Sustainability Initiatives And Human Resource Management In 4Pines Essay.

The report is aimed to look into the people work and employment of people in Australia. The formative assessment requires to develop an understanding of. The ultimate aim of the formative assessment requires to monitor the learning of students for providing the responses which is to be used by instructors for bringing in improvements on their teaching and thus help students improve their learning. On the other hand, the summative is to ascertain the learnings which a student attained over a period by comparing against the formative assessment developed, taking them as the standard. A sustainable future is necessary to avoid a global collapse. The academic literature assures that Human Resource Management should be taking the desired initiatives to guarantee pleasant life for future generations.

Sustainable development is not a new concept. This has been prevalent for quite sometime. During the early part of 1900s, quite a number of universities were introducing this concept in their outlines for training critical thinkers in ethics and morality. Sustainable growth is a broad area, which is highly concerned about the impact the human activities can create on the environment, social welfare and economic growth (Agudo?Valiente, Garcés?Ayerbe and Salvador?Figueras 2015). 4Pines is a brewery based in Sydney, that wishes to be trusted for innovative processes and sustainable performance.

4Pines is an organization, which puts emphasis on the impact they have on the society through their activities and take full responsibility towards preserving the environment in the best possible manner. Taking care of the fact that their activities related to the business should not have any adverse impact on the people around, is something which the company considers to be their moral obligation. ‘Save The Pines’ is a major initiative towards social responsibility, which the company considers to stay committed towards the welfare of the society (Carayannis, Sindakis and Walter 2015). For any initiative to succeed, an organization needs the back up of their Human Resource Department. HR plays a very important role in giving the initiatives proper shape. The HR Value Chain states that, for any organization to implement their strategies in an effective manner as part of the achievement of goals and objectives, they have to get clubbed with the HR strategy (Smith 2012).

4Pines is a brewing company, so apart from all these the organization also takes the initiative to get totally engaged with their suppliers in and around the country. They believe that if they choose Australian suppliers, who share their same values, will conform to the ethical values of the organization, their commitment towards the society and the local community engagement. Gualandris and Kalchschmidt provide evidence that proper selection of suppliers is essential towards developing effective initiatives with respect to sustainability. On the other, selection of local suppliers is aided by the belief that the economy would be moving backwards from a globally manufacturing system to local and personalized one, as over the years, they have not have not had any positive effect on productivity or sustained economic growth.

As part of their sustainability initiatives, every employee is given a chance each year to volunteer in their charitable organizations, which in turn receives around $500 donation to facilitate in organizing a major event.

Corporate Social Responsibility is an integration of the concerns related to environment and society in a company’s regular operations (Schneider and Schmidpeter 2012). The incorporation of Corporate Social Responsibility into the system brings in transparency, knowledge and sustainability. 4Pines abides by the social responsibilities through incorporating transparency and maintaining sustainability in all their activities. They understand that this is their moral responsibility towards the society and thus act accordingly, in line with their motive.

There is a theory which provides the options to prove if the initiatives undertaken are trustworthy and well performed or not. This is the Agency Theory. The possible processes are studied to ensure maximum utility from agents and principals (Young and Thyil 2014). The authenticity of the initiatives undertaken by 4Pines can be measured from the fact that they have attained the BCorp Certificate, which provides them the certification that they are a sustainable business.

Analysis and Evaluation of the Authenticity of Sustainability Initiatives

Sustainability Initiatives undertaken by 4Pines are analyzed and evaluated by looking into the different sustainable and corporate social responsibilities carried out in all the activities. They have a BCorp certification with regard to the sustainable theories undertaken. This is enough proof that 4Pines is a sustainable business as BCorp certification is for those who have attained sustainability over a period of time (Michie 2015). 

The ‘Save The Pines’ program is a way to initiate sustainability and provide people with authenticity that the company deals in conducting their business in a free and fair manner by adhering to the corporate social responsibility and become sustainable over a period of time.

As part of sustainability initiatives, every employee is given a chance each year to volunteer in their charitable organizations, which in turn receives around $500 donation to facilitate in organizing a major event. Additionally one percent of an entire period volunteered by the workers, gets awarded to their annual leave.

Sustainability can only be achieved through constant performance and by maintaining the quality. This performance by keeping up with the quality can only be attained through a motivated group of employees. 4Pines through these incentives from time to time, help keep the employees motivated, which will lead to exceptional performance, resulting in improved productivity, thus making the 4Pines organization a profitable one. So the initiatives contributed to a great extent for enhancing positive, social and human outcomes.

