CHALLENGES IN CREATING SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS

Though there is a growing importance of sustainability, organizations are making little efforts to instill a
culture of sustainability. The process of strategic planning and operational choices in the business
environment has not yet emphasized sustainability and several reasons can be attributed for the same.

Lack of Regulatory Framework: Public policy and government agencies are increasingly taking a hard
look at issues related to sustainability. Various international conferences also put pressure on the
government to introduce new laws. Emission norms (such as Bharat Stage IV), waste disposal
regulations, and product return regulations are just a few examples. In a country like India, while certain
pollution control measures are in place, regulations such as recycling have not yet been implemented. In
addition, there are serious shortcomings in the application of existing laws. In the years to come, we will
see stronger regulation, better enforcement, and stronger reporting requirements for business
organizations.

Mindset Inertia: Organizations are used to specific methods of operation. The new changes demanded
by sustainable practices are forcing them to change their thinking about the many jobs they do.
Management systems must promote better utilization and re-use of resources. These changes are less
likely to occur immediately as there is no apparent value in these in a straightforward manner.
Operations managers and design engineers will see this as an unnecessary new problem in their
operating systems.

Lack of Top Management Vision: In order to address the problems of mindset inertia in the
organization, senior management must intervene and lead the change. Employees need to be
adequately nurtured by the need to build sustainable future organizations and the kind of changes
needed to make this change. They also need to be exposed to their changing role in the process. In
addition, due to the introduction of new technologies to address sustainability they need training and
skilling. Senior management must play an active role in this process of managing change. If senior
management suffers from ambiguity and perception, then there will be major challenges in building a
sustainable organization.

Inability to See the Big Picture: One of the main reasons why senior management is less committed to
building a sustainable future organization is their inability to see the big picture ahead. In the future,
organizations with a clear vision and strategy to respect the overall goal of stability are more likely to
survive. If this idea is not well understood, senior management will not be able to see the big picture
before. Failure to see the big picture presents several problems in the organizational journey to building
a sustainable organization.

Need for Substantive Investments: Building a sustainable business requires new investment. Investing
in LED-powered lighting systems, using natural lighting, cooling air circulation, wind power, and solar
energy may require structural modification, as well as the addition of new infrastructure. Similarly,
major changes will be required in patterns of energy consumption, material selection and technology.
On the other hand, products and services will undergo design changes, and manufacturing and
manufacturing technologies will be transformed as well. All of this requires more investment and
traditional payment methods and faster ROI methods for investment preparation will fail miserably and
hinder the introduction of proposed reforms.
Crisis Is Yet to Blow Over: An important obstacle to building stable organizations is that there is no
imminent threat to the functioning of the organization. Although we pollute and use natural systems in
general, the market does not seem to punish organizations for their unethical actions. Nor are there
strict regulations and enforcement by government agencies. Without strict rules, these organizations
will have no reason to carry out sustainable activities. They will simply pay lip service and act in a slow
way.

For these reasons, organizations need prior thinking and careful planning to create sustainable jobs.
Proper understanding of the value of building sustainable organizations and proper investment in
systems will reward the organization with the benefits of market strategies. Customer perceptions about
the organization and the products and services they offer will change. Over time, the organization will
improve its competitive advantage by focusing on its competitors.

Description Box Matter

Though there is a growing importance of sustainability, organizations are making little

efforts to instil a culture of sustainability because certain challenges are present due to
which top line managers are also reluctant to implement sustainable practices in their
respective organization.

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#logistics, #business, #supplychainevolution ,#BusinessSustainability, #Sustenance #challenges
#sustainability #problems #challenge #strategy

Credits:-
Video- Harshraj and Arlene
Content- Tushar and Sudarshan

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