A Core Evaluation of Green Human Resource Management - More than just for Hotels

MN7234ES - People and organisations: principles and practices in global contexts

Introduction

Green Human Resource Management is an emerging field of study that needs an in-depth analysis of it.

Human Resource Management

Going back to basics, we explore the concept of Human Resource Management. Professor Opatha (2021), in his journal' Definitions of Human Resource Management," describes Human Resource Management as "the efficient and effective utilization of employees to achieve goals of the organization. It is about managing people at work, being the human side of the Business Administration, having policies, procedures, rules, and systems influencing employees of the organization."

Impact of Climate Change. Source: Yilmaz (2024)

Green Human Resource Management

Riding on the coattails of traditional Human Resource Management, Green Human Resource Management efficiently and effectively utilizes employees to achieve an organization's goal of sustainability. It creates awareness of eco-friendly practices and energy conservation, as well as fostering job satisfaction and holistic approaches to the well-being of fellow employees. Therefore, human resource management has become 'Green' merely because of its values and newly improved sustainable practices.

When you take the word 'green,' it is an adjective and a noun. However, in a broader sense, the term is coined with 'environmentalism, conservationism, preservation, eco-activists, or nature lovers. We also tend to visualize green to associate it with grass, leafy pastures, and trees full of life. If we break these terms, we can further simplify the definitions as follows:

Environmentalism concerns the environment, particularly to the point of championing environmental causes while trying to reduce humans' negative impact on Earth.

Conservationism – a movement to protect and preserve natural resources, ecology, endangered species, national monuments, and landmarks.

Preservation is the act of keeping something as it is to prevent it from deteriorating, being damaged, or being destroyed.  

Eco-activists – a group of people or individuals who try to protect the environment and promote environmental awareness.

Nature lovers – people who enjoy the outdoors, time amongst nature, the wilderness, wild animals, flora, and fauna.  

Deskilling of workers in Fordism & Taylorism. Source: Cosmonaut (2021)

Taylorism & Fordism – Early Personnel Management 

Suppose you take the study of Green Human Resource Management against traditional Human Resource theories like Taylorism and Fordism. In that case, we see a stark contrast from the early personnel management in history. In the early 1920s, the era of the Industrial Revolution, productivity overshadowed employee well-being, autonomy, job satisfaction, and the environment. Shoobridge (2023), in his LinkedIn blog, quotes about Taylorism as follows: "Taylorism may be the efficient machinery of progress, but it grinds the souls of employees into dust, reducing them to cogs in a heartless industrial mechanism."

On the other hand, Fordism, with its drive for capitalism, had enormous repercussions environmentally, as mass production exploited much of the non-renewable resources, brought about climate change through pollution, and accelerated biodiversity loss.

How Important is Green HR Management. Source. W Chan (2017)

Conclusion:

The importance of Green Human Resources in the world today is to create environmental awareness within the individual and the organization. Badow (2022) mentions that "environmentally conscious human resources management initiatives that lead to increased efficiencies, reduced costs, improved employee engagement and retention" help "organizations" to "reduce employee carbon footprint through electronic archiving, car sharing, job sharing, virtual interviews and conferences, recycling, remote working, online recruitment, and training" while operating within "energy efficient offices."

Companies implementing Green Human Resources have achieved the following benefits:

• Reducing turnover – retention of talent.

• Growth opportunities by going greener and creating an eco-friendly environment will contribute to massive operational savings through carbon emission reductions.

• High levels of employee engagement and job satisfaction leads to consistent productivity and sustainability.

• Positive work culture with the well-being of all employees.

• Popular and improved brand image for the public, which builds up excellent public relations. Social media platforms have empowered many companies to share their success stories worldwide, increasing sales and customer base growth.

• Increased employee morale – who doesn't like working for a company with green values that values the individual and the Earth? The millennial and Gen Z workforce are huge international "go green" advocates and would prefer to work for a company with a "go green" initiative.

• Overall, it reduces the company's environmental impact.

• Reducing operational costs, such as energy efficiency and using less wasteful technologies, can bring significant savings.

• Tax benefits—Local governments and municipalities offer compensation or aid to organizations that better manage their utilities and energy consumption. With tax benefits in place, establishing a "go green" company is much more accessible.

• With consistent training by upskilling and reskilling, rewards, and other benefits, employees are motivated to manage the environment better and participate in the transformative "go green" human resource principles.  

