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I SSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 09
September 2016
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
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A Study on Green HR Practices
Gorigay Thanvi & Prattipati Venkata Jaya Pradeep
MBA, AMS School of Informatics, Hyderabad.
Assistant Professor, Kingston P.G. College, Hyderabad .
Email: gorigaythanvi@gmail.com; Email: jayapradeep_pv@yahoo.co.in
ABSTRACT
The green Human Resources Management has emerged
from companies engaging in practices related to
protection of environment and maintaining ecological
balance. This paper proposes the development of a
model of green human resource management. The study
followed archival method of literature review. From the
perspective of green human resource management, this
study argues that Green HRM can play a useful role in
business in promoting environment related issues by
adopting and following the processes.
There is a great deal of increase in the adoption
of environment management systems by the corporate
sector. Literature has given importance to adoption of
environmental practices as a key objective of
organizational functioning making it important to
identify with the support of human resource
management practices. Today there is debate and
uncertainty associated with how green management
principles can be implemented effectively amongst the
workforce of the organization.
Key Words: Green Human resource Management,
environment, practices.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays it seems that a considerable number of
organizations practice green human resource
management practices in the global context. Exploring
and synthesizing about these green HRM practices
which are being practiced and are to be practiced by the
business and other organizations will contribute
significantly to the HRM field academically and
practically. Green HRM is an emerging field of research
in the organizational studies after 1990s. Due to that,
this paper has its focus on exploring green HRM
practices from the light of existing theoretical and
empirical research works done by the scholars in this
field.
preservation of knowledge capital. It entails undertaking
environment friendly initiatives resulting in greater
efficiency, lower costs, and better employee
engagement and retention which in turn help
organization to reduce carbon footprints. In fact Green
HR policies focus on collective and individual
capabilities to bring about green behaviour. Such
policies are aimed at developing an environmental
corporate culture. Green HR focuses on employees’
environmental behavior in the company, which in turn,
could be carried on to consumption pattern in their
private life (Muster and Schrader 2011). Researchers in
the area of Green Management initiatives argued that
Environmental Management System (EMS) can only be
effectively implemented if the companies have the right
people with the right skills and competencies (Daily and
Huang 2001). As the implementation of these initiatives
requires a high level of technical and management skills
among employees (Callenbach et. al., 1993)
thereforeGreen HR initiatives involves the
implementation of recruitment and selection practices,
compensation and performance-based appraisal
systems, and also the training programmes aimed at
increasing the employees’ environmental awareness.
In the environmental literature, the concept of
Green management for sustainable development has
various definitions; all of which generally, seek to
explain the need for balance between industrial growth
for wealth creation and safeguarding the natural
environment so that the future generations may thrive
(Daily and Huang, 2001).Though organizations
nowadays have been working on product innovation for
environmental sustainability yet the issue of how an
individual organization or entire society achieves
sustainability from the green management movement is
still debatable and unclear. Therefore this research study
attempts to detail a process model of the HR practices
involved in green HRM on the basis of available
literature.
Green HR consists of two essential elements:
Environmentally-friendly HR practices and the
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I SSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 09
September 2016
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
P a g e | 134 Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
2 . Review of Literature
a. Environment Management System
The incorporation of environmental objectives and
strategies into the overall strategic development goals of
a company helps in arriving at an effective environment
management system (Haden et al., 2009). There are a
wide range of factors which influences the adoption of
an environmental strategy by a company (Berry and
Rondinelli, 1998) including financial performance
(Sroufe, 2003), stakeholder pressure (González-Benito
and González-Benito 2006) and corporate image
(Suhaimi 2011) emerging to be the most important
reasons. There
is also a great deal of empirical research which
highlights the impact of environment management
practices on performance of the organization using a
number of different indicators (Crowe and Brennan,
2007, Yang et al, 2010; Iraldo et al., 2009).
b . Importance of HRM in Environment Management
Policy Development
Lado and Wilson (1994) defined the HRM system as “a
set of distinct but interrelated activities, functions, and
process that are directed at attracting, developing, and
maintaining (or disposing of) a firm’s human
resources.” HR practices are generally implemented
with the strategic systems that are in line with with the
culture and business strategy (Boselie, 2001). There are
various researchers who support the HRM practices to
be effective for promotion of human capital and results
in providing to contributors of organizational
performance and competitive advantage (Boselie, 2001;
Paauwe and Boselie, 2003). In order to implement an
effective corporate green management system it is
important to promote a great deal of technical and
management skills among all employees of the
organization (Daily et al., 2012; Unnikrishnan and
Hedge 2007). Organizations look at development of
innovative tools and initiatives of environment
management which will significantly impact
sustainability of the firm and promote a competitive
advantage (Hart 1997; Lin et al., 2001). Therefore to
develop such a framework it becomes ideal to have
effective human resource management practices
including presentation of strict recruitment strategies
(Grolleau et al., 2012), appraisal and reward systems
which include environmental awareness and
implementation in their evaluation process (Jabbar et
al,.2012) and training and empowerment programs
(Unnikrishnan and Hedge 2007) which will enable the
development of new set of skills and competencies
amongst the employees of “pro green” firms. All of
these researchers promote the ideology that is important
for proper alignment of human resource management
principles with objectives of green management in an
organization. It is identified that the greater the strength
of green human resource policies the greater is the
intensity of adoption of environment management
systems (EMS) and policies by the different companies
(Bohdanowicz et al., 2011).
