Sustainability has become an important issue in recent years. Adams (2008) observed that the population is increasingly concerned about the values of the organizations they choose to work for and from which they purchase goods and services. This forces the manager to implement goals associated with sustainability to ensure that employees are also motivated to maintain customer satisfaction with their product/service. An example of these lenses is the one made by Canon. Canon created what they call the Canon Group Environmental Charter, which is based on a corporate philosophy of “achieving business growth and development while contributing to the prosperity of the world and the happiness of humanity” (Canon 2007). In its report, the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). Inevitably, companies around the world have started to include sustainability in their decision-making processes. Certainly this will influence the managers of that particular company. This essay will try to explain how managers react to sustainability and how it affects the four functions of managers. As well as providing an example of a company that has considered sustainability as a form of corporate responsibility. Since managers coordinate the work of his subordinates to achieve better efficiency and effectiveness, they perform certain functions within the company. Although they differ somewhat in every company, the four functions of a manager are as follows; planning, organizing, leading and controlling (Huszczo, 2004, p. 26). Managers who perform the planning function establish the objectives, also identify the procedures for achieving the objective or the strategy for achieving the objectives, and determine the time frame within which these procedures must be completed (Huszczo, 2004, p. 26 ). After the planning function, a manager will organize his subordinates. A manager performing the organizing function will then expand the procedures the team must adopt to complete the objective. He/she will also assign who, when, what and how the task will be done (Robbins et al. 2006, p. 11). Managers will be influenced by the sustainability issue in the sense that they will have to incorporate the sustainability issue into their planning phase. They will need to set clear goals such as reducing paper use and/or reducing carbon emissions in the workplace. Another case that could occur is that if a manager wants to increase brand awareness, what he could do is start implementing an environmental awareness program that can increase brand awareness.
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