Changing Corporate Culture

The purpose of this report is to recommend some of the cultural changes that XYZ organization can employ to promote a culture of environmental sustainability. The report begins by describing XYZ organization's current situation and highlights pollution as the main environmental issue. The report justifies how pollution can affect employee’s health and eventually affect the organization’s production and sales. The report recommends XYZ organization embrace eco-friendly office lighting, use recyclable papers, educate its employees and community on the significance of promoting sustainable development, participate in cleaning the surroundings, audit how it consumes energy, and develop ways of reducing air pollution. The report identifies and discusses various benefits that XYZ organizations will likely experience if they implement the recommended changes. These benefits include reducing energy costs, reducing taxation, increasing employee morale and innovation, and having less environmental impact. The organization will also attract and retain competent and talented employees, create more value, reduce costs, improve its brand reputation, and gain a competitive advantage. The reports draft a timeline table and estimate the total cost of implementing those changes as $67500. Lastly, the report discusses the organization's return on investment if it implements the changes.

Currently, XYZ organization is not doing very well in promoting environmental sustainability. Environmental issues like climate change and global warming have not affected the organization directly, but they might soon. However, the unsustainable environmental activities practiced by the organization, employees, and community may affect business and people's lives. The main environmental issue is pollution. The organization is likely to start recording low production if some employees start suffering from various health problems due to pollution. XYZ organization may also start losing some of its resources if pollution continues since it can deplete the unused resources. Leal Filho et al (2020) found that many organizations are facing unsustainability challenges which may have global consequences. Therefore, XYZ needs to create a culture of environmental sustainability because it has the necessary resources, competence, and opportunity.

XYZ can do the following to promote a culture of environmental sustainability.

This report recommends XYZ start using LED lighting because it utilizes 75% less energy compared to other lighting (Yadlapalli, Narasipuram & Kotapati, 2020). Also, they do not produce toxic gases like other lightings. The organization should also consider using smart lighting technologies. This report recommends lighting dimmers and motion sensors. All these lights can help the organization to reduce air pollution and improve environmental sustainability in the workplace.

XYZ organization can't go paperless, but it can choose the types of papers to use in the office and packaging. Instead of using recycled paper like what is happening in many organizations, XYZ can be unique and start using recycled paper. This will allow the organization to reduce the possible amount of pollution caused by the use of paper either inside or outside the premises.

The organization can start by educating its employees about sustainable development environment and then involve the community. This can happen by holding seminars and webinars, whereby employees can be educated on the significance of workplace sustainability and be informed on the most appropriate measures to undertake. The organization can then extend its gratitude to the community by organizing quarterly events to educate them on the importance of conserving their environment. It can also be participating in cleaning the surrounding areas together with the community.

The U.S. Department of Energy found that Companies can reduce heating and cooling costs at their workplace if they seal leaks and cracks. XYZ can audit how it consumes energy by employing the most appropriate sustainability and energy management tools. This will allow the organization to monitor how it operates, utilize resources, and go green in its workplace. This will be a great way of ensuring the organization achieves its goals and objectives without depleting resources, which may affect its operation in the future. Also, the organization can reduce carbon footprints and ensure compliance with air, water, and waste management. This report suggests that by practicing the above recommendation, XYZ will show its commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability.

Ren, Zhou & Ou (2020) found that people can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 pounds if they reduce the number of times they use their cars and public transport. This is one of the ways XYZ organization can reduce air pollution. This report recommends the organization encourage all employees to use public transport regularly when coming to work and getting back to their homes. This can allow employees to remain healthy since they will inhale less polluted air. The organization can then increase production since employee absenteeism due to health problems will decrease.

This report recommends XYZ organization create a culture of reducing air pollution by buying more electric vehicles and encouraging its employees to follow. Unlike fuel and diesel vehicles, electric vehicles do not produce greenhouse gases, which destroys the environment. This means that the organization can promote a sustainable environment and be an example to other organizations. Lastly, this report recommends the organization create a culture of reducing air pollution by installing solar panels and making them the main source of power. This will allow the organization to stop relying on electricity as the main source of power and reduce its carbon footprint since there is no carbon emission in the process of generating power.

