Plan of Work
Plan of Work
ON
A STUDY ON
Submitted by:
Anwesha Mukherjee
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 4: Methodology
Basically, corporate sustainability is a concept where the organization takes the responsibility of
providing something good back to the society in any form of development which brings the culture of
creating “power to be good”. It involves the impact of their activities for the betterment of the customers,
community and environment in all aspects of their operations. . It focuses on meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the needs of the future generations to meet their own needs. In scientific
literature, this concept can be interpreted in different ways, but in its core it is an approach that balances
the different and competing needs against an awareness of economical, environmental and social
limitations faces from the society. Living within one’s own environmental limit is the central principle of
this concept. But practically it’s a much broader concept which includes environment, society, meeting
the diverse needs of the people in existing and future communities, promoting personal wellbeing, social
cohesion and inclusion, and creating equal opportunity Sometimes it is considered as philanthropy
whereas sometimes as an ethical duty of the business.
The increase in the rise in demand of corporate sustainability gives rise to the application of the various
management tools. Disposition of waste materials and industrial pollution i.e. toxic chemicals are areas of
focus that needs the concentration of the corporate for the formulation of policies and regulations for the
benefit of the society. In the globalized business arena the organizations are focusing on maintaining the
ecological balance of the environment which gives rise to the concept of green human resource
management.
Going green is a popular term for changing one’s lifestyle for the safety & benefit of the environment.
The concept is actually having a different meaning. The US Chamber of commerce Small Business
Nation defines going green as simply taking steps to ‘converse energy’, reduces pollution & save money.
In today’s business communities the concept of going green & maintaining the green environment is of
prime importance on which the significance of environment management techniques are increasing day
by day. In the globalized marketing scenario where the corporate world is not only going global but also
experiencing a shift from conventional financial structure to a modern capacity based economy which is
ready to explore the green economic facets of business. The concept of green HRM by the HR department
is an integral process which involves all the activities i.e. recruitment, selection, performance appraisal
method, reward & pay system are all framed in the go green concept hence ensuring that the employees
are supported by meeting the social, ecological and economic benefits from the green environment.
This study focuses on the extended outcomes of the Green Human Resource Management and Corporate
sustainability of the Kolkata based Indian IT giants.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The focus on the sustainability and development faces a huge shift historically . Kieth Davis, 1960, has
focused on social aspect and fulfillment of societal expectations by the corporate houses. In this era,
scholars were tried to connect the business with the society. Social elements were became the part of the
business. In 1970s and 1980s studies mostly concentrated on social reporting while on 1990s the
environmental reporting take into action.
Based on global challenges such as climate changes and the need to act responsible, sustainability is a
frequently used term which is also not defined in a generally accepted way. Sustainable Development
(SD) first came up in 1987 from the World Commission of Environment and Development (WCED),
which is also known as the Brundtland report. They define Sustainability as , “ the development which
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs”
The term “corporate sustainability” technically refers to the integration of economic, societal and
environmental considerations as part of the corporations, Dyllick & Hokerts, 2002; Van Marrewijk,2003 .
According to him, “the concept of corporate sustainability involves corporations”, by taking into
considerations their environmental and social impacts in connection with their economic objectives. The
broader part of every organization involves the societal concept.
Carrol,1979, has explained the term more clearly and systematic way as it is a set of economic, legal,
ethical and discretionary expectations of the society towards business organizations, operating within its
premises. Only mere charity and philanthropy was not all about Corporate Sustainability , which is rather
a more ethical concept.
In present times corporate sustainability has taken the seat of strategic relevance.
David Vogel,2003, has pointed out it as a responsibility which is more of a business response to the
growing public concerns which revolves around the social moral responsibilities towards the well being
of the society. An organization is basically a part of the society and its taking everything from the society
to develop itself, so at one point of time it becomes the responsibility of the organization participate in the
social well being of the society.
Orlitzky, 2003, With rapidly changing scenario, competition has become more intense, in such a
condition CSR is even being employed as a part of a differentiating strategy at the product, business and
corporate level. Every organization is striving to sustain in this competitive global market and where
change is the only constant identity. CSR establishes a fine line of differentiation by establishing the
brand identity.
Green human resource is a part of green management philosophy which includes the policies, practices
followed by a firm for the environment management activities. It involves all kinds of features that are
required to carry out by a firm for maintaining the ‘go green concept’. Various business giants are
following serious steps towards this concept as they have understood the need for sustainability if not the
substantial growth of business.
