Making Environmental Waves With No Managers 'On Board'

2-25-98
University Park, Pa. --- Lackluster attitudes concerning environmental issues among managers in certain corporate settings will not stop lower-level personnel from adopting progressive environmental practices, according to researchers from Penn State and the University of Victoria.

In fact, the researchers' findings suggest that some of the most environmentally friendly strides can be made in cases where "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing," rather than when managers are pushing for reforms.

Such observations come from an in-depth study of the implementation of an ordinance in Germany, which mandates the collection, and sorting of packaging material for recycling. Unlike the case in the United States, responsibility for such collection is placed on the consumer goods firms that produce the material, not on municipalities.

Linda C. Angell, assistant professor of operations management in Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration, and Monika I. Winn, assistant professor of strategic management with the faculty of business at University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, collectively conducted a total of 23 case studies, plus a survey of 135 German firms belonging to the non-profit consortium founded to coordinate the recycling. Together, the two scholars produced a study, recently updated, that won the authors the 1997 Environmental Issues Paper Award from the Decision Sciences Institute.

Angell and Winn were able to peg each firm as following one of four strategies in terms of their approaches to, and emphases on, environmental issues and activities:

--The deliberate reactive strategy occurs when external pressures drive firms to engage in environmental activities which are tentative and disjointed in an atmosphere of weak managerial commitment.

--The emergent proactive strategy occurs when external pressures and perceived cost reduction opportunities spawn a systematic program of environmental activity despite weak managerial commitment.

--The unrealized proactive strategy occurs when firms are driven by strong managerial commitment to engage in environmental protection activities, but only on a case-by-case basis.

--The deliberate proactive strategy occurs when strong managerial commitment leads to a systematic program of environmental activity.

"We were particularly interested in the emergent proactive and unrealized proactive strategies, for they seemed counterintuitive," said The Smeal College's Angell. "In the one case, why would a company implement a systematic approach to environmental activity when management is uninterested in environmental issues? And in the other case, why would a firm with strong managerial interest in environmental issues maintain a less systematic approach to environmental activities?"

According to their data, Angell and Winn said the answer is that not all environmental strategies are flowing through organizations in a top-down fashion.

"The traditional top-down view assumes that firms progress from managerial awareness of environmental issues, to policy commitment of resources to deal with them, to implementation of a corporate response which changes business practices," said the University of Victoria's Winn. "This view does not provide room for grass-roots, bottom-up approaches towards corporate social performance. But that's what we found happening in many cases in Germany, and we expect it's happening in the Americas, as well."

For instance, the environmental department of a large, privately-held liquor and spirits producer in the researchers' "emergent proactive" category is highly active and has won the firm environmental awards, despite general resistance to change on the part of managing directors in the firm. Some environmentally friendly steps championed by the department include the redesign of bottles for more efficient storage; the use of transport packaging made from 100 percent recycled paper; and the elimination of lead and solvents from all labels.

And, at a milk products firm in the "unrealized proactive" category, the researchers found that while top management is responsible for all environmental activities, the managing director's view is that only the packaging, not the milk itself, could be made more environmentally friendly. So, although the firm switched to reusable packaging and lighter containers, and new equipment to conserve energy, it has not investigated possible changes in herd management often advocated by environmentalists.

"While the levels of activity being sustained differ greatly from one firm to another, it can be viewed as a pleasant surprise that some implement very successful approaches to environmental protection activities without much involvement from management," Angell noted. "This is happening more and more because business organizations are being pressured by many different stakeholders to incorporate environmental considerations into strategic and operational activities.

"Indeed, our findings, along with those from other researchers, suggest that some level of environmental awareness is becoming increasingly necessary for a firm simply to stay in business."

**gwc**

Contact:
Charles DuBois (814) 863-3798 ccd@psu.edu