Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

Assessment - Risk and Sustainability Consultant Report

Your Task

Address three key questions for a fictitious board which summarise your understanding of corporate governance, sustainability, and risk management.

Assessment Description

Preparing well written responses for a sophisticated audience such as a corporate board on fundamental topics like corporate governance, sustainability, and risk management practices is an important capability for business managers. This assignment will give you a chance to consider this for a fictitious company.

Learning Outcome 1: Evaluate the success (or lack thereof) of an organisation`s governance responsibilities

Learning Outcome 2: Analyse the legal and regulatory environment in Australia with a view to understanding its impact on business strategy

Learning Outcome 3: Apply corporate sustainability practices in a real-world example and examine their appropriateness in a variety of contexts

Assessment Instructions

1. Read the Case Study document which will be made available to you in MyKBS under the Assessments tab.
2. Prepare short, written statements based on the available facts, answering the questions in the Case Study.
3. Include at least five academic references from academic journals and textbooks, as well as full details of informational sources you consulted as part of your assignment research.

Assessment - Case Study

Human Data Technology Pty Ltd (HDT) has engaged you as an independent consultant to advise them on their approach to corporate governance, risk and sustainability.

HDT is a human resource (HR) technology business, offering cloud-based HR information systems to businesses. Companies collect and store employee data in these systems and allow employees to update their own personal information for their employer. These systems save companies cost, time and effort by reducing the need for employed staff to provide in-house employee services such as timekeeping, payroll and leave management. The link below is a good starting point to understand the functions HR systems perform and their benefits to organisations:

HDT Company History

HDT was started in 2003 by brother and sister Amir and Divya Daxa (now Daxa-Bhatt). Since HDT became an ASX listed company five years ago, the share price has grown steadily. HDT employs a small core of full-time employees and many more contractors, mostly offshore. Current annual company revenue is around $100 million, generated from subscriptions and additional service fees.

Meeting 1: The Founders.

Amir Daxa- Founder and CEO. Amir proudly highlights the success of the company, its challenges, and his aspiration for the future.

Meeting 2: The Independent Board members.

Myra Winchip, board HR expert. Myra`s original engagement with HDT.was helping source new employees when they listed on the ASX.

From these meetings you can see a range of issues to consider and address.

1. The company must build its reputation as reliable and trustworthy. To do that they must show their compliance with relevant ASX corporate governance principles.
2. With the corporate governance principles in mind, carefully consider the viewpoints of board members.
3. Use the tools you have covered in your studies to help you get started. Use your your own research to strengthen this.

REQUIREMENTS

Focused answers to the following three questions are required:

Question 1. Risk Matrix Analysis: Use the risk matrix model to present and assess the potential risks you see facing HDT, particularly related to data privacy and security. Rank the risks in descending order from most to least serious and briefly describe risk mitigation strategies for the top three. Consider whether the views of board members are realistic, and whether other risks exist which are not seen by the board members. (700 to 750 words)

Question 2. Board Relationships and Governance: Using ASX Corporate Governance Principles 1, 2 and 5 as a guide, critically analyse the views and relationships between the board members at HDT and their potential impact on governance and decision- making. Assess whether the need for board diversity, competence and independence are being addressed, and propose strategies to enhance governance practices. (700 to 750 words)

Question 3. Application of Sustainability Practices: Evaluate the company`s current reported sustainability practices and propose recommendations to address stakeholder engagement, ethical supply chains, and social responsibility. (600 to 660 words)