3 . Res earch Methodology
The researcher made use of systemic search
methodology by identifying articles related to green HR
practices in Science Direct and Emerald databases from
March 1992- March 2012 (ten years) by using the
following key words: Green management, environment
management system, human resource management,
training, development, recruitment, rewards and
feedback. Following this 19 articles related to the
keyword search were identified. The researcher
independently extracted data using standardized data
extraction forms. When any doubts or conflicts arose
they were resolved by consensus or, when necessary, by
a second reviewer. Reviewers extracted information on
study design.
4 . Res ults and Discussion
This section presents the different articles which were
identified from the literature research and summarizes
the findings in relation to HRM principles in the
following categories.
a. Rewards and Compensation
The study by Taylor et al., (1992) presented a generic
view on importance of green management. In this study
a qualitative approach was adopted wherein 16
companies were identified from 5 different countries. It
was seen that when companies offered an incentive in
terms of green awards employees were more inclined to
follow principles of green management the study by
Denton (1999) examined the impact of employee
involvement in pollution control. This is study adopts a
qualitative case study approach wherein employees
from Dow chemical were interviewed. It was observed
that employees were motivated and given rewards when
they came up with innovative waste reduction ideas.
The study by Forman and Jorgensen (2001) studied the
participation of employees in environmental work
programs in different companies. This study adopted a
qualitative research approach in which two different
Danish companies were identified and employee
participation in environmental programs was identified.
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I SSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 09
September 2016
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
P a g e | 135 Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
The study presented a theoretical framework of which
provision of rewards or compensation to employees in
order to undertake the additional responsibility of
participating in environmental efforts was undertaken.
The study by Ramus (2001) identified the importance of
non financial incentives on impacting environmental
policy implementation. This study is empirical in nature
and conducted a survey among employees of European
companies. It was identified that when there was
perceived supervisory support and better
acknowledgment in terms of praise letters and plaques
there was an increased commitment from employees
towards upholding environmental policies.
b . Recruitment
Dechant and Altman (1994) studied the importance of
employee perception of a firm’s environmental
behavior. This study is review article which identifies
the importance of contemporary environmentalism in
leading companies of America. In their review they
argue that the employee perception is vital as employees
are willing to work in a firm only when they feel it adds
to their value profile.
Bauer and Aiman-Smith (1996) studied the effect a pro
environmental stance would have on recruitment efforts.
The study was empirical in nature and considered a
fictitious firm. Their findings indicate that when a firm
presents a proactive stand towards protection of the
environment then it would help improve the
attractiveness of the firm. Their study also indicated that
intention to pursue employment with the pro
environmental company will be higher along with
acceptance of a job offer.
In the study by Frank (2003) the importance of ethical
behavior of a company and its impact is presented. As a
part of this survey it was identified that most of the
respondents would prefer to choose an ethically and
environmentally responsible firm like American Cancer
society instead of for one like Camel cigarette even if
their wages were slightly lesser.
The study by Brekke and Nybord (2008) identified how
companies attracted responsible employees. Their study
adopted a theoretical approach and arrived at a model
which indicated that when there is equilibrium between
socially responsible and socially non responsible firms
then motivation among new recruits to join the
companies would be higher towards green firms. Their
research also identifies that if the wages presented as
similar in both firms then applicants who approach
socially responsible firms will be much higher than
those who approach brown firms.
The study by Grolleau et al., (2012) identified the
impact of environmental standards of a company on
recruitment of an employee. This study makes use of a
bivariate probit model hence adopts an empirical
approach by adopting specific survey presented to
different private firms in France. The study results
indicate that environmental commitment of the
company adds to profile of a company. They were able
to differentiate and identify those professionals more
than non professionals were concerned with respect to
the environmental stance of a company.
c. Training and Development
The study by Perron et al., (2006) examined importance
of environmental training in promoting business value.
This study involved a multiple case study approach
wherein it was observed that two different companies
were compared to identify the effectiveness of a
developed environmental training program. It is
observed that one company developed a training
program for all their employees while the other was
considered as a control which offered no training. From
the results of the study it was identified that despite
training presented to one group the level of knowledge
with respect to environment management system was
similar among employees of both the companies. This is
despite the amount of investment that has gone into
green training for employees of one company. The
authors conclude that it is vital to develop specialized
and customized environmental training programs to suit
the needs of the organization and also identified the
need for development of validated instruments to
evaluate the resultant training.
Daily et al., (2007) conducted a study on EMS training
framework and its relation to practices of HR in the
organization. This study was empirical in nature as a
survey was conducted among 437 employees. From the
results of the survey it was identified that the formation
of an effective green management system was directly
dependent on environmental training. The study
concluded that in order to manage effective green HR
practices it is vital to promote environmental training in
an organization as it presents essential knowledge for
promoting green teams in an organization and presents
them with the ability to deal with the different issues
which emerge as a result of problems related to
environment and the associated opportunities.
The study by Sarkaris et al., (2010) identified the effect
of stakeholder pressure and its relationship with
promoting effective environmental training. This study
was empirical in nature and conducted surveys across
157 companies in Spain. From the results of the study it
is clearly identified that good environmental training by
the management mediates the presence of a good green
