Systems Approach to Sustainability

Transcription

1 Introduction Systems Approach to Sustainability The purpose of having a sustainability footprint of a local organization is to help understand the system. Please remember that everything is connected to everything else in a system. Every time that you solve a problem, you unintentionally create a problem for someone else in that system. The sustainability footprint helps you see ALL of the opportunities to make the local organization more sustainable. This footprint also helps you avoid the trap of just choosing and implementing spurious initiatives and believing that these represent your sustainability program (Pojasek, 2006). The figure below shows how we will approach a pollution prevention program using the Systems Approach. Figure 1. Systems Approach to Sustainability 2010 Robert B. Pojasek, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 1

2 Please note that the effort to create a sustainability footprint is referred to as understanding the system. Opportunities are what are referred to as good risk as opposed to bad risk (Pojasek, 2008). It is important not to see opportunities as initiatives. All of the opportunities are identified in the sustainability footprint and the opportunities are prioritized using risk management. Many organizations use risk management, especially within companies that are publicly traded. However, it is not widely used at the local level. It is relatively easy to use. There is a new ISO standard for risk ISO This standard should facilitate the use of risk management in all organizations. We ll look at this standard later in this course. The improvement technique that we will be talking about this week is called the Systems Approach (Pojasek, 2003). It is a method that is used by employees to help improve the processes and help promote sustainability in the organization. Remember that employees are a component of the stakeholders of an organization. In two weeks, we will examine stakeholder engagement in more detail. Please note in the figure just how important the performance framework and the guiding principles (or Business Excellence Framework and Principles ) can be in helping the program to be a key part of the way the organization is operated. Lean and Six Sigma are important process improvement programs and are used to help an organization become more sustainable. However, these programs are often operated separately from the sustainability program and do not have the necessary interaction with the performance framework and the guiding principles. We will talk more about this when we cover the implementation of the sustainability management systems. Each of the references that are mentioned in this section is posted in the reading folder. Please quickly read through them to gain an appreciation for how the Systems Approach fits into a welldesigned sustainability program. Using the Systems Approach You can find a description on how to use the Systems Approach in an article in the reading folder called, Tactic 1 (Pojasek, 2005b). You can find this document in the reading folder. The first three items refer to the process mapping work that you did last week: 1. Select a process 2. Prepare the preliminary process hierarchical process map 3. Verify the preliminary hierarchical process map. Next you will select opportunities to improve the sustainability of the organization and assign teams of employees to work on each of these problems. Working with a facilitator that is skilled in using these quality tools, the team will prepare a draft action plan using the following sequence: Agree on the statement of the problem Conduct a root cause analysis 2010 Robert B. Pojasek, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 2

3 Derive alternative means of addressing the root causes using brainwriting Select priority alternative solutions using a bubble sorting tool Prepare a draft action plan Present the draft action plan to a management oversight team (in some smaller businesses the oversight team and the problem solving team may be one and the same!) These quality management tools have been in use for many years (the youngest of these tools dates back to 1943). Besides getting employees involved in the sustainability program, the Systems Approach provides a logical and thorough way to define the sustainability project and creates the documentation that will be needed to understand the results of the projects. These projects will be coordinated under the sustainability program in the sustainability management system that will be presented after the Spring Break in this course. While the Systems Approach looks easy to apply, it is important to develop some skill in the use of the method by going through the problem-solving sequence several times. Let s look at some other reasons for using the Systems Approach in a sustainability program. Supporting Employee Involvement Many companies operate a sustainability program as what we refer to as a bolt-on program. It is kept separate from other programs and does not become part of what the employee does at the activity level every day. These companies also have corporate programs that have strategic and tactical plans. However, the tactical plans often do not effectively address the activities at the local level. The plans may also be implemented in silos kept separate from normal day-to-day operations. The employees conduct the activities (refer to the Michael Porter information covered last week) every day. There has to be a way to implement sustainability as part of their job, not just an unconnected vision or a slogan that they learn to recite. Here are some of the issues that need to be dealt with at the local organizational level whether or not the facility is associated with a corporate entity: The person responsible for sustainability should not be doing all of the sustainability projects or acting as a police person reminding people to do these extra activities besides their work. It is important not to have a technical assistance provider or consultant brought in for the purpose of specifying sustainability projects or doing the work instead of the employees. When an organization sets sustainability goals and expects them to be reached, it must have a program or method to ensure that progress is being made and that the goals will be attained this should involve employees. Sustainability projects should involve all three responsibilities (environment, social, and economic). There really is no such thing as environmental sustainability or social sustainability they are oxymoronic. There is a widespread belief that no one has any time for sustainability projects, no matter what size the organization might be. However, remember the old saying, an employee never resists their own ideas! The Systems Approach facilitates this ability to make 2010 Robert B. Pojasek, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 3

