Go Green Or Go Home ; Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and Sustainability
What is Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) ?
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Green Human Resource Management or Green HRM is a a recent research field which primarily focus on the objective of pursuing environmental sustainability. The goals of the society and the company are aimed to be achieved without a compromise to any of the institutions.
Ramachandran (2010) defines Green Human Resource Management as the “combination of environmental management into human resource management.”
According to Dutta (2012), GHRM includes two primary elements; preservation of knowledge capital and environmentally friendly human resource practices. GHRM helps in creating awareness and commitments on the issue of sustainability.
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How to achieve the Sustainability?
Joel Harmon, Kent D. Fairfield and Jeana Wirtenbirg of Fairleigh Dickinson University (2010) proposed that greater the usage of Green human resource principles and policies, the greater is the implementation of EMS
(environment management system) in different companies.
Environmental performances and the HRM practices requires to be integrated in the delivery of a sustainable business entity. Bratton (2012) states of a “balance” in achieving commercial goals and environmental preservation since it has been well known that generating a nexus between the two could immensely enable the organization to maximize its long-term profitability as opposed to when it does not focus on “going green”.
Green Human Resources Management System can be demonstrated as a raft of activities, processes as well as functions, which are different yet interrelated in attracting, developing, and retaining an organization’s HRM (Pandey et al., 2016).
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Above diagram shows the interrelatedness of each of the functions with GHRM and the six functions if comprised of policies, practices and strategies that are thoroughly constructed and executed; are optimal in suiting the particular business’ objectives and strategies (Pandey et al ., 2016).
There are various ways of developing green
practices within the organization through GHRM.
Among the different ways, developing green
attitude among the employees is important and
significant (Opatha and Arulrajah, 2014).
Some of the easily implemented sustainability
practises are as follows.
- Centralize document storage and use.
- Tweak the temperature.
- Greener office fridge (cleaner coils).
- Promote teleconferencing.
- Mandate employees to meet a specific green score.
- Application of 3R rule (Recycle,Reuse and Reduce)
- Swap out workstation devices over time.
- Usage of Energy star certified CFL lighting at office.
Challenges
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However it is much more challenging for corporations in the developing nations to implement the GHRM as a strategic measure to assure corporate social responsibility.
Most of the developing countries are still struggling with the challenges of economic development and some corporations have not yet fully achieved the CSR, which is a crucial aspect with regards to going green.
Human Resource Division plays an important part in the transition. A cultural reformation shall take place in such environments which need to be addressed strategically prior to its application.
Conclusion
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Green HRM is a new topic in discussion and an emerging theme at the modern work place.
It has already been put to application in large corporations, specially in the developed nations.
However, the concentration has been on the employees, with the focus on the recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management and appraisal, reward and compensation, employee empowerment and participation, and the management of the organizational culture.
Employees need to be educated on organizations’ investment on Corporate Social Responsibility and emphasis on elements that enhance company pride is also crucial.This can drive engagement which improves productivity, reduce organizational costs and enhances brand recognition in the industry. Greater concern for environment and society also ensures a high retention rate of employees since employee morale remains high.
References
Bratton, J., 2012. Human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Dutta, K., Umashankar, V., Choi, G., & Parsa, H. G., 2008. A comparative study of consumers’ green practice orien- tation in India and the United States: A study from the restaurant industry. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 11(3)
Harmon, J., Fairfield, K. D., & Wirtenberg, J., 2010. Missing an opportunity: HR leadership in sustainability. People and Strategy, 33, 1, 16-21.
Opatha, H. and Arulrajah, A., 2014. Green Human Resource Management: Simplified General Reflections. International Business Research,7(8)
Pandey, S., Viswanathan, V., & Kamboj, P., 2016. Sustainable green HRM – importance and factors affecting successful implementation in organizations. International Journal of Research in Management and Business, 2(3), 11-29
Ramachandran, R., 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance: New Dimensions. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 3(8), p.25.
Green Human Resource Management is important in the industry for addressing environmental issues (Iedunote, 2021).your Topic discuss here is very important thanks to share
ReplyDeleteThanks Buddhika for the feedback!
DeleteToday green HRM is important for the improvement of sustainability at workplace. It has identified the green HRM practices in every HR function and how they are contributing to make the organization a green organization. There are benefits of green HRM for the organization, employees and external environment and they have been effectively identified.
ReplyDeleteThanks Asitha for your feedback!
DeleteThe HR function has a critical role to play in creating and implementing sustainable business strategies throughout the organization and GHRM is very important function in modern world you make it very nice and explain well , good article
ReplyDeleteGreen Human Resources Management (GHRM) can be defined as a set of policies, practices, and systems that stimulate the green behavior of a company's employees in order to create an environmentally sensitive, resource-efficient, and socially responsible organization. GHRM will help to reduce costs of a company as it energy, water, and raw materials are used more efficiently. Helps with employee retention and reduces labor turnover. Good article.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fascinating and timely important topic to discuss. Green HRM refers to system that energize green behaviours of employees in a company towards conservation of nature, natural resources efficient. I personally believe the concept further evolve in futures and willing to become a trend.
ReplyDeleteReally good practice and applying this is not too easy especially in this part of the world. But if start that will give thousands of benefits to both employees and employers.
ReplyDelete