Transform Unsustainable Organization Into Sustainable One Research Paper

Transform Unsustainable Organization Into Sustainable One

Sustainability

Land and water management

Energy, carbon and transport management

Supply chain management

Waste, pollution, recycling management

Sustainability performance indicators

Social sustainability

Long-term sustainability vision

The final report is prepared in conjunction with the ANW Construction Ltd. The report prepared to demonstrate the level of sustainability is effective in highlighting the key features that the business has implemented in its operations. The following sections are focused to the differences that a sustainable organization can have in comparison with the unsustainable business. The recommendations are made based on the academic and professional literature. The notable areas for sustainability in a business are addressed as land, water management, energy, carbon, transport management, supply chain management, waste, pollution, and recycling management. Furthermore the report also provides insight on the sustainability performance indicators, social sustainability, and long-term sustainability vision for businesses.

Sustainability:

According to Bell, and Morse (2008) the original forms of sustainability are divided into two categories. These categories include the maintenance of environment quality and a multidimensional effort to achieve the objectives. The ecological and technological roots are also explained in order highlight the effectiveness of sustainability causes. The carrying capacity of the system is explained in the research through using a conjunction of maximum sustainable yields. These yields are also represented as (MSY) that are related to ecological resources utilization. The overuse of resources eventually results into a collapse of population. The concept presented through MSY helps in identifying the relative features of population increase or greed. The collapse of the system has consequences that are not beneficial for the dependents of the system.

Land and water management:

The construction companies leading the industry with Operations acquire land for their projects. The companies are also socially responsible for their existence. It is already an effort to develop a sustainable project for housing and commercial use. The destruction of ecological agriculture and assurance of natural products should also be catered. In order to maintain environmental regulations the organization has to establish a robust mechanism for compliance with the industry and governmental laws (Prakash, & Potoski, 2006).

Climate change is also an important factor which is influenced by land utilization for purposes other than earthly businesses including development of land for housing and commercial purposes. Climate change can be denoted as the changes occurring in earth's temperature, wind, sea levels, rain schedules, and floods. The world is worst most effected by climate change. The causes of the climate change can be related to natural as well as unnatural factors. However, the human factors causing climate change are denoted as extensive energy consumption. The increased amount of carbon and nuclear emissions are also affecting global climate which is expedited through construction industry and it will also impact ANW Construction Limited projects (Williams, 2013).

ANW Construction Limited also causes land utilization and as result it impacts climate change. The forests of the planet are decreasing on hourly basis causing a major damage to environment. It is also a cause of increased floods and high temperatures. The increased rainfall, snow, fog, and storms are also caused by disruptive eco systems. The environment around the industrialized and urbanized cities is worst effected through energy consumption and carbon emissions. The efforts for renewable energy are not appropriate to mitigate climate change risks and damages caused by unnatural factors on earth (Williams, 2013).

The climate change factors are not only limited to the factors discussed above. The influence of political and economic factors is also overwhelming in climate change efforts and causes of such elements incurring as notable components of the issues. The climate changes are propagated by a number of nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations throughout the globe. However they are only regarded as activists and major players for energy, oil, and gas strongly lobby with government officials to resist environmental policies, laws, and regulations.

The ANW Construction Limited should take serious actions in individual capacity to preserve earth's environment. Furthermore taking active position for strict implementation of environmental regulations is also helpful for sustainable operations. The industries are also causing major contaminations for water, air, and disposal of waste without treatment. The combination of all these factors is causes of climate change and disturbing eco system of plant earth. The natural causes including solar activity is a fractional factor as compared with above mentioned unnatural components of the climate change.

The climate changes occurring on earth are also relevant for other notable features of human life including the production of food, average yield of the crops as well as other social, political, and economic indicators (Alcamo, & Olesen, 2012).The relevance of environment on agriculture is a most common example of a direct influence. The ecological farming is promoted in order to safeguard environment and its related effects. The human food consumption is also directly related to the food production, prices, and availability (Alcamo et al., 2012).

Energy, carbon and transport management:

The companies should focus on innovation and develop policies to produce renewable energy and alternatives to conventional energy exports. The world energy outlook is changing and the environmentalists are emphasizing on the issues of climate change as well as global warming which is causing food scarcity due to lower agriculture yields. Brazil, Mexico, and Peru are working towards developing alternative energy sources for export (Gonzales, 2012). It is also required by the western importers to facilitate these countries in developing energy fuels that are not based on the fossil elements. The energy outlook requires a world aligned policy for reducing pollution caused by excessive use of energy and careful conservation is also recommended. The cost of producing energy should also be considered as an important factor in producing and distributing affordable energy.

The renewable energy requires distribution over large areas of U.S. And an integration of electrical grids is required (APS, nd). The eastern and western electrical grids of U.S. can be integrated to accommodate 20% - 30% of the renewable energy within the supply system. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is actively investigating to explore opportunities for the initiative (NERL, nd). The integration of the pipelines and increasing the capacity of refineries is also an important aspect of the energy policy regarding stable availability and mitigating energy crisis.

The organizations are required to design and develop strategies for business operations that are well managed and provide suitable sustainability. This sustainability can be derived from fulfilling their corporate social responsibility and addressing all environmental issues. The large U.S. corporations i.e. Southwest Airlines is a significant example of developing sustainable operations throughout their business.

There are several programs offering sustainable green operations. Environmentally sustainable business operations are regarded as health and alive and they are also denoted as consuming less energy and using sustainable energy to operate. Southwest Airlines follows environmentally sustainable strategy for its business operations. This allows the company to operate using fewer fuels, resulting into increased revenue (Laura, 2012). The airline is following a consistent point to point low fare carrier's business strategy. Fuel hedging is an effective strategy of Southwest Airlines which allows the organization to offer relatively low fares for its customers. The fuel prices are most relevant for a low fare carrier. It is also essential to maintain a fleet of aircrafts that has low fuel consumption for the reasons to maintain low cost as well as a clean environment. These examples can be used for ANW Construction Ltd. As a strategy for developing sustainable operations.

The functional level strategy for environmentally sustainable operations is aligned with the specific functions of the organizational operations. These operations and process are dealt individually, according to their dynamics and limitations (Evans, Campbell, & Stonehouse, 2003). The examples for functional strategies are mainly waste reduction, green operations, waste re-cycling program, and minority suppliers in logistics. The company also has a marketing, and advertising strategy to promote the goals of their sustainable operations.

The programs for gathering and re-cycling the waste materials produced through the operations. The re-cycling will not only reduce cost but it will also compliment corporate social responsibility. The waste re-cycle programs are developed at various facilities. The green filters program is one of the unique programs offered within the industry. The sustainable construction business is regarded as responsive towards environment and appreciated in the communities around them. The suppliers, employees, and customers appreciate the efforts for a clean and green environment provided by the construction business.

Supply chain management:

Supply chain management may involve contracting third parties for showing interest to enter into partnership with the business. ANW Construction Ltd. can invest in sustainable business opportunities in developing countries to support supplier base, this will further increase the reach of the company in supplier network. The firms also adopt sustainability practices into its business operations to increase efficiency and decrease wasteful practices. All the core elements are interconnected with share values being a central theme of sustainability. The supply chain management system of the company became its core strength. The sustainable competitive advantage of the organization….....