Assignment 2 - Individual Assignment 25 % (Management Practice) Essay

Assignment 2 - Individual Assignment 25 % (Management Practice) - Essay Example Businesses like BHP Billiton are required to comply with Australian laws relating to environmental responsibility, formulate and implement a strategy for environmental reporting and sustainable operations. This should be monitored and controlled on a regular basis. The board of directors has a primary obligation of ensuring that this is done. The report identifies that BHP Billiton has an active strategy for ensuring environmental responsibility. This is done through the Global Reporting Initiative (G3). This is monitored by the board of the company and given external assurance by KPMG. Additionally, the government environmental reporting guidelines are followed appropriately by the company. It shows promise of a commitment by the management of BHP Billiton to improve their environmental responsibility on an incremental basis. In order to improve environmental responsibility from the current position, BHP Billiton can consider segregating environmental matters and handling them with more focus. In addition, they can include significant elements of their operations in their reports. They can also use a futuristic approach in their reporting. Additionally, they will need to harmonise their environmental reporting standards around the world. ... As such, it is imperative on our generation to preserve the natural environment by using sustainable methods to exploit the available resources. The natural environment reflects humanity's impact on the environment and gives rise to an environmental footprint (Henriques, 2006: 121). As such, it is the obligation of corporate entities like BHP Billiton to address the issue of environmental degradation and ensure sustainable exploitation of natural resources (Boeger et al, 2008: 202). This can be done by identifying the relationship between the operation of BHP Billiton and the natural environment as well as the impact of our activities on the natural environment (Boeger et al, 2008: 202). Once this is known precisely, we can identify potential methods of reducing our impacts and find ways of ensuring sustainable operations. May et al (2007: 332) identify that there are five main elements that must be employed to ensure that we attain corporate environmental responsibility as a mining company. 1. Compliance: Mining companies like ours need to comply with relevant laws in the Australian Corporation Act, 2001 and the Australian Stock Exchange Listing Rules relating to environmental responsibility. 2. Openness: Need to be transparent in its operation by undertaking environmental reporting. This will show how much the company's operations are affecting the natural environment. This will give the impetus for environmental cuts. 3. Integration: Once the level of degradation from the mining company is identified, a strategy for cutting down on environmental degradation is formulated. Steps should be taken to ensure that all units of the organisation contribute to the strategy (Simpson, 2009: 85). 4. Collaboration: The management of the organisation will