The Importance of Safety and Environmental Management Education in Business Schools By Michael Behm, Ph.D., Anthony Veltri, Ph.D., Hamid Fonooni, Ph.D., and Veronica Haynes
Corresponding Author: Michael Behm, Ph.D.
[email protected] (252) 328-9674
Biographies Michael Behm is an Assistant Professor in the Occupational Safety Program at East Carolina University. He holds a PhD in Public Health from Oregon State University and is a Certified Safety Professional. Mike’s research interests include safety through design, safety management, and making a business case for safety. Anthony Veltri is an Associate Professor in Oregon State University’s College of Health and Human Science. He holds MS and EdD degrees from West Virginia University. Anthony’s research interests include management and economic analysis of environment, safety and health programs. Hamid Fonooni is an Associate Professor in the Occupational Safety Program at East Carolina University. He holds a PhD in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include workers’ compensation management and ergonomics. Veronica Haynes is a graduate of East Carolina University’s Occupational Safety Program.
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Introduction Environmental Safety and Health (ESH) professionals can expereince better success at obtaining budget approval for proactive risk reduction and beyond-compliance initiatives by making a business case for the specific initiatives and by attempting to demonstrate business value for the ESH function in general. Various authors have made this case and have recommended that ESH professionals need to talk the same language as business professionals (Adams, 2002; Hill, 2002; ASSE, 2002). The success of ESH professionals in making a business case lies in the availability of educational opportunities in cost accounting and economic analysis both at the university-level and in professional development. But what steps, if any, should business professionals take to better understand the ESH function? Many business professionals still tend to view, and thus fund the ESH function as a compliance-oriented function and/or as a cost burden to the organization. This view begins to develop in their undergraduate business education. We contend that ESH professionals need to make concerted efforts to speak in financial terms, find win-wins for safety and business value, and understand business acumen; moreover, this effort needs to begin in their academic education. In this paper, however, we argue that the conversation would yield more productive results (for ESH and for business measures) if business professionals should take steps to understand the strategic value that ESH can and should have within the organization. This is particularly true in small and medium enterprises where a full-time ESH professional may not likely be employed, and almost certainly not one with a degree, professional development training, or membership in professional societies. The primary purpose of this research was to explore the educational importance of safety and environmental management, as separate topics, among US Business Schools (B-Schools). We surveyed B-School Deans to gauge their perception of the importance of ESH to undergraduate students. The literature review revealed three peer-reviewed articles dealing with the topic of BSchool education and ESH; only one regarding US education. Pakalnis (1994) determined that Canadian undergraduate and graduate business curricula lacked sufficient occupational safety and health management content. Focusing of U.S. education, Stewart et al (1996) contend that the reason why occupational safety is neither recognized nor addressed by managers is the omission of safety lectures and classes in business curricula. Jackson et al (2002) found that Australian MBA program also lack an environmental safety and health component; interestingly, their review of MBA courses found that environmental issues were included to a lesser degree compared to occupational safety and health. A secondary purpose was to update the previous research to determine if perceptions of the importance of occupational safety and environmental management had changed. This study is limited to undergraduate curricula in the United States.
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Methods A web-based survey was administered to the Deans of the Top 50 Business Schools in the United States as reported by Lavelle et al (2007). The Deans of the business schools were directly emailed and provided with a link to the survey; a second follow-up email was delivered one week later. In the event that the Dean’s email address could not be located, contact information was not available, or there was no current Dean, the email was sent to an Interim Dean, the support staff of the Dean that was listed, the next available Associate Dean, or the director of the business school undergraduate program. Fifteen (30%) Deans responded to the survey. The survey and methods were approved by East Carolina University’s IRB; the questions are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Survey Questions 1. How important is it that undergraduate business school students have knowledge on occupational safety management issues? 2. How important is it that undergraduate business school students have knowledge on environmental management issues? 3. How important is it for a company’s management to have occupational safety management knowledge? 4. How important is it for a company’s management to have environmental management knowledge? 5. Please provide comments on your answers to questions 1 though 4. 6. What is more important to top level management? Occupational Safety Management or Environmental Management 7. Why do you think that is?
Questions 1 through 4 requested the respondents to rank the importance (on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) of occupational safety and environmental management. Questions 5 and 7 were open-ended questions and the respondents were able to type in their answers. Question 6 was a two-choice question. In addition to the survey, the undergraduate curriculum was evaluated at each of the business schools to determine if they offered any safety or environmental management courses. All the information was collected via the internet. The school websites were found on the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) website. The AACSB is the accreditation body of business schools. All other information, deans, names, contact information, and curriculum, was found on each of the individual business school websites. Course descriptions were not always available on the business school website; in that case the governing university or college website was utilized. All the information obtained was under general use of the respected websites.
