Defining the future of the environmental manager in corporations
April 21, 2008 by AROMAKE AFIEGBE , Brian Butler , and admin | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3],Literature Review,RESEARCH CATEGORY: THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER
MacLean, Richard. “Corporate Environmentalism: In Search of Vision, Leadership, and Strategy.” Environmental Quality Management. Autumn 2005. pg 1-14The environmental manager has come a long was since the early days of being viewed in the industry “as harbingers of additional cost and restrictions” (Voluntary Environmental Management:The Inevitable Future-John Morelli)) to a more defined professional seen as needed to facilitate change in environmental culture. But with the establishment of the environmentalism culture and metamorphosis of the driving reasons for companies to become environmentally friendly, the environmental manager has gradually left the forefront of decision making to become more of a shared service provider now being joined with other departments such as human resources, information technology safety and so on. The environmental departments are not anymore insulated from cutbacks because management feared government penalties due to non compliance. Many businesses have gotten used to the new culture of compliance and if not anything being seen as being environmentally responsible and so believe that the “environmental problem” has largely gone away and so do not feel impelled to invest in an area that seems “under control”. Also, by and large the past activities and and efforts of environmental compliance has created in the consumers an image of environmental responsibility, so the drive to pursue an up-scaled environmental department has reduced. For management, the environment has reduced to a two dimensional landscape-compliance and right public image- leaving little room for much contribution by environmental managers.
The question now is, where does the profession of corporate environmental management go for here? How can the role of the environmental manager move with this shift in culture from becoming relegated service provider to a strategic decision maker? The following article considers these questions and more.
Richard MacLean. “Corporate Environmentalism: In Search of Vision, Leadership, and Strategy. ” Environmental Quality Management 1 Oct. 2005: 1-14. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. RIT Lib., Rochester, NY.. 21 Apr. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>