Workshop Objectives @ Corvinus U. Symposium

June 16, 2008 by Frances , John Morelli and | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace

One of the most commonly suggested strategies for environmental managers is to make the “business case.” However, some argue that making the business case is not enough to bring about the type of change needed to move to environmental sustainability. The perception is that what may be a good case for business will surely be a bad case for the environment. What if, though, that as a change agent, an environmental manager could use the “business case” to bring the company and environment closer together than at odds?

So for this conference, I’d like to discuss what the business case means or includes in regards to the environment and the extent that it can or should be used by an environmental manager.

RIT Symposium Conclusions

May 28, 2008 by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, Overview

There was consensus that environmental managers in the workplace are change agents who lead the workplace beyond compliance and ultimately towards sustainability.
Definition: A Change agent is a person whose presence or thought processes cause a change from the traditional way of handling or thinking about a problem.
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 [...]

Corvinus University Symposium Conclusions- EM in Workplace

June 30, 2008 by Frances and | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, Overview

Click here for word document summary of conclusions.
Findings of 2nd Environmental Leadership Symposium- EM in Workplace
Comments are welcome.

The Green Wall

June 20, 2008 by Frances | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace

Hitting the Green Wall: Why Corporate Programs Get Stalled
This is one of the early writings that urged environmental managers in industry to turn their “environmentalese” jargon into the language of business, ie. making the business case for the environment. The article argues that unless environmental managers learned and became successful in doing this, environmental [...]

Relevant Articles for the Symposium @ Corvinus U.

June 9, 2008 by Frances and John Morelli | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace

These are some articles and websites I found about the status of environmental management in Hungary in order to help me put the workshop into their context. I thought they would be helpful for you all too:

http://ezproxy.rit.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.rit.edu/pqdweb?did=1340887871&sid=2&Fmt=6&clientId=3589&RQT=309&VName=PQDGyorgy Malovics, Gabor Racz, Sascha Kraus. “The role of environmental management systems in Hungary - Theoretical and empirical [...]

Environmental Strategy: Emerging market for consultancy services

April 29, 2008 by AROMAKE AFIEGBE | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, General, Literature Review, THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER

Environmental Strategy: Emerging market for consultancy services
As corporations have come of age in their sensitivities to environmental concerns, this article beacons on the environmental manager to seize the opportunities present to accept a leadership role in guiding corporations to meeting their desire to becoming more environmentally responsible. It also challenges the environmental manager to look [...]

Topic for discussion

April 21, 2008 by John Morelli | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, General

If it turns out that there is only time for one question to be addressed, I think the question posed by Joe Rosenbeck, i.e., “Should environmental managers in the workplace be viewed as “change agents” who lead the workplace beyond compliance and ultimately towards sustainability?” is the most on-target with our purposes here.

Environmental Manager and EMS

April 11, 2008 by LYNN DALEY | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, General

Focusing merely on compliance with federal regulations does not guarantee environmental protection. In many cases, compliance still allows a negative impact on the environment. This article addresses ISO 14001 and evaluates it effectiveness as an environmental management system whose fundamental principle is continual improvement. It suggests that the environmental paradigm must shift from a compliance-focused [...]

Role of the Environmental Manager in the Workplace

April 3, 2008 by Joe Rosenbeck | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER

One of the subject areas for our group to discuss is the “role of the environmental manager in the workplace”. Typical roles of the environmental manager in the workplace may vary; however, we should be able to come up with and discuss a list of potential roles. What do you believe the role of the environmental [...]

Environmental Professional and the Business Continuity Professional

March 28, 2008 by LYNN DALEY and Joe Rosenbeck | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace

I’m a business continuity professional. It’s similar to the environmental professional (from what I’ve learned thus far) in that the position is outside of business operations, but must influence business operations so that appropriate continuity outcomes are achieved.
I think that, like business continuity, standards for the environmental profession need to be defined by the profession, [...]

1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace

In the Industry:
Unlike professionals working in some of the more competitive functions of business, environmental managers have, to a significant degree, been less encumbered than others with respect to freedom to share information. While this phenomenon occurs across industry boundaries, a considerable amount of such interaction does, in fact, occur among different companies within a single industry. A good portion of this interaction occurs on an informal basis prompted by a telephone call or an e-mail message. Some of it, however, finds a forum for such exchanges within industry-specific associations, at conferences, or other organized events. Since there are likely to be common challenges facing environmental managers working in companies within the same industry, the collective wisdom of this group of individuals becomes an invaluable resource to all. Environmental managers working in other industries or situations may also find value in the good environmental management practices of a specific industry.

The questions we want to ask and answer here are:
• To what extent should the professional environmental manager share information regarding best practices?
• What should be the expectations of the profession regarding the responsibility of the environmental manager to initiate, if necessary, and/or contribute to establishing a “good practices” database or resource for the industry in which s/he is employed?

In the Workplace:
One might ask the question, “Who defines the role and responsibilities of the environmental manager in the workplace?” Let’s try to expand on that by first examining some other professions like doctors and engineers. Both require specialized training and both are licensed. Because of this training and licensing, these professionals are expected to bring with them into the workplace the standards of practice generally accepted by the profession. They may have different responsibilities assigned to them within the organizations in which they work, but there is an understanding that the basic tenets of their professions will or should remain inviolate. The environmental management profession, in contrast, is made up of individuals with a wide range of academic and experiential backgrounds, including, but certainly not limited to: civil, chemical, and environmental engineers; chemists, biologists, geologists, and environmental scientists; lawyers, financial managers, human resource directors, operations managers, and relatively small but hopefully increasing number of individuals who were actually prepared as environmental managers. Individuals without formal preparation as environmental managers are thus often unprepared to bring generally accepted practices and expectations to the job. Their roles the organization tend to be defined to a greater degree by the organization than might be the case with a doctor or engineer. Additionally, when individuals who, in fact, have been prepared as environmental managers are hired to serve in that role in a company, particularly a smaller company in which such an individual might be the only environmental professional in the organization, these individuals often face an uphill battle when trying to explain why it might be appropriate for the company to take a particular action to protect the environment — in short, when trying to do their jobs.

The questions we want to ask and answer here are:
• To what extent should the role of the environmental manager be defined by the profession?
• Which specific elements of our job constitute “professional practice?”

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