The Greening of Management

By: Robert II Smith

In today’s world, views of social responsibility that are held by organisations, the government and the general public have changed dramatically over the last 100 years. Today’s organisations need to be aware that people want to see more socially responsible companies. A large proportion of social responsibility is taking responsibility towards the natural environment. It wasn’t long ago where companies were able to get away with simply dumping their sewerage and waste products from their production and just ignoring it or covering it up. It is now, however that many laws regulate the disposal of waste and companies are finding themselves having to become more socially responsible in their release and disposal of pollutants. Berry and Rondinelli suggest that the trend toward proactive environmental management is being accelerated by public pressures on governments almost everywhere to assure a cleaner environment. This means that societies need for a cleaner environment is becoming more prominent as we move on to the future and resources are becoming more scarce. The government regulations on environmental cleanliness and pollution have become more stringent and are coming down harder. Historically, efforts to reduce pollution were led by regulators and viewed as an additional, and often significant cost. Pollution gained a reputation from both regulators and companies as a problem that required either treatment or in an extreme case, disposal

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter stated that the greening of management is the recognition of the close link between and organisations decisions and activities and its impact on the natural environment. This shows how close companies have to be to their surrounding environment to be able to become actively involved to make a difference. Today, managers are being confronted by questions about the natural environment and how the environment impacts the organisation. Medhurst says that the recognition of the link between the organisations decisions and activities and is impact on the natural environment is referred to as the greening of management. He goes on to say that if a company is genuinely socially responsible and “green” in their approach to their surroundings then it can work to an advantage for the company as the community will support that they are helping them out. Customers tend to be more loyal if they can se that the organisation or company that they support, supports them in return and is doing positive things for their community. This is such a bonus for a company that puts a little time and effort into respecting the environment. Businesses today need to be able to recognise the close link between an organisations decisions and its impact on the natural environment. According to Barney, there are 5 global issues that are affecting the environment, these are, natural resources, global warming, pollution, industrial accidents and toxic waste.

More than just a savvy marketing campaign, greening a company's facilities
can have recognizable benefits - to employees, the bottom line, and mostly,
the environment. When a company receives a fine for an environmental violation, there is a range of possible outcomes that the organisation will undertake. At one extreme the company might make the minimum changes necessary to avoid further penalties and fines, which could include attempts to cover up or hide the offending behavior. At the other extreme, the fines and penalties could serve as a well needed wake-up call. In this case the firm's managers not only correct the specific problem that brought the fine but also develop an infrastructure that would lessen the company's negative environmental impact and therefore its exposure to subsequent fines. The greening of management and the need to be socially responsible has become an important issue that organisations can no longer push aside as there are severe consequences. Petts, Herd and O’heocha discovered that most organisations have taken some proactive steps on the corporate greening ladder and have thus revealed certain characteristics of responsive management which support organizational learning discussions: an individual who leads and champions the cause; a positive attitude to the business benefits of environmental performance, coupled with a belief that is important for companies to respond to the environment; and an open approach to, and empowerment of, employees, particularly through training and also provision of opportunities for influence and comment.

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Robert II Smith has spent more than 19 years working as a professor at New York University. Now he spends most of his time with his family and shares his experience about Psychology papers. Robert II Smith is a right person to ask about Accounting papers.

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