Green HRM and Sustainability

Green HRM and Sustainability

Green HRM refers to all of the actions involved in the creation, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of a system aimed at making an organization's employees environmentally friendly. It is the branch of human resource management concerned with changing normal employees into green employees in order to meet the organization's environmental goals and, finally, to make a substantial contribution to environmental sustainability. It refers to the policies, procedures, and processes that enable an organization's workers to become green for the benefit of the person, society, the natural environment, and the company (Masood, 2018). 

  

Green HRM's reasoning is to generate, enhance, and keep greening inside each employee of the business so that he or she may make the most individual contribution in each of the four roles, namely environmentalist, ecological, non-polluter, and innovator. Green Human Resource Management is the driving force behind human resource initiatives that increase both the economic and environmental sustainability of corporate resources by implementing change and generating environmental circumstances.

Green Human Resources Management (GHRM) is a term that refers to the application of human resource management policies to encourage the sustainable use of resources inside commercial organizations and, more broadly, to promote environmental sustainability (Adubor, et al., 2022). Green HRM entails implementing economic reforms and increasing both ecological and economic efficiency while ensuring that the cost of natural resource exploitation remains within an acceptable range in HRM practices. Green human resource management aims to make human resources responsible for the environment in their tasks, transforming them into employees who can develop positive behaviors with their coworkers, present new ideas and recommendations, and thus enable the implementation of environmental programs.

The primary goal is to encourage employees, transform them into environmentally conscious individuals, and enhance the environmental performance of enterprises. Green Human Resource Management encompasses numerous roles of an organization's Human Resource Department. It aids in the reduction of paper consumption and the adoption of green human resource strategies such as employee planning, recruitment, selection, management, and relations. It helps to green the office atmosphere. All actions associated with green human resource management increase the value of individuals and organizations (Likhitkar & Verma, 2017).

Employees' understanding and commitment to sustainability will develop as a result of HR processes and procedures aligned with sustainable goals. HR plays a critical role in guiding change within the organization, bringing HR and CSR together to create synergies between the organization's strategic mission to become a sustainable organization, and empowering all employees and stakeholders to put this into practice in day-to-day business practice (Joyce & Vijai, 2022).

Although the idea of hiring according to values is not new in HR, it is still important to keep in mind, particularly when developing succession and sustainable development strategies. Your new hires should embody your core values, whether they are innovation, empathy, or teamwork, in order to boost retention rates and develop them into future stars within your company.

People are changeable, just like businesses. So, naturally, as your business grows, so will your employees. Invest in the professional growth of the new hires you have made .

According to this Vedio, environmental management improves social, economic, and environmental success. Although there is a wealth of literature on business performance and environmental management, it does not adequately address the role of dynamic sustainable capabilities. Also, there is a lack of integration of social and environmental problems in the theoretical framework and empirical model of previous works The significance of corporate sustainability is rising to the fore among organizations in this respect.

The findings demonstrate that green human resource management practices have a significant direct effect on environmental sustainability, while a mediator called "pro-environmental behavior" mediates the indirect relationship between green environmental training and sustainable environment.

Theories related to Green HRM

Ability–motivation–opportunity theory (AMO)

Concerns about the impact of GHRM on environmental collaboration with suppliers and consumers can be addressed through AMO. We believe that, based on AMO theory, GHRM should be assessed using three sets of HRM practices: green training and development, green employee motivation, and green employee participation. Such GHRM contributes to environmental sustainability by developing green employee "Ability" (A) by attracting/selecting, training, and enhancing high-performing employees; green employee "Motivation" (M) by encouraging commitment through green initiatives; and providing "Opportunities" (O) for employees to participate in EM initiatives. (Renwick et al., 2013).

 

Because acquired green competence outperforms natural green competence (Subramanian et al., 2016), green training is essential to improve employees' ability to collaborate with suppliers and consumers. Although training has been shown to enhance commitment (Haddock-Millar et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2017), it does not immediately convert into motivation and involvement in environmental cooperation. Encouragement, performance assessment, and the perceived and observed ease of getting involved may all inspire trained staff. (Martinez-Del-Rio et al., 2012). 

