人力资源Essay参考案例：HR's Impact on Long Term Environmental Sustainability

本文是人力资源专业的Essay范例，题目是“HR's Impact on Long Term Environmental Sustainability（人力资源对长期环境可持续性的影响）”，本文的重点是人力资源(HR)在实现环境可持续性中的作用。它首先非常简单地解释了什么是环境可持续性，以及为什么对个人和组织来说，为实现与可持续性相关的目标做出贡献是如此重要。下面简要解释什么是HR。接下来，它考虑了人力资源经理可能参与支持其组织实现可持续性目标的方式。专注于一个组织，然后可以发展一些想法，形成改善环境可持续性的建议基础，这是人力资源的关键。

Introduction介绍

This essay focuses on the role of human resources (HR) in achieving environmental sustainability. It starts by very briefly explaining what environmental sustainability is, and why it is so important for individuals and organisations to contribute to achieving goals and targets related to sustainability. It next briefly explains what is meant by HR. Next it considers the ways in which HR managers are likely to be involved in supporting their organisations to reach sustainability targets. A focus on one organisation then allows some ideas to be developed that can form the basis of recommendations for improvement of environmental sustainability key to HR.

Environmental sustainability is a component of the sustainable development concept. This concept is described as development “that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987:43). Essentially, it argues that to sustain life – both human and animal – the provision of clean water and air, and energy obtained from renewable resources are vital (Sutton, 2004).

环境可持续性是可持续发展概念的一个组成部分。这一概念被描述为“既满足当今的需要，又不损害后代满足其自身需要的能力”(世界环境与发展委员会，1987:43)。从本质上说，它认为，为了维持生命——包括人类和动物——提供清洁的水和空气，以及从可再生资源中获得的能源是至关重要的(Sutton, 2004)。

Human Resource departments might not seem the natural home of a focus on environmental sustainability, as often the burden of responsibility in an organisation is placed on an operations manager. However, there is definitely a role to play for human resources. In researching this issue, care must be taken to include terms that encompass the HR function – these can include Human Resource Management (HRM), Employment Services (ES), Human Capital, Personnel and others (Abusafia, 2012).

HR Management Support for the Drive Towards Environmental Sustainability为促进环境可持续发展提供人力资源管理支持

There is a range of HR activities that directly contribute to the environmental sustainability of an organisation. These often revolve around the development of ‘green’ jobs – and the infrastructure, training, personal development planning, performance management, communication, attitude monitoring and other aspects that go along with the creation of new posts, or new components of existing posts (Jackson, 2012). Liebowitz (2010) argues that the role of HR is more fundamental and deep seated than developing processes – he suggests that the HR department has a very significant role to play in the creation of a company’s sustainability culture, as it is professionally trained to change the attitudes and behaviours of employees, from senior executives to the most junior of staff (Liebowitz, 2010). Liebowitz also argues that HR managers are far removed from the old traditional personnel manager. Today, HR staff are likely to know much more about the business, and they use a human capital management approach to underpin the development of staff to achieve environmental objectives (Lebowitz, 2010). Wilkins (2014) identifies the skill to motivate and encourage employees to become engaged with sustainability programmes within an organisation as key to their success (Wilkins, 2014). In fact, Wilkins argues that to achieve success, three key components are necessary – communication, education and motivation. Communication includes good environmental practice for employees (reducing energy use), and highlighting individual and organisational environmental achievements (Wilkins, 2014). Education can be used to provide employees with practical information about integrating environmental objectives into their daily work, for example, engaging in recycling activities; this can also improve productivity as all staff are working towards a common purpose (Wilkins, 2014). Motivation in the form of an environmentally focussed rewards programme can ensure that employees remain committed, and can actually help retention of valuable staff (Wilkins, 2014).

