WHAT IS GREEN HRM??

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WHAT IS GREEN HRM?? Green HR is a strategy used primarily for reducing the carbon
footprint of each employee and talent retention. This term is combined by traditional CSR
concept with longer-term renewable approach to business practices . It involves undertaking
environment-friendly HR initiatives resulting in greater efficiencies, lower costs and better
employee engagement and which in turn, help organizations to reduce employee carbon
footprints by the likes of electronic filing, car-sharing, job-sharing, teleconferencing and
virtual interviews, recycling, telecommuting, online training
GREEN PRACTICES:
GREEN PRACTICES Operations carried out in H.R requires a lot of consumables, such as
paper, plastic, envelope and ink toner. Although there are both environmental and economic
concerns, it is possible to be ecological, economical and practical at the same time. Here are
some environmentally-friendly solutions to stay Green in the HR functions . Green Printing
Green Design for Payroll and Taxation Forms Green Manufacturing & Disposal of Staff ID
Card
Green HRM processes :
Green HRM processes Green Recruiting Training, Development, and Learning Performance
Management & Appraisal Employee Relations Pay & Reward EXIT
Green work-life balance (WLB): :
Green work-life balance (WLB): It can be assumed that the full potential of Green HRM in
theory and practice has not yet been realized. One conceivable deficit which could hamper
the greening process is that the green HR policies focus only on employees working role. We
need to acknowledge that environmentally relevant attitudes and behavior are not learned
exclusively at the workplace, but also in private life . People have distinctive modes of living.
They practice specific consumption patterns in their everyday life, Therefore employees
private role as consumers is considered crucial for learning and practicing environmental
attitudes and behavior .

Here are some actions companies can take to go green:

1. Conducting an energy audit - Most local utilities offer businesses free on-site consultations
on how they can reduce usage and save money. Frequent suggestions include: Improve
insulation, install timers to automatically turn off lights, use energy efficient light bulbs, keep
temperatures at comfortable ranges that are not excessively cool in the summer and warm in
the winter.
2. Conducting annual- It is important to Survey employees to assess how well the
organization is doing with regard to implementing green business practices. The survey
should request suggestions for becoming a greener organization. This can be a separate
survey focused on going green issues only, or it can be added as part of an employee

opinion/satisfaction survey. Conducting the surveys annually will enable the organization to
assess going green progress and provide information, suggestions and insight for future
actions.
3. Going paperless - Encourage e-mailing.
4. Recycle - Recycle glass, paper, plastic, metal trash and manufacturing waste materials. Go
through your trash. Youll get a new sense of how much it costs to buy, store, and dispose of
stuff. Eliminate unnecessary photocopying and reuse packaging for shipping.
5. Reduce commuting - Encourage carpooling by provide preferred parking for carpoolers).
Offering transit passes to employees who take the bus or subway, and bike racks for cyclists.
6. Reducing business travel - Teleconference instead of traveling. For must-go trips, keep
track of the miles driven and flown and buy carbon offsets from a non-profit like
Carbonfund.org to make up for the greenhouse gas emissions.
7. Buying green - Tell suppliers that youre interested in sustainable products and set specific
goals for buying recycled, refurbished, or used. Make the environment, and not just price, a
factor when purchasing.
8. Detoxify - Many offices have toxic substances, such as used batteries and copier toner, on
hand. Talk to suppliers about alternatives to toxics, and make sure you properly dispose of the
ones you cant avoid using.
9. Rethink transportation - Consider the petroleum it takes to ship and receive products.
Evaluate the impact of products you buy or sell, and find ways to mitigate those impacts.
Purchase or lease energy-efficient cars and trucks for your employees business uses and
delivery of products.
10. Provide leadership and resources for going greening - Assign a respected executive-level
person to head up going Green/Organizational Sustainability initiatives. Including going
green in companys mission statement and business plans.
11. Get employees involved - Create a team to lead the companys eco-efforts
12. Communicating about Going Green issues - Inform suppliers and customers about your
efforts. And get in touch with local regulatory agencies, many of which offer financial
incentives to businesses that implement green initiatives. Keep employees and
shareholders/investors informed about going green progress.
13. Save water - Monitor sinks and toilets for leaks that waste water. Eliminate water waste in
manufacturing processes and in watering the companys lawns.
14. Explore opportunities for implementing alternative energy sources - Evaluate
opportunities for using solar energy, bio-fuels, wind power and other alternative energy
sources.

15. Implement green manufacturing processes - Use energy-efficient equipment, and

streamline processes to use fewer steps and less materials and packaging.
16. Implement green policies - Establish policies and standards such as hardware energy
consumption, waste disposal, using recycled and environmentally superior content, water and
energy efficient products and alternative fuel vehicles, among other measure

Strategy
HR improves the company's bottom line with its knowledge of how human capital affects
organizational success. Leaders with expertise in HR strategic management participate in
corporate decision-making that underlies current staffing assessments and projections for future
workforce needs based on business demand.

