*Green Human Resource Management: An Exploratory Study from Moroccan ISO 14001… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105565*

manufacturing companies, the majority of participants were not aware of GHRM and have never heard of it. However, in [64], the majority of Indian IT professionals were aware of this process.



#### **Table 2.**

*Key findings.*

In Bangladesh, Almamun [1] affirms that Bangladeshi HR managers from different industries are aware of GHRM, However, proper green HR activities are not yet practiced in the organization. In the same vein, Uddin [65] found that the majority of Bank commercials in Bangladesh are ware of GHRM and believe that it helps the organization indirectly by improving its image as a green organization.

Moreover, In Egypt, Farid [60] found that HR managers in hotels were aware enough and familiar with the GHRM concept. While Tsymbaliuk et al. [66] found that GHRM practices have not become widespread in Ukraine.

These research studies oppose our findings in which all our respondents without exception have never heard of this construct. Indeed, GHRM is not a common and well-known process at the surveyed companies and has not earned yet the proper attention it deserves.

Although GHRM has proven its relevance and benefits in several environmental aspects and is increasingly gaining researchers' and practitioners' attention in the European and Asian context [38]. The nonfamiliarity of the concept by Moroccan HR managers could hinder its implementation. Indeed, if HR managers are not convinced, persuaded, and confident of the importance of their involvement in greening, they can never undertake a green revolution within the department. Thus, since GHRM can only be initiated and implemented with the support of senior managers [21], this process needs more campaigns to promote and communicate the importance of green practices to HR managers. Thus, all managers must have sufficient amount knowledge in greening without which, it is impossible to deploy green policies in their departments [60].

#### **5.2 Connection**

According to Opatha and Arulrajah [24], in order to achieve green contributions and environmental performance from employees, it is essential for all HRM practices to be adapted to be green or modified to ensure green outputs. However, most of our

*Green Human Resource Management: An Exploratory Study from Moroccan ISO 14001… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105565*

interviewees pointed out that there are only few practices required by ISO14001 certification. From this perspective, the HRM function according to our respondents is considered as a momentary support function to the implementation of environmental management system (EMS).

Our findings are in line with those found by Saifuddin et al. [32], who observed that HR managers implement green HR policies and strategies because their internal policies are based on the environmental standards. Thus, GHRM implementation is limited to practices required by IS014001 certification.

Additionally, this limited coverage of GHRMP can be explained also by the lack of knowledge of GHRM by all our interviewees. By introducing GHRM and its practices, HRDs realized that they are implementing some GHRMP such as green training and green job descriptions, without knowing that they are actually, GHRM practices. Therefore, it is the concept of GHRM that is not overly common and the level of refinement and perfection of the practices that has not yet been achieved.

#### **5.3 Perceived importance**

Concerning the perceived importance of GHRM, we found that there is a debate on this process significance. Our respondents emphasized an important question that should be proven in future studies, it is the WHY question of GHRM. According to HR managers, since they have green initiatives that are working well, why would they implement GHRM. Thus, the WHY question of GHRM refers to the need to prove the value and importance of GHRM.

According to Ullah [41], raising awareness on GHRM's importance could be achieved by proving that the success of environmental systems is crowned by its alignment with other corporate strategies. Thus, it is suggested to demonstrate the importance of having a policy with a package of interrelated and synergistic practices where the impact of each practice is enhanced when the others are also implemented [29]. As a result, GHRM will reflect the environmental efforts that the company redeploys by having a goal-oriented HR policy.

On the other hand, some of our respondents considered GHRM as an effective tool to enhance employee's involvement toward environment. According to them, GHRM is a level of refinement, perfection, and formalization of the corporate green efforts toward a well-defined policy.

In summary, since GHRM is an understudied field in Morocco [38], it has become important to demonstrate its importance in the Moroccan context in order to limit this debate and uncertainty related to its relevance and importance.

