3RD Blog Assignment (wk5)

 

1. Your Final Project Feedback. In reflecting upon the comments and grade you received for your project plan, please elaborate on what you will do next to strengthen your final project.

After reviewing feedback from Maggie, my plan changed slightly. I plan on narrowing down my project to a more reasonable scope, which will be easier accomplished within the time frame available. My goal is to come up with a green-team within my workplace, and initiate greening and recycling programs. Those including switching to recycled printing paper, sustainable ordering, recycling plastics and paper, and most important coming up with a vision statement which will guide us to developing a corporate sustainability policy.

2. Elaborate on two organizational systems that are important to the success of your project.  Answer the following questions in relation to your final project. Please note: If one of these two organizational systems (Decision-making or Busines & Finance) does not seem important to the success of your project please discuss another organizational system that you do view to be central (governance, IT, management structure, HR, executive leadership etc) and explain why you've chosen that one instead.

a) Decision Making Processes:

1. What are the key decisions that have to be made by your organization/s for your project to be a success?

In order to achieve my project, I have to have a committed group of individuals working towards the same goals, which are how to create a more sustainable workplace. We also have to agree upon a mission statement which will be communication tool for our employees, clients, community and other interested parties.

 

2. Describe the decision making processes relevant to your project success. That is, explain what you know about it so far such as: Who are the relevant decision makers and how to get access to them? What information they will need to make a decision?

The Green Team will present facts, about how our mission will positively impact the company. By having accurate and measurable data, the key decision makers will restore any untested assumptions and be able to do a cost analysis of the program.

Facts such as how we will reduce costs by switching to recycled products, how we can cut costs by replacing lightening throughout the office, how recycling programs will benefit the environment, and ideas on how we can cut down emissions. Our Vision statement will clearly state values, goals and commitments of our organization. And all those things would be integrated into our daily operations and it would involve a change of culture within the company.

 3. Discuss what your remaing blindspots and uncertainties may be regarding decision-making for your final project and how you might be able to address these?

As of now, I have come up with a Green Team, with whom I have met and discussed some of the ideas we could implement within our workplace. Some of my coworkers seemed very passionate about the subject and are willing to work towards improving our workplace and making it more sustainable. There seems to be no blind spots. We discussed the financial resources needed to switch to implement our programs, and the costs are very reasonable.

 4. Discuss your strategy for ensuring that you or your champions can have a seat at the right decision-making tables (or access to the right decision making individuals). If you or your champion do not yet have adequate access then what is your next move to address that?

Creating a green team allows us to draw from many strands of experience and combinations of many different ideas and points of view. This can be a challenging process because people view things differently and they all have different experiences, values and personalities. Coming up with a mutually agreed upon decision will be the key to success. Our goal is to assign different tasks to different members of the team. This will develop a sense of ownership and leadership to each member of the team.

b) Business and Finance: 

1. Explain what resources (money, time, expertise) your final project will require (both upfront and ongoing) and where those resources could come from in your organization? If your understanding is inadequate how can you expand it further?

The financial aspect of the project won’t be an issue, because the costs are very reasonable. Some of the costs we have discussed were switching to recycled printing paper, and the costs for that are about the same as regular paper. Being recycled bin for plastics that would be placed in the kitchen is about 40 dollars. We would work with the building management to implement the plastic recycling within the entire building, because as of now they only recycle paper.

We have also talked about recycling plastic bottles and cans which would be washed out prior to be placed in a bin, and once filled brought over for return deposit, and the money gathered from the deposit would be donated to local charities. This is something we are still discussing but it is an interesting option.

Once we some up with a vision statement for our sustainability policy, the costs will be much greater because we will be discussing options as to how to reduce our emissions. The costs would go towards planting trees in Costa Rica which would help offset out fleet emission. But this is something that will come later in the process once we have established a firm and committed green team committee.

 2. Describe what business rationale you have developed to justify this resource investment in your project.

This project will have a positive impact on company’s reputation.

 

3. What's your general plan for meeting your project's resource needs?

Work with our office manager to ensure that he knows where to order recycled products. He is the one that supplies the office with necessary supplies; therefore he will be one of the key people within our team, who will be executing the orders. For now, we just want to stay within the current budget we have for office supplies, and ensure that we are ordering products that can be easier recycled or reused.  So we want to be able to be committed to corporate sustainability and build additional organizational capacity.

 4. Is there a return on that investment either financial or in some other sense that have value to your organization (reputation)? Can you see any creative opportunities for an integrated design or systems thinking approach to help make the business case for your project? (Can you combine one element that will save money with one that may cost money to come out neutral or better? Will your project generate other kinds of returns that will offset costs or risks?)

Yes. There would definitely be a positive impact on the company’s reputation. By reducing waste and recycling plastics and paper, we will not only help the environment but reduce costs as well. We will also reduce energy bills by shutting off lights and computers when not in use. Donating to nonprofit organizations such as the one that helps us offset our emissions by planting trees in Costa Rica, can lead to tax credits.

 5. Does you project depend upon a single unit, mulitle units or the entire organization to make the investment or to benefit from any related financial or other returns?

I think that we as a company need to adapt to these changes and commitments towards more sustainable work environment. The company as a whole will benefit from increased cost savings, therefore leading to more budgets that could be spent elsewhere.