Compensation
HR compensation specialists develop realistic compensation structures that set company wages
competitive with other businesses in the area, in the same industry or companies competing for
employees with similar skills. They conduct extensive wage and salary surveys to maintain
compensation costs in line with the organization's current financial status and projected revenue.
Related Reading: Three Significant HR Issues for a New Organization

Benefits
Benefits specialists can reduce the companys costs associated with turnover, attrition and hiring
replacement workers. They are important to the organization because they have the skills and
expertise necessary to negotiate group benefit packages for employees, within the organization's
budget and consistent with economic conditions. They also are familiar with employee benefits
most likely to attract and retain workers. This can reduce the companys costs associated with
turnover, attrition and hiring replacement workers.

Safety
Employers have an obligation to provide safe working conditions. Workplace safety and risk
management specialists from the HR area manage compliance with U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration regulations through maintaining accurate work logs and records, and
developing programs that reduce the number of workplace injuries and fatalities. Workplace safety
specialists also engage employees in promoting awareness and safe handling of dangerous
equipment and hazardous chemicals.

Liability
HR employee relations specialists minimize the organization's exposure and liability related to
allegations of unfair employment practices. They identify, investigate and resolve workplace issues
that, left unattended, could spiral out of control and embroil the organization in legal matters
pertaining to federal and state anti-discrimination and harassment laws.

Training and Development

HR training and development specialists coordinate new employee orientation, an essential step in
forging a strong employer-employee relationship. The training and development area of HR also
provides training that supports the company's fair employment practices and employee
development to prepare aspiring leaders for supervisory and management roles.

Employee Satisfaction
Employee relations specialists in HR help the organization achieve high performance, morale and
satisfaction levels throughout the workforce, by creating ways to strengthen the employeremployee relationship. They administer employee opinion surveys, conduct focus groups and seek
employee input regarding job satisfaction and ways the employer can sustain good working
relationships.

Recruitment
HR recruiters manage the employment process from screening resumes to scheduling interviews to
processing new employees. Typically, they determine the most effective methods for recruiting
applicants, including assessing which applicant tracking systems are best suited for the
organization's needs.

Selection
HR professionals work closely with hiring managers to effect good hiring decisions, according to the
organization's workforce needs. They provide guidance to managers who aren't familiar with HR or
standard hiring processes to ensure that the company extends offers to suitable candidates.

Compliance
HR workers ensure that the organization complies with federal state employment laws. They
complete paperwork necessary for documenting that the company's employees are eligible to work
in the U.S. They also monitor compliance with applicable laws for organizations that receive federal
or state government contracts, through maintaining applicant flow logs, written affirmative action
plans and disparate impact analyses.

Department Staffing
The human resource departments main function is to support the workforce needs of the
organization. HR and line managers should communicate regularly and frequently to determine the
skills and qualifications required for seamless operation of department functions. Whenever theres
a vacancy in a line managers department, an HR recruiter or employment specialist and the line
manager review the job description for accuracy and completeness. During the recruitment and
selection process, HR advises line managers on how to identify qualified candidates and existing
department staff capabilities.

Workforce Strategy
Strategic planning between HR and line managers involves reviewing projections concerning future
business demands to determine whether to train current employees to prepare them for promotion
or to recruit candidates with higher level skills to augment the current employee knowledge base.
By working together on immediate and future staffing needs, HR and line management benefit
from reduced cost per hire and turnover. In addition, the organization benefits from appropriate
succession planning and adequate staffing.
Related Reading: How Can an HR Management Team Reduce Turnover in the Future?

Performance Management
Training and development is an HR function that prepares line managers for a number of leadership
tasks. One such task is conducting employee performance appraisals. Human resources trainers
develop learning objectives based on line managers understanding of the organizations coaching
philosophy. Leadership training topics include how to provide employees with constructive
feedback and how to conduct fair and unbiased assessments of employee performance. HR and
line managers should therefore work together to ensure the organization maintains a consistent
approach to performance management. Inconsistencies within an organizations performance
management system negatively impact employee job satisfaction, which is another reason HR and
line managers should work collaboratively.

Conflict Resolution
Workplace conflict is inevitable whenever department employees represent different cultures, work
styles and personalities. When conflicts arise, line managers typically seek the advice of HR in
resolving issues between employees or issues between employees and their managers. If there is
already dissention between HR and line management, it can be difficult for human resources to
determine what underlies the conflict and how to resolve it. A positive working relationship
between HR and line management facilitates easier handling of workplace investigations and
mediating differences between staff. When HR and line management work together, its easier for
HR to investigate workplace issues because the human resource staff may have greater confidence
that line managers document their employment actions and decisions appropriately and according
to company policy.

Authority is the right to perform or command. It allows its holder to act in certain designated ways
and to directly influence the actions of others through orders.
It also allows its holder to allocate the organizations resources to achieve organizational
objectives.
AUTHORITY ON THE JOB :
Barnard defines authority as the character of communication by which an order is accepted by an
individual as governing the actions that individual takes within the system.
Barnard maintains that authority will be accepted only under the following conditions:
1.

