Corporate Greening Is Work

Agency and Action of Environmental Staff as Potential Determinants of Environmental Performance

chad white · university of california, berkeley · GIN 2006

2Source: Company A external reports

mid-1990s: EHS mid-2000s: Sustainability

3

• lack of resolution about who acts

• who takes the leading role(s)

corporate agenda-setting & self-determination

routine assessment to represent performance

• “You manage what you measure.”

• how managed across an epistemological divide (mgmt v. specialists)

Factors Highlighting Environmental Staff Role

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To date our studies have focused…

• more on outcomes, less on process (in situ)

• more on whole organization (unitary view), less on groups or individuals (composite view)

• more on managers, very little on operators

State of Corporate Greening Study

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Theoretical Question for Research• How does information enrichment (re)shape

corporate practice and technology?

Investigative Question for Interviews• How do you gather and make use of

environmental information in your work (e.g., strategize and execution of initiatives)?

Questions

• How do environmental staff engage (others) in environmental work?

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• Types of Environmental Work

• Variations in Organizational Forms

• Modes of Intra-firm Interactions

Results

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• all mfr semiconductors as primary business

• all US-based with global operations

• vary in size from < 1000 to > 10,000 staff

• all decentralized with env. staff at sites

• all have EMSs and some degree of sustainability reporting

• all have executives supportive or not hostile to environmental initiatives

Case Research: semiconductor sector

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• Traditional: process-related legal and regulatory analysis, site audits, pollution control

• Non-traditional: pollution prevention, waste minimization, resource conservation, chemical use reduction, and design for EHS

• Nouveau: supply chain management, technology development, stakeholder communications, corporate governance

Results: Types of Environmental Work

moreestablished

& routine

lessdeveloped,

neweractors

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Board of Directors

MarketingTech. Development

Human Res.

Outreach

Legal

VP

VP

VP

GC*

VP**

Test & Assembly VP**

Fab VP**

Fab VP**

Real EstateVP

EHS

ComputationalVP

Sector-specificVP

Memory

MemoryQuality/Sales

Design

Chief Executive

AccountingVP

Product Groups Corporate Services Manufacturing

VP

Facilities

Facilities

Corporate Officers

EHS Director

Site MgrSite MgrSite Mgr

Global Support

Site StaffSite StaffSite Staff

Corporate EHS Staff Matrix

Stewardship

Product Ecology

Sust. Devmt.

• Environmental dept under admin

• Env staff in EHS still organized by site

•Corporate functions formed by matrix

• New functional groups emerging in EHS

Results: Organizational Forms

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Marketing

Human Res.

Outreach

Legal

VP

VP

VP

GC*

Real EstateVP

AccountingVP

ComputationalVP

Sector-specificVP

Memory

MemoryQuality/Sales

Design

VP

Fab

VP

Tech. Development VP**

Test & Assembly VP**

Fab VP**

VP**

EHS

Site Services VP

EHS

Facilities“site”

“site services”

Board of Directors

Chief Executive

Product Groups Corporate Services

Corporate Officers

Manufacturing

• EHS – a unit through the Manufacturing chain of command

• Combined Facilities (main partner) and EHS in “Site Services”

Results: Organizational Forms

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Board of Directors

CEO

CXO

EHS Director

EHS Manager(fab 1)

EHS Manager(fab 2)

Environmental Product Group

IH Safety Health Env.

Board of Directors

CEO

COO

EHS Director

EHS Manager(fab 1)

EHS Manager(fab 2)

EHS Manager(test & assembly)

IH Safety Health Env.

VP of Mfg

Results: New Organizational Forms

example 1 example 2

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SiteServices

SiteServices

ComputationalProducts

Group

SectorProductsGroup

SiteServices

MemoryProductsGroup

TechnologyDevelopment

Fab

Fab

SiteServices

Test & Assembly

Marketing

HumanResources

Finance

Outreach

Legal

Accounting

EHS

CXO

RealEstate

ExecutiveCommittee

EHSExecutiveCommittee

CorporateEHS Fab

EHS

Procurement

= environmental staff

= internal resources

= firm boundary

EHS

EHS

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SiteServices

ComputationalProducts

Group

SiteServices

SiteServices

EHS

MemoryProductsGroup

TechnologyDevelopment

Fab

Fab

EHS

Test & Assembly

HumanResources

Finance

Outreach

Accounting

EHS

CXO

RealEstate

EHSExecutiveCommittee

CorporateEHS

= environmental staff

= internal resources

= firm boundary

SectorProductsGroup

SiteServices

Outreach

Legal

ExecutiveCommittee

Fab

MarketingProcurement

EHS

EmbedInformIntegrateSpecify

Outreach

Marketing

Procurement

Product Group(Design)

Legal

Mfg

Facilities

ExecutiveManagement

Product Group(Quality)

Technical EHS Modes

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Outreach

Marketing

Procurement

Product Group(Design)

Product Group(Quality)

Legal

Mfg

Facilities

ExecutiveManagement

EmbedInformIntegrateSpecify

(n/a)

(n/a)

IdentifyCo-LocateTeam Up

(no data)

ReframeRetrain

Reformulated EHS ModesCollaborative EHS ModesTechnical EHS Modes

expertise: “superior” “shared” “inferior”

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Theoretical Combination

Nouveau

Non-traditional

Traditional

ReformulatedCollaborativeTechnical

more hardened, fact-like expertise

more contested,uncertain expertise

• legal & regulatory analysis• pollution control

• site audits • corporate governance

• design for EHS

• pollution prevention

• resource conservation

• stakeholder communications

• technology development

• supply chain management

• product content changes

moreestablished

& routine

lessdeveloped,

morevariable

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• Diversifying types of environmental work.

• Work still rooted in EHS. Formal changes in corporate organization are staff diffusion.

• New groups emerging formally within EHS.

• Proactive environmental work heavily dependent on collaborative modes of staff interaction.

Summary

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Potential explanatory variables: • Level of executive support: high, medium, low• Firm culture: degree of cooperation• Resources (slack) available

Future Studies on Efficacy• What conditions affect the effectiveness of

different interactive modes?• Do different types of staff agency help explain

corporate environmental performance?

Potential Implications