Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE MGT2002

 
TITLE Sustainable Logistics and Transportation

 
UM LEVEL 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Management

 
DESCRIPTION Sustainability as environmentalism, organizational resilience, and business continuity management (BCM) will be discussed as a Board level and organization-wide issue, and a major selling point of forward thinking and trustworthy providers

Students will have ample opportunity to recognize this stance for dependability, resilience, and a high regard for life, (finite) natural resources, and the ecology as an economy-wide issue, a long-term view and a strategic posture enhancing the overall value proposition of the business

The course aims to impart knowledge and develop skills listed in the study unit aims section with the following indicative content:

1. Sustainability will be articulated as a concern of public sector and private sector players, of society, national governments, international bodies, citizens, consumers and purchasers

2. Two Norms, ISO 14001 (“Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use”) and BS 25999 (“Business continuity management. Specification”) will be shown to be two sets of high-level requirements for organizations to design their management system(s) whose joint and widespread adoption addresses stakeholder concerns for sustainable logistics

3. The systems thinking approach and the notion of management systems as a cohesive, holistic, end-to-end process approach from the earlier course on Service Quality Assurance (MGT1201) will be recalled; concepts and methods of that course will be shown to be suitable for the separate, and indeed for the joint and mutually enforcing implementation of ISO 14001 and BS 25999; accredited certification of management systems (EMS, BCMS respectively) will be presented

4. Environmental Management will be articulated as a system of planned and managed processes for an organization to develop and implement policies, objectives, methods and procedures (computer applications and manual) which deliver the organization’s mission taking into account external and internal environmental requirements (legal, contractual, other), while limiting environmental impacts, and seeking to consistently achieve specified environmental performance (e.g. regarding emissions e.g. CO2, other), effluents, carbon footprint, solid waste, sound pollution, etc.)

5. The sustainable approach of: Eliminate Reduce Reuse Recycle Dispose safely will be presented

6. Business Continuity Management / BCM will be articulated as a system of planned and managed processes to assess, reduce and manage an organization’s vulnerability to risk, to plan its response in case of disruption, and to exercise the organization to test its preparedness to continue operation in the face of adversity

7. The notions of risk and risk management for both environmental and business continuity risk assessment will be discussed, covering risk assessment, transfer, postponement, abatement, mitigation, residual risk and countermeasures

8. The notion of scenario planning will be presented in relation to threats to both the environment and to business continuity; eg. chemical, biological, radiological threats to air, sea, land, and life; and threats to / loss of; supply chain effectiveness and integrity, people, infrastructure, information, connectivity (voice, data), buildings/facilities, and utilities (energy, water, etc.)

9. Catastrophes (earthquakes, pandemics), environmental hazards, technical failure, human error, fire, crime, computer hacking (including cyber-war, cyber-terrorism), civil commotion, sabotage, covert action by hostile states, etc., will be discussed as possible causes of malicious or accidental adversity, civil contingency, etc.

10. The treatment will discuss understanding one’s own organization, BCM policy / programme management, deciding a viable and effective BCM strategy, developing and implementing the relative response, exercising, maintaining and reviewing the agreed arrangements, and embedding it all in the business culture; the organization will decide on an appropriate maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPD), and set a number of recovery time objectives (RTO) for specific recovery activities to achieve the overall MTPD; the issues of continued protection of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information during times of contingency and organizational stress will be discussed

11. These management systems addressing sustainability will be shown to be generic and customizable to widely varying types of organization – regardless of type, size and nature of business. The extent of application of these requirements will be shown to depend on the organization's operating environment, complexity, and its external and internal requirements

12. The models underlying these management systems shall be shown to be dynamic and progressive, allowing for continual improvement and organizational learning

13. As E-services in the knowledge economy – B2B, B2C, B2G / G2B and B2E interactions - are now pervasive - the organizational resilience discussed above will be shown to be critical to information and to information flows across global supply chains e.g. those operating on a 24x7x365 basis through follow-the-sun Data Centre and Call Centre / Service Desk operations