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Results Survey Results Table 2: Survey Results QUESTION Q1. How important is it that undergraduate business school students have knowledge on occupational safety management issues? Q2. How important is it that undergraduate business school students have knowledge on environmental management issues? Q3. How important is it for a company’s management to have occupational safety management knowledge? Q4. How important is it for a company’s management to have environmental management knowledge? a
Rangea Median Mean 2-8 3 3.47 3-8
6
5.67
2-10
7
6.33
2-10
7
6.93
(on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest)
A paired t-test between Q1 and Q2 revealed that the Deans felt that undergraduate business school students knowledge on environmental management issues was more important than knowledge on occupational safety management issues (p=0.000). The gap between the mean responses for the company management knowledge of occupational safety (Q3) and environmental management (Q4) narrowed (6.33 and 6.93) and the result was not significantly different (p=0.144). A paired t-test between Q1 and Q3 determined if any significant difference occurred between the perception of management knowledge and student knowledge. Respondents thought that a company’s management should have a moderate level of occupational safety management knowledge (mean = 6.33), but that it was not as important for their students (mean = 3.47), and the result was significant (p=0.002). A paired t-test between Q 2 and Q4 showed similar results with regards to environmental management issues, but not to the same degree of discrepancy as the safety management questions (p=0.055); management should have a moderate level of environmental management knowledge (mean = 6.93), whereas undergraduate’s knowledge on environmental management is less important (5.67). Survey Comments Several Deans made comments on the open-ended questions to support their views. Most thought that safety was an operational issue while environmental management was more strategic, and thus more important for their students to understand. Respondents also referred to the importance of green issues and sustainability, and the fact that environmental issues are public whereas safety is an internal issue, suggesting that public issues are more important than internal issues to the workforce. The few who rated occupational safety higher for students compared to environmental suggested that safety is more of an immediate threat to the operation and thus business school students needed Journal of SH&E Research Vol. 5, No. 1
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to understand it more than environmental. A summary of the comments received are provided in Table 3. Table 3: Summary of B-School Deans’ comments Since environmental and safety concerns will vary considerably across different businesses and unit within businesses, knowledge may best be acquired in training on the job rather than in business schools. It is not necessarily important that every business student be at the top of their game with either of these issues. It is important that SOMEONE is. I cannot see a company being led by someone who is not aware of and committed to these issues, but again it doesn't have to be the CEO who sets the standards. I think issues of environmental management, sustainability, and "green" are strategic. Safety management is important-but it's tactical, it just has to get done right. It is more important for company executives and employers to have this specialized knowledge than employees or students. (ESH) only becomes important when you have to implement - thus important to managers and not to students. Students need an introduction to the issues. In-depth knowledge of the regulations is probably not necessary until they are employed and face these issues at work. Most important thing -- knowing when to call legal services. Environmental issues are major concerns for all businesses that involve strategic considerations. Occupational safety seems more important at the plant or office level and the related considerations are more operational than strategic. They (managers) are immediately concerned with the wellbeing of their employees and less so with environmental factors. If they do an adequate job with occupational safety, that often leads to doing a better job with environmental issues. I really don't think they (safety and environmental) are comparable - they are separate issues of real importance. More publicity for environmental issues. (Environmental is) much broader and integrated with the entire delivery system/value chain of a firm-from product conception to use to after-use and how the product (and its delivery and production system) integrates with the environment. These issues are vital! (See latest issue of Fortune--all on GREEN). Both are important, but occupational safety affects the firm's employees immediately. (Safety is a) more immediate potential impact (e.g., visible losses and potential insurance claims/lawsuits). Curriculum The curriculum of each of the top 50 business schools was evaluated to determine if they taught courses in either occupational safety or environmental management and whether any course offerings were required or an elective option for students. None of the schools offered any type of course instruction on occupational safety issues, nor was occupational safety listed in any course description. Five schools listed electives in environmental management.