#### **5.4 Challenges**

Based on our findings, the lack of knowledge on GHRM is the first challenge that has to be overcome. This finding is consistent with past studies, according to Fayyazi et al, [61], the lack of knowledge could be considered as the main challenge related to GHRM implementation. In the same vein, Mtembu [19] reported that there is a lack of knowledge of GHRM in the African continent. This lack of knowledge is a major barrier to successful EMS implementation [62], which was also highlighted by Shukla [34], who stated that the lack of awareness is considered as the biggest challenge to bring GHRM into practice.

If managers do not have a clear vision of GHRM, they will not embrace the responsibility of implementing it [61]. Therefore, the involvement of HR department in environmental management should be encouraged through appropriate communication and awareness raising.

The second challenge that was outlined is the nonexistence of an operational plan of GHRM. In this regard, Janaki et al, [8] affirm that the fundamental problem for organizations does not lie in the strategy formulation phase, the problems often emerge during operationalization. Indeed, the operationalization of GHRM and its decomposition into clear lines and concrete practices are a challenging task that needs to be addressed. This challenge was also outlined by Al-Rommedy [36], who noted that there isn't a comprehensive design for GHRM implementation. Indeed, if there is no comprehensive plan that defines the guidelines for GHRM and its operational plan, there will be no commitment to its implementation [61]. As stated by Dhingra, [64], most managers lack the knowledge of GHRM practical application.

The third challenge that was highlighted is the difficulty to create a reliable assessment of environmental performance. Our results corroborate those found by Renwick et al, [29], who pointed out that environmental performance management presents a challenge related to the measurement of green performance in different departments/ units of the organization. Therefore, the incentives that could be linked to unreliable and unfair measurement of environmental performance are potentially conflictive and could compromise the organizational climate [6].

Similarly, Saeed et al. [31] affirm that there is a need to create performance indicators for all employees that include environmental responsibility, environmental incidents, car emissions, etc. To do this, it would be appropriate to address this challenge by focusing on assessing the risks associated with each department, section, or production unit. Then decide on actions to be taken to monitor environmental performance, ecological footprint, and pro-environmental behaviors.

#### **5.5 Requirements**

GHRM requirements may emphasize what needs to be proven and improved to implement GHRM in companies. The first requirement that was outlined is to prove GHRM benefits in terms of values, awareness, culture, responsibility, and commitment.

Contemporary literature on values has emphasized the importance of individual values in explaining attitudes and behaviors [59]. Therefore, demonstrating the impact of GHRM on employees' green values is of paramount importance. From this perspective, if the employee's green values are in line with those of the organization, it is expected that the employee will be more likely to adopt environmentally friendly behaviors in the workplace. Chaudhary [44] states that GHRM reflects the environmental values of the organization, influences the environmental values of the employees, and shapes their green behavior. In this regard, employees can become "environmental activists" within the organization by absorbing organizational pro-environmental values [67]. Despite the previous studies that have proven the importance of GHRM in shaping employees' green values, none of those studies have been conducted in Morocco.

In addition, our respondent highlights the importance of proving the impact of GHRM on employees' environmental awareness. Al-Ghazali and Afsar [40] found that involvement in environmental actions requires a certain degree of environmental knowledge and awareness. Therefore, employees with a high level of environmental awareness and concern may feel a stronger moral obligation to voluntarily carry out environmental actions and initiatives [68]. Thus, GHRM practices have the ability to

*Green Human Resource Management: An Exploratory Study from Moroccan ISO 14001… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105565*

raise employees' green/environmental awareness and shape their behaviors to develop pro-environmental attitudes in their personal and professional lives [31]. However, these findings need to be expanded to the Moroccan context.

The second requirement that was highlighted is to create an action plan of GHRM. Consistent with Fayyazi et al [61], the lack of a comprehensive plan for implementing GHRM creates ambiguity. Hence, there is a need to create an operational plan with specific actions to implement, and thus, so that managers become more aware of the actions to be undertaken and policies that need to be modified and oriented to be green. Hence, the operationalization of various GHRMPs and development of valid and reliable indicators are a serious requirement [31]. Thus, to commit to integrating environmental management into multiple levels of HR policies, there is a need to concretize the policy into action.

