مطالعه فرآیند تصویب سیستم مدیریت زیست محیطی (EMS) در سازمانهای استرالیایی ــ 2. نقش ذینفعان

The importance of an Environmental Management System (EMS) for organisations is becoming widely known across all industrial sectors. EMS has brought both challenges and benefits for the organisations and these many-a-times are determined by the role played by the organisational stakeholders. Stakeholder is a broad term and can encompass a number of individual(s) or group(s) directly or indirectly impacted by organisational activities. This paper, second part in the series, focuses on the role of the stakeholders, primarily employees and suppliers during the EMS planning and implementation stages. It is based on the findings of the quantitative part of a large research project exploring the role of employees and suppliers, as organisational stakeholders, during the EMS adoption stages. A response rate of almost 50% was achieved from a questionnaire survey of ISO 14001 certified organisations in Australia and New Zealand. The key relationships existing between the organisations and stakeholder involvement and the benefits and impediments associated with the process have also been presented.

This paper has presented the key findings from the survey mailed to Australasian organisations on their experiences with ISO 14001 implementation and certification. The survey results give us a general picture as to the perceptions and experiences of the organisations with respect to EMS implementation. Role of the stakeholders, primarily the employees and suppliers during EMS planning and implementation stages and their correlation with the benefits and impediments were explored and the findings have been presented in this paper. The findings can be briefly summarised in the following points: • Employees play a significant role in the successful adoption of an EMS. This is especially the case during the implementation stages. Accordingly they need to be made aware and trained in the basics and significance of EMS both for the organisations and the employees themselves. The communication and training provided by the organisation (especially during the initial stages of the EMS adoption process) would increase employee knowledge and understanding of the EMS process itself and the changes required for the EMS to be implemented. In addition, it would also assist in reducing their resistance towards the EMS implementation and the changes being made. Hence, it is recommended that the employees are involved as early as possible during the EMS process. • The contributions made by suppliers to an organisation’s EMS process are still reserved and restricted. Organisations thus need to build trust and long-term relationships with their suppliers to obtain full benefits from their suppliers’ involvement during the implementation process. In few instances, the organisations may also need to educate and train their suppliers, especially the smaller sized ones, before the mutual benefits can be obtained from the implementation and practice of EMS. • Organisations when calculating the payback period from the EMS implementation need to identify and understand that not all the benefits from EMS implementation, such as improved image; increased employee understanding in environmental issues; better relations with the supplier and community generally, are quantifiable in dollar terms. Also many benefits to be realised are long- rather than short-term. • To reduce ambiguity, duplication and wastage of resources (for instance the dollars, human and time), organisations, if practicable, should integrate their existing management systems and audits with EMS. The EMS implementation costs would also be reduced if organisations learn from their past experiences of implementing other systems (such as Quality Management System, Occupational Health and Safety System) and from the experiences of their peers and avoid repeating the same mistakes. It is expected that the survey findings would firstly fill the gaps in the literature in better understanding the EMS adoption stages and the roles that two of the organisations stakeholders, that is, employees and supplier play in the process. The findings, on the other hand, would also provide a guide of potential problems and solutions for organisational managers and industry practitioners in identifying, addressing and reducing the challenges commonly experienced during EMS adoption stages. The findings presented in this paper pertaining to the role of employees and suppliers during EMS adoption would reduce, if not completely remove, the obstacles encountered by the organisations during EMS implementation, thus making the overall implementation faster, smoother and successful for them.