This topic examines elements of the role of the environmental manager, including: the extent to which the role of the environmental manager is and should be defined by the profession rather than the company and which specific elements of our responsibilities should be considered professional practice (See: Role of the EM in the organization.); the extent to which we should share information regarding best practices and contribute to establishing a “good practices” resource base for our respective industries (See: Role of the EM in the industry.); and the responsibilities of the environmental manager to the host community and the role of the environmental manager in guiding the organization with respect to the public good (See: Role of the EM in the host community).
July 29, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on “The Role of the Environmental Manager in Elevating the Reality Platforms for Sustainability and Social Responsibility”, moderated by Dr. John Morelli.
July 29, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: RESEARCH CATEGORY: THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on “The Role of the Environmental Manager in U.S. and Canadian SMEs”, moderated by Scott Wolcott.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler , and admin | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation | No Comments »
Key Discussion Points:
o Discussed importance of knowing environmental footprint of the entire supply chain; however, there are many unknowns.
o Important tradeoffs exist: transportation service performance and economics v. environmental impacts.
o Methods and approaches identified for evaluation:
1. Third Party Contracting
2. Purchasing Decisions
3. Logistics Decisions
4. New Technologies
5. Use of Carbon Offsets if No Improvement Possible
o What gets done is largely a function of the characteristics of the firm.
o Key to success is matching the green supply chain options to production, distribution, and market realities
o Discussed role of
1. Corporation (large/small) and influence on steering third party “contracted” decisions (technology or mode of transport).
2. Government (Regulations- Tier II, III, IV requirements, etc.)
3. Individuals (Ex: Use of public transport, awareness of “green” transportation)
o Strategies for the Environmental Manager
1. Corporate leadership is important (high level support)
2. Research and develop options for purchasing, supply contracts, and technology.
3. Cross-training important – environmental manager needs to understand decision making process of other internal departments and vice versa.
4. Leverage tools to determine “greenest” mode of transportation versus transportation time and cost.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler , and admin | Filed under: RESEARCH CATEGORY: THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on the findings of this workshop.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »
The role of the environmental manager in the host community initiated a discussion about business. Everyone agreed that MNC’s have an obligation to work to the highest regulatory standard regardless of where they operate. A company’s financial stability is tied into social stability and environmental stability and therefore the business of business in no longer just about business! Corporate citizenship is legally recognized and global corporations have many communities to which they are responsible to. The use of community advisory panels has proven to be a very useful tool for chemical companies. This forum allows open communication with the host community and must be authentic. This can even serve as a buffer at countering inaccurate information or slander since the local community will already be informed and not easily provoked by scare tactics. Still, there are several companies that resist such engagement with their host community. Some of the reasons discussed included legacy problems, a perception that the community will not be able to understand the complexity of the situation and over react and a general feeling that what they don’t know won’t hurt them. This non-disclosure has typically resulted in undermining the community’s trust in the company. Honesty is still the best policy.
Other factors to be considered with the host community include the size of the company relative to the size of the host community, Government officials wearing multiple hats in the community, and local infrastructure. Foreign government corruption can be an obstacle towards achieving corporate sustainability goals and the environmental manager will need to have support from their leadership to be effective. Government political agendas can drive wide swings in programs and initiatives. The EM can be the mediating factor here. But how much more can the EM role take on beyond regulatory compliance, consolidation and volunteer activities?
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation highlighting the findings from the workshop on the Goal of the Environmental Manager that was held at the RIT symposium on May 11th & 12th, 2009.
May 7, 2009 by AROMAKE AFIEGBE | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »
This study explores the factors that drive or hinder organisations to implement green supply chain management initiatives. A literature review identifies the main categories of internal and external drivers of green supply chain management practices, including organisational factors, regulation, customers, competitors and society, but there is little indication of suppliers as drivers for green supply chain management. Internal barriers include cost and lack of legitimacy, whereas external barriers include regulation, poor supplier commitment and industry specific barriers. An explorative study is conducted based on interviews from seven different private and public sector organisations. Encouragingly, across the organisations, more drivers than barriers to environmental supply chain management are identified. Organisations seem to be more influenced by external rather than internal drivers. The barriers to environmental supply chain management experienced by organisations tend to be both internal and external.
May 7, 2009 by AROMAKE AFIEGBE | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »
Singh, A. P. “Community Participation and Environment: A Symbiotic Interrelation.” ICFAI Journal of Environmental Law 7 1 (2008): 11-26.
knowledge and skill of local community plays a pivotal role in understanding the effective
management of natural resources though late has paved way for seeking participation of
locals in its policy and decision-making process related to the environment. The author in
this article highlights the fact that community participation initiatives on earlier occasions
had failed due to improper communication on part of policy makers, and at times due to
misconceptions on part of local beneficiaries. Hence, the article is an attempt to identify the
lacunae’s on part of States and Centre in involving the local community in its
decision-making process. The author examines the evolution of this symbiotic relationship
between indigenous community and conservation of environment in five different sections
beginning with pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial period and goes on to suggest that
creating awareness through environment education is the need of the hour in enhancing the
community participation.
May 7, 2009 by AROMAKE AFIEGBE | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »
Disputes concerning industrial legacies such as the disposal of toxic wastes illustrate changing pressures on corporations and governments. Business and governments are now confronted with managing the expectations of a society increasingly aware of the social and environmental impacts and risks associated with economic development and demanding more equitable distribution and democratic management of such risks. The closed managerialist decision-making of the powerful bureaucracies and corporations of the industrial era is informed by traditional management theory which cannot provide a framework for the adequate governance of these risks. Recent socio-political theories have conceptualised some key themes that must be addressed in a more fitting approach to governance. We identify more recent management and governance theory which addresses these themes and develop a process-based approach to governance of environmental disputes that allows for the evolving nature of stakeholder relations in a highly complex multiple stakeholder arena.
May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation | No Comments »
The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) program began in 1997 with a partnership between the British Government and the Cold Storage and Distribution Federation over a concern that just-in-time delivery program would adversely affect utilization of refrigeration trucks. The government was operating a best practice program to improve fuel efficiency and the start of the KPI program. Program objectives included promotion of standard methods of performance management in road transport, provide the government with information of a range of transport variables, and calculation of the potential for improving energy efficiency across industry sectors. These studies continue to be performed over 48 hour time frames to minimize market effect and focus on vehicle fill, empty running, fuel consumption (motor power and refrigeration), vehicle time utilization, and deviations from delivery schedule. The results from the study are reported on a government best practice website and have indicated good potential for cutting energy use in transport, utilization affects fuel efficiency, and efficiency can be affected by the delivery schedule. This article provides a good basis for completing similar partnership studies with a goal of generating and distributing best practices that can be adopted by businesses and organizations.