Contingency theory (CT)

Contingency theory (CT) is concerned with the moderating influence of internal GSCM and contends that no uniform set of strategic options applies to every business circumstance. (Fredericks, 2005). In other words, there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to organizing a company's 7 strategy, in this case GHRM (Ginsberg and Venkatraman, 1985). Early proponents, such as Lawrence and Lorsch (1967), argued that the environment, including internal and external factors, plays a critical role in determining an organization's strategy, and that a single organizational model can never produce optimal outcomes. 

 

 

Furthermore, Hofer (1975) and Schoonhoven (1981) said that a typical framework in the contingency research tradition would concentrate on the contingent interaction between the dependent and independent variables in a certain type of situation. (Ginsberg and Venkatraman, 1985). The effects of circumstance-contingent factors (internal GSCM) on the effects of the independent variable (GHRM) are operationalised as the effects of interactions between the moderator (internal GSCM) and the independent variable (GHRM) in a contingency theoretic approach. (Andersson et al., 2014). A positive interaction (or moderation) impact indicates that internal GSCM enhances the effects of GHRM, whilst a negative interaction indicates the opposite. (Ginsberg and Venkatraman, 1985).

Influence of Green HRM Practices on Employees Performance Level

 Recently, there has been a noticeable rise in business communities' understanding of the value of going green and implementing different environmental management strategies. Business is transitioning from a traditional financial structure to a contemporary capacity-based economy that is prepared to investigate green economic aspects of business as the corporate world becomes more global.

In today's significant organizations where Human Resource Departments actively participate in turning green at work, Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) has emerged as a critical business strategy.

The chance to accompany and support long-term changes in employee attitude and behavior, which are necessary for environmental change throughout the entire organization, is provided by green HRM. Economically speaking, environmental sustainability is important because it reduces expenses for organizations, motivates employees, and creates new markets

All facets and applications of human resource management (HRM) that work toward environmental sustainability are included in the study field of "green human resource management" (Green HRM). The purpose is to balance business and societal objectives without sacrificing financial performance. When it comes to creating sustainable businesses, green HRM has emerged as a significant applied study area.

Green Management Efforts

Green management efforts are a key component of forward-thinking corporate cultures around the globe. Green HR encourages businesses to look for cheaper alternatives without sacrificing their most valuable assets, such as ability. According to HR experts, their companies' best practice is to motivate employees to exercise more environmentally friendly behavior at work! Values like these serve as a motivational and inspirational aid in addition to being a simple act of kindness.

Important Role in the Implementation of Green HR Practices

All of these initiatives play a very important role in the implementation of green HR practices. The entire process of green HR management solely depends on the level of motivation and active participation by the employees of an organization as well as the effectiveness by which the HR policies are adopted and implemented. Green HR practices are becoming increasingly important, and more and more businesses are recognizing the value of implementing them, which necessitates innovation across a range of processes. The company is transitioning away from the traditional financial structure and toward a more modern, capacity-based economy that is prepared to implement green technologies in today's business environment as a result of organizations moving globally.

Reference

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Das, S.C. and Singh, R.K., 2016. Green HRM and organizational sustainability: An empirical review. Kegees Journal of Social Science, 8(1), pp.227-236.

Gholami, H., Rezaei, G., Saman, M.Z.M., Sharif, S. and Zakuan, N., 2016. State-of-the-art Green HRM System: Sustainability in the sports center in Malaysia using a multi-methods approach and opportunities for future research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 124, pp.142-163.

Joyce & Vijai, 2022. A Theoretical Study on Green Human Resource Management (Ghrm): An Innovative Practice for Organizational Sustainability. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(11), p. 122.

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Yong, J.Y., Yusliza, M.Y., Ramayah, T., Chiappetta Jabbour, C.J., Sehnem, S. and Mani, V., 2020. Pathways towards sustainability in manufacturing organizations: Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(1), pp.212-228.