The purpose of the chapter is to elaborate in detail on the Green HRM Practices and their impact on the organization as well as on stakeholders. Therefore, the chapter is based on detailed literature from developed, developing, and underdeveloped sides of the world. However, in order to relate Green HRM practically to the contemporary concept, this chapter only emphasized those factors that are reflected by most of the published work from renowned and esteemed research work. Initially, writers develop the concept of HRM and mention its significance and then relate work with the most impactful elements of Green HRM. Moreover, the chapter also includes some real-life examples and case studies to foster learning and understanding related to Green HRM practices.
TopIntroduction
The recent era witnessed a significant increase in the level of industrial waste that causes a rapid increase in the level of environmental pollution. Hence public and private sector organizations are started to focus on the use of renewable resources to diminish environmental hazards. Hence the focus is on the implementation of a new environmental management system (Cherian & Jacob, 2012) that is reflected as Green Management which is directed to assure green practices from every department, process, and operation of the organization. The reason is to focus also on environmental concerns as in recent times companies are trying to avoid any sort of mistake as the mistake would not only result in a decline in sales and profit but may also result in any legal or penal action (Tariq, Jan & Ahmad, 2016). Thus, the purpose of going green is to use products and methods that would not negatively impact the environment through pollution or depleting natural resources (Lakshmi & Battu, 2018). Therefore, recent studies focus on Green Marketing, Green Retailing, Green Human Resource Management, Green Accounting and Green Finance, etc (Tariq et al., 2016).
However, HRM is the function that can aid firms in contributing toward environmental sustainability & sustainability (Hameed et al., 2020) HRM as the function also treated as the real outcome of the Green Management System is Green Human Resource Management (Basu, 2019). The function is used to implement environment-friendly practices, reduce costs, maximize profit, and provide employee benefits (Cherian & Jacob, 2012 & Jam & Jamal, 2020). According to Tahir et al (2017), the base of the concept lies in AMO (Ability, Motivation, and Opportunities), resource-based view, and stakeholder theory. These concepts were initially presented by Guerci and Carollo (2016); Antonioli Mancinelli and Mazzanti (2013) and Wehrmeyer (2017) respectively on initial bases. Studies further illuminated that Green HRM is the most important function as it is associated with the most valuable resources of the organization. Therefore, in comparison to other topics like Green Marketing, Green Retailing, Green Accounting, etc., the Green HRM is the most significant tool associated with sustainability. Green HRM is majorly associated with two prime elements i.e. environmental-friendly HR practices and knowledge preservation (Ahmad, 2015).
Hence the concept of Green HRM is a topic of interest for researchers and for HR managers. The concept can simply be defined as the use of HR practices to engage employees in sustainable work practices through adequate use of resources to get a sustainable competitive advantage (Jam & Jamal, 2020). Hence the purpose of Green HRM is to include green practices in the performance of employees and the organization, so as to contribute to the environmental management EM) of the organization (Tahir, Rahim & Khan, 2017).