REACTION PAPER 9

TOPIC 9 : “GRI 103 – MANAGEMENT APPROACH”

BY : GROUP 2
 DINI RAHMADIANTI (1610531008)
 BELINDA NABILA (1610533020)

If previously we talked about GRI-101 and GRI-102 which reflecting the foundation of
GRI itself and the general disclosures of sustainability report, where GRI-101 is the starting
point for using the GRI Standards and 102 is the guideline to report contextual information
about an organization, while GRI-103 aimed to report the management approach for each
material topic. As we know that every GRI Standards consist of Requirements, Recommendations
and Guidance, whether it is GRI 101, 102, 103, 200, 300 or 400. “An organization is required
to comply with all applicable requirements in order to claim that its report has been prepared
in accordance with the GRI Standards” we agreed with this since GRI is a standard so every
requirement have to be followed by the organization in their sustainability report.

“An organization preparing a report in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to
report its management approach for each material topic using this Standard.” We agreed
because Management approach disclosures enable an organization to explain how it manages
the economic, environmental and social impacts related to material topic. Hence it could explain
how the organization identifies, analyzes, and responds to its actual and potential impacts.
“Disclosure about an organization’s management approach is useful for explaining quantitative
information to stakeholders” because it provides context for the information reported using
topic-specific standards.

GRI-103, this Standard includes general requirements and disclosures for reporting the
management approach for material topics. Not much as GRI-102, GRI-103 only includes of
General requirements for reporting the management approach, Disclosure 103-1 about
Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary, Disclosure about 103-2 The management
approach and its components and Disclosure about 103-3 Evaluation of the management
approach.

General requirements for reporting the management approach, it has reporting

requirements and guideline but no recommendations. We highlighted this statement of this
general requirement “If there is no management approach for a material topic, the reporting
organization shall describe any plans to implement a management approach; or the reasons
for not having a management approach.” Because the organization apparently shows no
management action or approach in problems or conditions that reflect an organization’s
significant economic, environmental and social impacts. That is why the organization should state
the reasons why they decided not having the approach and replacement plans. Also, the
highlight on the guideline on this general requirements for reporting the management approach
“If an organization’s management approach or its components, such as policies or specific
actions, apply to more than one material topic, the narrative description does not need to be
repeated for each topic” if it is already presented with a clear explanation, then it doesn’t have
to be repeated for each topics.

Disclosure 103-1, Explanation of the material topic and its Boundary. On the Reporting
requirements of Disclosure 103 “For each material topic, the reporting organization shall report
about the reasons, the boundary, and specific limitation.” It is genuine that if the organization
prepared an explanation of why the topic is material, then the Boundary for the material topic
which includes a description of where the impacts occur and the organization’s involvement with
the impacts. Last, any specific limitation regarding the topic Boundary. Material topics itself are
those that reflect an organization’s significant economic, environmental and social impacts; or
that substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders. “Organizations might
be involved with impacts either through their own activities or as a result of their business
relationships with other entities. An organization preparing a report in accordance with the GRI
Standards is expected to report not only on impacts it causes, but also on impacts it contributes
to, and impacts that are directly linked to its activities, products or services through a business
relationship” we agreed because the organization is forced to report not only the impact that
caused by them but also by the contribution with another things.

Disclosure 103-2, the management approach and its components. In GRI 103-2, it includes
of whether Requirements, Recommendations or Guidance. In the requirement of GRI 103-2, our
group see that after the organization explain how they manages those topics and state its
purpose, the organization must describe about Policies, Commitments, Goals and targets,
Responsibilities, Resources, Grievance mechanisms, and Specific actions such as processes,
projects, programs and initiatives, if the management approach includes that component. “The
reporting organization is expected to provide sufficient information for report users to
understand its approach to managing the material topic and its impacts.” We agreed to this
statement because appropriate information is needed by the user since they have to understand
about it. In the reporting recommendation 1.6 “When reporting on responsibilities as specified
in Disclosure 103-2 the reporting organization should explain who is assigned responsibility for
managing the topic and whether the responsibility is linked to performance assessments or
incentive mechanisms” we agreed because it is mandatory to tell who is responsible for manage
the topic and the relation to performance assessment by the reporting organization.
 Disclosure 103-3, Evaluation of the management approach. In disclosure 103-3, the
organization have to explain how the organization evaluates the management approach,
including the mechanisms for evaluating the effectiveness of the management approach, the
results of the evaluation of the management approach and any related adjustments to the
management approach. In the guidance, “Mechanisms for monitoring the effectiveness of the
management approach can include internal or external auditing or verification (type, system,
scope), measurement systems, external performance ratings, benchmarking, stakeholder
feedback and grievance mechanisms” hence the effectiveness of management approach could
include those things. On 103-3-a-ii, the results of the evaluation of the management approach,
we highlighted this guidance “ the explanation can include performance against goals and
targets, including key successes and shortcomings, challenges and gaps in the management
approach, any obstacles encountered, unsuccessful endeavors, and any lessons learned in the
process, progress made in implementing the management approach” by communicated and
explain about the challenges, obstacles, unsuccessful and the progress made could make
enhancement for the organization, especially in improve their management approach.