**1. Introduction**

In today's societies, the concepts like global competition, technological changes and development, communication, environment, and environmental problems are getting more and more common in everyday life with the acceleration of globalization. In this sense, societies, businesses, and individuals develop new dynamics to cope with this global change. Human resource constitutes the primary elements for change and development in organizations. On

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the other hand, environmental problems occur due to the human perception that the world resources are endless and offer free goods. Today, such problems with various destructive outcomes and impacts have become remarkable. Several environmental disasters, ranging from global warming to droughts, point out the severity of the problem. Significance of environmental problems has brought up the need for environment-conscious (green) activities in individual, organizational, and community levels. These activities are generally implemented on a voluntary basis, but sometimes implemented within the scope of legal obligations.

In the 2000s, businesses began to take conscious acts to contribute to the green movement [1], and the concepts of environmental consciousness and environment-conscious (green) business have evolved. Environment-conscious (green) management as a business concept is defined as a management and business perception in which ecological environment is the primary issue in the activities and decisions of an organization [2], and such concepts targeting the optimum balance between economic and ecologic performance of a business in management are regarded as a process in which all management functions are integrated with environmental protection [3]. In other words, green management and business implies a transition from a perception which does not pay much attention to efficient use of natural resources and the production waste materials released to the environment without any treatment into a perception with an awareness of world's limited natural resources and having and implementing this awareness as a business ethics [4]. An efficient implementation of such a perception has a great significance not only for a sustainable competitive advantage of businesses, but also for the future of mankind. However, the primary actor in making a business sensitive to environmental problems is human, and therefore, full implementation of such a management and business perception will not be possible when the businesses are not able to make their employees conscious about environment [5].

In other words, for improved environmental performance and efficient environment-conscious (green) business, environmental consciousness should be taken into consideration in each and every human resources functions ranging from recruitment to training of employees, from performance assessment to rewarding. Briefly, with green human resources management (GHRM), businesses are able to create a win-win strategy and then can satisfy their employees and improve their environmental performance. Right at this point, identification of implementations and opinions of the business in this subject become a significant matter. As a result, GHRM and its actions are determined as a field of research. In the present study, green human resources management and practices were evaluated, significant issues were pointed out, and recommendations were provided for future researchers who wish to study on this field.

#### **2. Green human resources management (GHRM)**

Human resource constitutes a vital function for businesses. Rapid technological changes which occurred after the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century required a specialization in labor force and made human resource a significant aspect of production. Human resource has become a function encompassing entire people employed in the organization.

Today, human resource management undertakes not only recruitment, assessment, dismissal, and similar routine processes but also a managerial function and becomes an inseparable component of management like the other management functions. Therefore, human resource has a strategic significance today. It is quite significant in identification of organization vision, mission, and objectives [6]. In recent years, several businesses have employed a strategic tool known as green human resources management and pro-active implementations to gain a competitive advantage. Environmental management system includes a structure allowing a better control of environmental footprint the businesses leave. GHRM represents the most significant dimension of environmental management system.

the other hand, environmental problems occur due to the human perception that the world resources are endless and offer free goods. Today, such problems with various destructive outcomes and impacts have become remarkable. Several environmental disasters, ranging from global warming to droughts, point out the severity of the problem. Significance of environmental problems has brought up the need for environment-conscious (green) activities in individual, organizational, and community levels. These activities are generally implemented on a voluntary basis, but sometimes implemented within the scope of legal obligations.

In the 2000s, businesses began to take conscious acts to contribute to the green movement [1], and the concepts of environmental consciousness and environment-conscious (green) business have evolved. Environment-conscious (green) management as a business concept is defined as a management and business perception in which ecological environment is the primary issue in the activities and decisions of an organization [2], and such concepts targeting the optimum balance between economic and ecologic performance of a business in management are regarded as a process in which all management functions are integrated with environmental protection [3]. In other words, green management and business implies a transition from a perception which does not pay much attention to efficient use of natural resources and the production waste materials released to the environment without any treatment into a perception with an awareness of world's limited natural resources and having and implementing this awareness as a business ethics [4]. An efficient implementation of such a perception has a great significance not only for a sustainable competitive advantage of businesses, but also for the future of mankind. However, the primary actor in making a business sensitive to environmental problems is human, and therefore, full implementation of such a management and business perception will not be possible when the businesses are not able to

In other words, for improved environmental performance and efficient environment-conscious (green) business, environmental consciousness should be taken into consideration in each and every human resources functions ranging from recruitment to training of employees, from performance assessment to rewarding. Briefly, with green human resources management (GHRM), businesses are able to create a win-win strategy and then can satisfy their employees and improve their environmental performance. Right at this point, identification of implementations and opinions of the business in this subject become a significant matter. As a result, GHRM and its actions are determined as a field of research. In the present study, green human resources management and practices were evaluated, significant issues were pointed out, and recommendations were provided for future researchers who wish to study on this field.

