Green HRM: People Management Commitment to Environmental Sustainability

The topic of environmental sustainability is attracting increased attention among management scholars. Despite its importance to managers, employees, customers and other stakeholders, however, there are very few research studies that consider the role of human resource management systems in organizations striving to achieve environmental sustainability. There is thus a growing need for the integration of environmental management into human resource management (HRM) – green HRM – research practice. Green HR is the use of HRM policies to promote the sustainable use of resources within business organizations and, more generally, promotes the cause of environmental sustainability. Green initiatives within HRM form part of wider programmes of corporate social responsibility. Green HR involves two essential elements: environmentally-friendly HR practices and the preservation of knowledge capital. The objective of this paper is to detail a process model of the HR processes involved in green HRM on the basis of available literature on green HR. The literature has been classified on the basis of entry-to-exit processes in HRM (from recruitment to exit), revealing the role that HR processes play in translating green HR policy into practice. The paper also examines the nature and extent of Green HR initiatives undertaken by ITC Limited as a case study.