有一系列的人力资源活动，直接有助于一个组织的环境可持续性。这些通常围绕着“绿色”工作的发展——以及基础设施、培训、个人发展规划、绩效管理、沟通、态度监控和其他方面，这些都伴随着新岗位或现有岗位的新组成部分的创建(Jackson, 2012)。Liebowitz(2010)认为人力资源的角色是更根本和深层开发流程——他认为,人力资源部门有一个非常重要的角色在创建公司可持续发展的文化,因为它是受过专业训练来改变员工的态度和行为,从高级管理人员到最初级的员工(Liebowitz, 2010)。Liebowitz还认为，人力资源经理与传统的人事经理相去甚远。今天，人力资源员工可能对业务了解得更多，他们使用人力资本管理方法来支持员工的发展，以实现环境目标(Lebowitz, 2010)。威尔金斯(2014)认为，激励和鼓励员工参与组织内的可持续发展项目的技能是他们成功的关键(威尔金斯，2014)。事实上，威尔金斯认为，要想取得成功，三个关键要素是必要的——沟通、教育和激励。沟通包括员工良好的环境实践(减少能源使用)，并强调个人和组织的环境成就(威尔金斯，2014)。可以利用教育向雇员提供有关将环保目标纳入日常工作的实用信息，例如参与回收活动;这也可以提高生产力，因为所有的员工都在朝着一个共同的目标工作(威尔金斯，2014)。以环境为重点的奖励计划的形式激励员工，可以确保员工保持忠诚，并可以帮助留住有价值的员工(威尔金斯，2014)。

Cohen et al (2012) suggest that one influencing factor on the role HR plays in supporting environmental sustainability, will be the motivations behind the organisation’s move towards more sustainable operations and strategies. They argue that the route taken may make the HR contribution easier or more difficult. They identify a values-based route, a strategic route and a defensive route. The first is associated mostly with the personal principles of the founders of small businesses – some of which may have become much larger (Cohen et al, 2012). The second is those businesses that identify opportunities in redesigning products or services to expand into markets where environmental characteristics are valued (Cohen et al, 2012). Lastly, the defensive route occurs when companies come under pressure to change their approach, perhaps because of a pollution incident (Cohen et al, 2012). It is clear that each of these routes will have a different impact on the work of the HR manager: where the business chooses to commit to environmental objectives, there is likely to be a positive culture, whilst companies forced into accepting change in environmental attitudes are likely to generate at least some resistance (Harmon et al, 2010).

What the above discussion shows is that there is motivation for HR managers and departments to become involved in supporting a move towards environmental sustainability in their organisation. There are a number of HR tools that can be used to embed such sustainability objectives into an organisation. There are four main areas where such tools may be deployed: employee attraction and selection; employee training, development and compensation; creating a sustainable organisational climate; and, management support and communication (Cohen et al, 2012). Having a good environmental profile has been found to attract high quality employees (Government of Canada, n.d.), and to retain these employees for longer than average retention periods (Ernst & Young, 2013), and the HR department can therefore use a commitment to environmental sustainability in their job advertising, ensuring that they have an edge over their competitors (Ernst & Young, 2013). To maintain and energise staff to commit to environmental processes, i.e. to motivate employees (Human Resource Excellence, 2012) it is necessary to provide targeted training, for example, in life cycle analysis to reduce inefficiency and waste, and to include formal evaluations of such commitment i.e. targets to be achieved in job plans (Manufacturing Skills Australia, 2015). Changing an organisation’s culture is often the most challenging, but also the most necessary approach. While there may be commitment at the senior management level, this is likely to decline the further down the organisational hierarchy you go (Petrini and Pozzebon, 2010). This is especially true in traditional industries, such as construction, where male dominated heavy labour has little cultural awareness of environmental issues (Built Environment Sustainability Training, 2014). Management support through communication that relates to employees lives can indicate an overall organisational commitment to environmental sustainability, and can encourage people to integrate environmental principles throughout their daily lives (Fleischer, 2009). HR can assist in all of these areas through training, communication, incentivisation, PDP and other such tools. The following section provides some recommendations for such actions in one organisation.

Recommendations for Improving Environmental Sustainability Through HR通过人力资源改善环境可持续性的建议

The organisation chosen for the case study is a construction company, McGregor Construction, which is located in the Scottish Highlands. This company was formed in 1977, but has previous history going back 132 years (McGregor Construction n.d.). Annual turnover is around £9.5 million, and the company covers the construction spectrum, including building projects for hospitals, sports stadiums, shopping centres, council housing, and private housing (McGregor Construction, n.d.). Work includes both new build and repairs to existing properties, some of these being very old and architecturally important. It has 68 employees, many of whom have been with the company for a long time (Endole, 2015). .

