A Review On Green Human Resource Policies And Practices
Abstract
Objectives: In this study it is tried to explore the awareness, significance and implementation of Green HRM through literature survey. In this study a concise grouping has been tried to made in regard to find the proposed green HRM Model and the best implementable practices. Also to find the scope for future studies.
Research Methodology: The main motive of this study is to investigate various studies done in the field of green HRM, its importance and implementation in the corporates and to find the gaps and issues occurred while in the process of adapting green HRM practices. Literature Review is done through various articles, research papers, news, articles and other studies done in the same field. The study is performed on various published literature and tried to find out the concept of green HRM and its related issues. Scope for future studies: The scope and future of Green HRM Practices gives impression that researchers and get ample opportunities to pursue their research.
- The linkage between employer and employees involvement in applying Green HRM practices can be find.
- Further it can also be studied how to practically follow the theoretical aspects of GHRM.
- This study can be performed in various countries, states and cities with connection to practices followed in that particular area.
- There is an opportunity to conduct the study Industry based to find how companies are going green, what practices they are already following and what new can be incorporated.
Keywords: Environmental Management, Green HRM Practices, Sustainable HR, Human resource Management, Sustainability, Global Warming, Environmental Issues.
Introduction: Constant journey of searching the new and best is the motive for researchers to find the best possible solutions for the current problems. The issues in environmental sustainability have given rise to need of implementing sustainable and Green HRM practices in the organizations. Most of the people believe there is definite need of going green for sustaining in the long run, resources are scarce and environment is getting more in need to be cared. People opine that not only government but also organizations and we as citizens need to be aware and work towards achieving sustainability. This can be done by adapting the new practices at all levels and in all departments in the organizations Sustainable Development is basically fulfilling the needs of today’s people without putting the needs of upcoming generations at stake and at the same time preserving the natural resources. Now a days, Global warming is becoming a stumbling block to preserve our natural resources and ecosystem. Human resource management is the way of efficiently and effectively managing employees of the Organization by strategically setting the policies and practices.
As our natural resources are depleting day by day so the organizations are stepping ahead with the concept of Green HR which means the linkage between the Human resource management and Environmental Management. HR strategies must be made accordingly which aligns the organizational goals as well as society goals. Companies should make their employees aware about sustainable practices and how we can engage employees by taking eco-friendly initiatives which will ultimately help in gaining employee retention and contribution towards environmental management. HR initiatives like Skypeinterviews, online trainings etc. can take to promote Green HR. In current scenario, “Go Green” is becoming a necessary concept due to exhaustion of natural resources (Fayyazi, Shahbazmoradi, Afshar, Shahbazmoradi,2014).
CSR activities undertaken by the organizations is not just a symbol or tool for business development but showcasing a sense of responsibility of the companies towards the welfare of the society. GHRM will leads to low cost, less wastage, usage of recycle products which will help in preserving ecosystem. . Review of literature In the last decade the sustainability has become the key area in the field of research and Green HRM Practices as well is becoming the topic of interest for researchers. Literature Review enables researchers to group and categorize related studies performed in the same field and find out gaps and scope for further investigation. Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappetta, (2011) in his paper elaborated about the Green HRM Practices and its impact on company’s culture, group efforts and employee performance in 94 ISO certified companies in Brazil. In his paper he has concluded the importance of systematic application of green hr practices and 2nd is the environmental issues prevailing with old school of hr practices.
Supporting the objective, Shweta Rajput and Dr. Vivek Pachauri also investigated the importance of green hr practices in their paper ‘A study of employees’ perception towards green HRM initiatives’ published in International Journal of Academic Research and Development. Main objective of this paper is to find out the level of employees involvement towards green hr and its implementation in the organization, for this the self-prepared questionnaires were given to employees. Implementation of Green HR practices is indeed important as many scholarly articles and papers have been written related to environmental issues and global warming. Henricks Marks, written in his paper in 2008 about the Global warming and the processes of green HR that can be followed to cut down this issue. Haden said in his research (2008), Issues in Environmental Management can be solved through applying latest, innovative and new methods with a focus on achieving long term sustainability. For this one has to be self-aware and motivated. Implementing Green HR will not only give competitive advantage but also help in surviving in long run in the business.
Since early 90s global warming has been in highlights and attracted many scholars and researchers. Rangarajan Nandhini and Danie(2011) wrote about environmental issues and how going green will help in reducing such issues. In this article, it was examined that which city is adopting best HR Practices through a across nation survey. They also found education about environment, income levels and already existing programs had a great impact in achieving and implementing environment friendly best practices. It also described about the public and govt. practices that enabled in implementing and adapting eco-friendly scenario. Linda and Kato Hitari, also enlighten the need of Green HR and its practices in the organizations for both employers and employees in their paper (2010).
Authors found about how people in organization understand the concept of environmental sustainability and its implementation. They also examined the role of going green through surveying 128 sample size in Australia working in various companies in more than a year. Through their study they found by implementing environment friendly practices respondents were psychologically satisfied and that resulted in attaining better business goals. In addition to this organization also understood the significance of incorporating the Green HRM model as it helped in attaining better business and satisfied employees and customers. This study has set a good benchmark and given scope for researchers to work on similar kind of studies.
We opine that this environmental awareness will help the employees to know the value and importance of implementing sustainable HR and Green HR, hence the HR departments in the organizations will try to implement best practices in all processes be it selection, recruitment, training or any other process. They will incorporate the sustainable practices to avail long term benefits. Based on environment management organizations can behave proactively while doing selections and recruitments. According to the literature when organizations adapts such practices the performance of the companies ultimately gets better. Agnieszka Leszczynska(2009), also explored about the issues related to environment prevailing in the organizations in their studies, they also analysed the need of environmental awareness and concluded and gave solutions related to resolve those issues. The study was conducted in Australia and Ukraine with 200 managers and Poland 250 managers working in private and public sectors. They examined how perceptions are different about this issue in different countries.
The study was done in three different countries to do the comparison. Another survey was done by buck consultants, and the report was published in NY Business Journal in 2009, according to this survey 54% companies followed practices of Green HRM. These companies focused on lesser use of papers and web meetings and conferences. With a focus on same issue Ambika and Sohal Amrik (2003) elaborate about EMS (Environmental Management System). They concluded involvement of the employees and the Suppliers in attaining Eco-Friendly objectives in the companies and manufacturing units in Australia. They Interviewed 9 middle level managers in the organizations and tried to understand the role of these practices and the need to implement them.
Conclusion
In present times the significance of implementing GHRM practices is increasing with each passing day. In the literature survey it is observed that employees are not really well versed with the term GHRM and its other aspects. And the industries and companies have lot of scope for GHRM and its implementation. The increased participation of companies and its employees towards going green will not only help organizations to attain a sustainable development also it will help organization to attain a better company image. The study indicates that there is direct relation between availing sustainability and Green HRM and its implementation in the organization. It is also observed that there is still need to create more awareness about Green HRM and its aspect, this will help organizations to avail long term and environmental sustainability.
