Background of the Study

The current topics focus on the aspect of maintaining the organizational ethics and governance standards within a business environment. An organization is part of a macro environment and is affected by a large number of factors including the political, economic, social, technological and environmental factors.  Therefore, in order to sustain itself within a corporate environment, an organization needs to balance all these factors.   Thus, failure to comply with one of these factors could result in legal breaches on the part of the organization. In the current study, an Australia based TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS have been taken into consideration. The company has been recently sued by one of its veteran employees who has faced workplace discriminations. The functioning of the company is evaluated as per the GRI sustainability reporting standards 2016.  The GRI standards are used by an organization to reports about their impact on the economy, environment and the society (globalreporting.org 2018). They are a set of interrelated modular standards which have been evaluated in the light of the current organization.

As per the disclosure 201-2, drastic climate changes possess risks to the functioning of an organization, its stakeholders and investors. As commented by Kim and Davis (2016), the organizations are directly or indirectly responsible for climate changes. In this respect, the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS was charged by an employee for clearing up 0.45 hectares of coastal grasslands which harboured critically endangered community. The area was identified as one containing important flora and fauna. However, in its press release, TIMBERWELL had maintained that is working closely with the Stanwell council in order to reduce the disturbances that will be caused to the local flora and fauna of the region due to construction activities.

As per disclosure 205-3, action needs to be taken for confirmed incidents of corruption. As commented by Jones et al. (2016), corruption includes practices such as – bribery, facilitation payments, money laundering offer of gifts and awards beyond the limitations of the organization. In this respect, an allegation was made against TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS as per which five employees of the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS and two business partners had offered money to the council project officers. As an effective measure against the report, the TIMBERWELL corporations have suspended five of its employees without pay. Additionally, the firm ended its partnership with the accused business partners.

The directive 206-1 addresses the topic of anti-competitive behaviour.  As per the regulations the TIMBERWELL constructions were booked for anti-competitive behaviour by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).  As reported by Denis one of the old employees of TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS the company had threatened its group of suppliers and distributors that if they work for any rival from the company is going to cut all ties with them.  This was clearly an anti-competitive behaviour shown on the part of the company.  As commented by Lozano et al. (2016),   the business organizations are guided by their set of corporate guidelines all of which falls under the corporate social responsibilities. Therefore, the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS had clearly breached the important GRI guidelines related to economic stability. In this respect, the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS could use a part of the 0.45 hectares of land for agriculture as an important CSR activity of the company.  It would have helped the company in maintaining the ecological balance of the land. Additionally, involvement in bribery and anti-competitive behaviour can result in strict monetary imposition on the company. Here, TIMBERWELL was instructed by the state planning board to review its vegetation management program at no less than $ 440,000 which was a huge amount imposed on the company.

Legal Breaches Faced by TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS

The company is responsible for maintaining the ecological balance by virtue of its activities (globalreporting.org 2018).Some of the environmental sustainability guidelines as per the GRI regulations are disclosure 302-1, 304-2 and 307-1.  

Under the directive 302-1, an organization can use energy in various forms such as fuel, electricity, heating, cooling etc (globalreporting.org 2018).  The energy can be self-generated or used from variable resources.  However, excessive consumption of energy from non-renewable resources is against the CSR policies of the company (Lu et al. 2017).  Therefore, the organization needs to maintain a balance in its power consumption rate.  In one of its press releases by the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS, it has mentioned that it is an energy efficient organization. The TIMBERWELL has also mentioned that it has raised its energy consumptions activities from renewable resources by 50 % in the following three years.  

As per the 304- 2 directive, there is significant impact of activities, products and services of an organization on the surrounding biodiversity. in this respect,  the TIMBERWELL constrictions were to clear 0.45 hectares of agricultural land for its construction activities for which it was imposed a fine of 200, 000 Australian dollars.   This is because the area was found by the state planning commission to be the one possessing diverse flora and fauna. However, later the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS issued in one of its press releases that the area was predominated by rare Wallace sage frog. However, they are in talks with the Stanwell council and environmental groups for the proposed development of the site along with conservation of the rare species.  

As per the directive 307-1, an organization needs to work in compliance with the environmental policies and guidelines.  However, the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS need to maintain clear and transparent company policies with respect to lowering of the carbon emissions. This is because excessive generation of atmospheric carbon generation not only violates the CSR guidelines of the company but also affects the surrounding environment (Higgins and Coffey 2016).   It would have been wise had the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS used a part of the land for their self-energy production by using bio-wastes degradation technology.  It also helps in restoring the natural vegetation cover of the land by supporting the growth of sufficient flora.

An organization functions within the jurisdiction of a social environment and is responsible by way of its actions for maintaining the social sustainability (globalreporting.org 2018). It focuses on the aspect of sustainable development by planning effective conservation programs. In the current study, the social sustainability has been discussed with reference to the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS. The organization had been defamed by one of its old employees regarding a number of malpractices. The organization was charged by the department of environment and energy that they have been trying to disturb the ecological balance of land due to their construction activities. The organization declined the accusations and discussed in their press release that they have been working in close collaboration with the Stanwell council and environmental groups in order to make the land fit for the survival of the rare wallum sedge frog. Some of the directives for maintaining social sustainability as per the GRI sustainability reporting standards 2016 are – disclosure 401-1, disclosure 406-1 and disclosure 413-1.

Measures for Maintaining Ecological Balance and Sustainable Development

This directive deals with the aspect of new employee hires as well as dealing with employee turnover.  As commented by Quarshie et al. (2016), high rates of employee turnover reflect at workplace dissatisfaction along with malicious practices at the place of workplace. As commented by Klettner et al. (2014), workplace inequalities result in high rates of employee turnover. The high rates of employee turnovers can result in lowering the productivity of the organization.

In this respect, Denise McCabe on the of the old employees working for the TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS had filed a complaint against the company saying that he had been suffering from workplace harassments.  The matter had been further detailed by him where he has mentioned that he was the only 50 years old to be working there and the rest of the employees working along with him were within the age group of 30-50.  This further subjected him to mental harassments and he was compelled to file a complaint with the Fair work commission. The commission ordered the TIMBERWELL constructions to pay Denise compensatory amount of Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments, and development programs 4400 Australian dollars as well as training the existing workforce on practising anti-discriminatory policies.

One of the most important objectives of working according to disclosure 413-1 is working in close approximation with the social community for positive development programs (globalreporting.org 2018). The TIMBERWELL CONSTRUCTIONS in this regards have been working with the close settled social community for formulating social development programs for all proposed residential developments.

Conclusion

The current assignment focuses on the concept of corporate governance and ethical policies. This has been discussed and evaluated with respect to an Australia based construction company. The organization had faced a number of issues recently with regards to some of its unfair practices. Therefore, in order to implement a positive work culture, the organization needs to follow some of the corporate governance policies as listed under the GRI sustainability reports. Some of these have been discussed with reference to the organization and its practices. However, conducting an internal check from time to time as well as working in accordance with the environment and sustainability act can prevent any kind of legal breaches on the part of the organization.

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