14. As ISO and BS standards are periodically revised or superseded, the course content will reflect normative developments


Study-unit Aims

The course aims to present thinking and practice, and to engage students in a discussion on sustainability in a broad sense

This sustainability in logistics and transportation will be shown to require the adoption of policy, organizational, and technological innovation in the planning and movement to destination of goods and people for growers and manufacturers via air, land, and water, in the management of the related information and information flows, and in ancillary services

The course will be set in the context of Malta as a small Island-State, an EU member-state, and one on the fringe of two continents. Supply chains providing for Malta’s needs de facto cut across geographies, jurisdictions, economies, time-zones and cultures, and sustainability will be discussed in this multi-faceted context

Students will be encouraged to seek synergies and synthesis with insights gained from their work experience and from other courses; on economics, transportation and society, policy and planning, logistics and supply chain, transportation law, service quality assurance, health and safety, quantitative methods, research methods


Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. pursue further academic and/or professional study in the field
2. propose sustainability to peers as the need for a maintained capability of organizations to deliver their respective missions economically, in a continuing fashion, while embracing appropriate corporate environmental objectives
3. discuss concepts and practices in environmental management
4. discuss concepts and practices in business continuity

This course content will interest organizations and employees in logistics and transportation including in Ports, Airports, Regulators, Road and Rail, Shipping companies, Airlines, Postal operators, Warehousing companies, Agents/Intermediaries, and their mission-critical service-providers, such as Call Centres, Data Centres, etc.

2. Skills (including transferable [generic] skills): By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. put forward a view to management on and for sustainability as enlightened self-interest and sound business approach
2. contribute to environmental and business continuity reviews, audits, planning etc. in the workplace
3. analyze and evaluate service lines and/or organizations and propose measures and approaches to enhance sustainability
4. depending on their work experience upon joining the course, be able to contribute to the articulation of management documents of significant impact to the organization and/or to manage activities relating to corporate sustainability

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings

Main texts – Books

- Bernd, M. (2007) tr. Baker and Harrison, Costing the Earth? – Perspectives on Sustainable Development, The Sustainability Project, London, UK: Haus Publishing; www.the-sustainability-project.com
- Cleaver, B. (2001) Environmental Management Systems for SMEs, J L Publishing Ltd.
- Impetus Consulting Ltd., (2008) Good Green Guide For Small Businesses, London, UK: A C Black Publishers
- Maslin, M. (2009) Global Warming – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
- Mauser, M. tr. Schneider, K. (2007) Water Resources – Efficient, Sustainable and Equitable Use, London, UK: The Sustainability Project, Haus Publishing, www.the-sustainability-project.com
- McGuire, B. (2006) Global Catastrophes – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
- Redfern, M. (2003) The Earth – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
- Steger, M. (2009) Globalization – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
- Townshend, C. (2009) Terrorism – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press

Main texts – Normative References

- BS 25999-2:2007, “Business continuity management. Specification”, British Standards Institution, London, UK
- ISO 14001:2004, “Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use”, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland

Supplementary readings – Normative References

- ISO 20000-1:2005, “Information Technology – Service Management” – Part 1: Specification, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland (This international standard is related to ITIL – the IT Information Library)

- ISO/IEC 27001:2005, “Information technology – Security techniques – Information security management systems ¬– Requirements”, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland

Supply Chain – Journals / Newsletters
Lloyds List
LQ, The Official Magazine of The Logistics Institute
http://www.logisticsquarterly.com/

Supply Chain Strategy Newsletter
Harvard Business School Publishing / MIT Centre for Transportation and Logistics
www.supplychainstrategy.org/

Supply Chain Forum: an International Journal
http://www.supplychain-forum.com/

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (2 Hours) Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Robert M. Cachia

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit