I am working on my Masters degree with the research topic of organizational motivation towards environmental responsibility. I am searching for research studies, articles or books to inform my literature review. I have already conducted research by collaborating with employees where I work. I have listed my inquiry below to see if any of you could point me in the right direction:
- Does behaviour at work remain consistent with behaviour at home related to environmental stewardship? If so, why? If not, why not?
- What are the factors of motivation, either intrinsic or extrinsic, that determine whether an employee is an environmental steward?
- How would becoming a more environmentally responsible company benefit the organization, employee, and community?
- What behaviours and processes must the company foster to become an environmental steward?
Thanks for some of the earlier resources posted under the topic of 'business'.
Gail Stepanik-Keber
Edmonton, Alberta
Seeking Research on Motivation towards Environmentalism
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Hi, Gail,
I don't have information for you, but am wondering whether you would share what you find out with me as I am thinking of writing my Master's thesis on how to motivate grandmothers first to take in education re: what has to happen to treat the earth lovingly so that the grandchildren will have a healthy planet to live in, and second to motivate grandmothers, as advocates for grandchildren, to take the word out to a larger audience. Anything you want to share will be appreciated!
Kai
...
Dear Gail:
At the request of Rodger Albright of Environment Canada I am responding to some of your points. I have done a fair bit of research over the last 10 years plus on greening productivity in organizations (private and public sector), in large, medium and small organizations on five different continents. I have spent a lot of time as well working with the sustainability in small business. In greening the productivity of an organization, there is an element of organizational behaviour knowledge required. Promoting change requires an acceptance by those in control both in the formal decision making structure and those who have are critical in the informal structure points of an organization. There is a difference between what concerns people and what they believe they can do about making change. I am a fan of Deming's System of Profound Knowledge, although it is now only a part of a synergistic approach I use with clients to determine their first or next steps to change. If you are interested, I can send you an excerpt from one of the books I have written on Green Productivity directly to provide some oversight if you are not familiar with his systems approach to change. Let me know and I will email it to you directly as Doug's listserve doesn't enable attachments. Other idea influencers include written works by Kurt Hanks in Change Navigators, Malcolm Knowles writings and Anne Camozzi's work on adult learning (separately), Everitt Rogers work on the Diffusion of Innovation and facilitation efforts from people in the trenches such as Anita Wolfe to ferret out what people really want versus what they don't want. Georg Winter's 1989 book on Business and the Environment: A handbook of industrial ecology was novel at its time because of the level of simplicity and practicality he strove for. What was more impressive is that he put his money where his mouth was and offered employees access in their homes for a consult in their residence on how to make their homes more environmentally sound. This was acceptable in Germany, energy audits in Canada have not worked well, but that is for another reason. If you are trying to work with small business size does matter, although it is not the only determinant; there are classic flaws that people make in trying to address small business. Successful approaches with small business are not the same as an approach or process useful to big business. CFIB has some excellent material on their website that you might find interesting to read and integrate.
Cheers
L. E. Johannson, B.E.S. (Hons), M.Sc., FRSA
President
E2 Management Corporation (E2M)
113 Mountainview Road
South Georgetown,
Ontario CANADA L7G 4K2
Tel: (1) 905 - 873 - 9484
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Email: [email protected]
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