案例研究选择的组织是位于苏格兰高地的McGregor建筑公司。该公司成立于1977年，但已有132年的历史(McGregor Construction n.d.)。年营业额约为950万英镑，公司的建筑范围包括医院、体育场馆、购物中心、市政住房和私人住房的建筑项目(McGregor construction, n.d.)。工作包括新建和维修现有的财产，其中一些是非常旧的和重要的建筑。它有68名员工，其中许多人已经在公司很长一段时间(Endole, 2015)。

The employee profile is important in that it is largely male (80%), and largely older age groups, with 63% in the 40 – 56 years age bracket, and 7% in the 57 – 70, 5% in the 70+, while 15% is in the 25 – 39 years and 10% in the 18 – 24 bracket. Many of the older employees are highly skilled, not only in modern building techniques but in traditional craft based skills building techniques.

The company has come under increasing pressure to develop a strategic and operational approach to environmental management. This pressure has arisen partly from the industry itself, as the construction sector has made substantial efforts to integrate sustainability objectives into the activities and functions of the industry (European Commission, 2012). It has also arisen from pressure through the supply chain – as McGregor is a supplier of services to a number of large customers, who have a commitment to greening their supply chains. Finally, the company is aware that they are not as efficient as they could be in managing their energy use and waste, and are seeking to improve these aspects to save money. The five main environmental objectives the company has identified are: to reduce waste throughout the company by 40% in the next year, to reduce fuel use and on site energy used combined by 40% in the next year, to increase the use of recycled materials by 10%, and to support community environmental objectives, and to reduce on site noise pollution, again all in the next financial year.

该公司面临着越来越大的压力，需要开发一种战略和操作方法来进行环境管理。这种压力部分来自于行业本身，因为建筑部门做出了大量的努力，将可持续发展目标融入行业的活动和功能(欧洲委员会，2012年)。它也来自供应链的压力——因为麦格雷戈是许多大型客户的服务供应商，这些客户承诺绿色供应链。最后，该公司意识到，在管理能源使用和浪费方面，他们并没有达到应有的效率，并正在寻求改善这些方面，以节省资金。公司确定的五个主要环境目标是:减少浪费整个公司明年40%,减少燃料的使用和现场能源消耗总和40%,明年增加10%回收材料的使用,并支持社区环境目标、现场和减少噪音污染,又在下个财政年度。

There are a number of recommendations that can be made to support the HR manager – who is assisted by one member of staff for administrative purposes – in achieving these objectives. Using the four main areas of HR related improvement identified by Cohen et al (2012), a range of specific actions may be taken.

First, employee attraction and selection. One HR tool is to integrate the selection of new employees with the long term environmental strategy of the company – so for all future employees it is recommended that an environmental component is built into job plans or descriptions. Specifically, waste management and energy use reduction should be a target tasked for all new employees. This should be followed up by the inclusion of environmental stewardship questions as part of the interview process; candidates could even be asked to give a very short presentation on the importance of environmental management in the construction industry. By using these tools, it not only signals to prospective employees that the company is seriously committed to environmental improvement, and that if they are employed they will be expected to contribute. It may also attract individuals who might otherwise have ignored a small company in favour of finding a large one with an established sustainability strategy.

第一，员工的吸引力和选择。一个人力资源工具是将新员工的选择与公司的长期环境战略相结合——因此，对于所有未来的员工，建议在工作计划或描述中加入环境要素。具体来说，废弃物管理和能源使用减少应该是所有新员工的目标。随后应将环境管理问题作为面试过程的一部分;申请人甚至会被要求就环境管理在建造业的重要性作简短的介绍。通过使用这些工具，它不仅向未来的员工发出公司认真致力于环境改善的信号，而且如果他们被雇佣，他们将被期望为环境改善做出贡献。它还可能吸引那些原本可能忽视小公司、转而青睐具有既定可持续发展战略的大公司的个人。

