Environmental technologies: In search of a meaning Tecnologias ambientais: Em busca de um significado

This article i a more complete meaning for an expression which has been more and more adopted by academic and managerial forums: environmental technology. The development, adoption and diffusion of environmental technologies require that social agents, institutions and social sectors have a common and proper understanding of the meaning of environmental technology. However, the state of the art conceptual proposals are unable to answer the challenge of finding a clear definition of the term. This article explores the term's taxonomy and identifies it's development and dissemination process, giving a fuller meaning for environmental technology

Greening of business schools: A systemic view

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a model for the analysis of business schools as creators, disseminators, and adopters of knowledge on environmental management. Design/methodology/approach: A review of the importance of higher education institutions for sustainability, and more specifically, about their relevance for the creation, diffusion, and adoption of knowledge on environmental management is performed. Guided by this reflection, a model for analyzing the contributions of business schools for expertise in environmental management is proposed. This model considers that activities such as teaching, research, extension community, and university management are elementary for these schools. For each addressed topic, empirical evidence on how some business schools and universities are addressing the environmental dimension in its activities is presented. Findings: The paper's discussions lead the reader to a draft of the evolutionary stages of business schools' contribution for environmental management knowledge, which can be useful for many stakeholders linked to a business school. Finally, the opportunity for a continuation of this research line and the limitations inherent in this proposal are highlighted. Originality/value: The literature on the subject can be considered meager and when existing tends to report experiences and challenges faced by business schools on the inclusion of environmental issues in their teaching activities, research, extension community, and university management, considering these activities almost always as watertight. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Managing quality for environmental excellence: Strategies. outcomes. and challenges in brazilian companies

First paragraph: This article highlights a study that looked at how companies located in Brazil manage their quality programs to achieve environmental excellence. The study focused on four business organizations that have achieved certification to ISO 14001, an international environmental management standard. The results of the study show that contributions from quality management are fundamental to achieving environmental excellence. Reaching a high level of environmental performance is only possible, however, if the company’s culture views the environment as an organizational value.  About This Article: This article begins with some brief background on the growth of environmental management among companies in Brazil. It continues with a review of concepts relating to quality management and environmental management, along with discussion of how these two themes can be integrated.  The discussion then moves on to a study involving four market-leading companies in Brazil. It summarizes findings regarding how these companies have used their quality management systems to achieve environmental excellence, thus creating organizational competitive advantage. Of particular note is the significant role that quality management departments have played in environmental management at all four companies studied

Environmental training in organisations: From a literature review to a framework for future research

Although the research on the relationship between human factors and environmental sustainability is slowly progressing, environmental training has attracted the most attention from researchers and practitioners. However, there remains a lack of research that integrates and systematises the available knowledge on organisational environmental training. Environmental training is fundamental to any successful activity of environmental management, conservation and recycling of resources. Thus, the aim of this paper was to present the results of a systematic literature review on environmental training in organisations. The main studies in this area were classified and coded, and a research agenda with 9 recommendations that may advance the field was presented. As a result of the gaps in the current literature, a framework was proposed aiming guide and strengthens the state-of-the-art research on environmental training. Additionally, results show that more research is needed on environmental training, combining training and green human resource management and defining/measuring the objectives of the environmental training actions. Future studies should also consider mixed methodologies and comparative perspectives. © 2013 Elsevier B.V

Non-linear pathways of corporate environmental management: A survey of ISO 14001-certified companies in Brazil

A study was conducted to verify whether the theory on the evolution of corporate environmental management (CEM) is applicable to organizations located in Brazil. Some of the most important proposals pertaining to the evolution of CEM were evaluated in a systematic fashion and integrated into a typical theoretical framework containing three evolutionary stages: reactive, preventive and proactive. The validity of this framework was tested by surveying 94 companies located in Brazil with ISO 14001 certification. Results indicated that the evolution of CEM tends to occur in a manner that is counter to what has generally been described in the literature. Two evolutionary stages were identified: 1) synergy for eco-efficiency and 2) environmental legislation view, which combine variables that were initially categorized into different theoretical CEM stages. These data, obtained from a direct study of Brazilian companies, suggest that the evolution of environmental management in organizations tends to occur in a non-linear fashion, requiring a re-analysis of traditional perceptions of CEM development, as suggested by Kolk and Mauser (2002). © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

How green are HRM practices, organizational culture, learning and teamwork? A Brazilian study

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to analyze the level of greening of HRM practices, organizational culture, learning, and teamwork in Brazilian companies. Design/methodology/approach: The author surveyed 94 Brazilian companies with ISO 14001 certification. Findings: Contrasting the data, two important conclusions can be drawn. The first one is related to the importance of considering the alignment of the human resource practices systematically in order to put workers in control of environmental management. The second conclusion is about the little formalization of the inclusion of environmental issues in traditional human resource practices, which can later badly affect the good performance observed in the formation of teams, organizational culture, and learning resulting in a negative cycle. Originality/value: The greening of HRM, organizational culture, learning and teamwork is an emerging topic for scholars and consultants. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Environmental training and environmental management maturity of Brazilian companies with ISO14001: Empirical evidence

Abstract In the search for more environmentally sustainable organisations, scholars devoted to the subject of environmental management in industrial organisations are increasingly interested in identifying the human, organisational or technical factors that may be related to the environmental management maturity of those companies. In this context, based on the emerging literature on natural resource-based view of the firm and on green human resource management, one can question whether environmental training is, in fact, related positively and significantly with the maturity of the environmental management of companies with ISO14001 located in Brazil. To address this question, a quantitative, exploratory, survey-based study, in which the collected data were subsequently processed using structural equation modelling, was performed using data from 95 companies. The results indicate the following: confirmation of the research hypothesis H1, i.e., that the construct environmental training (ET) relates positively and significantly with the environmental management maturity (EMM) of the companies in the sample, and the power of determination of ET over EMM can be considered "large". © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Green supply chain management : Current and future prospects for research Gestão ambiental em cadeias de suprimentos: Perspectivas atuais e futuras de pesquisa

This article aims to identify the main definitions, practices and related avenues for future research on green supply chain management (GSCM). From a systematic literature review and analysis in major journals related to the topic and indexed in Scopus, was possible: a) identify key research goals of the articles analyzed, b) the research methodology adopted, c) the predominant industrials sectors studied, and d) the practices of GSCM considered relevant by researchers. Results are presented in each of these analytical perspectives. These results may be useful both for those interested in environmental management and in supply chain management, in view of the growing interest in GSCM

Environmental management in ethanol and sugarcane plants in Brazil

There has been much discussion on the importance of Brazilian ethanol in promoting a more sustainable society. However, there is a lack of analysis of whether sugarcane plants/factories that produce this ethanol are environmentally suitable. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyse stages of environmental management at four Brazilian ethanol-producing plants, examining the management practices adopted and the factors behind this adoption. The results indicate that (1) only one of the four plants is in the environmentally proactive stage; (2) all plants are adopting operational and organisational environmental management practices; (3) all plants have problems in communicating environmental management practices; and (4) the plant with the most advanced environmental management makes intense use of communication practices and is strongly oriented towards a more environmentally aware international market. This paper is an attempt to explain the complex relationship between the evolution of environmental management, environmental practices and motivation using a framework. The implications for society, plant directors and scholars are described, as well as the study's limitations. © 2012 Taylor & Francis