4 things happen IF they impact the employees activities and they are directly involved both in the conduct of the project and the planning of the project. It is important to understand that employees are a key internal stakeholder and they are also an important link to your external stakeholders, especially since many of them actually live in the community where the facility is located. A Harvard Extension School masters thesis on employee involvement (written by Zeina Eyceoz, one of the teaching staff for this course) is included in the reading folder. If you are interested in employee involvement, you might wish to look through the thesis or correspond directly with Zeina. Projects and Continual Improvement In order to ensure that there is continual improvement in a management system, an organization should have multiple and related projects progressing at the same time. Obviously, this is difficult for a very small business. All organizations need to improve through employee projects no matter what size they may be. Work on these projects should be performed by employees and periodically reviewed by management. Outside technical assistance providers (including consultants) should act as facilitators and should not conduct or dictate the project scope to the employees without their prior input. Two well known methods for continual improvement of processes and activities are lean and six sigma. These methods can use the Systems Approach tools without changing their application. Most practitioners of lean and six sigma do not want to deviate from the traditional methods that they learned. Using tools with the methods are often considered as unacceptable interference in their work. When projects are completed, new projects can be added to the list of projects. As we will learn in the sustainability management system classes, when there is a need to correct a problem (i.e., a corrective action), this effort can be in the form of a project. Also projects can be used for preventive actions (e.g., pollution prevention) in the sustainability management system. Projects need to support the sustainability program goals. Documentation is needed to help report the results in a transparent way that demonstrates the organization s accountability. Documentation also supports the knowledge management criterion in the performance framework. It is important to know what was learned (i.e., lessons learned ) from conducting the project and how that knowledge can be leveraged now and in the future to drive continual improvement. The cycle of continuous improvement is sometimes referred to as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PCDA) or Approach-Deployment-Results-Improvement (ADRI). Each element of the ADRI method should be addressed by the project. Each project must make sure that what it is focused on has a documented approach, a means of deployment, is mindful of the results associated with the approach and deployment success, and demonstrates improvement. These are the four elements of the ADRI approach. We will be looking at ADRI and sustainability management systems later in this course Robert B. Pojasek, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 4

5 Concluding Thoughts E-105: Strategies for Sustainability Management As you read through this narrative, you may think that this is an awfully complex way to drive employee involvement! However, once implemented employees do not realize that they are using these tools and process. They just think of it as how they make their jobs (i.e., activities) better. The Systems Approach provides them with a way to be more effective as a team and to communicate more effectively with management and other stakeholders. Competitive advantage may come from the attention paid to activities as Michael Porter exclaims! However, there needs to be a means of identifying the opportunities (process mapping) to improve the activities and a further means for making sure that the opportunity is realized (Systems Approach to Process Improvement). Since employees really own these activities, they must be involved in the process improvement in a meaningful way. The performance frameworks say that it is not sufficient to tell an employee what to do and make sure that they do it. Instead these frameworks emphasize that the employees must be involved in scoping the work prior to working to improve the process. The Systems Approach provides some necessary structure to this effort. Please remember that this is presented as a foundation for the information that will be provided later in the course. Make sure that you understand the thinking behind figure 1 above and that you generally understand the Systems Approach as a means of ensuring employee involvement and continual improvement. The case this week will reinforce these concepts. References Pojasek, R.B. (2005a). Improving Processes: The Traditional Approach Versus the Systems Approach. Environmental Quality Management, 15(1), Pojasek, R.B. (2006). Process Improvement: Initiative-Driven Versus Process-Driven Approaches. Environmental Quality Management, 16(1), Pojasek, R.B. (2008). Risk Management 101: A Primer for EHS Managers. Environmental Quality Management, 17(3) Pojasek, R.B. (2003). Selecting Your Own Approach to P2. Environmental Quality Management, 12(4) Pojasek, R.B. (2005b). Tactic 1: The Systems Approach. In: Making the Business Case for EHS. (pp.31-50). Old Saybrook, CT: Business & Legal Reports Robert B. Pojasek, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 5