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?”
June 30, 2008 by Frances , and admin | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3],Overview | No Comments »
Click here for word document summary of conclusions.
Findings of 2nd Environmental Leadership Symposium- EM in Workplace
Comments are welcome.
June 20, 2008 by Frances | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3] | No Comments »
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 projects and movements will stall and never reach full potential.
June 16, 2008 by Frances , John Morelli , , admin | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3] | No Comments »
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.
June 9, 2008 by Frances and John Morelli | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3] | No Comments »
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:
Some current environmental news coming from Hungary:
May 28, 2008 by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3],Overview | No Comments »
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 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
Environmental managers can do this by:
learning the business from the corporate level to the facility level and knowing
effectively using EHS management systems and the system’s components.
making the business case (i.e., identifying opportunities and impacts to the bottom line) and using business tools (i.e., quality tools, lean thinking, six sigma)
understanding the formal and informal organizational structure
using risk-based thinking
consensus building
proactively educating others
actively crafting their own jobs within the organization
Environmental managers must also take responsibility for their profession and must actively craft their own job.
April 29, 2008 by AROMAKE AFIEGBE | Filed under: General,In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3],Literature Review,RESEARCH CATEGORY: THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER | No Comments »
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 beyond their roles as compliance promoters in the industry to helping companies incorporate environmental concerns into their corporate strategy and decision making albeit in conformity to the peculiar situation of the company.
Andrew J Hoffman. “Environmental strategy: Emerging market for consulting services. ” Consulting to Management 13.4 (2002): 15-24. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. RIT Lib., Rochester, NY.. 29 Apr. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>
April 21, 2008 by John Morelli | Filed under: General,In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3] | No Comments »
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.
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 | No Comments »
The 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/>
April 11, 2008 by LYNN DALEY | Filed under: General,In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3] | No Comments »
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 one to that is more performance-based, where compliance is an outcome. This article suggests that environmental management systems need to be integrated into an organization’s normal operations. It also suggests that EHS should be addressed together. Although Environmental Managers and associated skills/tasks are not specifically addressed, it is clear that a environmental management resource would be necessary to implement such a system at an organization, public or private.EMS and ISO 14001
April 3, 2008 by Joe Rosenbeck | Filed under: In the industry and in the workplace [1, 2, 3],RESEARCH CATEGORY: THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER | No Comments »
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 manager in the workplace should be?
In addition, how is the role of the environmental manager in the workplace evolving and how should the role continue to evolve? For example, in the past the primary role of the environmental manager in the workplace was to advise and assist the workplace with its environmental regulatory compliance efforts. Over the last 10-15 years, in many workplaces this role has evolved beyond compliance assistance. Now, many environmental managers lead efforts to integrate environmental management into business management processes looking for and finding opportunities to add value to the business and to drive the workplace towards sustainability. Also, in many workplaces environmental managers are actually environmental, health and safety (EHS) managers with roles and responsibilities in all three areas.
How is the role of the environmental manager in the workplace evolving? Should the role be expanded to include health and safety? Should environmental managers in the workplace be viewed as “change agents” who lead the workplace beyond compliance and ultimately towards sustainability?