According to Justin Victor (2008), one half of HR professionals indicated that their organizations have a
formal or informal environmental responsibility policy. Top Three green practices reported by HR
professionals were encouraging employees to work more environment friendly, offering recycling
programs and donating / discounting used furniture supplies.
John Sullivan (2009), in his paper has stated that environmental issues are on most every one’s mind so if
your firm has a competitive advantage in this area will create an employment brand. Green recruiting is a
chance to differentiate yourself in a recruiting marketplace where standing out from the crowd is already
extremely difficult. Moreover Gen y is focusing on the Green Recruitment. Which includes a complete
structure from collecting the CV’s through electronic media, short listing the candidates, arranging the
interviews and selecting the right human resources.
Zoogah (2011), describes the Green Human Resource Management as the HRM policies, philosophies, &
practices to promote sustainable use of business resource. Ultimately the green concept focuses on
maintaining the ecological balance, environmental sustainability which the HRM and the organizations
focuses on effective utilization of resources based on the sustainable policies.
Renwick, Redman & Maguire,2013, With the current situations organizations are on the look to find out
the techniques and ways to mitigate the ecological footprints in addition to handling the pressure of the
economic issues. The current century portrays great interest in all the concerns on the environment in a
global perspective to all the fields in business. Disposition of waste materials and industrial pollution such
as toxic chemicals are the areas of focus that need the formulation of policies and regulations and its
effects to the society.
Cheema, Pasha & Javed,2015, Green HRM is conceptualized as the use of the respective HRM policies in
promoting the sustainable spending of resources in a business with the aim of encouraging the cause of a
sustainable environment. In order to achieve an organization’s objectives of making profits and
maximizing the shareholder’s wealth, businesses starts attaining the success by considering and
concentrating on environmental and social factors.
Jabbour & de Sousa Jabbour, 2016, Through an eco- friendly drive, the HR function is the epitome of the
environment sustainability in a firm with the alignment of its policies & practices.
Human Resource department of any organization act as a major pillar for its sustainable growth, the more
its policies & practices are environment friendly the more it likely to add a new feather in its sustainable
activities.
The word green has its relevancy depicting the description of nature from the general meaning of a leafy
plant to a deeper meaning of an environmentalist and preservationist or an eco-activist. Green Human
Resource Management involves commitment, policy playing implementation, measurement of human
resource system that accompanied by the organization’s culture and long term goals
RESEARCH GAPS
Till date the increased attention being focused on the Corporate Sustainability activities regarding the
development concept of the society and also the Green HRM concept, which stimulates the interest in
research regarding the sustainability, environment management, minimizing the ecological footprints.
But to date there is scanty literature on the integrative aspect linking Green HRM and Corporate
Sustainability.
So, this research is framed to minimize these gaps
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
To explore the relationship between Green HRM practices and Corporate Sustainability.
E-Recruitment & Selection, includes saving the paper saving trees, maintain the e- portal for collecting
the CVs and further proceedings.
Virtual Training & Development, includes E-waste management training, development of employees’
skills, knowledge, and attitudes about Environment conversation and EM initiatives.
Green Reward & Recognition, includes green reward system, e- recognition portal, greening of
performance related pay (PRP).
The strong factors which directly originated from Corporate Sustainability are –
Workforce and Economical Development, includes engaging the human resources in creating
environmental awareness sensitizing them towards nature & conserving various resources, value creation,
economic performance and market presence.
Social and Organizational development, includes work practices, diversities in work practices, equal
opportunities, social policies, creating an identification mark of its existence towards the society as a
whole.
A proposed model is framed from the above factors that portrait the relationship between GHRM &
Corporate Sustainability(CS)
Environmental Development
E- Recruitment &
Selection
H4
H1
H7 H5 Workforce &
Virtual GHRM CS Economical Development
H2
Training &
Development H6
Green Reward
& Recognition
System
PROPOSED HYPOTHESIS
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
This part of the study involves the measurement of the constructs for which the scales will be taken after
checking the reliability & validity. A questionnaire will be framed including the scales developed. The
scale used for this will be the Likert Scale (min 1; max 5).
The data for this study involves both the primary and the secondary sources. The primary sources will
include the filling up the questionnaire by the Mid-level & Senior level Managers of the different IT
organizations of Kolkata. Secondary sources are the books, referred journals and also the company
websites. Stratified random sampling is to be used for this purpose.
After collection, the data are to be statistically analyzed to obtain the relevant conclusion. The research
will be carried out by developing the working hypothesis and formulating a problem and then by means
of exploratory research studies the ideas and insights will be discovered.
Different descriptive statistics, analysis of data, multivariate analysis will be used for testing and deriving
the conclusion.
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