This part of the report identifies and discusses some of the potential benefits of implementing the above recommendations. These changes aim to benefit XYZ organization, its employees, and the community.

Many organizations have embraced a culture of environmental sustainability, leading to positive changes that are extended to the employees and the community. Ferrarini & Zhu (2021) found that Allergan company which is based in California gained a competitive advantage and increased its brand reputation after developing a corporate responsibility initiative on environmental impact reduction. The authors also outline other companies such as BMW, which has shown commitment to promote a culture of environmental sustainability by developing hybrid and electric vehicles. Other organizations include Bosch, IBM, and Intel. These companies have enjoyed various benefits, which proves that XYZ will not be promoting something that has not been tried and benefited many organizations. Therefore, XYZ should utilize the available resources and promote a culture of environmental sustainability to start enjoying the following benefits.

XYZ can save 75% of its overall energy cost if it installs solar panels. This will allow the organization to switch from depending on electricity as the primary source of power. Also, embracing a culture of eco-friendly office lighting will allow the organization to start using bulbs that consume less energy, thus saving energy costs.

The US government developed incentive programs for individuals and companies planning to promote environmental sustainability (The US Department of Energy report, 2015). The government is now providing tax incentives to organizations practicing environmental sustainability. This means that XYZ can pay less tax if it implements and practices all the five recommendations above.

XYZ organization is committed to promoting a culture of environmental sustainability. However, this can be difficult if the employees will not be willing to play their part. This means that the organization will need to ensure its employees are motivated and willing to work together to practice green initiatives while at work and outside the premises. Therefore, embracing this culture is likely to make employees feel appreciated, motivated, and valued, and positively impacts the organization's culture.

The main environmental issue affecting XYZ organization is pollution. However, if the organization can implement the recommendations above it can have a chance of making a real difference other than just earning profits. This is because the organization will incorporate eco-friendly practices and reduce its carbon footprint. The company will produce less GHG, allow the neighboring community to breathe less polluted air, and reduce waste in general.

Employees leave their work for many reasons, and one of them is the lack of CSR initiatives. Yong et al (2020) found that employees working in an organization that promotes environmental sustainability agendas are more likely to stay. This means that XYZ organization can benefit by retaining and attracting the most talented and competent employees. This is because they will want to come or stay and enjoy a sense of pride in being part of the organization. This will also save the organization recruitment and advertisement costs as well as time.

The recommendations identified will be eye-openers to the organizations, employees, and the community. XYZ can utilize its resources more efficiently if it applies the most appropriate methodology toward achieving a culture of environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability practices such as using recycled paper can allow the organization to reduce packaging costs and also discover other ways to save production and supply chain costs.

XYZ organization plans to interact with the community and enlighten them on practices that can allow them to promote environmental sustainability. This can allow the organization to create a positive brand image, especially to the surrounding community who are likely to turn and be number one marketers of their services and products.

Creating a culture of environmental sustainability will be one of XYZ organization's strengths and a differentiator as far as its competitors are concerned. This strength will play an important role in helping the organization market its services and products. It can segment its market and focus on people who value environmental sustainability developments.

The table below provides a timeline showing how and when each stage in the culture change plan will be implemented.

The table below shows the cost estimates for implementing the above environmental sustainability changes.

Lastly, the report discusses how XYZ organization can evaluate its return on investment. First, the organization can consider various financial KPIs. For example, it’s net present value or payback period on investment. The second way is by measuring the success of all the five environmental sustainability changes recommended. The organization can do so by evaluating if absenteeism among employees due to poor working conditions will reduce, considering if it will attract competent and talented employees, and considering if employee turnover will decrease. It can also evaluate if its energy consumption will decrease, evaluate if it will have reduced paper wastage, and listen to community feedback on whether pollution will be reduced.

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Ren, L., Zhou, S., & Ou, X. (2020). Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of hydrogen supply chains for fuel-cell vehicles in China. Energy, 209, 118482.