Assessment Task 2 Case Study Tata Steel Ethics and Sustainability

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Magill College *

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601

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Management

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Nov 24, 2024

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Tata Steel is the second largest steel producer in Europe and has its main steelmaking plants in the U K and Holland. It supplies steel and related services to major industries, such as construction, vehicle production and packaging. The European operations are a subsidiary of Tata Steel Group, one of the world’s top ten steel producers. The combined Group has around 80,000 employees. Business ethics means ‘taking the right course’. Acting ethically takes into account all the factors of d oingbusiness. These include production, business processes, and the company’s behaviour with its cu stomers and the communities in which it operates. Sustainability is about meeting the challenges of ensuring that future generations can enjoy the same kind of lifestyles people enjoy today. The Tata St eel definition of sustainability is ‘an enduring and balanced approach to economic activity, environm ental responsibility and societal benefit’ This case study shows how Tata Steel upholds its commitment to sustainable and environmental prac tices as part of its overall aim to act responsibly. It shows commitment and progress towards key targ ets of sustainability as well as encouraging sustainable decision making ‐ in its customers and within t heir markets. Intrigued by the idea of running a business that’s not just about profits but also respects the environment, values employees, and contributes to societal good? You’re not alone in considering ethical business examples. More and more companies are seeing the direct link between ethical operation and profitability. This article explores the principles, benefits, and impacts of ethical business practices. We’re going to look at inspiring examples of businesses, like Patagonia, The Body Shop, and Ben & Jerry’s, who are paving the way in ethical business practices. You’ll also discover effective strategies for implementing ethical business practices in your own enterprise. Let’s get started, and together, we can take business ethics examples to transform the business sphere. The goal of sound ethics and an ethical culture is shared by most organisations. However, building and maintaining an ethical organisation is often made more difficult because the management of ethics is not prioritised. Ethics is frequently only addressed reactively, after a problem has occurred, or in an ad hoc way. A clear ethics strategy is needed to better enable the organisation to realise its ethical goals. Ideally, this strategy needs to include six focus areas. The first two provide the initial foundation and the remaining four represent primary focus areas of on-going activity needed to manage a company’s ethics. 1: Setting the ethical standards The ethical standards of an organisation need to be clearly defined via the company’s values and rules, including the code of conduct and policies. The values should identify the desired behavioural parameters, which should be translated into acceptable and unacceptable behaviours in the company’s code of conduct and supporting policies.

The impact of leaders – the way they live out the standards in practice – is even more influential because they are such powerful role models. They effectively set, and entrench, the ethical standards of the organisation by the values they demonstrate, by what they say and by what do. 2: Setting up an ethics committee The Companies Act now mandates that most companies (except small companies) establish a social and ethics committee. But, even in the absence of legislation, an ethics committee can be a valuable facet of an ethics strategy. The value of this committee’s contribution will rest on its composition: members need to be senior enough that they can make decisions and authorize necessary actions. However, the ethics committee should not assume the role of the sole custodian of ethics in the workplace. Instead, each and every member of the organisation should recognize their role and contribution to the company’s ethical status – and the committee’s success will rest on the extent to which they achieve this buy-in. 3: Building ethical awareness Ethics awareness is a powerful approach in the pursuit of improved workplace ethics, particular as regards reducing unethical behaviour. Visible policing provides a good example of the impact of awareness. The private security vehicle which patrols the neighbourhood may not result in many (or any) criminals being apprehended, but their regular presence serves to raise ethical awareness and, in so doing, acts as a deterrent to crime being committed in that area. So too can a high level of ethical awareness in the workplace realise the same outcome of reducing misconduct. Ethical awareness can also promote ethical behaviour by providing a constant reminder of what is acceptable behaviour within the organisation. This is especially effective when the visible examples stem from the positive behaviour of the leaders of the organisation. 4: Measuring and monitoring ethical status The measurement and monitoring of a company’s ethical status is also a crucial part of an effective ethics strategy. The dictum that if you can’t measure something, you can’t manage it applies to ethics as much as any other area of a business. A positive ethical status lends itself to many benefits, among others, for customer retention, corporate reputations and brand equity, while a negative status can be very damaging on many fronts.

A comprehensive method to do this is to conduct an ethics survey, such as the Ethics Monitor. The survey results will identify the most important ethical issues requiring attention and what action to take to improve ethics in the organisation. The results will also provide an Ethics Report which meets the ethics reporting requirements of the social and ethics committee and of King III. 5: Taking action Improving workplace ethics is optimally addressed by a dual approach which includes actions to improve ethical behaviour and actions to reduce unethical behaviour (much as increasing revenue and reducing costs are addressed separately to improve profits). If an ethics survey has been conducted, the results will indicate what actions should be taken in what area of the organisation. The most likely areas to increase ethical behaviour will be via values, leadership, organisational culture, communication and training, while reducing unethical behaviour will largely be via laws, rules and regulations (including a code of conduct and policies), systems and procedures and transparency. 6: Maintaining an ethical culture Building an ethical workplace and reaching a high ethical status are significant achievements. The task of maintaining an ethical culture eclipses them, however, because maintenance is a never- ending task. To realise this requires that companies adopt a strategy based on the proactive, regular management of ethics which pays on-going attention to the steps outlined above. There are generally 12 business ethics principles: Leadership: The conscious effort to adopt, integrate, and emulate the other 11 principles to guide decisions and behavior in all aspects of professional and personal life. Accountability: Holding yourself and others responsible for their actions. Commitment to following ethical practices and ensuring others follow ethics guidelines. Integrity: Incorporates other principles—honesty, trustworthiness, and reliability. Someone with integrity consistently does the right thing and strives to hold themselves to a higher standard. Respect for others: To foster ethical behavior and environments in the workplace, respecting others is a critical component. Everyone deserves dignity, privacy, equality, opportunity, compassion, and empathy. Honesty: Truth in all matters is key to fostering an ethical climate. Partial truths, omissions, and under or overstating don't help a business improve its performance. Bad news should be communicated and received in the same manner as good news so that solutions can be developed.

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Respect for laws: Ethical leadership should include enforcing all local, state, and federal laws. If there is a legal grey area, leaders should err on the side of legality rather than exploiting a gap. Responsibility: Promote ownership within an organization, allow employees to be responsible for their work, and be accountable for yours. Transparency: Stakeholders are people with an interest in a business, such as shareholders, employees, the community a firm operates in, and the family members of the employees. Without divulging trade secrets, companies should ensure information about their financials, price changes, hiring and firing practices, wages and salaries, and promotions are available to those interested in the business's success. Compassion: Employees, the community surrounding a business, business partners, and customers should all be treated with concern for their well-being. Fairness: Everyone should have the same opportunities and be treated the same. If a practice or behavior would make you feel uncomfortable or place personal or corporate benefit in front of equality, common courtesy, and respect, it is likely not fair. Loyalty: Leadership should demonstrate confidentially and commitment to their employees and the company. Inspiring loyalty in employees and management ensures that they are committed to best practices. Environmental concern: In a world where resources are limited, ecosystems have been damaged by past practices, and the climate is changing, it is of utmost importance to be aware of and concerned about the environmental impacts a business has. All employees should be encouraged to discover and report solutions for practices that can add to damages already done.

Assessment Task 2 Case Study Tata Steel Ethics and Sustainability

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