Environmental Sustainability in Business

This assignment examines the concept of environmental sustainability within a business context, exploring its impact on organizational behavior and culture. It delves into how sustainability considerations influence brand image, attract investors and employees, enhance productivity, and ensure regulatory compliance. The document further analyzes the role of organizational culture in promoting pro-environmental behaviors among employees and provides five recommendations for businesses to implement environmentally sustainable practices.

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ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS
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Environmental sustainability and how it influences organizational behavior
According to Morelli, environmental sustainability entails the process of taking actions
and making decisions with the major interest and focus on ensuring that the natural world is
protected1. When it comes to environmental sustainability, much of the emphasis is placed on the
preservation of the environment as it supports human life. For an organization, environmental
sustainability involves making decisions which are responsible so that the business’ adverse
effect to the environment is reduced. To ensure this is possible, environmental sustainability does
not involve itself with less energy consumption and reduction of waste but rather focuses on
developing processes which eventually ensure that the company is fully sustainable in the future.
Organizational behavior according Pinder is the study of groups and individuals in an
organization with a focus on how the organization is playing a role in shaping the social and
economic well-being of the societies around it (Pinder 2014). Organizational behavior entails
various aspects and topics including organizational design, institutional change, corporate
governance, innovation, and teamwork. Environmental sustainability influence the
organizational behavior by improving the image of the brand together with its competitive
advantage. According to Tilman, David and Micheal, more than 60,000 consumers in the United
States make a consideration of the company’s impact on the environment before buying a
specific good or service (Tilman, David & Micheal 2014, 520). Another influence is that
investors and employees will be attracted because of the positive values. Productivity is also
increased due to a reduction in waste and additionally, sustainability ensures that the business
has the ability to be in compliance with regulations.
1 Morelli, John. "Environmental sustainability: A definition for environmental professionals."
Journal of environmental sustainability 1, no. 1 (2013): 2.

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Organizational Culture and its effect on environmental sustainability
The organizational culture is a system of shared beliefs, customs, values and assumptions
which govern the way people behave in an organization (Alvesson, Mats & Stefan 2015). These
beliefs, values, and customs heavily influence the people in the organization to perform their
tasks, act, and dress. A positive impact of organizational culture on environmental sustainability
is seen where it influences the development of the individual’s values system on the
environment. Organizational culture has been identified as a factor enhancing the pro-
environmental behavior of employees in an organization (Alvesson & Mats 2016). With enough
training on environmental management and sustainability, the employees and members of an
organization will develop a common understanding of the environmental values and it will
become or improve on its existing environmentally sustainable business activities.
5 recommendations to make the organization environmentally sustainable
The following recommendations if implemented individually or collectively has the
possibility of ensuring that clients, employees, the management and the board are fully sensitized
on environmental sustainability as an issue.
I. Create the position of a sustainability or recycling coordinator
II. Improve communication by developing a website and Android or iOS application on
sustainability
III. Make a public commitment to the sustainability of the environment
IV. Uphold the infusion of principles of environmental sustainability
V. Continue to support the current or implement new energy management initiatives

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Bibliography
Alvesson, Mats, and Stefan Sveningsson. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge, 2015.
Alvesson, Mats, ed. Organizational culture. Sage, 2016.
Morelli, John. "Environmental sustainability: A definition for environmental professionals."
Journal of environmental sustainability 1, no. 1 (2013): 2.
Pinder, Craig C. Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press, 2014.
Tilman, David, and Michael Clark. "Global diets link environmental sustainability and human
health." Nature 515, no. 7528 (2014): 518-522.