January 15, 2008 by John Morelli | Filed under: Overview,The EM as an Environmental Sales person/Educator

Welcome to the discussion!

Researchers working on this important subtopic include:

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Listed below are the various postings from the research team. Some will be abstracts of and links to relevant literature. Others will be original work posted here for comments, criticisms, suggestions, questions, etc. from professional environmental managers who visit this site.

If you are interested in participating on this professional research team, or learning more about it, please contact us by clicking here.

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December 19, 2007 by amathew , John Morelli , amathew , Brian Butler | Filed under: Literature Review,The EM as an Environmental Sales person/Educator

Overall, this article deals with a concern about companies that engage in falsely advertising that they are “going green”.  With respect to the question of whether we are (or should be) environmental educators versus  salespersons, Mr. Auden Schendler comes up short when trying to justify environmental enhancements solely on the basis of direct financial return for some of his early projects.  Schendler took a job at Aspen Skiing Co., a company that appears to be earnestly concerned about nature.  One of his first targets was the Little Nell Hotel, which was a luxurious lodge at the base of Aspen Mountain with high-energy consumption.  He proposed putting fluorescent light bulbs in all the guest rooms.  He claimed the new bulbs would last 10 times as long and use 75% less power, and pay for themselves in two years.  Senior management declined, thinking it would degrade the luxury of the hotel.  Other initiatives were turned down based upon the same thinking. 

From this article, one can gather the importance of education to get across the point of environmental programs and ultimately secure funding for them.  It is apparent that the direct bottom-line approach may not be enough to sell environmentalism.  There needs to be a change in values, which can be achieved by educating management.  In this particular case, management believed that the compact fluorescents would not be perceived as “classy” enough.  This is an interesting observation because it is not clear whether their high-end customers would have the same perceptions in this regard.  One might ask whether such a belief was valid.  If so, then management (with the help of the environmental management) might want to consider steps to educate their clientele.  If not, then the environmental manager needs to educate management.

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December 19, 2007 by amathew , Brian Butler , John Morelli , amathew | Filed under: Literature Review,The EM as an Environmental Sales person/Educator

The article gives a guide on how to integrating and communicating environmental programs and initiatives.  The paper is separated in four chapters that make up the Plan-Do-Check-Advance (PDCA) cycle; plan to add value, do what adds value, check the added value, and advance and communicate value.  Throughout this guide there are tips and examples how this guide has been implemented.  Using these tools, environmental managers can better realize and communicate environment’s value to business. While environmental education should be implemented along with the business case, this guide gives you the tools to help make the case.  There are references to creating a greater sense of environmental awareness in the workplace, such as creating green teams and training.   It shows the effective steps to gaining ground in industry.  For example in the appendix, there is a list of financial tools that are useful in planning, and analyzing and communicating the economic value of projects.  It shows the tool and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

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December 19, 2007 by amathew , Brian Butler , John Morelli , amathew | Filed under: Literature Review,The EM as an Environmental Sales person/Educator

The paper covers what the factors that have companies to take environmental issues in a business perspective.  He attributes these factors to the following sources: coercive pressure (environmental organizations and legislation), normative pressure (CEO conviction, professionalization of environmental management, and recruiting people with ‘the right view’), and mimetic pressure (academy of engineering sciences study).  From these sources, the author makes a strategy of coupling environmental concerns with business goals.  To illustrate this idea, he collected data through participation and direct encounters in the Swedish manufacturing firm Multicorp. There are particular parts of the paper that address how Multicorp addresses environmental issues.  They call their approach business-driven environmental strategy.  This company focuses on the win-win situation, where lean use of resources and product development are coordinated and generated benefit on both the cost and the revenue side, which will improve profitability. Therefore, initiatives that do not seem to be profitable do not get further notice. From my view, this article is a perfect example of why environmental managers need more than the business approach when handling new initiatives.  This company made decisions on profitability; it did not assess other non-monetary benefits.  This shortcoming limits progress in environmental endeavors.  Thus, this is why education needs to be a part of the process.

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December 19, 2007 by amathew , Brian Butler , John Morelli , amathew | Filed under: Literature Review,The EM as an Environmental Sales person/Educator

To overcome constraints and implement a successful environmental management initiative, the literature suggests the importance for members of the organization to understand the environmental impacts and policies of the organization through participation.  It begins by discussing the constraints to the environmental management and then outlines the need and benefits of environmental education and awareness training.  There are numerous examples where companies have implemented programs to environmentally educate employees.  In addition, a case study assesses the value of two electrical companies’ implementation of environmental awareness training programs.  The highlights from this case study is the need for assessment of training after training was given, and employees feeling better equipped to handle environmental situations. Environmental training programs foster a greater environmental awareness in businesses.  From this awareness, employees are more motivated to be involved in environmental initiatives and create new innovative ways to better production.  The small actions and decisions that all members of an organization can make in their everyday work can cumulate into large improvements in the environmental impacts of the organization.  The article puts emphasis on instilling lasting knowledge.

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