Background
The severity of problems that cannot be solved by the old methods requires a deep restructuring in consciousness and worldview. This applies to all areas of our lives, and above all – to the “economy-ecology” system. The search for new ways to solve environmental problems has led to the development of ecological – or green – management systems. Green management is an initiative and effective activity of economic entities aimed at achieving their own environmental goals, projects and programs developed based on the principles of eco-efficiency and environmental justice. Green management can be interpreted as an environmentally friendly production organization, which achieves the optimal ratio between ecological and economic indicators.
The main goals and relevant criteria for achieving them in environmental management are related to the processes of continuous improvement. Consistent improvement from year to year should be performed in all environmentally significant aspects of economic entities. Such an improvement is generally impossible to imitate or falsify, which creates the necessary basis for assessing the environmental performance of economic agents. Thus, effective green management should provide the company with a credit of trust in relations with all stakeholders in its activities, on which interest to the chosen topic is founded.
Aims and Objectives
The following aims are expected to be achieved:
- Define the essence of environmental management;
- Identify ways in which green management impacts a company;
- Determine the importance of environmental auditing for an organization.
The objectives are as follows:
- Conduct in-depth research on the topic of green management;
- Arrange interviews with employees of the company that adheres to the principles of environmental management;
- Critically evaluate the obtained data, appealing to the best practices of qualitative research.
Literature Review
Essence of Green Management
Foreign experience of scientific and practical research shows that the solution to the problem of improving the quality of the environment is primarily associated with the development of the system structure and the expansion of the functions of environmental management in material production. The design of the environmental management system in accordance with the international standards ISO 14000 and ISO 14001 in current conditions should become an integral part of the management of this production, aimed at improving the environmental and economic performance of enterprises (Miroshnychenko, Barontini, & Testa, 2017).
Ways of Green Management’s Impact
All over the world, environmental management is perceived in close connection with ensuring product quality, industrial safety, favorable working conditions. Among the important features by which one can recognize the manifestation of environmental management are the following: reasonable and conscious acceptance by the management of the enterprise of ecological policy; effective planning and organization of ecological activities in accordance with the goals and objectives (Raharjo, 2019).
Environmental audit
In developed countries, such an area of activity as environmental auditing has recently gained recognition, which is one of the most effective tools for economic and environmental control in the process of the market economy (Hakim & Yunus, 2017). The functions of the environmental audit should include the development of strategic plans to improve the environmental performance of material production. Comparing the results of the audit with the requirements of regulatory documents will allow developing an action plan for the adjustment of technological processes and readjustment of equipment.
Methodology
The research will be founded on a qualitative methodology – in-person interviews will be conducted (Aguinis & Solarino, 2019). These interviews will be the primary research instrument that will provide the necessary data. Employees from a specific organization that adheres to the principles of green management will be contacted to identify the following. It will be pre-assumed that environmental management contributes to a better corporate performance – which indicates the use of deductive approach – and the questions will be designed to identify the particular ways of this positive and significant impact. The mentioned questions will be of an open-ended character, which, again, implies the utilization of the qualitative method (Aguinis & Solarino, 2019). The answers will be analyzed, and then the most common and considerable aspects of the green management’s influence on the company’s performance will be formulated and discussed – whether they align with the established vision of peer-reviewed literature or not.
Given the difficulties caused by Covid-19 (Teti, Schatz, & Liebenberg, 2020), the participants from the chosen firm will be contacted by phone, as well as Zoom meetings will be arranged. It is planned to reach from 15 to 20 employees. All the potential participants will be informed about the aims of the research, as well as will about the fact that their anonymity will be respected. Such an approach will allow averting any ethical issues that might take place.
References
Aguinis, H., & Solarino, A. (2019). Transparency and replicability in qualitative research: The case of interviews with elite informants. Strategic Management Journal, 40(8), 1291–1315.
Hakim, I., & Yunus, A. (2017). Environmental audit as instrument for environmental protection and management. The Business and Management Review, 9(2), 228–232.
Miroshnychenko, I., Barontini, R., & Testa, F. (2017). Green practices and financial performance: A global outlook. Journal of Cleaner Production, 147, 340–351.
Raharjo, K. (2019). The role of green management in creating sustainability performance on the small and medium enterprises. Management of Environmental Quality, 30(3), 557–577.
Teti, M., Schatz, E., & Liebenberg, L. (2020). Methods in the time of COVID-19: The vital role of qualitative inquiries. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. doi:10.1177/1609406920920962.