With these common principles at the core of Green Human Resource Management, organizations other than hotels can also participate in the "Go Green" GHRM revolution, as the benefits are vast. 

References:

Badow, A. (2022) Advantages of Green Human Resources Management, LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/advantages-green-human-resources-management-abdulla-badow/ (Accessed: 28 March 2024).

Chan, W. (2017) (PDF) Green Human Resource Management: An organisational strategy, How important is Green HR Management to the Malaysian Financial Services Industry? Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321796044_Green_Human_Resource_Management_An_Organisational_Strategy_for_Sustainability (Accessed: 23 March 2024).

Davenport, A. (2024) Taylorism, COSMONAUT. Available at: https://cosmonaut.blog/tag/taylorism/ (Accessed: 28 March 2024).

Giumarro, G. (2018) How Might Henry Ford Evaluate Ecological Impacts?, We are POWER. Available at: https://www.powereng.com/library/how-might-henry-ford-evaluate-ecological-impacts (Accessed: 24 March 2024).

Hounshell, D.A. (2021) The Same Old Principles in the New Manufacturing, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/1988/11/the-same-old-principles-in-the-new-manufacturing (Accessed: 23 March 2024).

Kanger, L. and Sillak, S. (2020) Emergence, consolidation and dominance of meta-regimes: Exploring the historical evolution of mass production (1765-1972) from the Deep Transitions Perspective, Technology in society. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480399/ (Accessed: 23 March 2024).

National Geographic (2024) Conserving Earth, Education. Available at: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/conserving-earth/ (Accessed: 20 March 2024).

Opatha, H.H.D.N.P. (2021) A Simplified Study of Definitions of Human Resource Management. Available at: https://journals.sjp.ac.lk/index.php/sljhrm/article/view/5010/3845 (Accessed: 28 March 2024).

Shoobridge, G. (2023) Taylorism and the dark side of employee exploitation, LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/taylorism-dark-side-employee-exploitation-gonzalo-shoobridge/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).

Yilmaz, H. (2024) How to fight climate change using AI and Computer Vision, Plugger.ai - Creative AI assistant to make your photo, video, and sounds tasks. Available at: https://www.plugger.ai/blog/how-to-fight-climate-change-using-ai-and-computer-vision (Accessed: 31 March 2024).

MN7234ES - People and organisations: principles and practices in global contexts - MBA

Introduction

What is Green Human Resource Management?

Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) is fast emerging name for Human Resource Management that takes charge in maintaining a workforce which is committed to a green company culture. Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) provides strategies and roles which sustain and protect the earth through its company personnel, resources and practices. Green behavior is encouraged as a company policy where employees are 'environmentally sensitive, resource-efficient, and socially responsible' Youmatter.world (2021).

Why is Green Human Resource Management strategic for Hotels?

Hotels, primarily, are known for their high consumption of resources and immense production of waste, especially within the Food and Beverage sector. With the rising expectations of green products and services in hotels, the hospitality sector staff are the main focus as they are the ones responsible in creating a truly 'green experience' for the guest. How can Green Human Resource Management achieve this? Through teaching and empowerment, hotel employees play a significant role in improving environmental outcomes and generating profit for their employers. Bohdanowicz (2005)

  Image of Green Human Resource Management corporate. 

(Source: Peoplematters, Deka, 2016)

Fredericks (2023) states that "One in three consumers prefer sustainable brands, and that the travel industry is taking note. TripAdvisor, for example has developed its GreenLeaders Program showcasing hotels with environmentally-friendly best practices to conscientious travelers, such as hotels going green with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)."'

The Go Green Initiatives taken by some hotels globally:

Meals served in restaurants have organic produce and use glass bottles, and hotels are reminding guests to reuse towels and sheets as often as possible; installing solar power energy, recycling, and managing waste are merely a few methods out of many that the hotels have taken to reduce its impact to the environment. These subtle, effective introductions in hotel products and services are the newest trend of the 'go green' movement, which promotes healthy eating, banning harmful pesticides in food and the environment, reducing single-use plastic, reducing high electricity bills, and conserving energy. 

Figure 1. Pollution from business activities and processes in the hotel 

(Source: Bebbington, 2001)

In the long run, 16% of hotels use water for laundry, and less frequent hotel laundry washes increase the lifespan of towels and linen and decrease their replacement costs.

Most high-spending tourists look to book 'green' and 'sustainable' hotels and services. Therefore, hoteliers must be more skilled in this sector than ever to address customers' environmental and sustainability concerns.