The individual can understand the order being communicated.

2.

The individual believes the order is consistent with the purpose of the organization.

3.

The individual sees the order as compatible with his or her personal interests.

4.

The individual is mentally and physically able to comply with the order.

The fewer of these 4 conditions that are present, the lower the probability that authority will be
accepted and obedience be exacted.
Barnad offers some guidance on what managers can do to raise the odds that their commands will
be accepted and obeyed. He maintains that more and more of a managers commands will be
accepted over the long term if:
1.

The manager uses formal channels of communication and these are familiar to all
organization members.

2.

Each organization member has an assigned formal communication channel through which
orders are received.

3.

The line of communication between manager and subordinate is as direct as possible.

4.

The complete chain of command is used to issue orders.

5.

The manager possesses adequate communication skills.

6.

The manager uses formal communication lines only for organizational business.

7.

A command is authenticated as coming from a manager.

TYPES OF AUTHORITY:
3 main types of authority can exist within an organization:
1.

Line Authority

2.

Staff Authority

3.

Functional Authority

Each type exists only to enable individuals to carry out the different types of responsibilities with
which they have been charged.
LINE AUTHORITY:
The most fundamental authority within an organization, reflects existing superior-subordinate
relationships. It consists of the right to make decisions and to give order concerning the
production,sales or finance related behaviour of subordinates.
In general, line authority pertains to matters directly involving management system production,
sales, finance etc., and as a result with the attainment of objectives.
People directly responsible for these areas within the organization are delegated line authority to
assist them in performing their obligatory activities.

STAFF AUTHORITY:
Staff authority consists of the right to advise or assist those who possess line authority as well as
other staff personnel.
Staff authority enables those responsible for improving the effectiveness of line personnel to
perform their required tasks.

Line and Staff personnel must work together closely to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of
the organization. To ensure that line and staff personnel do work together productively,
management must make sure both groups understand the organizational mission, have specific
objectives, and realize that they are partners in helping the organization reach its objectives.
Size is perhaps the most significant factor in determining whether or not an organization will have
staff personnel. The larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to employ staff
personnel.
As an organization expands, it usually needs employees with expertise in diversified areas. Although
small organizations may also require this kind of diverse expertise, they often find it more practical
to hire part time consultants to provide it is as needed rather than to hire full time staff personnel,
who may not always be kept busy.

LINE STAFF RELATIONSHIPS :

e.g. A plant manager has line authority over each immediate subordinate, human resource manager,
the production manager and the sales manager.

However, the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manger, meaning
the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manager, meaning the
human resource manager possesses the right to advise the plant manager on human resource
matters.
Still final decisions concerning human resource matters are in the hands of the plant manager, the
person holding the line authority.
ROLE OF STAFF PERSONNEL:
Harold Stieglitz has pinpointed 3 roles that staff personnel typically perform to assist line
personnel:
1.

The Advisory or Counseling Role : In this role, staff personnel use their professional
expertise to solve organizational problems. The staff personnel are, in effect, internal
consultants whose relationship with line personnel is similar to that of a professional and a
client.

2.

The Service Role : Staff personnel in this role provide services that can more efficiently
and effectively be provided by a single centralized staff group than by many individuals
scattered throughout the organization. This role can probably best be understood if staff
personnel are viewed as suppliers and line personnel as customers.

3.

The Control Role : Staff personnel help establish a mechanism for evaluating the
effectiveness of organizational plans.

The role of staff in any organization should be specifically designed to best meet the needs of that
organization.
CONFLICT IN LINE STAFF RELATIONSHIP:
From the view point of line personnel, conflict is created because staff personnel tend to

Assume Line Authority

Do not give Sound Advice

Steal Credit for Success

Fail to Keep line personnel informed of their activities

Do not see the whole picture.

From the view point of Staff Personnel, conflict is created because line personnel do not make
proper use of staff personnel, resist new ideas and refuse to give staff personnel enough authority
to do their jobs.
Staff Personnel can often avert line-staff conflicts if they strive to emphasize the objectives of the
organization as a whole, encourage and educate line personnel in the appropriate use of staff
personnel, obtain any necessary skills they do not already possess, and deal intelligently with the
resistance to change rather than view it as an immovable barrier.

Line personnel can do their part to minimize line staff conflict by sing staff personnel wherever
possible, making proper use of the staff abilities, and keeping staff personnel appropriately
informed.

*****
FUNCTIONAL AUTHORITY:
Functional authority consists of the right to give orders within a segment of the organization in
which this right is normally non existent.
This authority is usually assigned to individuals to complement the line or staff authority they
already possess.
Functional Authority generally covers only specific task areas and is operational only for designated
amounts of time. It is given to individuals who, in order to meet responsibilities in their own areas,
must be able to exercise some control over organization members in other areas.