#### **5.6 GHMRP**

#### *5.6.1 Green recruitment and selection*

Despite previous research studies that highlight the need of hiring employees with a passion to preserve the environment [20], our findings emphasize that none of the respondents consider implementing this practice.

Green recruitment and selection are not achievable because the education system in Morocco does not focus on educating students in schools and universities on how to be environmentally friendly citizens. In other words, the academic programs and extracurricular activities in schools and universities do not take into account issues of environmental protection and resource sustainability. Therefore, recruiting candidates on the basis of environmental criteria does not seem adequate in the Moroccan context at the moment, efforts should be redeployed to use the educational system as a tool to raise the green awareness of students who will be employees in the future.

In the same vein, Anwar [69] states that even though universities emit relatively less pollution than companies, they bear a considerable responsibility for raising awareness and educating current and future generations about the importance of pro-environmental behavior, which was also posited by Almamun [1], who states that universities should introduce greening in their syllabus. Thus, education may be considered as driving force toward a sustainable future.

Similarly, Jabbour [5] states it is impossible to include environmental concerns as a selection criterion in the recruitment process. As mentioned by our respondents, green recruitment can only be implemented if environmental protection is embedded in the country's culture and education system, but as long as this condition is not met, green recruitment could be labeled as discriminatory.

Additionally, green recruitment is not an interesting practice because assessing environmental awareness is not recruiters' priority. Our findings corroborate those of Bombiak and Marciniuk-Kluska, [48] where the Polish managers considered the recruitment candidates with ecological knowledge and skills to be difficult. Thus, the assessment of candidates' ecological skills during the recruitment process was not appreciated.

In summary, the recruitment of environmentally conscious candidates seems incompatible for several reasons, the Moroccan educational system does not include environmental protection in its curricula, the country does not have a national ecological culture shared by all citizens, the recruiter's priorities do not allow him/her to prioritize the environmental concerns of the candidates, and finally, the difficulty of finding environmentally friendly profiles.

#### *5.6.2 Green training and development*

Environmental training is implemented by all the companies of our sample, stating that on the one hand this practice is very important to the development of the required EMS skills, and on the other hand, the need to raise awareness of any new process or implemented system. Only one respondent was not interested in this practice, stating that environmental protection is a mindset and culture rather than a skill to be acquired.

Several research studies highlighted the importance of green training. For instance, Yong et al, [51] recognized that training plays a key role in developing the environmental knowledge, raising environmental awareness, motivating creativity for green innovation, strengthening green commitment, and improving environmental performance. Indeed, companies need to enhance the knowledge and skills of employees in order to encourage them to actively participate in environmental protection activities [4].

Additionally, the result advocates that the difficulty to raise awareness and involve older workers is a major challenge. Our findings are in line with Guerci and Carollo, [63] who found that young people are more sensitive to environmental plans while older workers, because of age and narrow-mindedness, consider environmental plans unnecessary. On the other hand, our results are in contrast with those reported by Wiernik et al., [70], who found that employee age had no effect on the degree of embracing green behaviors and that older employees embraced green practices and gained broad experience more than younger employees.

In a proactive approach against older people's resistance, companies use environmental selection criteria by mainly asking older people about their own attitude toward sustainability, to avoid older people who are unwilling to advance the green agenda and do not believe in it [15].

#### *5.6.3 Green performance appraisal*

Yong et al, [51] point out that without a formal performance assessment process, discipline will be weakened and employees' ability to improve may be hindered. Therefore, companies need to create environmental benchmarks at the performance appraisal system for all employees to keep track of noncompliance or non-achievement of environmental goals [33]. However, our respondents pointed out that only HSE engineers and high environmental risk positions are being evaluated on this aspect. In contrast, administrative positions are not appraised on this aspect. Therefore, the assessment of the environmental performance of a specific category could limit the commitment of all staff is the EMS. The literature highlights the need to involve all employees including administrative positions to sustain good environmental performance, support the company's core values, and build green intellectual capital [10].

