Shared Practice: The Triple Bottom Line Is the organization making a profit? That is what most stakeholders think about when they look at the bottom line. Yet, an organization might be making a profit while dumping toxic waste into the environment, treating employees poorly, or failing to conserve resources. Nonfinancial performance measures such as these can be challenging to measure. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a framework that incorporates nonfinancial factors in measuring the performance of an organization. In addition to assessing profitability, the TBL approach also assesses an organizations social and ecological impact. Todays socially conscious executive thoroughly grasps the significance of the TBL in terms of organizational and cultural success. TBL, which is sometimes referred to as part of the broader term corporate social responsibility (CSR), is a measure of an organizations financial health, environmental sustainability, and its furtherance of social justice. One question that can be used to assess if an organization is meeting TBL objectives is whether or not the human experience of all stakeholders is elevated due to its work. To prepare for this Discussion, Shared Practice: The Triple Bottom Line, review the Learning Resources for this week and consider how the Triple Bottom Line is related to and affected by an organizations performance. Reflect on the meaning of corporate social responsibility and how this might impact your role in promoting social change. By Day 5 Respond to two or more of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways: Compare your TBL predictions with those of your colleagues by: o Asking a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research o Providing additional insights about the promotion of social change or the balance between corporate profits and social responsibility 1 paragraph responds for each post. 21 hours ago Access the profile card for user: anju bala anju bala RE: Discussion – Week 8 COLLAPSE Implementing a Triple Bottom Line would initially cost any company more money upfront, but the long-term investment would certainly pay off. When any company decides it wants sustainability and environmental changes to be part of their organization short-term costs will be incurred. For my organization those costs would include purchasing new solar panels for all our campuses to help reduce electric costs and help the environment. Secondly, if we implement new ways to recruit a well-diverse staff this will cost us additional marketing money. Two long-term challenges that would occur when using the TBL are maintaining costs to train employees on the sustainability of the organization. Those costs will include labor, redesigning training modules, etc. We are part of the B Corp community meaning we have met the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy (bcorporation.net). Another long-term challenge would be trying to measure success and motivation among our offices in different parts of the country. Each state and city has different regulations, so while we are one big company some of our efforts (especially environmental) might have to be different based on city. Haugh & Talwar (2010) said, these challenges demand new knowledge and mean that learning lies at the heart of such organizational transformations (p.386). Companies must make some monetary sacrifices in order to keep up with the times and remain relevant. Social media has been a blessing and a curse for modern society. The same goes for businesses. If consumers catch wind that an organization is only after profits and does nothing additional to help the community or pay its employees properly it will be in the news. This kind of negative press can destroy a business. Yet, another reason for an organization to keep its employees best interest at heart as well as providing positive changes to the community. If an organization is not evolving with the times it will eventually be irrelevant. I am fortunate enough to work for a health sciences university and the need for our services continues to grow. I would plan to conduct additional research on how we can positively affect our local communities with our offerings, as well as employ a diverse group of people, and look into alternative ways our buildings can save money and reduce environmental waste. We already implement a volunteer day, but I would certainly like to see that grow in each city. I want to make a strong imprint on our local areas. Shireman (1999) said, our businesses must themselves have meaning and purpose, a reason to be. It can be an instrument for our highest aspirations, a means by which we can bring together all of our individual contributions and create more than we have consumed-more vitality, more prosperity, more community (p.461). References https://bcorporation.net/ Haugh, H.M., & Talwar, A. (2010). How do corporations embed sustainability across the organization? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9(3), 384-396. Shireman, W.K. (1999). Business strategies for sustainable profits: Systems thinking in practice. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Syst. Res., 16(5), 453-462. 1 hour ago William Meehan RE: Discussion – Week 8 COLLAPSE Discussion Week 8 The Triple Bottom Line The triple bottom line is an accounting term that relates to three elements of performance: social, environmental and financial. The TBL also refers to the three Ps: people, planet and profits. The problem with this process is deciding what method of measuring the success or failures of the different organizations, such as government, not-for-profit or profit. The organization I am most familiar with is an automotive dealership that is located in a small town and has been in business for 30 years. The owner of the business transacts business the same way he did 30 years ago, therefor nothing has changed. In that same period of 30 years the community has developed and prospered. In order for the organization to grow with the community they need to focus on the three elements of TBL, consisting of economic measures, environmental measures, and social measures. The economic measures should focus on the bottom line and the flow of money to include personal income, cost of underemployment, job growth, employment distribution, etc. The environment measures should focus on selected priority pollutants, electricity consumption, fossil fuel consumption, and hazardous waste management. The social measures should focus on unemployment rate, female labor force, median household income, average commute time, and violent crime per capita, Slaper, T. F., & Hall, T. J. (2011). In this particular area the opportunities for improvement in using the TBL is open for involvement. The area surrounding the community is devoted to farming, which provides various opportunities. The two short term projects that I believe would have the greatest impact on the community are introduction of selected priority pollutants and how they impact the environment and the fossil fuel consumption. If the company would start a campaign of awareness for the community and support the realization of the benefits, this would benefit the community and the corporation. The two long term projects that I believe would have the greatest impact on the community are education and health. If the company would start a campaign of assisting the local education system by providing the students an opportunity to work in the organization and learn different trades, this would benefit the community and the corporation. If the company would start a campaign to focus on the health issues in the community and supported the local health organization with contributions and education on the health impact of local issues, Slaper, T. F., & Hall, T. J. (2011). A corporation that operates its business in a community needs to support that community in meaning ways through its employees, suppliers and financial support. Key performance indicators are quantifiable measurements that reflect the critical success factors of an organization. A business may have as one of its KPIs the percentage of its income that comes from repeat customers. KPMG conducts an international survey every three years to gain insight into the Corporate Responsibility Reporting, which is a broad definition of social performance, of an organizations social goals with accepted social values. Nike in 1990 faced sharp criticism and consumer resistance over its offshore manufacturing practices, which allegedly involved child labor working in undesirable conditions for long periods of time. The best approach Nike discovered combined education and leading by example. The beginning point for Nike was to develop a code of conduct that could be used to extend the corporations value to its suppliers, Mintz, S. M. (2011). The TBL encourages social responsibility and sustainability amount businesses. The organizations take steps to ensure that its operations benefit the companys employees as well as the community in which it conducts business. CSR policies should be concerned not only with providing adequate compensation to workers: they should also create a safe and pleasant working environment and help employees find value in their work. Companies should actively seek ways to contribute to the community through activities such as charitable contributions, education programs, and equal opportunity employment. It is through these applications of TBL and CSR that I plan to help develop programs for organizations that I have affiliations with, Mintz, S. M. (2011). Reference Slaper, T. F., & Hall, T. J. (2011). The triple bottom line: What is it and how does it work? Indiana Business Review, 86(1), 48. Mintz, S. M. (2011) Triple bottom line reporting for CPAs. CPA Journal, (81)12, 2633.
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