Engineering management and environmental protection - a brief note

My review question is:

Critically review the following statement: “Engineering managers should be more concerned with environmental protection in their practices even though such practices will substantially increase cost of operation.”

The statement indicates a similar concern that has been pointed out by Melnyk et al . (2003), which is that the relationship between pollution reduction and company profitability is unclear. There was even a view in the business community that pursuing environmental goals would increase lead time and reduce quality, thus considered as "a violation of the fiduciary duty of managers to shareholders" (Melnyk et al .,2003). The opposite argument holds that pollution is a waste and that pollution reduction increases companies' competitiveness (Melnyk et al .,2003).

My endorsed view is that corporate environmental management goals and activities should be integrated with that of corporate engineering management as well as other corporate business functions such that the company becomes more capable to meet various stakeholders' expectations in profit and non-profit goals with an appropriate dynamic balance of interests over time. While it is not clear how to achieve it, this view provides a constructive initial response to the concern raised in the statement for review above. Anyway, empirical studies appear to support the view that (a) integration of corporate environmental management with other corporate functions leads to net gain in enterprise benefits (which can be market and image-related) and (b) the integration process is complex involving a number of firm-specific factors internally and externally (Wagner, 2007).

The following are useful e-resources:

1. Environmental engineering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_engineering
2. ISO 14000: engineering and financial aspects: http://www.nubkk.nu.ac.th/picnews/s_1263957019.ISO%2014000%20Environmental%20Management%20Standards.pdf
3. Corporate sustainability strategy: http://ethisphere.com/sustainability-strategy-as-corporate-strategy/
4. Environmental protection and global business: http://ethisphere.com/environmental-commitments-in-global-business/
5. Environmental shareholder value: http://www2.leuphana.de/umanagement/csm/content/nama/downloads/download_publikationen/Schaltegger_Figge_1998_ESHV.pdf

It is useful to do more literature review in order to form your own assessment view that is informed on this topic; once you feel that you have a reasonable grasp of the topic and want to express your own view on it, you could start to write a brief essay on it. Make sure you have time to review and polish your essay draft a number of times before you present your essay to your teacher or others.

References

1. Melnyk, S.A. and Sroufe, R.P. and Calantone, R. (2003) "Assessing the impact of environmental management systems on corporate and environmental performance", Journal of Operations Management 21, pp. 329-351.
2. Wagner, M. (2007) "Integration of environmental management with other managerial functions of the firm", Long Range Planning 40, pp. 611-628.
3. http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/08/corporate-environmental-management.html