Environmental Responsiveness, Individuals and Organizational Learning: SME Experience

Abstract

This paper explores the links between management and non-management attitudes to the environment and organizational responses within SMEs. It identifies the scope for, and means by which, personal attitudes can be harnessed to motivate, activate and help operationalize business responses.The paper identifies strong personal attitudes about the environment. In some more proactive companies it identifies some of the elements of organizational learning which may assist in translating attitudes into effective behaviour-including supportive management structures, training and two-way communication. However, it also identifies organizational limits in this regard. It draws parallels with management systems in relation to health and safety.

Image differentiation with corporate environmental responsibility

“…SMEs per se are, therefore, of interest to researchers and interventionists and it is evident from current theory and practice that SMEs can, and do, face both internal and external drivers for, and barriers to, behaviour and conduct change; a finding widely supported in literature (E.g. ECOTEC, 2000;ETBPP, 1998;Groundwork, 1995 andPetts et al, 1998 andTilley, 1999).…”

“…The latter provided clear benefit to this work and the study outcomes as Petts et al (1998) identified these characteristics in proactive companies and it is not clear if there is latent capacity in seemingly 'inactive' businesses (i.e. is there potential for activity but constraints to action related to cost-benefit assessments and sensemaking processes?…”

“…of laws and self-assessed internal problems), a further concern for the grouping is their apparent limited engagement with knowledge creation and sharing activities (with links to Petts et al, 1998 and learning/knowledge creation processes, for example).…”

“…The author did not completely replicate the work of Williamson and Lynch-Wood (2001) due to the overall focus and intention of this work (and its intended outcomes). The organisational learning indicators (identified by Petts et al, 1998; which are similar to the generic knowledge/learning characteristics of organisations, identified by, for example, Nonaka et al, 2006) were also used as these provided an assessment of current learning capacity, processes and approaches (i.e. to learning and knowledge creation and strategy development) and thus the internal processes which may assist with the description of how strategy is developed and deployed in the case SMEs.…”

Towards a new framework for SMEs success: a literature review

“…SME owners/managers, for instance, often claim that their firms have only limited environmental impacts (Lynch-Wood and Williamson, 2013;Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004) and, consequently, don't feel there is a clear justification for making investments to improve environmental performance (Revell and Rutherfoord 2003). Partly this is due to the fact that they have an underdeveloped organisational environmental culture (Biondi and Iraldo, 2002;Gerstenfeld and Roberts, 2000;Kerr, 2006;Petts et al, 1998) not believing that sustainability benefits their company (Revell, 2007;Shearlock et al, 2002;Schape, 2002). A further reason is the fact that many tools and processes are aimed at large businesses and are not adjusted for SMEs (Willard, 2005;Le Pochat et al, 2007;Lefebvre et al, 2001).…”