05. Green Training and Development

  by Yasodha Pathirana

Green Human Resources Management

Creating a sustainable workplace has been one of the key issues around the world. Given the present situation the organizations have to find out ways and techniques to deal with reduction in ecological footprints besides dealing with the economic issues. In order to attain success within the corporate community and to facilitate attainment of profit by the shareholders, organizations nowadays have to concentrate on social and environmental factors along with economical and financial factors (Ahmad, 2015). Therefore, in twenty-first century most of the organizations practice green human resource management practices in the global context.

Green HRM is referred to “all the activities involved in development, implementation and on-going maintenance of a system that aims at making employees of an organization green. It is the side of HRM that is concerned with transforming normal employees into green employees so as to achieve environmental goals of the organization and finally to make a significant contribution to environmental sustainability. It refers to the policies, practices and systems that make employees of the organization green for the benefit of the individual, society, natural environment, and the business” (Opatha, et al., 2015).

To improve sustainability and prevent deterioration, an organization must invest resources in the comprehensive development of its employees' behavioral attitudes, traits, knowledge, and skills toward effective environmental management. This is meant by developing green abilities, which falls under the general heading of green training and development (Genty, et al., 2022).

 

What is Green Training and Development?

Green training and development are an integrated system that inspires employees to learn and apply environmental protection skills and to be more aware of environmental issues that are key in accomplishing environmental objectives (Hunt, et al., 2019). Green training and development techniques minimize waste, ensure the efficient and effective use of resources, save energy, and stop environmental degradation. Therefore, eco-friendly training and development methods should include seminars and workshops that will allow staff members to successfully learn the information and skills needed to manage the environment; so that they may demonstrate pro environmental behaviors while also becoming eco-friendly (Genty, et al., 2022).

Green Training is a process that trains employees to have knowledge about work methods that save energy and provide opportunities for employees to be involved in solving environmental problems. The factors that influence green training are as follows (Nawangsari & Sinaga, 2019);

1. Informing about environmental management training.

2. Analyzing the training needs to find out the type of training that is environmentally friendly.

3. Providing training to employees about how work space is environmentally friendly.

4. Provide training to all employees on environmental management, safety, energy efficiency and recycling.

For employee development, Green Training offers an opportunity for employees to develop advanced experience and eco-practices further to enhance their experience and update their knowledge, thereby contributing to the development of their career paths (Han, et al., 2023).

 

Benefits of Green Training and Development

The application of environmentally friendly concepts in organizations likely provided benefits or positive impacts on companies. Green HRM had a positive impact on employee, organizational, and environmental performance. Specifically, the application of Green HRM improved environmental management systems such as efficient use of resources and reduced waste and pollution from the workplace (Suharti & Sugiarto, 2020).

Green Training and Development stands out as one of the most important Green HRM practices needed to the success of green management at firms. Green Training is also considered as one of the most key tools for developing Human Resources. Green Training is very effective in supporting the environmental management system performance. Further, Green Training is a key aspect for successful implementation of the environmental management system and building of green organizational culture (Rawashdeha, 2018).

Moreover, Green Training and Development train the employees in working method that minimize waste, proper utilization of resources, conservation of energy and avoid the degradation of the environment. Through this training session, it develops the eco-friendly managers so that employees under supervision can contact them without any hesitation (Kaur & Atwal, 2020).

 

Conclusion

Green Training and Development has been identified as key to addressing independent barriers to environmental protection and promoting their acceptance in the workplace. This produces positive results for both organizations and employee (Begum & Kavitha, 2023).  To instill in the workforce the value of being resourceful and ecologically conscious, as well as to promote environmental advancement, management should frequently make Green Training and Development procedures a regular occurrence (Genty, et al., 2022).

References

Ahmad, S., 2015. Green Human Resource Management: Policies and practices. Cogent Business & Management, 2(1), pp. 1-13.

Begum, V. V. & Kavitha, M., 2023. Green Training and Development and it’s Impact on Employee Performance. International Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 17 (1), pp. 1-6.

Genty, K. I., Fapohunda, T. M. & Olanipekun, L. O., 2022. Green Training And Development Practices On Environmental Sustainability: Evidence From Wamco plc. Journal of Interdisciplinary Socio-Economic and Community Study, Volume 2 (1), pp. 11-26.

Han, J. W., Kok, S. K. & McClelland, R., 2023. The impact of green training on employee turnover intention and customer satisfaction: An integrated perspective. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 30(6).

Hunt, A. et al., 2019. Exploring challenges and solutions in applying green human resource management practices for the sustainable workplace in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. Business Strategy & Development , Volume 2 (4), pp. 1-12.

Kaur, D. & Atwal, H., 2020. Green HRM: Practices and Challenges. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research, 10(2(1)), pp. 127-131.

Nawangsari, L. C. & Sinaga, S. A., 2019. The Effect of Green Recruitment, Green Training on Employee Performance in PT TRU Using Organization Citizenship for Environment as Mediation Variable. Dinasti International Journal of Management Science , 1(2), pp. 204-216.

Opatha, H., Arulrajah, A. & Nawaratne, N., 2015. Green Human Resource Management Practices: A Review. Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management , Volume 5 (1), pp. 1-16.

Rawashdeha, A. M., 2018. The impact of green human resource management on organizational environmental performance in Jordanian health service organizations. Management Science Letters, pp. 1049-1058.

Suharti, L. & Sugiarto, A., 2020. A qualitative study of Green HRM practices and their benefits in the organization: An Indonesian company experience. Business: Theory and Practice, 21(1), pp. 200-211.