Walter Wehrmeyer

Yacob Mulugetta

Environmental management is a global phenomenon, embracing all businesses in all countries, whether or not there already exists an organised response to managing environmental impacts. Today, there are gross inequalities between the world's richest and poorest nations in terms of income distribution, consumption patterns, access to resources and environmental impact. Yet both the developed north and the developing south are committed, at least in words, to achieving sustainable development. Public awareness of environmental issues in the North has been rising in recent years and further degradation is now largely minimized through more stringent regulatory regimes, voluntary agreements and growing consumer and stakeholder pressure on corporations. Still, the north is continuing to lead an environmentally unsustainable lifestyle as environmental improvements are nullified by overall increases in consumption levels. In the south, a billion people still do not have access to the most basic needs. Poor countries need to accelerate their consumption growth if they are to ensure that the lives of their people are enriched. However, with rapid economic growth and corresponding increases in consumption now under way, their environmental impact is soon to become substantially greater. In a world that strives towards stemming global crises such as climate change, the path already taken by the rich and high-growth economies over the past century cannot be repeated by the south if the desired objective is to create a future that is truly sustainable. Growing Pains examines environmental management in the south from a number of perspectives. It is designed to stimulate the discussion about the role that corporations and national and international organizations play in sustainable development. It does not offer panaceas, as each country has its own problems and opportunities; and, after almost 50 years of failed panacea-oriented economic development policy transfer from the north to the south, it is time to abandon hope for universal solutions and instead look to individual approaches that work. The book is divided into five themes: globalization; the role of business; a focus on national strategies; trade and the environment; and the organizational and structural challenges of sustainable development. With contributions from an outstanding collection of authors in both the developed and developing worlds including UNIDO; the Thailand Environment Institute, Arthur D. Little, Inc., Shell Peru; IUCN, the Russian Academy of Sciences and IIED, this important and unique new book presents a body of work that will provide essential reading for businesses working in developing countries, environmental and developmental NGOs and researchers engaged in the debate and sharing of best practice in this increasingly critical subject area.

Environmental Management in Developing Countries

Growing Pains

This major collection examines both the human resource dimensions of environmental management and how environmental management impacts on human resource departments. Contributions from international experts in both academia and business look at current theory and best practice in environmental TQM, education, training and communications. Greening People argues that, if a company is to adopt an environmentally-aware approach to its activities, the employees are the key to success or failure. Realistically, it is only through the energy, performance and personal commitment of each employee within an organization that business will move towards sustainable industrial development. This book provides an important angle on the new complexities faced by environmental managers and human resource professionals and offers practical solutions drawn from some of the leading lights in the corporate environmental revolution. Greening People is divided into four parts. Part 1 demonstrates the relationship between human resource management and environmental management. Part 2 provides insight into the psychological make-up of contemporary staff that may foster or hinder company-wide implementation of environmental measures, and Part 3 addresses the shortcomings of current management training programmes and suggests new approaches for effective implementation of environmental human resource management. Finally, a selection of excellent case studies demonstrates how the concepts are being implemented in companies and local authorities.

Human Resources and Environmental Management

Greening People

Mara Del Baldo

Stéphanie Looser

This edited book is at the intersection of the discussion on family-owned business, the CSR agenda and company competition in Europe. The authors contribute to the debates on corporate social responsibility by arguing that formal management systems are not the one-size-fits-all solution they are typically presented to be. Exploring alternative interpretations of the profile environmental management activities have in SMEs, the book evaluates the way in which cultural and ethical values are embedded in European SMEs in order to drive and orientate CSR successfully without following the mainstream ‘systems’ approach. It addresses several values of thought within the CSR debate such as intrinsic CSR, the role of virtue ethics and moral theory in corporate culture, environmental sustainability and vision-driven CSR. Focusing on a European perspective, the book heuristically explores an alternative model for the integration of CSR, innovation dynamics and economic success driven by intrinsic values rather than extrinsic post-decision rationalisations.

Walter Wehrmeyer

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