Clients search for faster check-ins at hotels – with little or no paper and prefer to fill in any guest registration forms digitally. Client passports are scanned and sent before preventing waste in paper through printing or photocopies on arrival, which is another advancement. Metal keys instead of plastic keycards for rooms is another Green Front office initiative. Smart switches with automatic turn on and turn off sensors whenever a guest isn't in the room. Smart showers and taps with sensors to minimize water consumption. Electric cars  to transport clients within the vicinity or beyond. Therefore a highly skilled staff are in great demand if they have an increased confidence in technology and are knowledgeable in green policies. 

Figure 2. GRM Practices (Source: Mahdy et al, 2023)

  

Philosophies underpinning the learning and development strategy as stated by Armstrong (2021)  lies in:

Long term capacity building’ versus ‘short term’ fixes such as:

• Green Human resource planning
• Green job design and analysis
• Green recruitment and selection

Importance is given to learning over training.

• Green performance management
• Green learning and development

Employees are empowered and not supervised

• Green empowerment and involvement
• Discretionary learning’ is encouraged.
• Green Employee Relations

Video (Source: Green HRM, 2016)

Relevance of GHRM in hotels - Where is the hospitality industry now, and where is it heading?

The world's hotel and tourism industry came to a grinding halt due to COVID-19 lockdowns in the early 2020s, which generated an acute crisis in the hotel and tourism industry in the preceding years. Many establishments downsized their staff with job cuts or roles were made redundant to survive the decline of tourist revenue during lockdowns. The pandemic reverberated shock waves of unemployment throughout the hospitality sector locally and globally; the hotel sector giant was down on its knees with decreased labor participation and rising unemployment rates (Euro found, 2020).

However, with travel and tourism areas opening again, hotels are looking to recruit highly skilled workers back into their arena. The pandemic altered the perception of service and the hotel experience, propelling guests towards experiential and sustainable tourism. 

Customers demand that hotels have eco-friendly dealings, adopt digital technologies, and promote environmental sustainability. Green human resource management (GHRM) is necessary for hotels as there is a global involvement in environmental-related issues. Therefore, innovative green policies and processes are a must.

Challenges of implementing strategic Green Human Resource Management in hotels

Cost:  at the start it is very expensive to purchase some of the eco-friendly technology

Lack of Knowledge:  in many countries, especially in developing countries, many people aren't educated in the ways of green practices and policies. Therefore teaching these practices to staff may be difficult and may conflict with their personal beliefs and ideologies. 

Organizational Culture: Some hotels would disagree with the 'Go Green Culture' as it may be a difficult concept to manage with their image, branding and policies.

Green Human Resource Management caters to the age old Maslow Hierarchy of Needs where emphasis was made on how an individual thrives when all his needs are met. This starts with the basic needs of food, shelter and safety, and continues on from love, belongingness to esteem needs and self actualization. An engaged employee of an organization or hotel, who knows his place and feels that he is making a difference in the world, is one who will be bound for success.

Figure 4. Manslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (Source, Balojan, 2022)

Conclusion:

Implementing strategic Green Human resource management is not only effective in hotels, but it is equally effective for other organizations since GHRM brings a positive change to the management of the company and as well the earth. GHRM improves soft skills of employees and generates a positive value to company branding due to increased concern and environmental awareness. EMS (Environmental Management Systems) or green initiatives maintains and protects the organizational workforce to promote environmentally friendly and cost-effective methods to generate revenue. However, the best outcome is that of a more worldly performance by an employee where Green Human Resource Management can positively influence the attitudes and behaviors of employees. GRM can nonetheless be implemented only in places of employment which support environmental awareness with the conviction of the top management and its stakeholders.

References:

Adekoya, O.D., Mordi, C. and Ajonbadi, H.A. (1970) Green Human Resource Management:An introduction, SpringerLink. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-35795-4_1 (Accessed: 14 March 2024).

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Bohdanowicz, P. (2005) ‘European hoteliers’ environmental attitudes’, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 46(2), pp. 188–204. doi:10.1177/0010880404273891.

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Fredericks, L. (2023) Sustainable hotel ideas: 25 ways to go green, 25 Eco-Friendly Hotel Ideas for Sustainable Properties | Cvent Blog. Available at: https://www.cvent.com/en/blog/hospitality/eco-friendly-hotel-ideas (Accessed: 15 March 2024).

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