Greening of human resources: environmental awareness and training interests within the workforce

Abstract

The education and training of the workforce has long been recognised as an essential ingredient in promoting and implementing environmental management practices in business organisations. So far, however, even in leading companies, little information has been available on how environmental management practice and related educational and training requirements are translated into the provision of training courses by educational institutions. To address this important question an EU‐sponsored research project was initiated. The project has focused on senior environmental managers; middle (predominantly technical) managers; and skilled and semi‐skilled workers and lower categories of managers. It has been based partly on interviews in a small number of European companies as well as educational and training institutions, and partly on more large‐scale questionnaire surveys. This paper briefly describes the background of the overall project, and in more detail a questionnaire‐based survey on environmental attitudes and training interests among Danish workers.

Impact of Human Resource Factors on Perceived Environmental Performance: an Empirical Analysis of a Sample of ISO 14001 EMS Companies in Malaysia

“…In addition top management should strive for and support a work environment that allows its employees the freedom to make environmental improvements. The organizations' environmental programs, initiatives, and goals should be frequently communicated (Daily & Huang 2001;Daily, et al, 2003Daily, et al, , 2007Govindarajulu & Daily, 2004) and employees should be provided environmental training (Dechant & Altman, 1994;Madsen & Ulhoi, 2001;Wee & Quazi, 2005;Zutshi & Sohal, 2004). The results also support the contention by Daily, et al (2003Daily, et al ( , 2007 and Daily and Huang (2001) that employees motivated by feelings of empowerment should be expected to be more involved in the improvement of the environment.…”

“…In addition, the organization's environmental programs, initiatives, and goals should be communicated frequently to all employees (Daily & Huang, 2001;Daily, et al 2003Daily, et al , 2007Govindarajulu & Daily, 2004). Survey findings by Madsen and Ulhoi (2001) showed that employees in European companies are generally not sufficiently informed about environmental issues. According to Epstein and Roy (1997) communication may inspire employees to suggest new ways to effectively reduce the organization's environmental impacts.…”

“…Employees are likely to eco-innovate when line managers adopt a democratic, participatory and open style of communication in regards to environmental ideas (Ramus, 2001;Ramus & Steger, 2000). Another element essential in signifying management's commitment to environmental improvement is the provision of environmental training and education for the workforce which has been long recognized as a critical ingredient in promoting and implementing environmental management practices in business organizations (Dechant & Altman, 1994;Madsen & Ulhoi, 2001;Wee & Quazi, 2005;Zutshi & Sohal, 2004). All employees working within the organization, irrespective of their department or position should be provided general awareness training (Strachan, et al, 2003;Zutshi & Sohal, 2004).…”

Employee green performance of job: a systematic attempt towards measurement

“…Several writers (Kaur, 2011;Renwick et al, 2013;Jackson et al, 2011;Zoogah, 2011;Rangarajan and Rahm, 2011;Jabbour, 2011;Jabbour et al, 2010a;Sharma et al, 2009;Strandberg, 2009;Wehrmeyer, 1996) accentuated the importance of integrating environmental management aspects into the employee performance evaluation system of the organizations. Different authors at different points of time have emphasized the critical importance of employee training for the proper implementation of EMS in the organizations and the role that environmental training can play in facilitating the process of environmental management activities of the organization (Renwick et al, 2013;Daily et al, 2012;Jackson et al, 2011;Wagner, 2011;Zoogah, 2011;Massoud et al, 2011;Rangarajan and Rahm, 2011;Jabbour, 2011;Jabbour et al, 2010a;Jabbour et al, 2010b;Strandberg, 2009;Sharma et al, 2009;Jabbour and Santos, 2008a;Jabbour and Santos, 2008b;Renwick et al, 2008;Perron et al, 2006;Zutshi and Sohal, 2004;Daily and Huang, 2001;Madsen and Ulhùi, 2001;Wehrmeyer, 1996).…”

Profiling Green IT Leaders Quantitatively and Qualitatively

“…According to the resource-based view theory, the profitability of the IT firm greatly affects the implementation of Green IT initiatives while a weak organizational culture and inefficiencies in human resources are major barriers to the implementation of environmental action processes (Angel del Brio et al, 2008;Madsen and Ulhoi, 2001). In particular, organizational capability that can develop products through environmentally friendly manufacturing processes is a must-have resource to successfully implement Green IT initiatives (Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996).…”