On the social front, the initiatives taken the organization has done a world of good. The idea of adding one percent of an entire period volunteered by the workers, gets awarded to their annual leave is an excellent initiative to keep the employees motivated and always energetic so that they put in their best efforts while working for the organization. When the customers get the ideas that the company is serious about keeping up with the needs and demands and also particular about the well-being of individuals in and around, automatically a sense of trust and feeling of authenticity get developed within them (Yap and Labangon 2015). They would always be loyal towards the company, by purchasing products from them and thereby ensure growth and development of the organization. A business flourishes when they are fully assisted by the employees who work for them. The employees would work enthusiastically and in a motivated manner only when they feel that the organization is taking care of their interests and providing them with the necessary facilities. Human resource in the form of employees is a very precious resource, which if carefully managed, can make an organization grow and scale new heights. The fact that the 4Pines makes every attempt to keep their employees happy and satisfied, is enough evidence to prove that they will be loyal towards the organization on a long-term basis.

Their ‘Save The Pines’ initiative is another step in the right direction taken by the organization to show how much they are concerned about preserving their organization from external threats. This is their commitment towards the environmental and social responsibility. Then the use of BCorp as an yardstick to guide the organization for improving their approach towards people, environment, governance and community (Eccles, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). When an organization like 4Pines takes steps through these noble initiatives to contribute positively towards the social and human outcomes for human resources, the whole image of the organization gets a lift. The steps inspire other organizations of the same industry or of other industries to follow the same path and thus allow the art of doing business, a way through which they can contribute towards the growth and development of the society. Invariably, this allows the organization to grow in the eyes of the public and impact positively on the minds and attitudes of the human resources or employees.

Contribution of Initiatives to Enhancing Positive Social and Human Outcomes for Human Resources

The results would vary from business to business in a significant way. The concept of sustainable development would be applicable irrespective of the type of business but the initiatives would vary according to the needs and requirements of the business. The primary aim for any organization would be to remain competitive in a highly volatile work environment. This requires the organizations to implement basic theories applicable for doing business in a responsible manner, keeping in view the betterment of the society (Walker et al. 2014). There would be variations on the outcomes for the same initiatives in a different business context but the primary aim for them would be same, which is to remain competitive and keep providing quality service to the customers.

To see how the outcomes would be different for the similar initiatives in a different business context, the British Multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer, Tesco is considered. Tesco being a renowned organization with respect to the image and service they have rendered all the British Community, they put tremendous effort to be socially responsible in this field of business (Mirvis 2012). In Irelend, TESCO has been working with the customers, partners and suppliers to create a green environment and raise awareness among the public on environmental issues. In Ireland, they have been playing a major role to tackle one of the gravest threats, which is climate change. This is the reason why, one of the policies of TESCO is to put the well being of environment first before taking any sort of initiative regarding the company’s growth. The company measures their direct carbon footprint to an absolutely clear baseline from where the progress made  in reducing the carbon emissions could be tracked and thus help TESCO to look into different fields where they need to give priority (Hornibrook, May and Fearne 2015). They have included use of energy in the stores, distribution centres and offices, as well as look into the primary distribution emissions, business travel and their delivery vans for home shopping. They have also included the impact of Hydrofluorocarbon gases which are used for refrigeration. The company is determined to reduce their indirect carbon footprint and are looking towards options for examining certain ways through which they can assist the suppliers along with their customers to find ways out for reducing emissions (Lee and Saen 2012).

So a distinct difference can be seen how initiatives vary from one company to another keeping in mind the type of businesses, which they involved in. To carry on taking the noble steps towards the betterment of society and also look to prosper as an organization, should be ultimate motives for every company.

Conclusion:

So, the report concludes that the sustainability and understanding the benefits for the society by keeping up with the rules and regulations is important for any organization to carry out businesses in a socially responsible manner. 4Pines is certainly abiding by the rules and conforming with the regulations to carry out their business activities in a healthy and sustainable manner.

References:

Agudo?Valiente, J.M., Garcés?Ayerbe, C. and Salvador?Figueras, M., 2015. Corporate social performance and stakeholder dialogue management. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(1), pp.13-31.

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.

Eccles, R.G., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. The impact of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Management Science, 60(11), pp.2835-2857.

Hornibrook, S., May, C. and Fearne, A., 2015. Sustainable development and the consumer: Exploring the role of carbon labelling in retail supply chains. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(4), pp.266-276.

Lee, K.H. and Saen, R.F., 2012. Measuring corporate sustainability management: A data envelopment analysis approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), pp.219-226.

Michie, J., 2015. The Economy, Financial Stability and Sustainable Growth. In Why the Social Sciences Matter (pp. 92-110). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Mirvis, P., 2012. Employee engagement and CSR. California Management Revie

Schneider, A. and Schmidpeter, R., 2012. Corporate social responsibility. Verantwortliche Unternehmensführung in der Praxis, Berlin ua.

Smith, P.A., 2012. The importance of organizational learning for organizational sustainability. The Learning Organization, 19(1), pp.4-10.

Walker, P.H., Seuring, P.S., Sarkis, P.J. and Klassen, P.R., 2014. Sustainable operations management: recent trends and future directions. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34(5).

Yap, J.M. and Labangon, D.L.G., 2015. Embedding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities in an Academic Library: Highlights on the Social Aspects of the Human Library. PAARL, p.14.

Young, S. and Thyil, V., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance: Role of context in international settings. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), pp.1-24.