Mgt4028 Ethics And Business: Reflection Assessment Answers

Read my reflection and other students reflection and write a reply to other students. 

One of the most important things I have learned in this course is the value in taking care of the environment and to appreciate the environment just like what Interface is doing with their company as Ray Anderson started the firm based on a very sustainable business path and its values. This has been clearly stated in their Vision, Mission and Values statement and they emphasize the business’ commitment to the environment, and leaving the world a better place. The principle mention so many ways to in which and how the companies should take environmental seriously in order to restores the environment. This is one of the greatest lesson I have learned throughout this course, doing business while looking for the environment as well because recently, I came across news regarding our mother earth.  According to UN Climate Change report says, we only have until 2030 to restrain global warming because the Earth is currently dying as the result from human activities. This recent news make me shocked and somehow opened my eyes as at the same time, what I have gained from this course help me to understand the concept of being sustainable towards the environment is crucial. This issue has helped me personally and professionally.

Coming from deep in my heart, it saddens me on how our Mother Earth received a huge impact due to human activities that contribute to natural disaster. I believe it is important for companies to start trying to practice sustainable business and make an attempt to minimize their carbon footprint for the preservation of the earth. I also believe that every company and the employees should have a great responsibility towards the environment. As for Interface, they have clearly shown their attention towards the environment in their Mission, by stating that they will honour the places of where the business is operating by attempting to become the first in industrial ecology and being one of the corporation that treasure the nature.

My thinking has definitely changed after studying this course for ten weeks, as I have started to slowly avoiding using the plastic straw, and find the metal one instead. I also have recently bought reusable coffee cups and I will just have to bring the cups to the coffee store, instead of using the plastic cups from the store. I would say I am proud that my thinking has changed and be able to see things from different light now.

I have so many questions running in my head when I am in the middle of learning this course as I was wondering how some companies run their business by releasing carbon dioxide, methane to the atmosphere, burn fossil fuels etc. The current situation leave me with things to work on in future, as I am about to pursue the career in logistics and supply chain field, I would like to ensure I will run a sustainable business in order to design a more beautiful world. If I were meant to work under any organization, I would try my best to make an effort and suggest ways how to produce products on a sustainable way and eco-friendly, meaning by increased resource productivity, which may result in fewer raw material input and lower costs as well.  Creating sustainable production can be done by working together with product designers and suppliers as this will help to enhance environmental performance.

As a conclusion, this learning has developed deeper understanding of what it means to be environmentally responsible. I have a strong believe, with greater environmental responsibility, companies also would be able to achieve more profit. There is nothing wrong running a sustainable business as eventually, they will receive more positive feedback from consumers and gaining a better reputation indirectly. It is undeniably right that running a sustainable business requires a lot of effort, cost and time but doing it for the sake of preserving the mother nature, it will all be worth it, as at the end of the day, if the Earth is dying, it would be too late to save it as by the time is coming, the chances to experience a lot of natural disaster is higher. The situation however will impact every living and non-living things on the Earth. I will always try my best to be good to the environment and adapting environmentally sustainable practices in my daily life.

The question:

Identify 2 or 3 key things that you learned from the course that are important to you: 

.In what way can these things be of value in your professional career? 

.How have these things impacted on you by way of your own personal growth and development?

Answer:

Reflection on the other students’ post

The following paper will be designed as the reply to the other students’ post. It has to be remembered that there are various things to learn from the discussions on several forums. The first thing that has been discussed in this context is that of taking care of the environment in the best ways (Benjaafar, Li and Daskin 2013). The case that has been described about the company Interface is indeed very important. The sustainable business path is one of the most integrating issues that is needed for the firms to succeed in the modern competitive business environment. All the modern companies have been taking the environmental issues very seriously since the environmental degradation has been increased in the last few decades. I have come to learn that the United Nations is trying their best to make the global companies aware that they must organize their operations in a manner that they do not cause any harm to the environment.

One of the most significant things that I have learned through this discussion post is about the carbon footprint. The toxic items like methane, carbon dioxide and others are released in the air by some companies (Benjaafar, Li and Daskin 2013). The fossil fuels are burnt and this causes severe harm to the environment on a large manner. From this post, I have learned many new things in this context. I believe that the companies should undertake their business operations in a manner that they can use the green raw materials that will be helpful to run the business operations in a sustainable manner. The releasing of the toxic gases is very common in the logistics and supply chain field (Therivel 2013). It is very crucial that the business operations should be run properly to run a beautiful world indeed. In order to run the business operations in a sustainable way I would have to design a environment friendly network. However, I have gained the insight it would cost more to build up a sustainable and green business operations indeed.

I have gathered some serious knowledge from the things I have experienced on causing the harm to the environment. I have come to know that the use of plastic straw is very harmful for the overall sustainability of the environment (Therivel 2013). This is why I have decided I would have to use the containers made of metal or the jute bags. In my opinion the renewable energy should be used properly to avoid causing the harm to the environment. The use of the reusable coffee cups will be a crucial factor to focus on the renewable energy. The carbon footprint should be completely avoided as it will cause decay to their business as well. The thinking power of the individuals will be able to bring in a huge change within the society (Carroll and Buchholtz 2014).

In this context, my opinion is to use such production engineers who have an ample knowledge about the renewable energy sources. The eco-friendly products should be used to keep away from the harmful ingredients. My belief is that the companies would be able to produce the best products if they maintain these environment friendly frameworks. They can convince the common people to use the environment friendly products as a part of their corporate social responsibility as well. At the beginning the companies might not generate the high rates of profits as they have desired. However, they would pave the way for the future success of the company in many ways. The suppliers of the products would also have to be made aware about the use of such products as a part of their business ethics (Crane and Matten 2016).

References

Benjaafar, S., Li, Y. and Daskin, M., 2013. Carbon footprint and the management of supply chains: Insights from simple models. IEEE transactions on automation science and engineering, 10(1), pp.99-116.

Carroll, A. and Buchholtz, A., 2014. Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.

Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Therivel, R., 2013. Strategic Environmental Assessment: An Overview. In Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action(pp. 19-31). Routledge.