Human resource constitutes a vital function for businesses. Rapid technological changes which occurred after the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century required a specialization in labor force and made human resource a significant aspect of production. Human resource has become a function encompassing entire people employed in the organization.

make their employees conscious about environment [5].

160 Corporate Governance and Strategic Decision Making

**2. Green human resources management (GHRM)**

Today, the businesses under ever-changing environmental conditions have to develop and implement environment-oriented strategies to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, the success of these strategies is totally dependent on proper selections and implementations. In this process, the condition for the success of businesses is the awareness of employee and responsibility in environmental protection. In recent years, businesses are under increasing pressure of environment-conscious production activities, and they have mostly amended their environmental regulation, but they didn't feel necessity to change their human resource management. Therefore, most of the time they experienced various problems in the implementation of their environment-conscious strategies. They have to adapt their human resources factors to the changing conditions while implementing environmentconscious activities such as environment-friendly products, waste management techniques, introduction of green products, and establishment of new relations with various environmental partners. When they are not able to convince and motivate their employees about environmental consciousness, it is impossible to successfully apply such a strategy. In other words, the businesses without human resource who perceives environmental action as a life philosophy and acts accordingly will not be able to have environment-conscious implementations [1]. Therefore, sensitivity and commitment of employees in these programs are the pre-conditions for the success of environment-oriented programs [7]. In this sense, businesses carry out environment-conscious human resources management practices to create an awareness and commitment in their employees.

Green human resource management (GHRM) is considered as a pre-condition for green management and business practices of organizations, and it is pointed out as the critical step for a sustainable competitive advantage. GHRM studies have begun at the end of 1990s and accelerated in the following decades. The relations of environment and environmental management issues with human resources of businesses are placed in literature as follows: Callenbach et al. indicated that within the scope of environmental management, businesses should assign their employees duties to fulfill their environmental responsibilities and should improve their awareness in environmental issues [8]; Welford indicated that environmental management can only be fulfilled through employee participation [9]; Milliman and Clair indicated that environmental management programs should be integrated with human resource management [10]; Wehrmeyer pointed out that an environmental management in a business can only be mentioned when the environmental values of businesses were formed and adopted by human resource professionals and stuffs of the business [11]. The book of Wehrmeyer [11] titled as "Greening People: Human Resources and Environmental Management" and the study of Revill [3] named as "The 'Greening' of Personel/Human Resource Management: An Assessment" are the pioneering works in GHRM literature. Sadgrove mentioned about green human resources managements forming a bond between human resource and environmental management practices [12]; Wehrmeyer classified the functions of green human resource management under the headings of recruitment of authorized stuff, stuff management, and support of organizational dynamics. On the other hand, Milliman and Clair formed a model classifying the functions of green human resource management as strategies, training, performance assessment, and rewarding and pointed out the need for proper organizational structures in which environmental management is harmonized with human resources [13]. Keog and Polonsky indicated that green vision, green objectives, green policy, and programs to fulfill environmental commitments of a business could only be possible through green human resource management [14].

Daily and Huang indicated the significance of human resources for the success of environmental management systems and reported that human resource may influence the performance [15]. Brio and Junquera indicated that environmental management was a quite complex process, but environment-conscious human resources contribute to environmental management [16]. Fernandez et al. emphasized the significance of environmental awareness employees, their participation in environmental activities, and training and motivation for the environmental strategies to be successful [17]. Govindarajulu and Daily claimed the significance of the parameter of human resources in environmental management systems [7]. Boudreau and Ramstad in a study revealed that sustainability principles could be upheld with strategic human resources planning and high level of environmental awareness [18]; however, they also indicated that sufficient interest hasn't been created in this subject in literature. Jabbour and Santos determined human resources as the pre-condition for the success of environment-conscious management of organizations [19]. Akdoğan and Aykan stated that green human resource management practices became functional based on the perspectives of executives about the issue [5]. Mandip described GHRM as a management system integrating environmental management including employee participation and commitment in environmental sustainability with the practices of human resources [20]. According to Mishra et al., GHRM expresses an innovative process including human-oriented technological innovations and developments [21]. While Deshwal described GHRM as an organizational strategy to improve environmental consciousness of employees [22], Renwick et al. [23], Mohd-Yusoff and Mohd-Yusoff [24], Sheopuri and Sheopuri [25], Ahmad [26], Razab et al. [27], Arulrajah et al. [28], and Sharma [29] focused on GHRM practices as the critical success factors, a strategic tool, or a strategy for competitive advantage.

Green human resource management targets human resources to bear an environmental responsibility in their tasks, to turn them into employees who are able to develop positive behaviors with other co-workers, to present new ideas and recommendations, and thus to enable the implementation of environmental programs. The basic target actually is to motivate employees, to turn them into environment-conscious individuals, and to improve environmental performance of the organizations.

The characteristics of traditional human resource management and green human resources management are briefly provided and compared in **Table 1** [3].


