8600-332 Understanding Sustainability and Environmental Issues in an Organisation

Unit Overview

In the modern world, sustainability and environmental issues have become paramount for any organisation. It is important to ensure that the organisation is able to meet the set standards of sustainability and environmental awareness. 8600-332 Understanding Sustainability and Environmental Issues in an Organization is a unit within the ILM Level 3 module that guides the leaders within the organisation to understand these elements that are due to the need to achieve the desired levels of sustainability and environmental conservation.

Leaders should play a central role in ensuring that the practices and procedures within the organisations are aligned with the principles of environmental l sustainability that have been developed by legal and ethical principles.The unit helps the leaders to understand the trends in sustainability and environmental issues as well as legal principles that should be followed when setting up practices within their organisation to ensure they are sustainable and compliant.

It is also important to understand the role of corporate social responsibility in achieving sustainability, and this unit provides this information. The main aim of the unit is to create awareness among the practising and potential first-line managers pursuing sustainability and environmental issues that may impact their practice in their areas of responsibility as well as the organisation in general. The unit is taught in 10 hours of guided learning and contributes 3 credit values towards the completion of ILM Level 3 module.

Suitability of the Unit

8600-332 Understanding Sustainability and Environmental Issues in an Organization is a unit that is applicable in different areas of the organisation. The unit helps to build understudying on the role that organisational practices should play in encouraging environmental sustainability. Therefore, tithe information and skills provided through the content of the unit can be used by different leader sot improve performance in their specific areas of responsibility. The unit is designed to meet the learning needs of the first-line managers within the organisations. These are leaders overseeing the operational level of organisational activities, and it helps them to understand their role in influencing the development of practices and procedures that are based on environmental sustainability.

It also helps to ensure that the practices of their teams are guided by environmentally friendly approaches by minimising waste and reducing pollution.However, this unit is suitable for middle-level managers who make tactical decisions and should ensure that the tactics and approaches used are conservative to the environment as well as executive managers within the organisation who make top-level decisions.

These decisions are important in ensuring that the policies and procedures adopted within the organisation meet the set standards of being sustainable and environmentally friendly. It could include adapting renewable energy or putting up effective waste management approaches, which are duties of top managers making this unit suitable for them. The unit can also boost the skills of general employees on their contribution in establishing sustainable practices as well as external consultants who help to develop structures within the organisation by providing relevant support in decision making.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit, the learner should be able to:

• Understand the terms sustainability ad corporate social responsibility

• Have knowledge of the key legislations that guide the principles of sustainability and corporate social responsibility

• Identify environmental standards required in their specific organisation

• Identify environmental issues that affect the practices and performance of their organisation

• Describe various environmentally friendly ways that can be used to manage issues affecting their organisation or areas of responsibility

• Explain the constraints that the building(s) with the organisation may have on environmentally friendly procedures and practices

• Identify opportunities within the organisation to enhance the buildings to facilitate environmentally friendly performance

Key Learning Areas

8600-332 Understanding Sustainability and Environmental Issues in an Organization focuses on understanding sustainability, and corporate social responsibility from the context of the organisation. The unit helps to build practices and procedures that are aligned to set legal and ethical standards of sustainability. Some of the main learning areas include:

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility

This area of learning helps the learners to understand the principles that are associated with sustainability and corporate social responsibility. They are guided within this area of learning to understand the concepts of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, as well as the role of the managers within the organisation in achieving the identified principles within their areas of responsibility. This area of learning also introduced the legislative frameworks and duty of care that are associated with minimising environmental impact and protecting sustainability.

Environmental Issues

This area of learning helps the learner to identify the environmental issues that may arise within the organisation. It helps them understand the obligations to the organisation that arise due to these issues, such as statutory duties and legal compliance, and loos off reputation. The area of learning also helps to understand the relevant regulatory frameworks associated with achieving environmental standards and the impacts or consequences of violating this standards.

Within the unit, learners are guided to understand the impact that materials and equipment within the organisation have in developing the desired environmentally friendly practices. They understand the choice of suitable materials and equipment given the nature and activities within the organisation that boost the accomplishment of the desired goals in terms of environmental conservation. Lastly, the learners are introduced to the steams of waste management that could affect the commitment and focus on sustainable approaches within the organisation.

Constraints of Buildings

The learner is guided to understand the limitations that arise in implementing environmentally friendly practices based on the organisation’s buildings. This involves the ability of the buildings to support suitable practices with elements such as listed buildings, level of insulation, solar gain, and noise or air pollution, among other features. It also examines the role of the learners in tapping on opportunities that may arise to enhance buildings' environmentally friendly performance.

Evaluation

On completing the unit, the learners are put through an assessment. The assessment includes a written assessment that evaluates the mastery of theoretical concepts. Supervised practices, case studies and simulated exercises could be used in the formative phase of learning to evaluate practical application of concepts.