The environmental management profession 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 a relatively small but hopefully increasing number of individuals who were actually prepared as environmental managers. Thus finding a reasonable set of qualifying credentials for the profession is an elusive problem. On one hand, our amalgamated skills may appear much broader than the environmental management needs of the organizations we serve, yet when we consider the breadth of the concept of sustainability, perhaps not. The subtopics in this collaboratory explore the possibility of establishing requisite skills for the profession and credentialing of environmental management professionals.
July 29, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Competencies of the Environmental Manager [2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on “The Competencies of the Environmental Manager”, moderated by Aromake Afiegbe.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Undergraduate Education for Environmental Managers | No Comments »
Please follow the link below for a powerpoint presentation highlighting the findings from the workshop.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: Certification and Licensing -- Exploring Creation of a Unified Credential for Environmental Professionals [4] | No Comments »
Please follow the links below for highlights from this workshop.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Competencies of the Environmental Manager [2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Please follow the link below for a powerpoint presentation highlighting the findings from this workshop.
April 2, 2009 by Brian Butler , maitamim , John Morelli , John Morelli , John Morelli , John Morelli , John Morelli and John Morelli | Filed under: Undergraduate Education for Environmental Managers | No Comments »
Engineers, doctors, and lawyers must obtain an accredited degree specifically tailored toward their profession prior to licensure. However, the educational criterion for certifying environmental professionals appears to be a more general requirement of a baccalaureate or equivalent degree in science or a related area. The goal of this workshop is to develop a framework for a single, recognized undergraduate degree for environmental professionals and begin to determine what an appropriate undergraduate program should look like.
March 30, 2009 by Brian Butler , John Morelli , , gmoulder , and admin | Filed under: Certification and Licensing -- Exploring Creation of a Unified Credential for Environmental Professionals [4] | 5 Comments »
Representatives from IHMM, IPEP, ABCEP, ANSI and CESB have been exploring the possibility of aligning three existing premier credentialing programs for environmental professionals in the US. During these two workshop sessions, they will continue their deliberations and attempt to answer the following questions:
Moderator: John Morelli
July 25, 2008 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Competencies of the Environmental Manager [2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
An alternate offering of this summary can be found HERE
Venue: Corvinus Symposium, June 23-24, 2008
Workshop Topic: The Environmental Management Skill Set:
A balance between engineering/science and management.
Workshop Moderator: Scott Wolcott
Summary:
It was proposed that the question, “What is the appropriate balance of skills?” be addressed by first identifying beneficial skill sets an engineer/scientist and business manager might possess. The following table presents the results of this discussion
Table 1 – Skill Sets
|
Engineer/Scientist |
Business Manager |
|
· Problem solving · Curiosity · Application · Determination/dedication · Persistent · Focused · Analytical skills · Ability to combine multiple knowledge bases into a single solution · Stepwise process · Holistic problem solving · Communication of problems and solution |
· Communication · Good organization o Self o Of task for others o Delegation of tasks/others · Balance between delegation of duties & sensitivity towards others o Good human resource skills · Strategic thinking · General overview of “department” and how it “fits” into system (holistic view). · Understanding strengths and weaknesses of staff · Determination/evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of decisions · Dedication · Problem solving with cool demeanor |
The next step involved the identification of tasks that typical environmental managers would be required to perform. The assessment involved labeling the task as best suited for engineer/scientist or business manager skill set, and rating the frequency of performing each task during a typical year. A simple rating system of 1 through 5 was employed where 5 was most important or most frequent.
The list of environmental manager responsibilities and corresponding scores are presented in Table 2.
Results, Conclusions and Recommendations
The results of this simple assessment suggest that an environmental engineer’s responsibilities require skill sets of an engineer/scientist 29 percent of the time and business manager skill sets 71 percent. The reaction of the session attendees was mixed. Some of the attendees were surprised and believed the distribution of skill sets was skewed too far towards the business manager. While others thought the results were a reasonably accurate balance of skills that an environmental manager should possess.
The question proposed at the beginning of the symposium was, “What is an appropriate balance of skills?” What followed was only a 60-minute discussion on the topic and the question should not be considered answered. However, one session attendee believed the environmental manager tasks assessed were biased towards the business manager skill set. This needs to be investigated further.