**Table 1.** Comparative analysis of HRM and GHRM.

titled as "Greening People: Human Resources and Environmental Management" and the study of Revill [3] named as "The 'Greening' of Personel/Human Resource Management: An Assessment" are the pioneering works in GHRM literature. Sadgrove mentioned about green human resources managements forming a bond between human resource and environmental management practices [12]; Wehrmeyer classified the functions of green human resource management under the headings of recruitment of authorized stuff, stuff management, and support of organizational dynamics. On the other hand, Milliman and Clair formed a model classifying the functions of green human resource management as strategies, training, performance assessment, and rewarding and pointed out the need for proper organizational structures in which environmental management is harmonized with human resources [13]. Keog and Polonsky indicated that green vision, green objectives, green policy, and programs to fulfill environmental commitments of a business could only be possible through green human

Daily and Huang indicated the significance of human resources for the success of environmental management systems and reported that human resource may influence the performance [15]. Brio and Junquera indicated that environmental management was a quite complex process, but environment-conscious human resources contribute to environmental management [16]. Fernandez et al. emphasized the significance of environmental awareness employees, their participation in environmental activities, and training and motivation for the environmental strategies to be successful [17]. Govindarajulu and Daily claimed the significance of the parameter of human resources in environmental management systems [7]. Boudreau and Ramstad in a study revealed that sustainability principles could be upheld with strategic human resources planning and high level of environmental awareness [18]; however, they also indicated that sufficient interest hasn't been created in this subject in literature. Jabbour and Santos determined human resources as the pre-condition for the success of environment-conscious management of organizations [19]. Akdoğan and Aykan stated that green human resource management practices became functional based on the perspectives of executives about the issue [5]. Mandip described GHRM as a management system integrating environmental management including employee participation and commitment in environmental sustainability with the practices of human resources [20]. According to Mishra et al., GHRM expresses an innovative process including human-oriented technological innovations and developments [21]. While Deshwal described GHRM as an organizational strategy to improve environmental consciousness of employees [22], Renwick et al. [23], Mohd-Yusoff and Mohd-Yusoff [24], Sheopuri and Sheopuri [25], Ahmad [26], Razab et al. [27], Arulrajah et al. [28], and Sharma [29] focused on GHRM practices as the critical success factors, a strategic

Green human resource management targets human resources to bear an environmental responsibility in their tasks, to turn them into employees who are able to develop positive behaviors with other co-workers, to present new ideas and recommendations, and thus to enable the implementation of environmental programs. The basic target actually is to motivate employees, to turn them into environment-conscious individuals, and to improve environmental perfor-

The characteristics of traditional human resource management and green human resources

resource management [14].

162 Corporate Governance and Strategic Decision Making

tool, or a strategy for competitive advantage.

management are briefly provided and compared in **Table 1** [3].

mance of the organizations.

As it was seen in **Table 1**, the basic difference between human resources management and environment-conscious (green) human resources management is the sustainable and environment-oriented perception in environment-conscious human resources management. While the characteristics like perfection, competitive advantage, and inspector leadership are prominent in human resource management, environmental sustainability and evolutionary leadership that help to develop and implement environmental policies are prominent in environment-conscious human resource management.

Within this perspective in general, green HRM also uses the HRM policies to support the sustainable use of resources within organizations, which contribute to the environment sustainability. The term "Green HRM" is most regularly used to refer to the concern of people about management policies and practices of the broader corporate environmental schedule [22]. Renwick et al. defined GHRM as the human resources dimension of environmental management system and the influence of employees on environmental performance outcomes within the frame of Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) theory [23] (ability—recruitment and development of highly qualified employees; motivation—improvement of employee commitment and motivation through efficient rewarding and performance management; opportunity—providing employee participation in the process of problem solving by sharing information with them and providing opportunities).

Renwick et al. [33] and Deshwal [22] have explained that GHRM involves an integration of company's environmental management objectives to the HR processes of recruitment and selection, job description, training and development, health and safety at work, performance management and evaluation, talent management, succession and career planning and rewards, etc. and have highlighted the necessity of implementation of rigorous recruitment and selection of employees, performance-based appraisal system, and introduction of developmental programs aimed at increasing the employees' environmental awareness.

Zoogah indicated that GHRM makes the human resources practice, philosophy, and policies sustainable business sources [30]; similarly, Ahmad [26] illustrated that GHRM brings the human resources policies into force allowing the sustainable use of resources in every job/ process of the business. With another perspective, Mandip [20] and Mishra et al. [21] defined GHRM as the implementations that support environmentalist activities and improve employee consciousness and commitments for environmental sustainability. Besides providing improved efficiency like reduced cost and employee commitment, and improved organizational outcomes, the green human resource management practices include the implementations that reduce the carbon footprint of the business. Then, Mishra et al. [21] defined green human resource management as an innovative process that includes human-related technological innovations and developments. GHRM involves human-related technology advancements and mainly includes initiatives like car-pooling, job-sharing, teleconferencing and virtual interviews, recycling, telecommuting, online training and optimally utilizing the energy-efficient office spaces, etc.

As a result, green human resource management can be defined as the triggering force of the human resource implementations that improves both economic and environmental sustainability of business resources by undertaking change and developing environmental conditions.
