to improve energy efficiency in the office. 1.2: The sustainability policies are to be introduced in the workplace has to be followed by each of the employees, irrespective of the designation he is holding. The policies are meant to reduce the contamination of environment, and the overuse of energy, and hence the organization will follow the energy efficient methods. Each staff will receive training and will be participating in the seminars emphasizing the importance of sustainable business practice. Once the training is over, anyone violating the norms will be penalized, while rewards and recognition will be offered for the best sustainable practice in the organization (Leonard 2013). 1.3: The policies are as follows: Papers have to be reused and recycled, and fresh papers should not be used unless both sides of the paper are being used. Each light should be switched off once the working hour is over. Once in a month, a new tree will be planted around the locality of the office. Each employee has to participate in the environmental training programs and awareness creating seminars to be held once in two months (Smith 2012). 1.4: In order to implement the above policies, the organization needs to conduct a meeting with the employees to discuss the importance and needs of sustainable business practices. Even after adequate training, most of the employees may fail to abide by the guidelines of energy consumption. Hence, the organization must invest for purchasing energy saving electrical devices and water saving taps. Further, rewards should be offered annually to recognize an employee for the maximum use of eco-friendly office products (Benn et al. 2014). 2: The employees are being requested to be aware of the importance of reduction of carbon footprint of the organization, as it not only reduces the operating cost of the organization, but also fetches it greater recognition. The employees should get habituated with the use of and LED bulbs instead of the incandescent bulbs. An employee in each team will be entrusted with the duty of monitoring the habit of the team members in switching off every electric device at the end of the day. The employees are being encouraged to work at least a day in a month from home will help in reducing the emission (Werbach 2013). 3: It was being discovered that most of the employees were being found to stay on track, and trying their best to reduce the carbon footprint of the organization. However, many employees were not much acquainted with the methods of using the water-saving gadgets. After the training sessions, greater awareness about the sustainability benefits was being noticed among the employees. The market differentiation achieved through the adoption of sustainable business practices increased the employee satisfaction. Further, there was a remarkable reduction in the electricity bills at the end of each month. 4.1 Stakeholders (Managers): Some of the employees are not taking the matter seriously, and are not willing to engage in sustainability programs, such as Plant a tree or conserve water. Feedback: Dear Sir, It is important for the organization to offer greater recognition to the employees for their efforts invested in sustainable business practice. If necessary, participating in the seminars and awareness creating workshops will be made mandatory. 4.2 Cost is a huge issue as primarily the organization has to spend a considerable sum of money for purchasing the energy saving devices or training the employees. Without a regulatory body, it is difficult to supervise and monitor the sustainability initiatives. There is a lack of proper control and administration for ensuring that the policies are being properly followed in each day. 4.3: The expense incurred is a one-time investment, and hence it is needless to focus much on cost, as in the long term, it will develop the brand recognition of the organization. The introduction of incentives will be used for motivating the employees to follow the policies daily. Finally, a regulatory body will be set up, that will be help in evaluating the performance of the employees, as far as the sustainable business practice is concerned (Florea et al. 2013). Reference List: Benn, S., Dunphy, D. and Griffiths, A., 2014.Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. Carayannis, E.G., Sindakis, S. and Walter, C., 2015. Business model innovation as lever of organizational sustainability.The Journal of Technology Transfer,40(1), pp.85-104. Carroll, A.B. and Buchholtz, A.K., 2014.Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education. Chapman, J., 2013.Working towards sustainability: exploring the workplace as a site for pro-environmental behavioural change(Doctoral dissertation, Routledge). Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014.Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Florea, L., Cheung, Y.H. and Herndon, N.C., 2013. 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