Table 2 – Environmental Manager Tasks and Scores
|
Task |
E/S or BM |
Fre-quency |
E/S sub-total |
BM sub-total |
|
Developing environmental strategies that ensure corporate sustainable development; |
BM |
1 |
|
1 |
|
Leading the implementation of environmental policies and practices |
BM |
5 |
|
5 |
|
Coordinating all aspects of resource use, pollution reduction, waste management, environmental health, risk assessment and employee involvement |
BM & E/S |
5 |
5 |
5 |
|
Ensuring compliance with environmental legislation |
E/S |
5 |
5 |
|
|
Developing pollution control, pollution prevention and recycling programs |
E/S |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Auditing and reporting on environmental performance to internal and external clients and regulatory bodies |
BM |
2.1 |
|
2.1 |
|
Identifying, assessing and reducing an organization’s environmental risks and financial costs |
BM & E/S |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Keeping abreast of environmental legislation and good practice |
BM & E/S |
5 |
5 |
5 |
|
Raising awareness, at all levels of an organization, of the impact of emerging environmental issues, whether legislative or best practice, on corporate, ethical and social responsibility |
BM |
5 |
|
5 |
|
Managing the development and implementation of an environmental management system |
BM |
5 |
|
5 |
|
Bidding for and managing the budget of an organization’s environmental strategy |
BM |
2 |
|
5 |
|
Coordinating public hearings and consultations on environmental matters |
BM |
3 |
|
5 |
|
Managing relations with the board of directors, senior management and internal staff |
BM |
5 |
|
5 |
|
Training staff at all levels in environmental issues and responsibilities |
BM & E/S |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
Developing and implementing marketing and sales strategies for environmental goods and services |
BM |
2 |
|
2 |
|
Developing business opportunities |
BM |
5 |
|
5 |
|
Managing a diverse group of engineers, scientists and technologists |
BM |
5 |
|
5 |
|
Negotiating environmental service agreements and managing associated costs and revenues |
BM |
2 |
|
2 |
|
Writing environmental reports |
E/S |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Leading on corporate social responsibility issues and action |
BM |
2 |
|
2 |
|
Maintaining regular contact with regulatory bodies |
E/S |
4 |
4 |
|
|
Combining environmental management with other regulatory responsibilities, such as quality and safety |
BM |
2 |
|
2 |
|
SUBTOTAL: |
27 |
66.1 |
||
|
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL: |
29% |
71% |
||
Not including an “importance” rating for each task may have been a mistake (Note: Originally included, this rating was dropped early in the assessment when almost all the tasks were scored “%”). Consideration of the relative importance of each task is valuable to determining the balance of skills needed by an environmental manager. While most, if not all, the tasks may be considered a “5”, completion of this portion of the analysis is important.
It is proposed that this topic be continued and perhaps with an expanded audience. The first issue that needs to be resolved is the list of environmental manager responsibilities. This list of tasks needs to be complete and without bias towards either the engineer/scientist or business manager skill set. Prof. Lisa Greenwood has offered suggestions to the list.
Once the list is finalized, the analysis can be repeated. Then a second question, “What, at a minimum, is specifically needed on each side of this balance?” which has been, preliminarily addressed in Budapest, can be revisited with focused attention. A third question, “What should an undergraduate curriculum contain to prepare students for a career in environmental management?” will probably yield the most tangible results of this topic. Question #3 will be addressed after a firm understanding of the assessment of skill set balance is reached.
During my presentation of the session results, I mentioned that many of the skill sets attributed to the good business managers are innate, not learned. I noticed several people in the audience nodding in agreement. It’s true that engineer/scientists also bring some positive, innate skills to the table. However, these are often not soft skills of people management. So, I think that many of the engineer/scientist skills used or required of environmental managers are learned. Of course, I am speaking in generalities and there are exceptions and overlap.
June 18, 2008 by Scott Wolcott , John Morelli , and admin | Filed under: Competencies of the Environmental Manager [2, 3, 4],Overview | 1 Comment »
Greetings,
Our task is to determine the optimum skill set for a successful environmental manager. Should he or she share more of the characteristics of a manager or a engineer/scientist? Or, perhaps more accurately, which of these characteristics and skills should the environmental manager have?
Attached are two documents. The first is a summary of the professional characteristics of business managers and engineer/scientists. Included in this document are generalized personality traits of people who tend to become either business managers or engineers/scientists. The personality traits are based on work by Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss Psychiatrist. I’m not certain that this information is particularly relevant to our discussion, but I found it interesting.
The second document is a simple worksheet that we might use at the symposium to list the skill sets that define the manager and engineer/scientist.
Cheers,
Scott
June 17, 2008 by Scott Wolcott and John Morelli | Filed under: Competencies of the Environmental Manager [2, 3, 4],Overview | No Comments »
Greetings,
I’m looking forward to working on this topic. Attached is a brief overview of the general workshop topic and a proposed outline for our discussion.
Cheers,
April 27, 2008 by LAUREN KERWAWYCZ , John Morelli , and | Filed under: RESEARCH CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER QUALIFICATIONS AND CREDENTIALING,What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3] | 2 Comments »
http://www.rit.edu/news/?v=46131
I thought the Xerox Sustinability Calculator fit well with this topic, not only because Xerox is my employer, but also because Xerox recently launched a tool to help companies put hard numbers to their behavoirs of energy use, waste, and green house emissions. This helps answer what to manage in the document mangement industry. This tool allows organizations the ability to see first hand how they can directly impact their effect on the environment. This sustainability caluclator is a new assessment tool that enables customers to use fact based measurement. Xerox and RIT are partnering to target education in research in sustainability.