Similar to Mathur and Soni [18], not all companies include the environmental performance of employees at all levels. In our case, there are companies that set goals and evaluate the environmental performance of higher environmental risk activities, while others assess the overall environmental footprint of the company's activity. Thus, an environmental assessment of all activities is needed.

#### *5.6.4 Green discipline management*

Our findings emphasized that it is not possible to integrate a disciplinary sanction against employees who do not respect the environmental rules in the company. This

#### *Green Human Resource Management: An Exploratory Study from Moroccan ISO 14001… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105565*

is due to the legal system that must be followed, which already defines the serious offences that can be punished. Therefore, even if there is a breach of the rules, the companies do not have the necessary power to sanction. Thus, the governing environmental laws do not provide explicit powers of inspection and enforcement to companies. Instead, companies try to sensitize, motivate, and involve rather than punish. Therefore, despite progress made, the environmental legal framework remains underdeveloped and still inconsistent.

In response to legal inconsistency, Jyoti [11] emphasizes that the legal initiative that companies can undertake in the long-term is to guarantee that ecological commitments are anchored by including provisos in staff contracts, i.e., that ecologically threatening conduct may comprise a rupture of agreement and consequently a conceivable reason for expulsion. In the same line, Almamun [1] states that in Bangladesh, government should incorporate GHRM in labor law as well as promote the organizations who practice it.

Besides, this practice is not doable as it is considered as a harsh practice that will make employee involvement more difficult, which was also highlighted by Guerci and Carollo, [63], who considered that a system of control and sanctions does not assure that the workforce is truly committed to environmental actions, it only reduces deviant behavior.

Furthermore, the management of green discipline is not appreciated because companies fear employee resistance to change. Indeed, to bring in a new system, companies prefer to involve employees instead of punishing them.

#### *5.6.5 Green health and safety*

Green management is a strategic activity of the company that allows it to reduce waste, save energy, promote environmental health while preventing damage to the environment [71]. Thus, the provision of green workplace for all employees is the central function of green health and safety management [33]. The Moroccan ISO14001 certified companies set many initiatives such as using daylight, conducting green audits, recycling, reusing, planting, and optimizing water and electricity.

In this regard, companies have paid much attention to employees' health and safety. However, video conferencing and online work were not practiced. Thus, companies need more sensitizing on the benefits of this work modality. Particularly, as the teleworking revolution helps employees and organizations in many ways. Not only does it reduce the operational costs of the organization through reduced absenteeism and transport costs, but it has also become a retention tool where employees are relieved of nerve-wracking commutes and are able to balance work and life [9].

#### *5.6.6 Green involvement and participation*

Increasing employee interest through green involvement and empowerment by creating suggestion systems for innovative environmental ideas and solutions is of paramount importance [17]. Nisar [20] states that companies are required to provide opportunities for their employees to implement what they have learned during training programs, which will result in improved environmental skills, knowledge, abilities, and pro-environmental behaviors.

Nevertheless, this practice was not very common at the surveyed companies. Only two companies out of the four gave all employees the opportunity to actively participate in proposing innovative and environmentally friendly ideas. Indeed, it is necessary to allow employees to participate in regular meetings to solve environmental problems and to encourage them to introduce environmentally friendly ideas and initiatives. Thus, implementing green involvement practices may boost employee's confidence and self-esteem to actively participate in the corporate green goals.

#### *5.6.7 Green compensation*

The implementation of a green reward system is seen as a valuable tool to increase employee motivation and commitment to the environment. These rewards can be financial or nonfinancial, with the aim of encouraging high performers to continue and pushing the rest to become more environmentally active and involved. Despite the literature pointing out that rewards can be valuable [2–4, 46], none of the surveyed companies use a green reward system to encourage pro-environmental behavior among employees.

The development of recognition and reward programs to encourage employees to be environmentally active is a fundamental practice of GHRM. Green incentives and rewards are often recognized as the most powerful way to link organizational interests with employee interests [35]. Indeed, the use of this practice can have a positive impact on employees' motivation to be environmentally responsible [54], which further increase the need to promote this practice in Moroccan companies.
