HR managers and environmental sustainability: strategic leaders or passive observers?

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONWhile many organisations have been quick to jump onboard the 'sustainability bandwagon' little appears to have been done to consider the role of, and effect on, the HR function and manager. In fact, organisations have tended to treat sustainability and HR in silo. This paper examines questions such as: How are HR managers defining and enacting corporate sustainability? And what is the effect of the HR managers' social and political contexts in this role? We do so b y focusing on the relationships between HR and environmental sustainability. In particular, we explore the challenges posed to, and reactions of, HR and HR managers by the concept of su stainable development and the corporate sustainability rhetoric.Drawing on a set of interviews undertaken wi th 11 New Zealand (NZ) HR managers we explore three related aspects of morality identified by Fineman (1997): private, conventional and enacted. We analyse a group of HR managers' private views on the environment and consider how these relate to their organisations stated position, as well as how they are enacted (o r not) within their work context. In doing so, we begin to examine how green territories are construed and contested within the HR arena, something not considered in the extant literature. Moreover, we explore and analyse the current state of HR and environmental sustainability, examining not only what the HR function is doing in the name of su st ainability, but also, what they believe they can and should be doing. We therefore begin to critically examine the relationship between HR and environmental sustainability and start to explore what sustainability may mean for various HR functions.We s tructure the paper as follows. Fi rst, we review the background literature. Here we consider the sustainable development concept within the business context and the emerging HR literature in the area. Se cond, we present our framework and approach taken in the paper followed by an overview of our data sources and method. Findings are then presented and discussed. The paper ends with conclusions and implications. BACKGROUND LITERATURE

The Mediating Effect of Environmental Attitude of Employee in the Relationship between Environmental Training and Environmental Orientation of Organization

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The HR role in corporate social responsibility and sustainability: A boundary‐shifting literature review

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