Second, employee training, development and compensation. Here HR can have a substantial input. Environmental training programmes can be devised and be mandatory for all staff (CIPD, 2015), with specific focus for some staff on certain issues. For example, for people labouring or working actually in building processes, a focus on the handling of materials and reduction of waste would be a sensible inclusion. Training for all staff on energy conservation i.e. switching off machinery, lights and so on when not required, would be an easy initial approach. Training programmes should be aligned with the company’s environmental objectives, so that the training can directly feed into the achievement of the objectives. Compensation is a useful approach, and can be operationalised by HR in a number of ways. For example, Intel uses an Environmental Excellence award programme, which incentivises environmental behaviour through peer review of nominations for environmental innovation (Patton, 2013). One outcome was the reduction of energy consumption of chillers, boiler plants and vacuum pumps that in just one factory is estimated to save $38 million (Patton, 2013). On a much smaller scale, such a programme could be supported and instigated in McGregor’s – with innovations in material recycling, energy use reduction, fuel saving, building technologies and techniques and carbon reduction as expected outcomes.

第二，员工培训、发展和薪酬。在这里，人力资源可以有大量的投入。可以为所有工作人员制定并强制执行环境培训计划(CIPD, 2015)，并特别关注某些问题上的某些工作人员。例如，对于在建筑过程中劳动或实际工作的人来说，关注材料处理和减少浪费将是一个明智的包括。对所有工作人员进行节约能源方面的培训，即在不需要时关掉机器、电灯等，是一个简单的初步办法。培训方案应与公司的环境目标相一致，以便培训能直接促进目标的实现。薪酬是一种有用的方法，人力资源可以通过多种方式进行操作。例如，英特尔采用了环境卓越奖计划，通过对环境创新提名的同行评审来激励环境行为(Patton, 2013)。其中一个结果是减少了制冷器、锅炉和真空泵的能源消耗，仅在一个工厂估计就节省了3800万美元(巴顿，2013年)。在一个小得多的规模上，这样的项目可以得到McGregor的支持和鼓励——在材料回收、能源使用减少、燃料节约、建筑技术和技术以及减少碳排放方面的创新是预期的结果。

Third is the creation of a sustainable organisational climate. Here HR can contribute by using sustainability oriented entry, performance and exit practices (Verburg and Den Hartog, 2006), as long as senior management recognises the importance of integrating HR into the overall company sustainability strategy (Putter, 2010). In achieving a sustainability oriented climate, HR can be especially useful in supporting the work of line managers in recruiting more employees, managing their environmental performance, and ensuring that when they leave they do so with substantial environmental awareness, and respect for what the company have done. Indeed, if HR integrates environmental issues across the whole company through workforce planning then this directly feeds into the organisational climate (Petrini and Pozzebon, 2010)

第三，创造一种可持续的组织氛围。在这里，人力资源可以通过使用可持续发展导向的进入、绩效和退出实践(Verburg和Den Hartog, 2006)做出贡献，只要高级管理层认识到将人力资源整合到整个公司可持续发展战略的重要性(Putter, 2010)。在实现可持续发展的环境中，人力资源在支持直线经理招聘更多员工、管理他们的环境绩效、确保他们在离职时具有充分的环境意识和尊重公司所做的工作方面特别有用。事实上，如果人力资源通过员工计划整合整个公司的环境问题，那么这将直接影响到组织气候(Petrini和Pozzebon, 2010)。

The final area of recommendations is for management support and communication. It is vital that the company directors and senior managers demonstrate absolute commitment to environmental sustainability – and they should lead by example. An employee of the month scheme could be instituted – with public recognition of an individual’s environmental achievements being a well recognised effective approach (Silverman, 2004). Employees seeing that senior managers are rewarding such behaviours are likely to engage with further activities when they are introduced by HR through the tools previously described.

Conclusions结论

It is clear the HR has a substantial role to play in the integration of environmental sustainability in any organisation – and has an increasing range of tools and systems that can be used to achieve this.

很明显，在任何组织中，人力资源在整合环境可持续性方面都扮演着重要的角色，并且有越来越多的工具和系统可以用来实现这一目标。

留学生论文相关专业范文素材资料，尽在本网，可以随时查阅参考。本站也提供多国留学生课程作业写作指导服务，如有需要可咨询本平台。