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Conclusions This research updates and supplements previous research particularly the Stewart et al (1996) study which focused on the United States. Moreover, the results demonstrates a gap between the importance of management knowledge on OS management and the level given undergraduate B-school students. Where do managers acquire knowledge on OS management to be successful in that aspect of their job? Realistically, they bring their own knowledge and likely their inherent biases to the task and/or learn about occupational safety management from safety professionals. Therefore, safety professionals are delegated with the important task of educating management about proper occupational safety management. This finding has important implications for safety educators. The need for safety graduates to be able to communicate technical OS strategies in business terms to managers and executives is crucial to their professional success, and to the success of risk reduction efforts. Occupational safety is one component of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Business schools will likely incorporate coursework on these more contemporary issues in the future at the undergraduate level. ESH educators should seek to increase their collaborative effort with their B-school faculty counterparts to be part of the corporate social responsibility and sustainability educational and research effort. Highlighting B-School faculty awareness of the importance of safety management is a first step to successful collaboration. These results also highlight the difference in perceived (and possibly real) strategic importance between safety management and environmental management. In the mid90’s, Porter and van der Linde wore two seminal articles on the strategic implications and benefits that environmental regulation can have on competitiveness (1995a) and the relationship between environmental goals and competitiveness (1995b). The US EPA issued a white paper on the relationship between environmental performance and financial performance. In the realm of sustainability, environmental overshadows OSH in its importance and perhaps rightly so, but some have argued that sustainability is too slanted towards environmentalism and not enough on safety (Gilding et al, 2002; Newport et al, 2003). Overall, in our reading and previous work, we find that environmental issues are at the forefront and are given greater attention from a businesscompetitive standpoint compared to worker safety and health. Recommendations Safety management is important in the business sector, but as much in the educational sector. Society expects safety but we’re not educating people on it. Petersen (2001) predicted that there would be two types of safety professionals in the future; one as a purely a technical resource and the other as an advisor to top executives. Based on the results of this research and the views of B-School Deans, there appears to certainly be a need for a management advisor type position, especially given that business schools do
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not provide that type of education. Who will these professionals be and where will they be educated? Safety educators and the ASSE can help fill the gap. Revisiting Petersen’s prediction is an area of future research for ESH educators. Other possibilities for future research would be to evaluate safety’s actual link to business value and safety’s role in business strategy. Only then will occupational safety and health be managed with the same level of importance as environmental management in organizations and viewed at the same level of scrutiny by external stakeholders. Porter and other business strategists and visionaries might be writing about the strategic value of enhancing worker safety in the near future.
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References Adams, S. “Financial Management Concepts: Making the Bottom-Line Case for Safety.” Professional Safety. Aug. 2002: 23-26. American Society of Safety Engineers (2002). “White Paper Addressing the Return on Investment for Safety, Health, and Environmental (SH&E) Management Programs.” ASSE, Des Plaines, IL. Gilding, P., Hogarth, M., and Humphries, R. (2002). “Safe Companies: An Alternative Approach to Operationalizing Sustainability.” Corporate Environmental Strategy, 9(4), 390-397. Hill, D.C. “Time to Transform? Assessing the Future of the SH&E Profession.” Professional Safety. Nov. 2002: 18-26. Jackson, N, de Munk, F., and Elms, T. (2002). “Health, Safety and Environment Curriculum in Australian MBA courses”. Journal of Occupational Health and Safety – Australia and New Zealand, 18(2): 155-160. Lavelle, L., Gloeckler, G., Porter, J. (2007). “Does Your B-School Make the Grade? Business Week, 3/19/2007, Issue 4026. Newport, D., Chesnes, T. and Lindner, A. (2003). “The ‘environmental sustainability’ problem: Ensuring that sustainability stands on three legs.” International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4(4), 357-363. Pakalnis, V. (1994). “Occupational Health and Safety: A Blind Spot in Teaching at Canadian Schools of Business. Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Found on June 11, 2007 at http://minervacanada.org/Pakalnis.PDF Porter, M. and van der Linde, C. (1995a). “Green and Competitive”. Harvard Business Review. September-October, 1995:120-134. Porter, M. and van der Linde, C. (1995b). “Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(4): 97-118. Petersen, D. (2001). Safety Management: A Human Approach. 3rd edition. American Society of Safety Engineers. Des Plaines, IL. Stewart, W., Ledgerwood, D., and May, R. (1996). “Educating Business Schools about Safety and Health is No Accident” Journal of Business Ethics, 15(8): 919-926. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2000). “Green Dividends? The Relationship between Firms’ Environmental Performance and Financial Performance”. The Environmental Capital Markets Committee, Office of Cooperative Environmental Management, Washington, DC.
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